| | |
| Dish, Disney reach long-term programming deal Monday, Mar 03, 2014 06:44 PM PST  (Reuters) - After months of talks, Dish Network Corp and Walt Disney Co have reached a long-term programming agreement that allows the No.2 satellite provider to carry Disney-owned networks such as ABC and ESPN, the companies said. Dish will disable "AutoHop" commercial-skipping feature functionality for ABC content on its digital video recorder as a part of the agreement. Disney and Dish's programming agreement expired at the end of September, but the companies averted blackout of Disney's top networks for the satellite provider's 14 million customers. The extensive and expanded distribution agreement grants Dish rights to stream cleared linear and video-on-demand content from the ABC-owned broadcast stations, ABC Family, Disney Channel, ESPN and ESPN2, as part of an Internet-delivered, IP-based multichannel offering. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico fetes Cuaron's Oscars, but filmmakers keep feet on ground Monday, Mar 03, 2014 03:53 PM PST  By Michael O'Boyle MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - As Mexico basks in the glow of its first best director Oscar for Alfonso Cuaron and his blockbuster film "Gravity," a new generation of homegrown filmmakers wonders if the magic of the golden statuette will rub off on them. Cuaron's 3D space thriller scooped seven Oscars, the most of any film on Sunday, and was lauded for groundbreaking special effects conveying space and weightlessness, though it lost the best picture award to drama "12 Years a Slave. The movie, which stars Sandra Bullock as an astronaut cut loose from her space shuttle, has already earned $700 million at the worldwide box office and Cuaron's win is the first best director Oscar for a Latin American. However, the 52-year-old Cuaron has spent most of his career outside Mexico, after he struggled to raise financing for projects back home, and fellow leading directors Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu also both moved abroad. Full Story | Top |
| Dish, Disney reach long-term programming deal: report Monday, Mar 03, 2014 03:49 PM PST  (Reuters) - After months of talks, Dish Network Corp and Walt Disney Co have reached a long-term programming agreement that allows the No. 2 satellite provider to carry Disney-owned networks such as ABC and ESPN, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper said Dish had agreed to halt its "Auto Hop" commercial skipping feature for ABC shows on its digital video recorder. As part of the deal, ABC will drop its litigation against Dish, according to the Wall Street Journal, while Dish will delay the time it allows customers to hop over commercials until three days after an ABC shows airs. A Dish spokesman declined to comment while a Disney representative could not be reached. Full Story | Top |
| Art theft experts offer to help Cuba recover missing works Monday, Mar 03, 2014 03:03 PM PST  By David Quinones MIAMI (Reuters) - One of the world's leading databases of stolen works of art is offering to help the Cuban government recover dozens of modernist works missing from Havana's National Museum of Fine Arts. The heist was confirmed late last week by officials with Cuba's state-run National Council of Cultural Heritage, which added it was in the process of finishing an inventory of the missing pieces which will be made public. Miami gallery owner Ramon Cernuda, a Cuban-American exile and prominent collector of Cuban art, alerted the Havana museum last month after he became suspicious of 11 works being offered for sale in Miami, including one he purchased. The disclosure of the theft is a first for the Cuban government since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Full Story | Top |
| Oscars telecast scores highest audience in a decade Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:50 PM PST  By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sunday's Oscar telecast drew 43 million viewers in the United States, delivering the biggest audience for the Academy Awards in a decade, but divided critics, who mostly liked host Ellen DeGeneres but thought the show ran too long. Nielsen ratings data on Monday showed the audience that watched slavery drama "12 Years a Slave" capture the best picture honor grew 6.4 percent from last year. The Oscars attract the biggest non-sports TV audience in the United States each year, and the show drew its largest viewership since 2004, when 43.6 million tuned in. Producers' middle-of-the-road approach to the show with DeGeneres hosting gave the Walt Disney Co-owned network similar results among younger viewers compared with last year, when they gambled with edgier comedian Seth MacFarlane as host. Full Story | Top |
| Pale metallics, bold jewel tones dominate Oscars red carpet Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:12 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shimmering metallics, bold jewel tones and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o led the style at this year's Oscars red carpet, as actresses shunned runway trends to showcase colors and silhouettes inspired by Hollywood's golden age. All eyes were on the year's best-dressed starlet on the red carpet - best supporting actress Oscar winner Nyong'o. The "12 Years a Slave" star from Kenya wore a custom halter-neck pastel blue Prada gown which she helped to design, saying it was inspired by champagne bubbles and a color that reminded her of Nairobi. ... Full Story | Top |
