|
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
Return
to Top
|
WNBS News Events
Audio-Film-Photos & News Print Archives
Historical
Media Documentary Collection Available To TV Producers
"Radio Boy"
& "The SMART-DAAF BOYS"™
Nathan B.
Stubblefield • Marconi • Ambrose
Fleming •
Reginald Fessenden • Tesla •
DeForest • Armstrong •
Alexanderson • Farnsworth • Bill
Gates • Ted Turner • Samual
Goldwyn • Marilyn Monroe •
Rasputin
Click
LookRadio To See More M-Video's
- Inside
Dope
- MPAA
Chief and 'E-Publisher' Shout It Out at Broadcasters
Meeting
- Film
- Monday, February 26, 2001
2:40:32 PM EST
- As has been his mode of
late, Motion Picture Association of America CEO Jack
Valenti took the opportunity of a keynote address at
the North American Broadcasters Association dinner
last night to rail against unusual was the
confrontation afterward. Troy Cory, whose business
card bills him as "ePublisher/Editor" for Television
International Publications, stood up from the media
table and demanded to ask a question after Valenti
spoke.
-
- What ensued was a somewhat
rambling discourse on how the MPAA was trying to kill
free speech, destroy Napster founder Shawn Fanning's
years of work, and even put Fanning in jail. Valenti,
who couldn't get a word in edgewise, eventually
invited Cory up to the podium, where he continued
going on; it soon devolved into Valenti and Cory
standing face to face and shouting each other down.
-
- Valenti suggested Cory
needed medical attention; Cory claimed Valenti was
trying steal entertainment materials that people
rightfully owned. Cory was eventually pulled off the
podium and escorted back to his seat while the
assembled crowd cheered. April 23, 2001 3:32 p.m. ET
-
- Jack
Valenti Declared:
-
- The following is
an excerpt
of the declaration that
Jack Valenti submitted on behalf of the recording
industry in the case in which members of the industry are
suing Napster. The full declaration and that of others
are available at http://www.riaa.com/napster_legal.cfm.
-
- The copyright community is the
largest contributor to this nation's economy. The
intellectual property created by these industries
generates over $64 billion annually in international
revenues alone -- more than automobiles and auto parts,
more than aircraft, more than agriculture. It produces
jobs at three times the annual rate of the American
economy as a whole.
-
- The Copyright Assembly was
formed because its members are deeply concerned about the
future of creative works, particularly in light of the
explosive growth of the Internet. All of the members of
the The Copyright Assembly are actively embracing new
Internet opportunities for consumers, and are developing
new, incentive business models to deliver our creative
works in a manner that can make them available to
consumers via the Internet. Hundreds of millions of
dollars are now being invested by our members to develop
this new economy. They are all eager to be part of this
revolutionary technology
-
- However, we also worry lest the
great potential, the immense future worth of the
Internet, becomes tangled by overt and covert piracy of
copyrighted material. As legitimate businesses emerge on
the Internet, illegitimate intruders find the Internet a
haven. Piracy of copyrighted material is already a
multi-billion dollar problem worldwide. For example, an
estimated 38 percent of all software programs used
worldwide in 1998 was pirated, at a market value of $11
billion and a loss of 109,000 American jobs. And, the
economic impact of piracy stems well beyond the creative
industries alone. It harms economies worldwide in the
form of lost jobs and decreased tax revenues, and by
inhibiting electronic commerce.
-
- 07 LKIEN GAME
DEVELOPER DROPS SUIT AGAINST SIERRA ON-LINE
- Friday, April 27 01:34
p.m.
-
- J.R.R. Tolkien fans looking
forward to playing the upcoming online
- role-playing game based on his
Middle Earth characters can get their
- joysticks warmed with the news
that a lawsuit between the game's
- producer and developer
disappeared less than a week after it was
filed.
