Idle Chatter: Yahoo Not Yet Barnyard Carrion

-New Yahoo CEO says the internet giant is "not a company that needs to be pulled apart and left for the chickens." You hear that, chickens, you bloodthirsty scavengers? Back off. [NYT]

-Time Inc. is leading the fight against distributors who are trying to impose a 7 cent-per-copy fee on magazines. Keith Kelly says the publisher, which owns People and other major weeklies, is threatening to stop distributing through Source Interlink, one of the companies seeking the surcharge. [NYP]

-McClatchy is suspending payment of its dividend, a move that will save the newspaper chain $7.4 million per quarter. [Reuters]

-Page Six is calling out CNBC's Maria Bartiromo for conducting an exclusive interview with ex-Merrill Lynch chief John Thain without disclosing that the two share a publicist. "It's a huge conflict of interest," says Page Six's source. Of course it is in no ways a conflict of interest for Page Six to weigh in without disclosing that it's owned by the same company as CNBC competitor Fox Business. [P6]

-A tween band called the Clique Girls is hoping an endorsement deal with Michael Eisner's Topps company could help them become the next (female) Jonas Brothers. [NYT]

-A movie channel backed by Viacom, MGM and Lions Gate has a name -- Epix -- and is moving ahead even though it has no carriage deals yet and pretty much everyone thinks it's a bad idea. [WSJ]. □