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| Comedian George Wallace wins $1.3 million judgment against casino over injury Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 08:05 PM PDT (Reuters) - Comic George Wallace won a $1.3 million civil judgment against a Las Vegas casino resort for injuries he sustained during a 2007 performance, when tripped on audio cables, in a jury verdict returned on Tuesday. The comedian was appearing at a corporate holiday party at the Bellagio when he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon from getting tangled in the cables, which should have been properly secured, his attorney Dominic Gentile said. Wallace, who was best man at Jerry Seinfeld's wedding, filed a lawsuit against the casino resort in 2009 accusing it of negligence. An eight-member jury found the Bellagio had breached its duty of care to Wallace, according to a court document describing the verdict. Full Story | Top |
| NBC sets online talent search for its next hit sitcom Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 07:39 PM PDT  Pasadena, Calif (Reuters) - NBC, closing in on its first ratings victory in a decade in the 18 to 49-year-old age group that advertisers most want, is hitting the Internet in its search for the next "Friends" or "Seinfeld." The contest, dubbed "NBC Comedy Playground," will give aspiring comedy writers a chance to submit videos and pitches that could be made into prime-time sitcoms, NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke told a conference of TV critics on Tuesday. NBC, a unit of cable company Comcast, will select up to 10 finalists to make pilots. An advisory panel, including Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler and Sean Hayes, will help select two shows that will air on NBC during the summer of 2015. Full Story | Top |
| 'Draft Day' film tackles the NFL with insider minutiae, family drama Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 05:03 PM PDT  By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the NFL readies for its annual draft of college football players, new film "Draft Day" pulls back the curtain on the high stakes of the offseason that has helped turn the United States' most popular sport into a year-round addiction. The film, which opens in U.S. and Canadian theaters on Friday ahead of the NFL's three-day draft from May 8-10, stars Kevin Costner and dramatizes the backroom wheeling and dealing of football's general managers as they jockey for the best players and try to fleece one another while trading draft picks. But in an age of 24-hour sports networks like ESPN and HBO's behind-the-scenes NFL reality show "Hard Knocks," Costner said authenticity is crucial to hook a viewer who has seen countless locker-room speeches and front-office interviews. People take it really personally," said the 59-year-old Oscar winner, who built his heartland reputation with baseball films "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams," and golf comedy "Tin Cup." Costner plays fictional Cleveland Browns team general manager Sonny Weaver Jr, who has to manage upheaval in his personal life and the dueling pressures of which player to draft from the team's owner and its coach. Full Story | Top |
| Move over Bollywood: U.S. festival spotlights independent Indian films Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 03:58 PM PDT By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bollywood films often capture the color and beauty of Indian culture through high-profile stars and big-budget blockbusters, but a group of filmmakers is attempting to show a different side of India's people through smaller, independent fare. The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, commencing on Tuesday, is bringing the movies made outside of the Bollywood studio system to Hollywood. Kicking off the festival is "Sold," a gritty drama by director Jeffrey D. Brown, about a 13-year-old girl sold into prostitution in India. Brown said he wanted the film to be a call to action globally for people to take a stand against child prostitution and slavery, which as of 2013, involved 115 million around the world, according to the United Nations. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. mulls impact of Comcast-TWC deal on programming: cable executive Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 02:37 PM PDT By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Executives from Veria Living, a U.S. cable television channel, met in March with Justice Department officials who are digging into the Comcast deal to buy Time Warner Cable, even before the government was formally notified of the proposed transaction, Veria's CEO told Reuters. Veria chief Eric Sherman said he and other company executives met with nine Justice Department antitrust attorneys, including two trial attorneys, on March 10 for nearly 90 minutes after Veria contacted the department. Comcast Corp said in February that it planned to buy Time Warner Cable Inc for $45.2 billion, and formally requested antitrust approval on March 31. Sherman told Reuters that the Justice Department attorneys asked about obstacles that small independent channels like Veria Living might face in getting picked up by cable giants like Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast defends Time Warner Cable deal as U.S. review kicks off Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 01:47 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh and Liana B. Baker WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp sought to rebut critics of its planned $45.2 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc, arguing that newcomers like Google Inc and Apple Inc would ensure competition in both Internet and video markets. In a 175-page filing with the Federal Communications Commission that kicks off the FCC's review of the deal, Comcast argues that combined with Time Warner Cable, it will compete with an "array of sophisticated companies with national or even global footprints" such as Google, Netflix Inc or Verizon that have gained ground against Comcast. Full Story | Top |
| DirecTV to resume hosting The Weather Channel from Wednesday Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 12:50 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Satellite TV provider DirecTV said on Tuesday that it would resume airing The Weather Channel from Wednesday, ending a nearly three-month dispute. The Weather Company, the channel's parent, said on January 14 that the channel would no longer be available on DirecTV, blaming the company for failing to agree to a market-based carriage deal. DirecTV customers will now be able to view instant local weather and watch the channel's video-programming on multiple devices. Full Story | Top |