- MM3D announced Thursday that it
withdrew its $10 million lawsuit against
- Sierra On-Line. "MM3D is happy
to announce that we are dismissing the
- lawsuit (without prejudice) on
04/26/01. We are grateful to Sierra for their
- good faith and for the efforts
they are taking to resolve this matter,"
- MM3D said in a statement posted
to its Web site. MM3D sued Sierra in
- Los Angeles Superior Court on
April 20, claiming it breached a contract to
- create what is being called
"Tolkien Online RPG" by attempting to force
- developer MM3D to accept
diminished terms and 50 percent cut in
- revenue from the project. Plans
for the game had been kept secret until
- the suit revealed the troubled
negotiation.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- SPRINGTIME FOR CLEAR CHANNEL
- Friday, April 27 10:29
a.m.
-
- Clear Channel, the largest
radio broadcaster in history, revealed in its
- first-quarter earnings call
Thursday that it has a 20 percent stake in
the
- Broadway smash The Producers,
based on Mel Brooks' 1968 film. The
- play, starring Matthew
Broderick and Nathan Lane, has been blessed
- with glowing reviews and record
sales ($6.5 million of tickets sold in the
- five days after it opened). But
Clear Channel's interest has less to do
- with an eye for an art than for
long-term strategy. "Please keep in mind
- that we invest in Broadway
plays to secure that content for touring,"
noted
- Lowry Mays, chief executive
officer. Clear Channel Communications plays
- in the touring space through
its SFX subsidiary. Mays expects The
- Producers to run on Broadway
for the next several years and go out on
- tour in two years. "It's
certainly great to have a super hit like The
- Producers," he said. The owner
of 1,200 U.S. radio stations could sure
- use a hit. The company reported
a larger loss for the first quarter of
- 2001, a loss of 53 cents a
share, compared to a loss of 12 cents a share
- in 2000. Analysts' consensus
estimate, according to First Call/Thompson
- Financial, was a loss of 45
cents a share.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- FIRESIDE PAYS $2 MILLION FOR A
YOGIC WAY OF LIFE
- Thursday, April 26 06:13
p.m.
-
- Simon & Schuster's Fireside
imprint is adding another yogi to its yoga
- books list -- and this one came
with a $2 million price tag. Caroline
- Sutton just closed a two-book
deal with Massachusetts-based yoga
- master Baron Baptiste. The deal
(North American rights only) calls for
- the books to come out in
hardcover, which means the first one, due in
- Spring 2002, will be only the
second hardcover the trade paperback
- publisher will have released.
"We are dedicated to publishing books in
- the right format," says Sutton.
The as-yet-untitled first book will be full
of
- four-color illustrations, but
as Sutton points out, it won't just be a book
of
- different poses. It will also
include chapters on motivational techniques,
- meditation and a cleansing
diet. "It's not just about the postures,"
- explains Sutton. "We really see
him as more than just the next big yoga
- guy. It's a whole life
plan."
-
- Baptiste, who writes a column
for Yoga Journal, practices a kind of power
- yoga that, according to his Web
site, has Helen Hunt cooing, "Doing yoga
- with Baron has a profound
effect on me physically, mentally and
- emotionally. It's a wonderful
experience." Thanks to a recent Time
- magazine cover article and an
Oprah embrace earlier this month, yoga
- has certainly been on the mind
of Americans lately. And it probably
- doesn't hurt that Madonna,
Christy Turlington (who has her own yoga
- book deal with with Hyperion),
Gwyneth Paltrow and various other stars
- are among its adherents. But
Sutton says that the acquisition is
definitely
- not a matter of jumping on the
bandwagon. "I've had my eye on Baron
- for a long time."
-
- - - - - - - -
-
- TOP STORIES ON
INSIDE: April 27, 2001
-
- TIME-SHIFTING HOLLYWOOD IS
CAUGHT UP IN THE
- SUMMER BOX-OFFICE RACE -- FOR
2002
- With four big summer pictures
slotted, Columbia looks
- like the likely leader.
Spider-Man, Stuart Little 2, Deeds
- and Men in Black 2 hark back to
the Mark Canton
- 'spend-big, win-big'
strategy.
