From the L.A. Times’ Company Town | Oprah Winfrey surprised her Discovery Communications partners at a big presentation to advertisers in Chicago yesterday. Winfrey was not scheduled to attend the event held to promote Discovery’s cable channels — including the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture between Discovery and Winfrey — but changed her mind Tuesday afternoon and dropped in about 15 minutes after it started. She got a spotlight welcome.
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Oprah surprises her own partners at event
Tribune Co. allowed to withdraw bonus plans
Associated Press | The Tribune Co. will be allowed to withdraw a
motion seeking court approval of two management bonus plans worth more
than $20 million and instead include them in its reorganization plan, a
judge ruled Tuesday.
The U.S. trustee and a union for employees of The Baltimore Sun have
fought against the bonus plans, which were the subject of extensive
court filings and oral arguments before Judge Kevin Carey.
Google ends four years of censorship in China
| Associated Press | Google Inc.’s partial withdrawal from the China market brought swift condemnation from the government Tuesday while leaving Chinese Web surfers to wonder whether they would be able to access a new offshore search engine site or be blocked by censors.
Google’s decision to move most of its China-based search functions to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world’s most powerful Internet company against a government that tightly restricts the Web in the planet’s most populous market.. |
See also • Google wins key EU ruling on fake Vuitton link |
Oprah Winfrey settles U.S. defamation suit
Associated Press | Oprah Winfrey has settled a defamation lawsuit filed by a headmistress she had accused of performing poorly at her South African girls school, where some students claimed they were abused, lawyers said Tuesday.
The lawsuit by former headmistress Nomvuyo Mzamane claimed Winfrey defamed her in remarks made in the wake of the 2007 sex-abuse scandal at the school. The headmistress said she had trouble finding a job after.
Playboy.com takes off top editor
By Phil Rosenthal | Scott Smith is out after a year at Playboy.com, the last seven months as its editor.
Playboy Enterprises, through a spokeswoman, cited “creative differences” and said Smith’s responsibilities will be split by Sam Jemielity, the Web site’s executive editor, and Sarah Preston Gorenstein, its managing editor.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker
ABC hires Amanpour for Sunday morning job
Associated Press | CNN’s Christiane Amanpour is TV network ABC’s choice to replace George Stephanopoulos as host of its Sunday morning political talk show “This Week.” ABC announced the hiring Thursday in an e-mail to its staff.
It’s not clear whether Amanpour’s hiring signals a change in direction for “This Week,” a show that’s heavy on politics and domestic policy. Amanpour is best known for her reporting from war zones at CNN.
Blockbuster shares plummet on bankruptcy talk
A customer shops for a movie at Blockbuster. (AP, file)
Associated Press | Shares of Blockbuster Inc. sank 30 percent
Wednesday after the video rental chain warned that it may have to file
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Competition from DVD-by-mail company Netflix Inc. and DVD vending
machines operated by Coinstar Inc. have eroded the Dallas company’s
revenue even as it staggers under a heavy debt load.
Former Playboy CEO Heffner pursues ‘portfolio’
From Media Bistro | Former Playboy CEO Christie Heffner said during a segment on “Good Morning America” that since leaving Playboy in 2009, she’s too busy working on a portfolio of jobs to pursue that career in television friends have suggested for her over the years. She’s been doing work with Center for American Progress, the Canyon Ranch Wellness Resorts and the Columbia Journalism Review.
Get full story: mediabistro.com
Obama designer Pinto liquidating boutique
Clothing designer Maria Pinto in her studio on 135 N. Jefferson St. in Chicago. (Bonnie Trafelet/Chicago Tribune)
By Wendy Donahue | All of the praise for Michelle Obama’s grape and tomato-colored sheaths couldn’t bear enough fruit to spare their Chicago-based designer — Maria Pinto — from the recession’s blight.
Pinto, whose work has been worn not only by the country’s first lady but also queen-of-talk Oprah Winfrey, will open her West Loop boutique for five final days starting Tuesday. Her daywear, eveningwear, wraps and one-of-a-kind accessories will be sold for 50 percent to 70 percent off their original prices.
Redbox to add Blu-ray by mid-year
From Home Media Magazine | Blu-ray Discs will be available in a majority of Redbox kiosks by the middle of
this year and won’t replace already available DVDs, Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said
March 11. He did not say what the rental price would be for high-def discs, though he suggested it would be more.
Get the full story: homemediamagazine.com
Roeper to join Roe Conn show as co-host
By Phil Rosenthal
| One would think four free hours every weekday in Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper’s schedule would be as hard to come by as unobtainium, the fictional mineral in the movie “Avatar.”
But Citadel Broadcasting’s WLS-AM 890 apparently has struck the mother lode, signing Roeper (pictured right) to a two-year deal as co-host of Roe Conn’s 2-to-6 p.m. Monday-through-Friday program, beginning April 12.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
Court backs Pink Floyd’s fight for the album
Associated Press | In a victory for the concept album, Britain’s High Court has ordered
record company EMI Group Ltd. to stop selling downloads of Pink Floyd
tracks individually rather than as part of the band’s original albums.
The group sued the music label, saying its contract prohibited selling
the tracks “unbundled” from their original records. EMI claimed the
rule applied only to physical albums, not the Internet.
Forbes names Carlos Slim world’s richest man
| Associated Press | Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world’s richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine.
The rise of Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper who amassed a $53.5 billion fortune and bought a major stake in the New York Times, is part of an increased presence on the list of billionaires from emerging countries, said Forbes’ reporter Keren Blankfeld. |
See also • Meet Chicago’s 18 billionaires |
CBS’s ‘Undercover Boss’ promoted to second cycle
An episode of CBS’s “Undercover Boss” featured Hooters CEO Coby Brooks, center. The show has been renewed. (CBS photo)
By Phil Rosenthal
| CBS has picked up a second cycle of “Undercover Boss,” its Sunday-night success story, for the 2010-11 TV season. The program takes chief executives out of their cushy suites and sticks them in low-level positions at their own companies under a false identity. It has been anything but a critical darling, but it seems to be the right show for the times and has been this season’s No. 1 new show.
Get the full story at the Tower Ticker blog.
Chicago Reader publisher Jim Warren steps down
By Phil Rosenthal
| Jim Warren is resigning as publisher of the Chicago Reader, saying that he is “taking on enhanced duties with the Chicago News Cooperative and pursuing other intriguing journalism opportunities.”
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
