A TV SET IN EVERY ROOM?

There are now more TV sets in the average American home than there are people, according to Nielsen Media Research. According to its annual Television Audience Report, the average number of TV sets in a U.S. household is 2.93. The number of people, 2.5. The company observed that, despite the recession, more new television sets [...]

COMCAST, TIME WARNER LOSE SUBSCRIBERS BUT GAIN PROFITS

Shares of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, were up 5.5 percent at midday today (Thursday) following the company’s announcement that its first-quarter net income was up 12 percent from a year ago. The result came despite a loss of 82,000 subscribers — presumably to satellite competitors — during the quarter. In a conference call [...]

ABC NEWS ELIMINATES A QUARTER OF ITS EMPLOYEES

ABC News’s latest round of staff cutbacks — the most stringent in its history — ended on Tuesday with the firing of 22 employees after more than 300-400 other staffers and contract employees agreed to take voluntary buyouts, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday), citing a source familiar with the process. The number who [...]

BRITS QUICKLY SWITCHING TO HD

The transition from standard- to high-definition television in Britain appears to be going at full-steam, judging from today’s (Thursday) quarterly report from News Corp-controlled BSkyB. The satellite service said that in its last quarter it signed up 428,000 subscribers for its Sky+ HD service, well above the 336,000 sign-ups predicted by financial analysts. The company [...]

LET THE TALKS BEGIN

Directors Guild of America (DGA) President and Negotiations Chairman Gil Cates announced Wednesday that the guild plans to open negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in mid-November. The talks would thus immediately follow those between the AMPTP and the two performers unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American [...]

“AVATAR” TRIUMPHS IN HOME-VIDEO DEBUT

Like the invaders of Pandora, Avatar crushed all competition at the video stores and video rental outlets last week. Home Media magazine observed that DVD and Blu-ray sales of the movie came to 6.7 million. By contrast, Crazy Heart, featuring Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, debuted in second place with just 5 percent as many sales. [...]

YOUNG ACTOR DEFENDS VIOLENT VIDEO

The red-headed boy playing the victim of anti-redhead American soldiers in U.K. rapper M.I.A.’s censored video has come to its defense. Although apparently yanked from YouTube by Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, M.I.A.’s record label, ostensibly because of its violent content, the nearly 10-minute long video “Born Free” has “gone viral” on the Internet. (The boy [...]

CANNES FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES CLOSING FILM

The Cannes Film Festival announced today (Thursday) that French director Julie Bertucelli’s English-language The Tree will be the closing film at the 63rd annual festival on May 23. The film, shot in Australia and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas and Aden Young, is adapted from Australian writer Judy Pascoe’s novel, Our Father Who Art in [...]

WARNER BROS. TO BOOST OUTPUT OF IMAX-FORMATED FILMS

In what amounted to a tacit acknowledgement of IMAX’s importance to its bottom line, Warner Bros. announced Wednesday that it had agreed to release up to 20 films in the IMAX format over the next 3 1/2 years in both 3D and 2D formats. Currently all of the major studios have been fighting over the [...]

“DANCING” TRIPS “IDOL” AGAIN

Once again, Fox’s American Idol was not the top-rated show last week. For the third consecutive week, it was beaten out by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, whose Monday edition attracted 21.07 million viewers. The Tuesday edition of Idol placed second for the week with 19.67 million viewers. Idol‘s Wednesday results edition came in third [...]

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