| News Corp's education unit launches digital lessons Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:46 AM PST News Corp's education division Amplify on Monday unveiled a digital curriculum aimed at middle school students in a move to kick-start growth in the unit after years of investment. The curriculum is for English Language Arts aimed at sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students, and features content from a library of e-books, dramatic readings by actors, story animations, and role-playing games about classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe. "If this succeeds, teachers will want to use this to orchestrate their lessons," said Joel Klein, the chief executive of Amplify and former New York City schools chancellor. Amplify is betting on the changes roiling U.S. school districts, which are spending billions of dollars on digital technology at the expense of textbooks. Full Story | Top |
| '12 Years a Slave' makes history with best picture Oscar Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:41 AM PST By Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The slavery drama "12 Years a Slave" won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry's highest honor in 86 years of the Oscars. British director Steve McQueen's unflinching portrayal of pre-Civil War American slavery won two other Oscars, including best supporting actress for newcomer Lupita Nyong'o and best adapted screenplay based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man tricked and sold into slavery in Louisiana. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup," said McQueen in his acceptance speech. "12 Years a Slave," prevailed over space thriller "Gravity" from Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, which nevertheless racked up the most Oscars of the night with seven, including the best director honor for Cuaron, a first for a Latin American director. Full Story | Top |
| Fake emergency alert in movie ad draws fines for U.S. media firms Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:37 AM PST  A U.S. advertisement for a movie that sounded like an emergency alert has drawn fines of $1.9 million for media companies Viacom Inc and Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal and ESPN, co-controlled by Walt Disney Co. after viewer complaints. The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it found the three companies "apparently willfully and repeatedly violated" the rules that prohibit the use of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) sounds for purposes other than to warn viewers of national emergencies. Several consumers had complained about the trailer for the movie "The Olympus Has Fallen" shown on the television channels Comedy Central, ESPN and SyFy in March of 2013. Full Story | Top |
| Closure of Murdoch's UK paper discussed before hacking furor -Brooks Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:54 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Bosses at News International, Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, discussed closing a tabloid at the center of phone-hacking claims weeks before it was hit by revelations that it had tapped a murdered schoolgirl's mobile, a London court heard on Monday. Rebekah Brooks, the former News International boss on trial for phone-hacking offences, said the closure of the News of the World had been considered as a way of trying to save News Corp's $12 billion bid for the British pay-TV operator BSkyB before it was engulfed in the scandal over the tapping of murdered Milly Dowler's phone. Full Story | Top |
| Sony to release new DVD/CD of legendary Bob Dylan tribute concert Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:23 AM PST  By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the fall of 1992, a group of music industry legends converged on New York City to pay tribute to Bob Dylan by performing his songs at a concert that has come to be seen as one of the most exciting in rock history. This week, Sony Music Entertainment will release "Bob Dylan - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration," a new, high-definition DVD/CD edition of the concert at Madison Square Garden. The show marked Dylan's 30-year recording career with Columbia Records, now a division of Sony. The lineup that night included Beatle George Harrison, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and members of The Band and Pearl Jam. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. top court denies FilmOn X role in Aereo case Monday, Mar 03, 2014 07:23 AM PST By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday that online television service FilmOn X LLC cannot intervene in support of competitor Aereo Inc, which is being challenged by the four major U.S. broadcasters over its use of television broadcast signals. In a brief order the court said on Monday that it had rejected FilmOn X's request to participate in the one-hour oral argument and in the written briefing of the case. The broadcasters, Walt Disney Co's ABC network, CBS Corp, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc, sought high court review after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled for Aereo in April. FilmOn X has been involved in litigation similar to that faced by Aereo. Full Story | Top |
