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Ex Child Actors Say "Midgets" Discriminated Against Them
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Some of the one-time child actors who worked as Munchkins in 1939's The Wizard of Oz are upset that they are usually overlooked whenever Hollywood pays tribute to "the little people" Noting that Munchkins scenes included 10 girls of normal height between the ages of seven and nine, the Times notes that three of them went without introduction or participation when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored the Munchkins actors with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Ame. Ardith Doindanville Todd, now 78, told the Times: "That was disappointing because my family was with me. You can pick me out as clearly as any of the midgets in the film, but they knew the midgets would draw the crowds, I guess."
Sling Takes A Shot At Online Video
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Sling Media, the company that sells a device that allows consumers to access programs and movies on their TV sets from remote location, announced Tuesday the creation of a new video website. "Users can go to Sling.com to watch a huge selection of clips, TV shows, films, news and sports in high quality, for free, anytime they want, a company announcement said." It added that video programming will come from over 90 providers, including 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios and NBC. Jason Hirsschorn, the company's president, said in the announcement: ""Sling.com is a wonderful combination of premium video content, television viewing, robust editorial and consumer-friendly access and socialization features." It did not detail how the "socialization features" will be employed. In addition it said that owners of its Slingbox device will now be able to view their home television and digital video recorders remotely via the Sling.com website.
Nominations For Independent Spirit Awards Announced
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Three films each received six nominations for this year's Independent Spirit Awards and all three were nominated for best picture. They include Rachel Getting Married, Frozen River, and Ballast. Other films nominated for best picture include Wendy and Lucy and The Wrestler. Michelle Williams was also nominated for best actress for Wendy and Lucy and Mickey Rourke, for best actor in The Wrestler. Other best-actress nominations went to Melissa Leo for Frozen River, Summer Bishil for Towelhead and Tarra Riggs for Ballast. Other best actor nominees were Javier Bardem for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Richard Jenkins for The Visitor, Sean Penn for Milk and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker.
Could Documentary Overturn Polanski Conviction?
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
What Roman Polanski's attorneys call "extraordinary new evidence" unearthed by Marina Zenovich for her documentary about the Polish-born director has spurred the them to file a complaint seeking to have his 1977 sexual-misconduct conviction overturned. In particular, the complaint notes that in the documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, former prosecutor David Wells describes his discussions with Judge Lawrence Rittenband about the case during Polanski's trial, something the attorneys claim revea;ed "a pattern of misconduct and improper communications between the Superior Court and the District Attorney's Office, in violation of the rule of law and without the knowledge of the defendant or his counsel." Polanski, the director of such films as Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, fled the U.S. to France, where he was a citizen, after being convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Cuts Hurt Coverage Of Mumbai Attacks, Says Trade Magazine
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
The much criticized TV coverage of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week manifested the effects of deep cuts in the broadcast and cable networks' foreign news operations, Broadcasting & Cable magazine said in a commentary on its website today (Wednesday). "The dearth of reliable information on U.S. television over the three-day conflict that broke during the Thanksgiving holiday was apparent," the trade publication asserted, pointing out that they provided little information about the precise number of targets, attackers, casualties and hostages, the result of little "boots-on-the-ground" reporting. CNN, it noted, was the only U.S. news operation, broadcast or cable, that provided any live coverage at all from Mumbai. On Thursday morning, at the height of the attacks, B&C observed the broadcast networks virtually ignored them, two of them providing in-depth coverate of the Macy's Christmas Day Parade in New York. Former CBS News producer Rome Hartman, now reigning over BBC World News America, remarked, "There was something slightly diffident about that being pretty much all you could find on American TV on Thursday morning."
Black Family In White House, None On Network TV
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
As an African American prepares for his inauguration as president of the United States, the Los Angeles Times observes today (Wednesday) that no American broadcast network is airing a single show featuring a person of color in a central role. (An arguable exception is the role of Dennis Haysbert in CBS's The Unit.) Responding to requests by the Times for interviews, each of the major networks declined and instead submitted statements detailing their commitment to diversity. (CBS did not respond.) Felicia D. Henderson, creator of the Showtime classic Soul Food, told the newspaper, "I've pitched these projects with main black characters and have been told, 'We just can't see that,' or, 'No one will watch that,'"
For Cable Operators: Now, The Good News!