-
- RATINGS REPORT: CBS'S THURSDAY
HITS OUTSHINE
- NBC'S SUPERSTARS
- Heavy promotion and big-name
guests aren't enough to
- boost 'Must-See' comedies back
ahead of Survivor and
- CSI. Still, ER keeps NBC first
for the opening night of the
- May sweep.
-
- NEW SALES: SIMON & SCHUSTER
GOES ON A SHOPPING
- SPREE, SNAGS A HOT YOGI AND
BETTE MIDLER
- Nonfiction -- ranging from yoga
to Sudan's 'lost boys' --
- was the first order of business
this week, especially for
- S&S and its various
imprints.
-
- BUSINESS 2.0 TO CLOSE EUROPEAN
OPERATIONS
- Future Network, publisher of
the New Economy mag, says
- it will lay off 80 in Europe.
Company is reportedly still in
- talks with a potential buyer
for its U.S. edition.
-
- THE GLOSSIES: VANITY FAIR
PROBES 'THE ROCK'
- In a wide-ranging interview,
George Wayne quizzes the
- WWF superstar about his penis
and his prostate. Plus:
- Ian Frazier dissects Dubya's
'clueless stare.'
- ///
- 06 HARPER'S
BAZAAR'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH ESTEE LAUDER
HEIRESSES
- Thursday, April 26 04:34
p.m.
-
- Move over, Conde Nast: Hearst
proves that it can play
- logrolling-in-our-time just as
well as its corporate rival. Remember back
- in August, when Conde Nast's
Vanity Fair included a 14-page spread of
- the latest "It Girls"? The
magazine was asking for trouble; four of the
- women annointed as "it" were
subsequently outed as members of the
- Conde Nast family: Vogue
fashion features writer Plum Sykes, Vanity
Fair
- associate fashion editor
Patricia Herrera, Vogue contributing editor
- Marina Rust and medical student
Samantha Boardman, who has been
- associated with editorial
director James Truman).
-
- Now it's Harper's Bazaar's
turn. In the May issue of the magazine,
- Harper's includes a "Best
Dressed 2001" -- photos and profiles of the
- usual suspects (Kate Moss,
Sofia Coppola), along with Estee Lauder
- heiresses Aerin and Jane
Lauder. OK, so Aerin, Estee Lauder's vice
- president of global
advertising, and Jane, executive director of
treatment
- marketing for Clinique (an
Estee Lauder brand), don't work for Harper's
- Bazaar -- but they're certainly
in the magazine enough. When editor
- Kate Betts took over in June
1999, her first issue included a look at both
- Aerin and Jane's homes. In
August, Betts invited the sisters to her
- "Women in Power" luncheon at
Alain Ducasse. And for this year's Golden
- Globes, a Harper's Bazaar
reporter followed Aerin on her social circuit
- rounds. Add to that this
month's "Best Dressed" feature, and you've
got
- two sisters on Harper's
permanent guest list. The relationship seems
- more than a little advertorial,
considering that Estee Lauder was ranked
- 24th among all magazine
advertisers in the year 2000. (And yes -- of
- course -- Estee Lauder and
Clinique have ads in the magazine's May
- issue.)
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- BLOOMBERG CUTS STAFF LUNCHES ON
EVE OF ELITE BELTWAY BASH
- Thursday, April 26 04:15
p.m.