| Scottish independence is 'too good to miss' says actor Sean Connery Monday, Mar 03, 2014 06:33 AM PST  Former James Bond actor Sean Connery has said an independent Scotland is an opportunity "too good to miss" and ending the union with England would help boost artistic creation north of their common border. He was the latest in a number of high-profile stars recently entering the independence debate. Last month, rock star David Bowie said "Scotland, stay with us" in a message read out by model Kate Moss at the Brit pop music awards. "As a Scot and as someone with a lifelong love for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportunity of independence is too good to miss," Connery wrote in an article due to be published on the New Statesman website on Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| South Carolina reality TV series raises eyebrows in polite society Monday, Mar 03, 2014 05:45 AM PST  By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Bravo TV's new reality show "Southern Charm," set in Charleston's historic downtown among the moss-draped oaks and mansions on the South Carolina coast, promises to reveal "the Neverland of the South, where men don't want to grow up." The show is raising eyebrows in the refined city ahead of its premier on Monday night. It features a cast of six wealthy, single, hard-partying local "aristocrats," including Thomas Ravenel, a polo-playing former South Carolina politician and state treasurer. A member of a prominent family that settled in the Lowcountry around Charleston in the late 1600s, Ravenel, 51, is the son of a former congressman and a self-made millionaire with a master's degree in business administration. Some established Charleston families aren't happy about the show or Ravenel's role in it, and are worried the series will embarrass the city. Full Story | Top |
| Warren Buffett says his Berkshire successor will come from within - CNBC Monday, Mar 03, 2014 05:13 AM PST  Berkshire Hathaway head Warren Buffett said on Monday that his successor will come from within the company. "A successor will be from within the company," Buffett said on an interview on CNBC. Buffett, 83, has resisted publicly naming a successor, a worry for investors who wonder how much longer the billionaire will be at the helm at Berkshire. Full Story | Top |
| Oscar winners celebrate at Governor's Ball Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:03 AM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A sea of Oscar statuettes filled the Governor's Ball on Sunday night as winners chatted, ate and celebrated with the film industry's elite at the official Academy Awards party. Winners also got their statuettes engraved with their names on the first stop in a string of parties on Hollywood's biggest night. Singer John Legend provided the entertainment, singing hits including "Ordinary People," while guests ate a gourmet meal by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. An excited John Ridley, winner of best adapted screenplay for "12 Years a Slave," entered the party clutching his Oscar, which he said was "overwhelming and humbling." "It's heavy, but heavy with the weight of a career and responsibility and history. Full Story | Top |
| Ellen DeGeneres brings pizza and deadpan affability to Oscars Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 11:13 PM PST  By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedienne and talk show star Ellen DeGeneres returned as Oscar host on Sunday, bringing her deadpan affability, and free pizza, to the 86th Academy Awards show while still poking fun at Hollywood royalty. In a back-to-basics approach to a live, 3 1/2-hour telecast that largely eschewed sophisticated clip montages and lavish song-and-dance productions, DeGeneres displayed her flair for playing informality for laughs. Shrugging off complaints from some critics that the breezy levity of her first Oscar stint in 2007 was at odds with the Academy Awards' traditional sense of decorum, DeGeneres forayed into the Dolby Theatre audience several times during Sunday's show to mingle with the film industry elite, as she did seven years before. She handed a faux consolation prize - a pair of lottery tickets - to "American Hustle" star Bradley Cooper after he lost his bid for best supporting actor; Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Key quotes from the 2014 Oscars Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 10:33 PM PST The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out Oscars, the film industry's top honors, at the 86th annual Academy Awards on Sunday. Following is a collection of quotes from the show, and from the winners: MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, WINNER, BEST ACTOR, "DALLAS BUYERS CLUB" "Alright, alright, alright." "First off, I want to thank God, because that's who I look up to. He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates." ALFONSO CUARON, WINNER, BEST DIRECTOR, "GRAVITY" "Making a film can be a transformative experience ... for many of us involved in this film, it was definitely a transformative experience. For a lot of people that transformation was wisdom, for me it was just the color of my hair." CATE BLANCHETT, WINNER, BEST ACTRESS, "BLUE JASMINE" "As random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of, yet again, extraordinary performances by women. Full Story | Top |
| Alfonso Cuaron wins best director Oscar for 'Gravity' Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 10:30 PM PST  By Tim Reid LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron won the Oscar for best director on Sunday for the space thriller, "Gravity," in which an astronaut fights for her survival after being cut loose from her space shuttle. It was the first Academy Award for Cuaron, 52, and the first best director Oscar for a Mexican. His 3-D film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney mixes dazzling special effects, suspense and human drama. Accepting the Oscar, Cuaron paid special tribute to Bullock: "Sandy, you are 'Gravity,' you are the soul and heart of the film. Full Story | Top |