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Cable operators should take heart in the fact that their stocks began falling long before the recession officially was declared since history suggests that they also rise before the general economy recovers, Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen told the B&C-Multichannel News OnScreen Media Summit in New York Tuesday. As reported by the online Multichannel News, Cohen predicted that cable systems will outperform the rest of the market and observed that the recession gives them an opportunity to win subscribers always from satellite operators. Those satellite companies, she noted, have become a kind of "one-trick pony," whereas cable companies are now a triple threat, since they're able to package cable, Internet, and telephone service together.
More Broadcast Regulations Returning Under Obama?
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley predicted that the Feb. 17 switchover to digital TV will go relatively smoothly and that those who have not acquired converter boxes will do so when their TV sets go black. "It's not like we're shutting off their electricity," Wiley told the B&C-Multichannel News OnScreen Media Summit in New York Tuesday. "I think within a week or so we can have this problem solved." Wiley, a Republican who served as head of the FCC during the Ford administration, also warned broadcasters that the coming Obama administration was likely to support tougher regulations than the current Bush administration. In particular, he warned that Congressman Henry Waxman, who will become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee "is going to be a very vigorous chairman" in pursuing new rules regarding advertising for prescription drugs, ads during children's shows and product placement."
ABC: Dancing One Minute, Crashing The Next
3 December 2008 1:32 AM, PST
Dancing With the Stars is clearly to ABC what American Idol is to Fox -- the most important weapon in its arsenal against rivals. The problem is that neither of the shows provide much rerun opportunity and when they're over for the season the shows that replace them generally don't come close to equaling their ratings. That was particularly obvious in the case of Dancing. Last week's final episode attracted 21.1 million viewers, the most for any regular non-sports show of the season. By comparison, the season debut of According to Jim one week later drew a last-place 5.83 million viewers for two back-to-back episodes in the 9:00 p.m. hour, leading MediaWeek.com's ratings columnist Marc Berman to ask, "Why is this show still on the air?" Dancing is not scheduled to return to ABC's lineup until March 9. The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:1. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 12.9/20; 2. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 12.8/19; 3. 60 Minutes, CBS, 11.4/17; 4. NCIS, CBS, 11.1/18; 5. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 9.9/15; 6. The Mentalist, CBS, 9.7/15; 7. Sunday Night Football -- Chicago at Minnesota, NBC, 9.6/15; 8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 9.2/15; 9. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9/13; 10. Criminal Minds, CBS, 8.6/15.
Christmas Comes On Thanksgiving -- Not A Moment Too Soon
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
Four Christmases added up to a terrific Thanksgiving for New Line and the nation's theater owners. The movie officially earned $31.1 million over the Friday-through-Sunday period to replace Summit Entertainment's Twilight at the top of the box office top ten. Twilight, which grossed a sensational $69.6 million last weekend, plunged 62 percent to $26.34 million, sliding to third place. It was edged out by Disney's Bolt, which earned $26.81 million in its second week. The much-anticipated Baz Luhrmann epic Australia, which reportedly cost $130 million to produce, opened in fifth place with $14.80 million. Overall, the top twelve films at the box office took in $154.79 million, versus $150.80 million a year ago.
The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. Four Christmases, New Line, $31,069,826, (New); 2. Bolt, Disney, $26,581,002, 2 Wks. ($66,848,840); 3. Twilight, Summit Ent. $26,344,032, 2 Wks. ($11,970,6509); 4. Quantum of Solace, Sony/MGM, $18,833,552, 3 Wks. ($14,141,8534); 5. Australia, 20th Century Fox, $14,800,723, 1 Wks, (New); 6. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Paramount, $14,207,329, 4 Wks. ($15,906,6369); 7. Transporter 3, Lionsgate, $12,063,452, 1 Wks, (New); 8. Role Models, Universal, $5,191,180, 4 Wks. ($57,780,820); 9 . The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, Miramax, $1,696,187, 4 Wks. ($5,169,495); 10. Milk, Focus, $1,453,844, 1 Wks, (New).
AMPTP Replies To WGA Attack
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers accused the Writers Guild of America of issuing misleading statements about delayed payments to writers for new media use under its latest contract. The AMPTP blamed the delays on difficulties putting in place costly accounting systems to calculate residual payments for film and TV streaming and permanent downloads. It acknowledged owing interest on the delayed payments and maintained that the current contract includes language taking into account such delays. The AMPTP further accused the WGA of arbitrarily issuing a press release blasting the studios rather than taking the matter up directly with them. "Instead of working cooperatively with the Companies to resolve any outstanding issues, the WGA went public on the eve of the crucial SAG-amptp federal mediation. This move was blatantly designed to disrupt that mediation and help justify SAG's eventual decision to reject the AMPTP's offer and end the mediation," the statement said.
Redstone In Mortal Combat, Sells Game Unit
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
Hoping to ease his debt load, media mogul Sumner Redstone has sold his 87-percent stake in the money-losing videogame company, Midway Games, for a fire-sale price, the Wall Street Journal said today (Tuesday). Investor Mark Thomas reportedly paid about $100,000 for the stake and agreed to assume $70 million in debt. The sale permits Redstone's holding company, National Amusements, to pay off little of his $1.6 billion in loans but it apparently does allow him to realize a tax loss for 2008 of more than $800 million and to receive a significant tax refund on amounts paid previously, the report said. The Journal, citing credit analysts, observed that even though Midway had a market value of $30 million at the time of the sale, Redstone decided to sell at a huge discount in order to complete the deal by the end of this year. But Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, told the Los Angeles Times, "Redstone is giving Midway away. ... That's crazy." Still, Redstone continues to wrestle with lenders, and some analysts are predicting that he will next sell off some or all of his movie theaters and/or his stake in slot-machine company Wms Industries, rather than put his two favorite holdings, Viacom and CBS on the block. Little is known about the Midway buyer, Thomas, who is said to have used his personal funds in order to complete the transaction quickly. The once-high-flying videogame company, which achieved acclaim, notoriety and success with its "Mortal Kombat" game, has been unable to duplicate its success in recent years. In the last quarter it lost nearly $76 million. The 85-year-old Redstone, meanwhile, has also been caught in a pincers movement, surrounded on one side by lenders and on another by some of those closest to him -- his wife, who is suing for divorce, his daughter who heads his theater chain and is feuding with him, and his son, who is also suing him.
Canadian Cable Mogul Rogers Dead At 75
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
Ted Rogers, head of Rogers Communications, the largest Canadian cable company, died Monday of congestive heart failure at age 75. The company's chairman and acting CEO, Alan Horn said in a statement. "Ted Rogers was one of a kind who built this company from one Fm radio station into Canada's largest wireless, cable and media company." Rogers also owned the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and the Rogers Centre, formerly the Toronto SkyDome.
PPV Fight Viewers Could Get Their Money Back
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
The Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao welterweight championship bout will cost $54.95 on pay-per-view but HBO indicated Monday that many viewers will be able to watch it for far less than that if they take advantage of rebates being offered by advertisers. Heineken's Cerveza Tecate and Coca-Cola's Full Throttle energy drink, both popular among Hispanics, are offering $20 rebates for purchases of their products. Mark Taffet, HBO senior vp, sports operations and Ppv, said Monday, "In 18 PPV fights, Oscar has brought in $625 million on 12.8 million buys. ... This could be up there with the Mayweather fight" which grossed $134 million.