| Hunt for Nazi art shows museum failings: former minister Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 11:51 AM PDT  Over 2,000 German museums hold works created before 1945 and acquired after the Nazis came to power in 1933, according to the Institute for Museum Research in Berlin. "It's not as if museums haven't been doing anything, but because of budget issues, they haven't done as much as they could have," Michael Naumann, a former German culture minister, told Reuters on Tuesday. Elderly recluse Cornelius Gurlitt, whose hoard of some 1,400 art works was discovered in February 2012 in his Munich flat and confiscated by authorities in a tax probe, agreed on Monday to allow a task force of art experts to study the collection. In exchange for his cooperation Gurlitt, whose art dealer father took orders from Adolf Hitler to buy and sell so-called 'degenerate art' to fund Nazi activities, will get back those works whose provenance is not in doubt. Full Story | Top |
| HBO renews 'Game of Thrones' for two more seasons Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 11:45 AM PDT  The HBO fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" has been renewed for two more seasons, the premium cable network said on Tuesday, two days after the show's season four premiere drew the network's biggest audience in seven years. The series about civil war, nobility, mythical creatures and treachery was seen by an average of 6.6 million viewers on Sunday, topping it's all-time high audience of 5.5 million. It was the biggest audience for Time Warner Inc-owned HBO since the 2007 finale of mafia drama, "The Sopranos," which drew 11.9 million viewers. Emmy-winning "Game of Thrones" is adapted from author George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels. Full Story | Top |
| Opera's Mortier gets posthumous award from opera world Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 07:29 AM PDT  Gerard Mortier, the Belgian opera director and administrator who died last month at the age of 70, has received a posthumous lifetime achievement award at the second annual International Opera Awards in London. Mortier "dedicated his life to bringing originality to opera and worked at three of the world's major operatic institutions, La Monnaie (Brussels), the Salzburg Festival and Opera National de Paris", said a statement issued by the award organizers after a ceremony on Monday night. German soprano Diana Damrau and Australian tenor Stuart Skelton were chosen as best opera singers of the year, while Oper Zurich was named as the world's best opera company. The annual summer opera at Aix-en-Provence in southern France won the Festival Opera of the Year category and the Salzburg Festival in Austria got the nod for a new production for its staging of Bellini's "Norma". Full Story | Top |
| Time Inc to raise $1.4 billion of debt Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 06:20 AM PDT (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc said its soon-to-be-divested magazine unit Time Inc plans to raise $1.4 billion of debt. Time Inc, which publishes titles such as Time, Fortune and People, said it would offer unsecured senior notes and enter into a secured term-loan facility. Last year, Time Warner said it would spin off Time Inc, ending weeks of merger negotiations with Meredith Corp. Time intends to use the proceeds to fund the acquisition of Time Inc's U.K. publishing business, which is currently a unit of Time Warner, and pay a special cash dividend to its parent. Full Story | Top |
| ABBA fetes 40 years since 'Waterloo': near Waterloo Tuesday, Apr 08, 2014 05:44 AM PDT  By Rollo Ross LONDON (Reuters) - Within strolling distance of the rail station bearing the name of their first international hit, Swedish band ABBA celebrated 40 years of breathtaking success with a party at London's Tate Modern museum to mark their groundbreaking song "Waterloo". Two of the four members of the band that made spangled jumpsuits and big boots a trademark attended the bash at the trendy London museum on Monday night, marking four decades since the catchy tune won the Eurovision song contest in April 1974 and launched them into international stardom. Bjorn Ulvaeus, who wrote many of the group's songs with ABBA co-founder Benny Andersson, said he was stunned by the rise and rise of ABBA even after it effectively disbanded in 1983. The band not only lives on through its disco-friendly back catalogue, but also in the long-running hit show "Mamma Mia", the film based on the musical, and in the latest offering, a new "ABBA: The Official Photo Book" launched last month. Full Story | Top |
| NBC executive predicts first win in a decade in key U.S. age group Monday, Apr 07, 2014 11:59 PM PDT  Longtime ratings laggard NBC is expected to win this season's broadcast TV ratings race in the age group most prized by advertisers, 18 to 49, for the first time in a decade, NBC Universal Chief Executive Steve Burke said on Monday. The last time NBC won that age group was in the 2003-04 season, a spokeswoman said. NBC, owned by cable operator Comcast Corp, is averaging 3.7 million prime-time viewers through March 30 for the season that started in September, according to ratings data from Nielsen. The winner will be determined when the TV season ends in May. For the season that ended in May 2013, CBS won 18- to 49-year-olds while NBC landed in third place. Full Story | Top |
| Bob Geldof's daughter Peaches dead at age 25 Monday, Apr 07, 2014 11:48 PM PDT  By Sarah Young and Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - Peaches Geldof, second daughter of Band Aid founder and musician Bob Geldof and a media and fashion personality in her own right, has died at her home in Kent, southern England, aged 25, her family said on Monday. Bob Geldof, the Irish singer who rose to prominence as the leader of the 1970s-1980s band the Boomtown Rats, and later organized the charity Band Aid and the Live Aid concerts to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, said in a statement that the family were "beyond pain". We shall love her forever." Making an early debut in the London glamour and society scene, Peaches Geldof wrote a weekly social and political column for the Daily Telegraph from the ages of 14 to 17 and also contributed to the Guardian. LOST MOTHER AT 11 Peaches was only 11 when she and her two sisters, Pixie and Fifi Trixibelle, lost their mother, the television presenter Paula Yates. Full Story | Top |
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