-
- It seems like
financial-journalism entrepreneur Michael
Bloomberg's
- recent attempt at
belt-tightening is aimed right at his
reporters'
- waistlines. Last Friday,
Bloomberg's Washington, D.C., bureau dropped
- one of the staff's favorite
perks: daily catered luncheons from area
- restaurants. Bureau employees
are already reminiscing about the
- enormous plates of sandwiches
from the Wall Street Deli and the platters
- of chicken and beef from the
pricey downtown eatery Red Sage that were
- regularly wheeled into
Bloomberg's National Press Club offices. The
loss
- of free food stands in stark
contrast to the several hundred thousand
- dollars the potential New York
City Republican mayoral candidate is
- spending to host Washington's
most exclusive -- and excessive -- White
- House Correspondents' Dinner
after-party this Saturday. The A-list gala
- attracts movie stars, celebrity
pundits, high-powered politicians and
- plenty of gate-crashers, all
eager to drink Bloomberg's top-shelf booze
- and eat from a spread that in
the past has included a Russian vodka and
- caviar room, a full sushi bar
and table after table laden with rare
- cheeses, smoked salmon and lamb
chops. "It's ancient Rome," recalls
- one of last year's partygoers.
Bloomberg spokeswoman Chris Taylor says
- the catered lunches were never
meant to be a daily perk and that they
- are being eliminated because
the bureau is overcrowded. "It has nothing
- to do with economics," says
Taylor. "We still have plenty of free food."
- Indeed, the bureau (like all
Bloomberg offices) has available to
- employees a snack bar that puts
many gas station mini-marts to shame.
- Still, some staffers say the
move is clearly financial. "We're talking
about
- a lot of money here," notes one
reporter.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- TEXAS PAPERS LOSE OUT WITH BUSH
IN WASHINGTON
- Thursday, April 26 10:56
a.m.
-
- President George W. Bush seems
confident that he doesn't need to worry
- about Texas's electoral votes
in 2004. In what local reporters say is a
- pattern, Bush this week snubbed
the Texas press, canceling a planned sit
- down with reporters and editors
from the five Texas metro dailies -- The
- Dallas Morning-News, The
Houston Chronicle, The San Antonio
- Express-News, The Austin
American-Statesman and The Fort Worth
- Star-Telegram -- on the
occasion of his first 100 days in office. The
- group interview, initially
scheduled for Friday, was going to come after
- individual meetings with The
New York Times, The Washington Post and
- the networks -- all of which
went off without a hitch. The canned meeting
- is reminiscent of an earlier
pledge to the Longhorn press that Team Bush
- quickly broke: back in 1999,
Bush promised that when he formally
- announced his candidacy, he'd
give the scoop to home-state scribes.
- Within weeks, Bush political
strategist Karl Rove had served up the
- exclusive to The Times.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- WIN A TRIP TO PAUL THEROUX'S
HAWAII
- Thursday, April 26 10:17
a.m.
-
- Paul Theroux's novels, while
sophisticated and successful, are rarely
- considered a day at the beach.
But an unusual publicity campaign for his
- forthcoming title from Houghton
Mifflin, Hotel Honolulu, is pitching it
- exactly that way for readers.
To promote the May publication, "a
- down-at-the-heels tourist place
on a back street two blocks from the
- beach at Waikiki, where middle
America stays and dreams," according to
- the cover flap, Houghton is
offering a "Win a Trip to Paul Theroux's
- Hawaii" sweepstakes. Like so
many free Bally's gym membership
- giveaways blanketing the front
windows of Wal-Mart, the cardboard
- displays will be in bookstores
nationwide the second week in May.
- Readers simply have to mail in
an entry form for the six-day, five-night
- trip for two to Hawaii. (No
purchase necessary, of course.) Theroux
- himself, a sometimes resident
of Hawaii, will provide a sight-seeing tour
- and lunch at Waikiki Beach.
"This is the extension of publicity --
publicity
- plus," says uber-publicist Lynn
Goldberg, who was not involved in the
- project. Though rare for such
events to target consumers instead
- booksellers, it's not the first
time a major publisher took such a tack. In
- 1999, Houghton offered readers
a trip to New Zealand where Peter
- Jackson was filming his trilogy
The Lord of the Rings based on J.R.R.
- Tolkien's stories about Middle
Earth. The publisher is planning a similar
- sweepstakes this fall in
conjunction with its Best American series.
"We
- asked, 'What's the
quintessential American event?'" Houghton
- spokesperson Lori Glazer said.
