EDINBURGH (Reuters) – Elisabeth Murdoch urged the media industry on Thursday to embrace morality and reject her brother James’s mantra of profit at all costs, in a speech seen as an attempt to distance herself from the scandal that has tarnished the family nam... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Elisabeth Murdoch steps out of the shadows this week to deliver the biggest speech of her career, a chance to show her credentials to take over father Rupert’s empire as her brothers’ claims to lead it out of scandal have faded. While Rupert... More »
(Reuters) – Time magazine and CNN said on Thursday they were reinstating journalist Fareed Zakaria after suspending him last week for plagiarism. Time said in a statement that it believed Zakaria made an “unintentional error” in what was an “isolated incident”... More »
(Reuters) – CNN host and Time magazine contributing editor-at-large Fareed Zakaria was suspended by his employers on Friday after he acknowledged copying material for a recent column he wrote about gun control from another writer. Time said it was suspending Z... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co quarterly earnings rose 31 percent, exceeding Wall Street expectations, lifted by higher spending at theme parks and the blockbuster “The Avengers” superhero movie. The media and theme park company reported on Tuesday ear... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L ) is pulling some of its funds out of European banks over fears stirred by the euro zone’s mounting debt crisis, The Times reported on Monday. The company’s chief financial officer Simon Henry told the newspaper tha... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stubbornly high U.S. unemployment, a weak housing market combined with a mature business prone to regular programming blackouts has seen more than 400,000 American homes drop their cable or satellite TV service since the start of the year.... More »
(Reuters) – Time Warner Inc is unsatisfied with CNN’s low ratings and will seek to turn around the cable news network with programming that is more compelling and stays non-partisan, the media company’s Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said on Wednesday. Bewkes’ co... More »
ROME/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Joblessness in the euro zone hit on Tuesday its highest level since the single currency was born, a further sign of economic desperation as hopes erode that the bloc will be saved by its central bank this week. An additional 123,000 ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Stars of the hit ABC comedy “Modern Family” agreed to new contracts on Friday, ending a dispute that erupted in public just as the show prepared to start work on a fourth season. Show creator Steve Levitan said the six adult cast member... More »
KANSAS CITY, Mo./NEW YORK (Reuters) – Google Inc made its foray into the market for bundled Internet and television services on Thursday, promising access speeds more than 100 times faster than those of traditional U.S. cable and telecommunications companies. ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The top programming executive for ABC primetime television said he expects the network’s hit comedy “Modern Family” to debut on schedule in September, despite a current dispute over salaries with several of the show’s top stars. “Modern... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British media companies BSkyB, TalkTalk and ITV are switching on new services to boost customer loyalty and spend as a weakening economy depresses advertising and new subscribers prove hard to find. BSkyB’s focus on selling extra services to... More »
(Reuters) – Sharp Corp may lay off several thousand workers and sell office buildings in Tokyo as losses at Japan’s last major fabricator of liquid crystal displays for televisions expand, the Nikkei business daily said. The maker of Aquos TVs will likely post... More »
(Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp said it had promoted Peter Rice to chairman and chief executive of its Fox Networks Group in the first step of an expected executive shake-up ahead of the company’s split into two separate entertainment and news companies... More »
SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Reuters) – Barry Diller, the consummate Hollywood dealmaker who revamped the TV business in the 1980s, is back in the media spotlight after a federal judge threw out an injunction against Aereo, the online TV service he backs. Broadcasters i... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A Mexican court on Thursday denied billionaire Carlos Slim’s bid to enter the lucrative television market, handing the next president the task of increasing competition in the country’s closed telecoms and TV sectors. Slim, who controls... More »
(Reuters) – The board of News Corp approved in principle splitting the $60 billion media conglomerate into separate publishing and entertainment businesses, a person familiar with the situation said on Thursday. News Corp’s board, overseen by 81-year-old chair... More »
(Reuters) – AT&T Inc said AMC Networks is seeking an “excessive rate increase” to renew its U-verse TV contract, which the mobile service provider believes is unreasonable. “AMC Networks is asking that AT&T pay nearly double what we believe other competitors p... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest is considering a bid to buy Dick Clark Productions, the company founded by the late TV icon and Seacrest’s mentor, people with knowledge of the matter said. Ryan Seacrest Media is among the potential b... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sly Bailey will step down as chief executive of Trinity Mirror with immediate effect and not at the end of the year as planned, the newspaper group said on Friday. Bailey announced in May that she would step down from the publisher of the Da... More »
(Reuters) – Time Inc’s stable of 20 magazines, including Sports Illustrated and People, are now available for subscription on Apple’s Newsstand, the company said on Thursday. The publishing arm of Time Warner Inc was the last holdout, among large magazine comp... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – CNN said on Wednesday it was canceling John King’s daily TV show “John King, USA,” and shifting the veteran journalist to head up its 2012 presidential campaign coverage. King’s show will end on June 29, and Wolf Blitzer’s “The Situatio... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera is in advanced talks to move into London’s Shard skyscraper, the tallest tower in western Europe, a source close to the deal told Reuters. The 95-storey Renzo Piano-designed glass tower, with views across L... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Following are the top 10 movies at North American box offices for the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend starting May 25, led by “Men in Black 3” at No. 1, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. 1 (*) MIB 3 ………………………….$70... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British newspaper group Daily Mail & General Trust said it expected to improve in the second half of the year after cover price rises and higher digital revenues partly offset falling print advertising income in the first half. The group, wh... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Who would want to watch a South Korean soap that was a flop back home? Lots of people, it turns out – something that Singapore-based startup Viki feels vindicates its business model: an ad-supported streaming TV and movie site where unpai... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is expanding her online empire by teaming up with the Huffington Post for a section dedicated to the chat show host that will engage her audience, the Oprah Winfrey Network said on Wednesday. The Huffington Pos... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – BSkyB no longer dominates the British pay-TV movie market following the arrival of new entrants Lovefilm and Netflix, a regulator said, handing a boost to the broadcaster by reversing its initial findings. “Competition between providers of m... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch has denied reports that News Corp is considering spinning off its British newspapers to protect the rest of his media empire from a phone hacking scandal. The Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times newspapers said executives ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The struggling NBC network on Sunday announced 16 new TV shows – seven of them comedies – for the 2012-2013 season, and in a show of confidence said it will broadcast singing contest “The Voice” in the fall as well as the spring. NBC, w... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The film and TV industry has spent $60 billion in New York City over the last decade, and production of feature films and popular shows is at an “all-time high,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday. While financial incentives to lure f... More »
(Reuters) – Discovery Communications reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by losses at the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), sending its shares down 6.5 percent. OWN, the joint venture with the “queen of talk” that is struggling with lac... More »
(Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch faces limited risk of losing News Corp’s broadcast permits in America, even amid screaming headlines in Britain that the media mogul is unfit to run a major company. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has the power to deny a ... More »
(Reuters) – Three weeks into its international run, the Universal Studios movie “Battleship” is already a hit, racking up $171 million in overseas ticket sales. And that’s before it launches in the United States, where it is expected to be a summer blockbuster... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream,” one of the world’s most recognizable works of art, sold for $120 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, setting a new record as the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction. Sotheby’s Impression... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch’s tetchy and uncompromising appearance at a British inquiry into phone hacking could come back to haunt him this week when politicians give their verdict on the scandal at his defunct News of the World newspaper. Three days of... More »
(Reuters) – Theatre operator AMC Entertainment has shelved plans for an initial public offering for the second time in almost four years, the LA Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. The IPO plan has been scrapped as AMC Entertainment’s o... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Apple Inc began talks earlier this year to stream films owned by EPIX, which is backed by three major movie studios, on devices including a long-anticipated TV, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations. Apple, which no... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, nudged its full-year outlook higher on Friday after strong growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America got the group off to a solid start to 2012. Martin Sorrell’s firm said revenues on a like-for-lik... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Media watchdog the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation brought out some big names in Hollywood over the weekend including American sweetheart Betty White to honor movies, TV shows and performers. At the annual GLAAD Media Awards o... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rich Ross resigned under pressure as chairman of Walt Disney Co’s movie studio after a less than three-year run that included the release of “John Carter,” one of the biggest flops in recent Hollywood history. Ross, named to the job in ... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim plans to enter the online gaming market in his home country, offering more than 600 free titles to some 8 million users of his high-speed broadband for a month, with the aim of charging for the service afterwa... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. movie studios, drug manufacturers and other companies that depend heavily on copyrights, patents and trademarks to protect their creative works support 40 million jobs, or about 28 percent of the U.S. workforce, a U.S. report said o... More »
(Reuters) – The cool, modernist lines and sober mien of Christian Dior’s new fashion director offer a clean break from the way out shows and wayward behavior of his predecessor, but he faces a challenge to restore the legendary French couturier’s luster. Raf S... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Nicki Minaj shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with her sophomore album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” usurping the crown from Madonna, who suffered the biggest second week sales drop in chart ... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The operator of the planned Shanghai Disney theme park has secured a 12.9 billion yuan ($2 billion) syndicated loan for the construction of the park, Chinese media reported on Wednesday, a boost for Walt Disney Co as it embarks on a newly ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – DreamWorks Studios, the film company headed by director Steven Spielberg, will get around $200 million from its partner Reliance Entertainment to continue making films, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction. The financ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – James Murdoch’s belated acknowledgment that he had become a liability to satellite broadcaster BSkyB was a rare admission of defeat by the combative 39-year-old executive known for his self-belief and decisiveness. Murdoch resigned on Tuesda... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A Sony-led group has offered to sell several music catalogues which generated 15 million euros ($19.9 million) in royalties last year to win EU approval for its planned buy of record label EMI’s music publishing business, two people famili... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Al Jazeera, best known for its Middle Eastern news coverage, is taking aim at Europe’s pay-TV market, using sport to build a global media brand, just as owner Qatar is raising its profile by hosting the 2022 World Cup. The broadcaster is raci... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The green slime flowed so much that even first lady Michelle Obama could not escape it at the Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday where singers Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift came away big winners. The program is an annual stop for Hollywoo... More »
(Reuters) – Current TV said on Friday it fired star news anchor Keith Olbermann after one year with the progressive public affairs network, accusing him of breaching his contract and trying to sabotage the TV channel. But Olbermann, in a series of Twitter post... More »
(Reuters) – AOL Inc on Friday won the dismissal of a lawsuit by unpaid bloggers who complained they were deprived of their fair share of the roughly $315 million that the company paid last March to buy The Huffington Post website. U.S. District Judge John Koel... More »
