ANOTHER TAKE ON COLLAPSE OF WEINSTEIN-DISNEY TALKS

Ron Burkle, the billionaire investor who was leading the negotiations to buy Miramax from the Walt Disney Co. and put it back in the hands of Bob and Harvey Weinstein to manage, reportedly cut his offer to $565 million from $625 million last week, leading Disney to end further negotiations with him and his group, [...]

“THR” OWNER SAYS HE’LL INVEST IN IT AND EXPAND STAFF

Disputing rampant speculation that e5 Global Media, the new owners of the Hollywood Reporter, was planning additional cutbacks at the morale-challenged trade publication and converting it into a slick, celebrity-oriented weekly, the company’s CEO, Richard Beckman, has told Reuters that he plans to do just the opposite. In an interview with the wire service (Reuters [...]

DISNEY TO UNPLUG SOAPNET, REPLACE IT WITH DISNEY JUNIOR

Like many of the shows that have appeared on it over the past decade, the cable channel SOAPnet is all washed up — or will be in 2012. That’s when the Walt Disney Co. intends to convert it into a new kids channel called Disney Junior, the New York Times reported on its website today [...]

THE 2009-2010 SEASON IS OVER

The last full week of the 2009-2010 broadcast season was won by ABC, an also-ran through most of the season, among adults 18-49 and by CBS among viewers overall. ABC was helped by a full slate of season finales, including the series finale of Lost on Sunday night. The official end of the season comes [...]

“IDOL” LIKELY TO DRAW SEASON’S BIGGEST RATINGS TONIGHT

Tonight’s (Wednesday) season finale of American Idol will be watched not only to see who’s crowned this year’s winner — Crystal Bowersox or Lee DeWyze — but also to see what Simon Cowell has to say during his final appearance as the principal judge on the show. Asked to comment on Cowell’s departure, TV historian [...]

TIME WARNER INTRODUCES NEW MOVIE CHANNEL — IN SPANISH

Recognizing the growing clout of the Hispanic market, Time Warner Cable has begun rolling out a new, commercial-free, Spanish-language movie channel, VeneMovies, as part of its Hispanic tier, Nuestra Tele. The company said on Tuesday that it had introduced the channel in the city of San Diego and several cities in the nearby Coachella Valley, [...]

U.K.’S ITV EXPECTS WORLD CUP TO LIFT REVENUE 25%

ITV, Britain’s leading commercial broadcaster, is predicting that its coverage of the World Cup will lift its advertising revenue by 25 percent in June and July. According to the London Daily Mail, ITV executives are hoping that ad revenue will be boosted even further if England makes it into the quarter finals and beyond. ITV [...]

PANASONIC HAS HIGH HOPES FOR PLASMA 3D TV SETS

Japan’s Panasonic Corp. is predicting that by the time its 2012-2013 fiscal year ends, 70 percent of its plasma TV sets will be 3D capable. In an interview with the Associated Press, Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsbo said, “3D TVs are becoming massively popular, not just in the U.S. but also in other regions. … There’s [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: “SEX AND THE CITY 2″

The Memorial Day weekend is coming up — a time for remembering the dead, and, in the case of Sex and the City 2, even a dead television series. The movie is opening tonight (Wednesday) in some markets — in an apparent effort to grab women who have been granted an extra-long holiday. Critics would [...]

DID 3D SURCHARGES CUT DOWN SHREK?

While rising premium pricing for 3D and big-screen presentations of Shrek Forever After had been expected to increase the weekend gross of the movie substantially, some analysts now maintain that it actually reduced it. On its website, New York magazine, noting that moviegoers eagerly paid a 3D surcharge to see Avatar “because it was something [...]

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