Hostess liquidation sees opportunists stock up on Twinkies as future of its brands hangs in balance and unions cling to hope of a buyer.

BP seen as takeover target now, as valuation slides.

GM opens $1.3 billion China plant for Baojun budget brand.

Ben & Jerry's turns fans' Instagram pictures into ads.

CCTV ad haul for Chinese television bodes well for economy.

Cisco to buy networking-hardware company Meraki for $1.2 billion.

Citigroup to cut more jobs.

Dish Network is frustrated in dream of breaking into wireless.Continue reading...

The Disney mouse is going to school…actually pre-school, as the company most famous for animated entertainment shutters its sudser channel and replaces it with Disney Junior.

Disney's new channel, geared to the 2-7 year old age group, is due to launch in 2012. It will replace the now-cancelled SoapNet, a mix of soap opera reruns and supporting original programming, is currently in 75 million homes.

Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group, tells today's New York Times that “This represents the next step in a global preschool strategy that started 10 years ago with the introduction of dedicated channels overseas.”

It's also a sign of the times, as technology has made the network's original purpose obsolete.Continue reading...

Having coined the term jiapers to describe Huggies' new faux denim Little Movers diapers (at least KISS-FM in Charlotte, NC, appreciates a pun...), we were bemused to see that Kimberly-Clark's mildly risqué commercial for the limited (summer-only) product hasn't won over at least three U.S. TV networks.

Despite being accepted by 13 channels, the New York Times hears that the Disney-owned ABC and its offshoot ABC Family, as well as the Comcast-owned preschoolers' Sprout network, balked at the innuendo-heavy spot because of the language. For this trio of networks, the tagline was changed to "When you gotta go, go in style."

Watch the spot and let us know if you think they're being overly sensitive (and if we're being overly punny!)