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Reuters | Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Home Entertainment Inc. said on Tuesday it reached a multi-year deal to provide Coinstar Inc.’s Redbox Automated Retail LLC kiosks with its DVD and Blu-ray titles on the same day they are released in the sell-through market.
Actor Kevin Costner testified on the Gulf oil spill last week before the House Science and Technology Committee. (AFP/Getty Images)
From ABC News | As part of its growing arsenal to fight the Gulf oil spill, BP has contracted with actor Kevin Costner and Ocean Therapy Solutions to uses their centrifuge machines that separate oil from the water.
Get the full story: abcnews.com
Associated Press | To appeal to families ready to graduate from
the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Corp. wants to build on the success of the
Wii’s motion-capture wand — by getting rid of the wand.
On Monday, Microsoft detailed its new Kinect game technology, coming
this fall for the Xbox 360 game console. Once known as Project Natal,
the Kinect system recognizes users’ gestures and voices, so players can
control on-screen avatars in racing, action and sports games by moving
their body. Microsoft showed off a “Star Wars” game, coming in 2011,
that will use Kinect to let players swing virtual lightsabers from their
living rooms.
Reuters | Lions Gate Entertainment Corp may be flirting with bankruptcy, according to Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor attempting a hostile takeover of the movie studio.
By Phil Rosenthal | Nearly a third of Chicago households were glued to their sets as the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime Wednesday for their first Stanley Cup title in 49 years.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
Sports Business Journal | Though neither Allstate nor ESPN are commenting, the insurance giant is reported to be near extending its sponsorship of the Sugar Bowl. Allstate has sponsored the BCS game since 2007, and the deal would keep the relationship in place through January 2014.
Read the full story: sportsbusinessjournal.com
By Julie Johnsson
| A public relations stunt for an Imax movie celebrating the Boeing 787
Dreamliner and other iconic aircraft went awry Tuesday morning when a
vintage Boeing aircraft buzzing downtown Washington, D.C., crashed after
landing.
The 1940s-era Boeing Stearman PT17 biplane, featured in the film,
“Legends of Flight,” flipped on its back as it touched down at Reagan
National Airport, a not so uncommon event in the early days of flight.
By Kristin Samuelson | A technology upgrade has caused DirecTV’s HDDVR service to go down. The satellite TV provider is hearing all about it on Twitter, and offers a solution on the social media site too.
Read the full story: problemsolver
By Phil Rosenthal | Those remembering the time when network TV broadcast the whole of the Stanley Cup finals need to shake the cobwebs from their minds. Never happened in the U.S., according to NHL HQ.
Read the full story: Tower Ticker
Reuters | IMAX Corp said Tuesday it plans to expand its
big-screen theater offering in North America in partnership with
theater-operator AMC Entertainment. Imax and AMC intend to open 15 to
25 new Imax theaters in 2011 in both new markets and some markets where
AMC already operates Imax theaters in North America, the two companies
said in a joint statement.
Producer Simon Fuller, center, in 2008, with former American Idol contestants Jordin Sparks, left, and Chris Daughtry, right. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Associated Press | The owner of the “American Idol” reality TV
show said Friday it has received an acquisition offer from a group of
investors led by British media mogul Simon Fuller. CKX Inc. said it is
evaluating the proposal and other strategic alternatives. Fuller
created the “Idol” franchise but sold his company, 19 Entertainment, to
CKX in 2005.
CKX did not say how much it was being offered but The Wall Street
Journal said former Barclays Capital banker Roger Jenkins is one of the
investors joining Fuller in a $600 million bid for CKX. The company
also owns the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley
and Muhammad Ali.
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
| AMC Entertainment Inc. completed its $275 million acquisition of
Chicago-based Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres LLC, which operates 95 movie
complexes and 972 screens in 21 markets.
The deal also gives Regal Entertainment Group a bigger footprint in the
local market and entry into the city of Chicago.
AMC confirmed Tuesday that it has sold to Regal the AMC Gardens 13 in
Skokie; Kerasotes Glen 10 in Glenview; AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville;
and Kerasotes Showplace 12 in Bolingbrook. The Justice Department said
late Friday that AMC would have to divest those complexes, as well as
ones in the Indianapolis and Denver markets, in order for the
AMC-Kerasotes deal to pass regulatory scrutiny.
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
| Two Kerasotes movie theater complexes within Chicago will reopen at 6
p.m. Tuesday as Regal Entertainment Group theaters, under an agreement
that allows Regal to gain a foothold within the city of Chicago.
Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal announced Monday that it would acquire nine
theaters from AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. in Illinois, Indiana and
Colorado, in exchange for cash and two Regal theaters. While the company
is staying mum on several of the locations, two of the complexes are
the Kerasotes’ Chicago City North 14 and Webster Place 11 locations in
Chicago, a spokesman said.
Associated Press | The owners of AMC Theatres say a $20 adult ticket price for an IMAX showing of “Shrek Forever After” at some of its Manhattan theaters was posted online in error. AMC spokesman Justin Scott said Friday that a limited number of its theaters “posted incorrect pricing.” He says customers who bought a $20 ticket would be eligible for a refund.
By Wailin Wong | “Lost” fans searching for secrets of the ABC show’s final episode may be in store for a nasty surprise: An infected computer.
PandaLabs, a unit of computer security company Panda Security, said it has detected a new distribution method for a kind of malware called the MySecurityEngine fake antivirus. This malware and the way it infects a computer are not new, but the bait it uses does change according to current events and popular search terms.
