Filed under: Media

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Aug. 25, 2010 at 5:45 p.m.
13 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Entertainment, Investing, Management, Media, Newspapers, Radio, TV, Updated

Will Eisner be Tribune Co.’s next chairman?

By Tribune newspapers

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner on July 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Michael Oneal and Sallie Hofmeister

Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner is in discussions that could lead to his return to the media spotlight — as chairman of the now-bankrupt Tribune Co.

The Chicago-based media company’s largest creditors are having preliminary conversations with prospective candidates who could operate Tribune Co. once it emerges from bankruptcy, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

Eisner, who has been dabbling in the digital world as an investor since stepping down from Disney in 2005, is among the candidates under consideration to replace Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell as chairman of the reorganized company. Get the full story »

Aug. 24, 2010 at 4:47 p.m.
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Filed under: Computers, Entertainment, Internet, Media, TV, Technology, Video, Wireless

Apple in talks with media giants to rent TV shows

By Reuters

Apple is in talks with several media conglomerates to allow consumers to rent TV shows through iTunes according to a report in Bloomberg Tuesday, which cited three unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

Apple is in serious discussions with News Corp. to allow viewers to rent programming from its Fox network for 48 hours, the report said, adding that Walt Disney and CBS are in talks with Apple as well.

Representatives from Apple, Walt Disney, News Corp. and CBS declined to comment. Get the full story »

Aug. 24, 2010 at 6:28 a.m.
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Filed under: Consumer electronics, Media, TV

Toshiba developing 3-D TVs that won’t require glasses

By Associated Press

Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday it is developing technology for a 3-D television that won’t require viewers to wear special glasses. Toshiba’s new TVs will be a world first in offering glasses-free 3-D, according to the nationally circulated Yomiuri. Get the full story »

Aug. 23, 2010 at 2:52 p.m.
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Filed under: Media, Newspapers, Real estate

Sun-Times Media expands Blockshopper deal

By Associated Press

Sun-Times Media, the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers, said Monday it has expanded its partnership Blockshopper.com to offer real estate news and information to online readers and advertisers. Get the full story »

Aug. 20, 2010 at 2:34 p.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Litigation, Media

Tribune Co. bankruptcy settlement breaks down

By Michael Oneal

The settlement at the heart of Tribune Co.’s proposed reorganization plan has fallen apart, casting doubt on whether the Chicago-based media conglomerate can continue to control its own fate in bankruptcy court.

At a status hearing in Delaware Friday, Tribune Co. lead attorney James Conlan of Sidley Austin said the company planned to file unilateral amendments to its plan by next Friday and threatened to cast the case into extended litigation if the warring parties can’t come to an agreement.

“The debtor has tried mightily to bring the parties together,” Conlan said. “That hasn’t happened.” Get the full story »

Aug. 19, 2010 at 2:38 p.m.
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Filed under: Government, Litigation, Media, TV

Blagojevich to make the talk-show rounds

By Tower Ticker

Add Meredith Vieira on “Today,” Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” and local radio interviews with WVON-AM’s Cliff Kelley WLS-AM’s Don and Roma Wade to the first wave of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s renewed media offensive.

No sooner did “Fox News Sunday” announce that it would have Blagojevich’s first post-trial Sunday-morning news show interview this weekend than the rest of his dance card filled in.

Aug. 19, 2010 at 1:07 p.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Health care, Jobs/employment, Media, Newspapers, Unions

Sun-Times unions go to court over health benefits

By Associated Press

Unions representing former employees of the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. are seeking information from the company in a dispute over termination of health-insurance benefits.

The unions have filed a motion in Delaware bankruptcy court seeking access to documents and other information from the company, which they claim has stopped paying for insurance coverage without court approval. Get the full story »

Aug. 18, 2010 at 7:54 p.m.
13 comments
Filed under: Economy, Hotels, Movies, Tourism, Unions

Film paints Pritzkers as obstacle to recovery

By Julie Wernau

Workers at the Union Tank Car plant. (Show Us The Tax Breaks)

A short film produced by the hotel workers’ union and screened Wednesday evening in Chicago holds up the city’s wealthy Pritzker family as poster children for corporate decision-making that they say has contributed to the downfall of the economy.