| '12 Years' Oscar a golden ticket for box office, DVD sales Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 10:29 PM PST By Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Historical drama "12 Years a Slave" was awarded the top prize at Sunday night's Academy Awards show, claiming the Oscar for best picture and boosting the revenue its distributor Fox Searchlight can expect from added theater and home entertainment sales. "12 Years a Slave" won a total of three Oscars, including for Lupita Nyong'o for best supporting actress. "Gravity," distributed by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros., was the night's big winner with seven Oscars, including one for Alfonso Cuaron as best director. "Dallas Buyer's Club," which was distributed by Comcast Corp's Focus Features studio, won three Oscars, including Matthew McConaughey for best actor and Jared Leto for best supporting actor. Full Story | Top |
| Ellen's Oscar 'selfie' crashes Twitter, breaks record Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 09:58 PM PST  By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Is this the year the "selfie" stole the Oscars? A self-portrait of host Ellen DeGeneres and stars including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper taken during Hollywood's annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday quickly became the most shared photo ever on Twitter. "We got an email from Twitter and we crashed and broke Twitter. We have made history," DeGeneres said shortly after access to the social media site was disrupted due to sharing of her star-studded picture. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: List of key Oscar winners Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 09:39 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out the 86th Academy Awards, or Oscars, at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on Sunday for the best movies, performances, directing, writing and other achievements in film in 2013. Following is a list of winners in leading categories. ... Full Story | Top |
| McConaughey wins best actor Oscar for 'Dallas Buyers Club' Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 09:21 PM PST  Matthew McConaughey won the Oscar for best actor on Sunday for his role in "Dallas Buyers Club" as a homophobic, rodeo-loving Texan who contracts AIDS and becomes an unlikely savior for gay patients and drug addicts desperate for treatment. McConaughey lost some 50 pounds (23 kg) for the role, looking gaunt as real-life crusader Ron Woodroof, a cowboy who fought the U.S. government during the early AIDS epidemic of the 1980s to provide patients with medicines he imported from foreign countries. He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates." The win is the first Academy Award for McConaughey, 44, once known primarily as the handsome leading man in romantic comedies such as "The Wedding Planner" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." "Whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to and whoever it is we're chasing, to that I say, 'Amen,' to that I say, 'Alright, alright, alright,' McConaughey said adding his trademark exclamation that drew laughter from the audience, "to that I say just keep living." In recent years, McConaughey has sought more serious roles, winning critical acclaim for movies including "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "Mud," and the HBO TV series "True Detective." As Woodroof, the actor brought to life a man who evolved from detestable bigot to a lifeline for fellow AIDS patients, many of them gay or transgender. Full Story | Top |
| Cate Blanchett wins best actress Oscar for 'Blue Jasmine' Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 09:09 PM PST  Australian Cate Blanchett won her second Oscar on Sunday for her role as a socialite who suffers a breakdown in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine." Blanchett, 44, was the favorite to win this year's Oscar after sweeping awards season with prizes including the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA earlier this year. Blanchett beat Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep for the Oscar. Full Story | Top |
| '12 Years a Slave' wins best picture Oscar Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 08:59 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The slavery drama "12 Years a Slave" won the best picture Oscar on Sunday, becoming the first film from a black director to win the film industry's top honor in the 86 years of the Academy Awards. The film from British director Steve McQueen is based on the memoirs of a free black man, Solomon Northup, who is tricked and sold into bondage in Louisiana in an unflinching account of pre-Civil War slavery in America. (Reporting By Mary Milliken; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Emotional Lupita Nyong'o wins Oscar in debut role in '12 Years a Slave' Sunday, Mar 02, 2014 08:41 PM PST  Lupita Nyong'o won the Oscar for best supporting actress on Sunday for her role as the hardworking slave Patsey in drama "12 Years a Slave," capping a breakout awards season for the Yale-trained Kenyan actress. Nyong'o, 31, won the Oscar in her first feature film role, earning a thunderous standing ovation from the Hollywood audience. She beat fellow frontrunner Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of a loopy housewife in caper "American Hustle" in one of the most closely-watched Academy Award races this year. "Yes!" the actress exclaimed when accepting the award after hugging her brother, "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen and other actors in the film. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment