ESPN MUST PAY DISH $4.86 MILLION, BUT IT’S A HOLLOW LEGAL WIN

A federal jury on Thursday ordered ESPN to pay satellite service DISH network $4.86 million for breaching a 2005 licensing agreement involving its Spanish-language channel, ESPN Deportes. But it was a hollow victory. DISH had sought $153 million in damages, claiming that ESPN had breached the “most favored nation” clause in their contract, which requires […]

IDOL: DOWN — BUT BY NO MEANS OUT — FOR THE COUNT

Even with its lowest ratings since 2002, American Idol still beat all of its competition in total viewers Wednesday night — handily. The talent show attracted 13.15 million viewers, fewer than half the viewers that it regularly drew just a few years ago. Still, its competition had little to complain about. ABC’s Modern Family tied […]

AUDREY HEPBURN, DEAD 20 YEARS, IS RESURRECTED FOR TV AD

Presaging a day when long-dead Hollywood film stars can be resurrected by digital wizardry, the special-effects house Framestore Digital has created a commercial for Galaxy chocolate starring a digital version of Audrey Hepburn, who died in 1993 at the age of 63. On its website, Framestore said that it first attempted to alter the facial […]

CBS CLAMPS DOWN AGAIN ON PUBLICITY FOR DISH’S HOPPER

In its latest effort to thwart publicity for DISH Network’s Hopper technology, CBS on Wednesday demanded that Kaley Coco, a star of the network’s comedy hit The Big Bang Theory, remove a sponsored tweet on behalf of DISH’s ad-skipping Hopper technology. “It’s disappointing that CBS — once the exemplar of editorial independence and innovation — […]

VAN CLIBURN, TV’S FIRST CLASSICAL MUSIC SUPERSTAR, DEAD AT 78

Van Cliburn, who rode the wings of early television to become the first classical musician to achieve international superstar status following his triumph at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, died Wednesday of bone cancer at age 78. He has performed only sporadically since 1978, telling the New York Times in 2008 that […]

STEVEN SPIELBERG AGREES TO HEAD CANNES JURY

After being courted for more than thirty years to head the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, Steven Spielberg has agreed to do so when the annual film competition takes place from May 15 to 26. In a statement, Festival President Gilles Jacob said that ever since he screened E.T. as a world premiere in […]

NY TO EXEMPT FILMMAKERS FROM TOUGH NEW GUN LAW

The state of New York, which rushed through one of the toughest gun-control laws in the country following the Connecticut school shootings, is crafting an exemption that would allow filmmakers to continue to stage gun battles in front of their cameras. In an interview with the Associated Press, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “There’s no reason […]

COMCAST: SIX STRIKES AND WE TURN OFF YOUR INTERNET BROWSER

Comcast, the nation’s leading cable-TV and ISP provider, said on Wednesday that it will block Internet access to users who it believes have engaged in copyright infringement after it has received six complaints from copyright owners. The fifth and sixth alerts to customers trigger a 14-day appeals period in which they may appeal the impending […]

BRITISH COURT ORDERS PIRATE SITES BLOCKED

Britain’s High Court, comparable to the U.S Court of Appeals (or Federal Court), has ordered Britain’s principal broadband providers to “block or at least impede access” to three BitTorrent websites within 15 days. The order would effectively cut off users’ access to KAT, H33T and Fenopy. The court acted following a petition by 10 record […]

STEVEN SPIELBERG AGREES TO HEAD CANNES JURY

After being courted for more than thirty years to head the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, Steven Spielberg has agreed to do so when the annual film competition takes place from May 15 to 26. In a statement, Festival President Gilles Jacob said that ever since he screened E.T. as a world premiere in […]

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