GOOD DAY FOR: Executive privilege, after the median pay package for Fortune 500 CEOs rose 3.5 percent last year, to $8.5 million—a $280,000 raise from 2006. Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain topped the AP’s list, pulling in $83.1 million last year, including a signing bonus. Some CEOs’ packages fell a bit, mostly if their pay was linked to falling stock prices at their companies. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

BAD DAY FOR: Canadian heritage, after private Canadian TV network CTV bought the rights to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Hockey Night in Canada,” the iconic theme song for Canadian hockey. The sale followed a long legal fight between the CBC and Dolores Claman, who wrote the song in 1968. The privatizing of the song caused a public outcry. (The New York Times)