The 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” starts airing Monday. And Winfrey has already hinted she’s going out in style. In recently released video of the season’s first episode, the TV talk show host and actor John Travolta dance hand-in-hand through her stage doors to “Love Train” by the O’Jays. Get the full story »
Filed under: Media
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Roger Ebert to produce new movie show
From The Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz announced Friday that they will produce a weekly film-review program called “Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies,” which will be a half hour long. The program continues the 35-year-old run of a reviewing format first introduced by Gene Siskel and Ebert and later by Ebert and Richard Roeper.
Glasses a deal-breaker for 3-D TV
Aside from the cost of buying 3-D TV sets, the glasses required to watch them are a major hindrance, according to a study released today by The Nielson Co. about consumer attitudes toward 3-D televisions.
Fifty-seven percent of people surveyed cited the glasses as a reason they were not likely to buy a set. Nearly nine in 10 people worry that it will constrain them from multitasking while the TV is on, the survey said. Get the full story »
Playboy for the blind? Yep, pictures and all
Suzi Hanks reads Playboy's articles -- and describes the pictures -- for Taping for the Blind in Texas. (AP)
Suzi Hanks reads Playboy magazine for the articles. And the jokes. And the letters and cartoons. And yes, for the pictures. Each week, for an hour, Hanks snuggles close to a microphone in a tiny soundproof closet, reading — and describing in great detail — portions of the latest Playboy issue for the blind.
“I don’t have to try to read it sexy,” laughs Hanks, one of about 200 volunteers at Houston-based Taping For The Blind Inc. “I just read it, and I’m a woman, and that’s pretty much sexy. Get the full story »
Netflix to add more streamed movies
Netflix Inc. has reached an agreement to license first-run theatrical movies distributed by Nu Image/Millennium Films for online streaming during the “pay TV window,” when they’re usually available on premium TV channels.
Shares rose 3.11 percent, to $146.20, in late afternoon trading. The stock has more than doubled so far this year. Get the full story »
CNN says Piers Morgan will replace Larry King
After months of speculation, Piers Morgan, the British newspaper editor best-known to U.S. audiences as a judge on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” has finally completed talks to take over Larry King’s weeknight talk show on CNN.
Sep. 8, 2010 at 10:06 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media, Newspapers, Personnel moves, Radio, TV Tribune Co. names Liebentritt chief restructuring officer
Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. today named Donald Liebentritt chief restructuring officer, effective immediately. The company promoted David Eldersveld to be his successor as general counsel.
WFLD makes Canellis lead sportscaster
Lou Canellis has been named WFLD-Ch. 32’s new lead sportscaster, succeeding Corey McPherrin, who last month became co-host of the station’s low-rated morning program, “Good Day, Chicago.”
Martha Stewart to lead Hallmark Ch. makeover
Martha Stewart has a knack for transforming dated rooms into design showpieces. Now she’s undertaking another major renovation: the Hallmark Channel.
Beginning Monday, Stewart will provide eight hours of programming each weekday as part of an ambitious revamp of the Hallmark Channel. After pinning its fortunes on the broad appeal of sentimental made-for-TV movies and reruns of such classic shows as “The Golden Girls” and “Little House on the Prairie,” Hallmark plans to focus on home and lifestyle improvement and cooking shows.
Sep. 7, 2010 at 12:33 p.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Internet, Media, Newspapers, Personnel moves Crain’s publisher steps down, No. 2 steps up
David Blake is stepping down after 10 years as publisher of Crain’s Chicago Business, which on Tuesday named Associate Publisher David Snyder his successor, effective Oct. 15.
Through the end of the year, Blake, 56, will mentor Snyder, 48, and shepherd the launch of a new online and event business that will focus on the region’s health care economy, among other projects for the weekly publication and its Internet platforms.
David Blake is stepping down after 10 years as publisher of tCrain’s Chicago Business, which on Tuesday named Associate Publisher David Snyder his successor, effective Oct. 15.
Through the end of the year, Blake, 56, will mentor Snyder, 48, and shepherd the launch of a new online and event business that will focus on the region’s healthcare economy, among other projects for the weekly publication and its Internet platforms.
Google to start TV service in U.S. this fall
Google will launch its new service to bring the Web to TV screens in the United States this autumn and worldwide next year, its chief executive said, as it extends its reach from the desktop to the living room. Get the full story »
Playboy board hires advisers to weigh Hefner bid
The Playboy Enterprises Inc. special board committee tapped to evaluate Hugh Hefner’s offer to take the company private said Tuesday it retained Raine Securities LLC and Kaye Scholer LLP as its financial and legal advisors, respectively. Get the full story »
Redbox rents 1 billionth movie
Fast-growing DVD rental provider Redbox said it reached a milestone this weekend with the rental of its 1 billionth movie — “Clash of the Titans,” at a kiosk in Tampa, Fla.
The rental milestone occurred six years after the first kiosk appeared in Denver. Get the full story »
Howard Stern contract waning at Sirius XM
Howard Stern waits to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq in 2006 to mark the launch of his show on Sirius (Bloomberg)
Shock jock Howard Stern brought more than just his oversized personality to satellite radio when he joined Sirius — he also carted along an estimated 1.2 million new subscribers.
Now, five years later, Stern’s $500 million contract with Sirius XM Radio Inc. is nearly up, giving rise to concerns about how well the company would fare without one of its biggest stars. At the moment, its stock is trading around $1 a share and is down 5 percent in the last month, underperforming the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Get the full story »
McDonald’s ranks last in Consumer Reports
A McDonald's double cheeseburger. (Kevin Pang/Tribune)
Oak Brook-based McDonald’s Corp. came in last in a new Consumer Reports rating of fast-food burgers, the magazine said Friday.
Burger King and Wendy’s fared a little better, but the top honors went to smaller regional chains like California’s In-N-Out Burger and Virginia-based Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which has several locations in Chicago. Get the full story »
