Welcome back to Media Industry Update, where we keep you informed about the latest and most important news regarding, well, the media industry. Whether it’s an optimistic report, a discouraging announcement, or just an interesting story, we’ll be sure to let you know all about it here.

Last time, we told you about Time Inc.’s massive layoffs, the new New Republic, and Al Jazeera’s American hiring spree, among other things. This week, we’ve collected the latest on NBC’s serious recent struggles, a rumored junior’s edition of The New York Times, a new Esquire TV network, and more. Check it out below:

NBC Is Having The Worst Year Ever: Primetime TV viewers seem to have almost completely given up on NBC. The network debuted three new series last month, each of which saw dismal ratings. Its two most successful new fall comedies, Go On and The New Normal, have recently tanked as well. And Smash‘s second season premiere this year was down more than 70 percent compared to last year’s pilot. Vulture asks, has NBC passed the point of no return?

Esquire And NBC Universal Launching Esquire TV Network: NBC Universal has paired with Esquire magazine to rebrand G4 into the Esquire TV network. Apparently, the channel is intended to be an “upscale Bravo for men.” We’re a bit nervous about this.

Print Magazine Sales Are Down, But Digital Sales Are Up: The Alliance for Audited Meida recently released its report for the second half of 2012, which revealed that newsstand sales were down 8.2 percent. However, it also revealed that digital magazine subscriptions more than doubled during that six-month period! We’ll take it.

The New York Times Hints At “NYT Junior”: The New York Times Company has a new CEO, and he has some interesting plans in mind. Apparently, new chief Mark Thompson is plotting a digital edition of the paper targeted at college students and 20-somethings, tentatively called “NYT Junior.” We’d definitely recommend a name change, but we’ll admit that the concept’s intriguing.

Fox News Is Both Most Trusted And Least Trusted News Channel: According to a recent Public Policy Polling poll, Fox News ranked as both the most trusted and the least trusted TV news station. Oh, America…

Twitter Buys Company That Gauges Online TV Talk: Last week, Twitter announced that it had acquired Bluefin Labs, a company that measures and analyzes web chatter about TV. “We believe that Bluefin’s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV,” Twitter COO Ali Rowghani said in a blog post.

Helicopter Crash Kills Three Men Working On Discovery Channel Reality Show: Two days ago, news broke that a helicopter crash a bit north of Los Angeles killed three men working on an untitled Discovery Channel reality show. Since the crash, production of the show has stopped. It is currently unknown why the helicopter crashed.

Good Morning America Now Consistently Dominating Today: For the first time in 20 years, ABC’s Good Morning America has beat out NBC’s Today Show in the ratings for six straight months. Maybe the decline in ratings wasn’t Ann Curry’s fault after all!

Regis Philbin Might Host A Sports Talk Show: Though it hasn’t been made official yet, FOX Sports and Regis Philbin are apparently discussing the possibility of Philbin hosting a View-style talk show about sports. We didn’t even know he was a big sports fan!

That’s all we have for this week! If you haven’t been completely turned off by the idea of working in the media industry, then may the odds be ever in your favor.

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