“Show Us the Tax Breaks” attacks the family, and Penny Pritzker in particular, for the decision to close East Chicago’s Union Tank Car plant in 2008. The plant was one of the largest employers in East Chicago, Ind., and when it closed, hundreds of workers were left unemployed. Get the full story »

Aug. 18, 2010 at 2:18 p.m.
17 comments
Filed under: Cell phones, Media, Radio

FM radio to be required on cell phones?

By Associated Press

A proposed settlement to a long-running dispute over music royalties could include a federal mandate that all new cell phones and other wireless devices contain an FM radio tuner.

The proposal is now under discussion by radio broadcasters, recording labels and recording artists. Get the full story »

Aug. 18, 2010 at 10:56 a.m.
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Filed under: Media, TV

Susan Carlson to co-anchor WBBM-Ch. 2 news

By Phil Rosenthal

WBBM-Ch. 2 said Wednesday it plans to pair Susan Carlson as co-anchor with enigmatic New York import Steve Bartelstein on the early morning news show that replaces the moribund, little-watched “Monsters & Money in the Morning,” its seven-month talk and news-ish experiment that ends later this month.

Aug. 18, 2010 at 6:14 a.m.
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Filed under: Media, Radio, Sports, TV

Mike North joins Fox Sports Radio

By Tower Ticker

Mike North, whose “Monsters & Money in the Morning” went south in short order, is joining Fox Sports Radio. The syndicate’s announcement came Tuesday, less than a week after CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2 said it would drop North’s little-watched “Monsters & Money” early morning program after just seven months. Most details for North’s new show have yet-to-be announced. Get the full story >>

Aug. 17, 2010 at 5:24 p.m.
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Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media

Tribune bankruptcy judge gives company more time

By Michael Oneal

The judge in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case suspended a Friday voting deadline on the company’s proposed reorganization plan, responding to a request for more time from Tribune Co. lawyers.

Citing “vigorous negotiations” toward a new settlement in the case, Tribune last Friday asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey for more time to work toward a more consensual agreement. Get the full story »

Aug. 17, 2010 at 6:05 a.m.
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Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Media, TV

Majority watching TV on their own schedule

By Associated Press

If you’ve never time-shifted a prime-time television series — watched it later on a DVR, over the Internet or ordered it on demand — you’re now in the minority.

A survey of viewers conducted on the eve of the new fall season quantifies what has become commonplace in millions of American homes: People are putting themselves in charge of their own TV schedule. Sixty-two percent of viewers across the country interviewed in a poll conducted for the nation’s largest cable company, Comcast Corp., said they have used time-shifting technology. Six in 10 people said they owned a digital video recorder. Get the full story »

Aug. 16, 2010 at 7:33 p.m.
1 comment
Filed under: Fraud, Law firms, Litigation, Media

Conrad Black, U.S. clash over ‘07 conviction

By Ameet Sachdev

After the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated one of the fraud laws used to convict former media baron Conrad Black, federal prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial error was harmless.

Lawyers for Black say the burden is impossible to meet and that a federal appeals court should toss out his conviction. Black was recently freed from prison after the Supreme Court in June ordered a review of his case because of flawed jury instructions.

Get the full story »

Aug. 16, 2010 at 3:30 p.m.
13 comments
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Media, Newspapers

Tribune Co. asks bankruptcy judge for more time

By Michael Oneal

Tribune Co., citing “vigorous negotiations” toward a new settlement with its creditors, asked the judge in its bankruptcy case for more time to work out a reorganization plan that “would maximize consensus” around a deal.

The move comes as the various bickering parties in the case realign their positions based on the findings contained in an independent examiner’s report studying claims surrounding the Chicago media conglomerate’s 2007 leveraged buyout.

That report, issued late last month, suggested that the $8.2 billion LBO orchestrated by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell may have rendered the company insolvent from Day 1, lending support to various creditors’ arguments. Get the full story »

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