Sony Traveling Two Roads During HDTV Transition
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
Seeming to suggest that since it's anybody's guess whether consumers will prefer Blu-ray discs or Internet downloads as they install HDTV systems, Sony has decided to travel both routes. And it apparently is hoping that its PlayStation 3 game console will act as a converging point, Already capable of playing Blu-ray discs and streaming HDTV content from its online movie service, Sony is now planning to expand the library of films it can offer PS3 owners. Currently only films produced by Sony's Columbia, TriStar, Screen Gems, and Sony Pictures Classics are offered via the Internet. Sony Electronics President and COO Stan Glasgow told Broadcasting and Cable magazine, "We would like to expand the PS3 store to other studios."
NBC Denies Report That Gregory Will Host Meet The Press
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
NBC News late Monday denied a report that first appeared on the Huffington Post website that David Gregory had been selected to become the next moderator of Meet the Press. Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw has been filling in as interim moderator since the death of Tim Russert last June. Meanwhile, an analysis of November sweeps data indicated Monday that, with an average of 4.5 million viewers during the month, Mtp posted its best ratings for the month in four years.
Pathological Cases Draw Viewers To Showtime
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
"Pathology programming" by CBS-owned Showtime has helped give the pay-tv channel five consecutive years of growth, including a gain of 1.1 million subscribers this year, an increase of 7 percent over last year, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Tuesday) The newspaper cited such original programming as Weeds, in which a widow becomes a pot dealer; a serial killer in Dexter who works as a police investigator; and a lust-driven Henry VIII in The Tudors. "When you have a number of shows that have buzz, people begin to say, 'I have to have Showtime,'" CBS CEO Les Moonves told the Times. Moonves also discounted speculation that Showtime could be especially vulnerable during a tight economy when consumers may be trying to save money by cutting down their cable bills. "No one knows what might happen because we've never experienced an economic situation like this before," Moonves said. "But Showtime should be relatively stable."
Black Friday Colorful On HDTV
2 December 2008 10:53 AM, PST
"Recession, what recession?" That might have been the reaction to Monday's report that Black Friday sales were up 7.2 percent from last year and that retailers were able to avoid the deep discounting of recent years. The National Retail Federation released a statement forecasting that 172 million people either visited brick-and-mortar stores or shopped online over the four days versus 147 million last year. The Nrf reported that 36 percent bought consumer-electronic items, while 39 percent bought software to go with them (and books}.
Union/Studios Butt Heads
1 December 2008 10:28 AM, PST
The Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studio heads each accused the other of greed over the Thanksgiving holiday. SAG President Alan Rosenberg led off the latest barrage by responding to criticism that during the current economic turmoil it was a bad time to be talking of a strike. "Like it's our fault," he said. "We are the victims of corporate greed. We didn't cause this turmoil." The heads of the six major studios and the heads of CBS and NBC responded in an open letter published as an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times: "SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the business," they said. "To comply with SAG's demands would mean SAG merits more than everyone else. Saying yes would jeopardize the trust we have so carefully established with the rest of the industry."
Lights Dim For Bollywood
1 December 2008 10:28 AM, PST
The siege in Mumbai sent shockwaves throughout India's Bollywood film industry located in that city, once known as Bombay. Many productions shut down, and the bollywood.com website posted a report noting, "No one is in the mood to return to work" and concluding, "Bollywood is in no mood to forgive, forget and move on." Many theaters throughout the city shut down during the siege, presumably concerned that a crowded cinema might represent a prime target for terrorists. Ironically, the attacks concluded on the very day that a British film set in Mumbai won the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards. Slumdog Millionaire, which also attracted huge crowds during its limited release in the U.S. over the weekend, also won for best director (Danny Boyle) and best newcomer (Dev Patel). Speaking at the awards ceremonies, Ben Kingsley, who won a best-actor Oscar for his 1982 portrayal of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi, said, "I really hope India can shake this off, because so many people want to be there and invest there and enjoy their industry and economy." Reuters noted that the attacks coincide with a growing alliance between Hollywood and India. Asia media analyst Vivek Couto told the wire service, "The timing couldn't have been worse. ... What will be important to see are capital flows in India."
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