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Viacom is appealing a court decision that YouTube obeyed copyright laws even though the Internet video site used to show thousands of pirated clips.
The challenge filed Friday in a federal appeals court in New York had been expected since a June ruling rebuffed Viacom’s copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and its owner, Google Inc. Get the full story »
By Michael Oneal and Becky Yerak | The unsecured creditors’ committee in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case has filed the first of what’s expected to be about 210 individual claims against current and former officers and directors of the Chicago-based media company seeking to claw back close to $180 million in so-called “preference payments” they collected.
The first claim, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, DE., targeted Chandler Bigelow, Tribune Co.’s chief financial officer. It seeks recovery of more than $1.6 million in compensation he was paid in December 2007 when he was the company’s treasurer, including a $400,000 bonus and $880,645 in restricted stock. Get the full story »
Here’s a message TV viewers may not want to mute: The days of getting blasted out of the easy chair by blaring TV commercials may soon be over.
The House on Thursday gave final congressional approval to a bill that would prevent advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to catch the attention of viewers wandering off when regular programming is interrupted. Get the full story »
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear on the news program “60 minutes” on Sunday, part of an effort by the central bank to step up its public communications.
The move comes as the Fed’s decision last month to purchase an additional $600 billion caused a flurry of criticism from politicians in Washington, who argue the central bank is playing with fire and courting future inflation. Get the full story »
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. entered the final act of its reorganization when it won court approval, clearing the way for the storied Hollywood studio to emerge from bankruptcy with new owners.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein approved the restructuring plan at a hearing Thursday in Manhattan. Jay Goffman, a lawyer for MGM, said the company expects to emerge from bankruptcy in a few weeks. Get the full story »
Chicago sports fans who subscribe to Dish Network better keep an eye on a West Coast carriage dispute in which Dish customers have not had Comcast SportsNet California since Nov. 24.
Potentially at stake is the access of roughly 360,000 Chicago-area homes — about 10 percent of the market — to Blackhawks hockey, Bulls basketball and Cubs and White Sox baseball.
(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey plans another pick for her popular book club.
Harpo Productions said Tuesday that current Oprah’s Book Club author Jonathan Franzen will appear on Monday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Winfrey chose Franzen’s latest book “Freedom” in September as the first selection for the 25th and final season of her talk show.
On that same episode, Winfrey will announce her next book club pick. The new selection comes about 11 weeks after Winfrey chose “Freedom.” Since 2008, she has averaged one or two selections a year. Winfrey’s book club choices have vaulted to the best-seller list and given authors instant fame. Get the full story »
Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold.
The long-delayed venture — Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer — recently has cleared several technical and legal hurdles, people close to the company say. It is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the month and internationally in the first quarter of next year, said Scott Dougall, a Google product management director. Get the full story »
From Time Magazine | With this week’s opening of the Playboy Club Macao, Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said he is confident he’s found a place for the iconic company in the digital age. Instead of relying on American men buying magazines and watching cable, the company’s profits will depend on two seemingly unlikely demographics: Asian women and cosmopolitan clubgoers. Get the full story>>
After chewing up television with its wildly popular Shark Week, Discovery Communications aims to snatch an even bigger bite for its popular franchise: comic books.
The parent company of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet hopes to make a big splash when it releases its first comic book, “Top 10 Deadliest Sharks.” The book — dubbed a nonfiction graphic novel — comes out Dec. 1 and is being published by Philadelphia’s Zenescope Entertainment under the Silver Dragon Books imprint.
Get the full story »
Talk show host Laura Schlessinger, also known as Dr. Laura. (AP Photo/SIRIUS XM Radio)
Talk-show host Laura Schlessinger won’t stay away from radio very long — only a weekend, in fact. Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Monday it has a multiyear deal with Schlessinger to bring her “Dr. Laura” advice program to satellite radio in January. Specific terms were not revealed.
Schlessinger had said in August that she was quitting her syndicated radio program, a week after she apologized for using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman, and activists demanded her ouster.
She ends her traditional radio program on Friday, Dec. 31. The following Monday, her “Dr. Laura” show will begin live at 2 p.m. on Sirius XM. It will air for three hours a day on Monday through Friday. Get the full story »
The Federal Trade Commission said Friday that it has settled charges that a California public-relations firm posted fake video game reviews on Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store.
According to an FTC complaint, employees of California-based Reverb Communications Inc. allegedly engaged in deceptive online advertising by having paid employees and company managers pose as consumers and write glowing video game reviews of clients’ games. Get the full story »
The Walt Disney Co.’s early release of its earnings report this month came down to a Dumbo move: The company made the information accessible on an easy-to-guess Web address.
Disney didn’t plan on posting the link on its site until after the market closed. But a reporter at Bloomberg News found it with simple Internet sleuthing and reported results about a half-hour before the scheduled release, according to a person familiar with Bloomberg’s practices. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Get the full story »
Robert Feder, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist whose local media coverage and criticism gave Chicago Public Media’s Vocalo both an identity and much of its Web traffic, announced early Tuesday on his blog he is leaving the site he joined only last fall.
Sen. Al Franken, a critic of Comcast Corp.’s proposed deal for control of NBC Universal, asked the Justice Department Monday to investigate whether the giant cable company had engaged in “illegal collaboration” concerning its intended target.
Franken (D-Minn.) said that on Sept. 26 Comcast had named its chief operating officer, Steve Burke, as the prospective chief executive of NBC Universal. Last week, Comcast named several executives who would hold top jobs at NBC Universal after the cable company took control of the broadcaster and movie studio from General Electric Co. Get the full story »