"We'll have a grand-prize trip to the 2002
- superbowl in New
Orleans."
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- WEAKEST LINK LADY SAYS LET'S
MAKE A DEAL WITH NAL
- Wednesday, April 25 05:46
p.m.
-
- She may be an unfit mother and
the newly anointed Most Despised
- Woman on TV, but Anne Robinson
knows how to strike when the iron is
- hot. Although Robinson and her
show, The Weakest Link, are barely two
- weeks old in the United States,
New American Library/Dutton has just
- picked up Robinson's
autobiography, Memoirs of an Unfit Mother, for
a
- considerable six-figures. As
Inside reported last week, the book had
- already sold in the U.K. to
Little, Brown UK, and agent Ed Victor had
- reportedly turned down a
$500,000 offer from one unnamed stateside
- publisher. Robinson's editorial
and marketing team may want to take
- extra precautions on this
project -- or risk being on the receiving end
of,
- "You ARE the weakest link.
Goodbye."
-
- - - - - - - -
-
- TOP STORIES ON
INSIDE: April 26, 2001
-
- FACING ALLEGATIONS HE LED A
MASSACRE, KERREY
- QUICKLY GOT CONTROL OF THE
STORY
- Through careful leaks to
journalists he knew, the former
- Senator managed to scoop the
reporter who spent two
- years tracking the Vietnam War
story and irritate the New
- York Times and 60 Minutes II in
the process.
-
- PROFESSOR WITHDRAWS ANALYSIS OF
ANTI-PIRACY
- TECHNOLOGIES AFTER THREATS FROM
RECORDING
- INDUSTRY
- Edward Felten says he was under
fire from the labels, the
- Secure Digital Music Initiative
and a manufacturer of one
- of the digital watermarks in
question. RIAA denies that it
- was planning to sue.
- Digital Copyright: Full
Coverage
-
- STUDY FINDS NUMBER OF NAPSTER
USERS DOWN 20
- PERCENT
- Since it began to comply with
court-ordered restriction of
- copyrighted songs, the
song-swapper lost 3 million users.
-
- SF CHRONICLE'S BRONSTEIN IS OUT
TO REDEEM THE
- REPUTATION OF BAY AREA
JOURNALISM
- In a time of shrinking budgets
and hiring freezes across
- the newspaper industry, the new
editor talks to Inside
- about his expansive plans for a
daily that San Franciscans
- 'deserve.'
-
- RATINGS REPORT: EVEN RERUN
EPISODE CAN'T SLOW
- ABC'S MY WIFE &
KIDS
- Strong new Damon Wayans comedy
repeats well for ABC,
- while Boot Camp remains solid
for Fox.
- ///
- 05 -DON'T O-PEN
YOUR MOUTH: WINFREY'S WRITERS MUST SUBMIT TO
- STRICT GAG ORDER
- Wednesday, April 25 03:24
p.m.
-
- For a talk-show host, Oprah
Winfrey isn't always so keen on free speech.
- Writers who want to hop on the
juggernaut at O, The Oprah Magazine best
- be prepared to don a gag for
life concerning the franchise. The following
- clause is included in current
writers' contracts at the mag: "During your
- business relationship with
Hearst, and thereafter, to the fullest extent
- permitted by law, you are
obligated to keep confidential and never
- disclose, use, misappropriate,
or confirm or deny the veracity of, any
- statement or comment concerning
Oprah Winfrey, 'O, The Oprah
- Magazine,' any of Ms. Winfrey's
businesses or any of her/its Confidential
- Information. The phrase
'Confidential Information,' as used in this
policy,
- includes but is not limited to,
any and all information which is not
- generally known to the public,
related to or concerning: (i) Ms. Winfrey
- and/or her business or private
life; (ii) the affiliates, employees or
- contractors; and/or (iii) the
employment practices or policies applicable
to
- its employees and/or
contractors for O, The Oprah Magazine..." A
legal
- expert hired by Inside suggests
that it all boils down to this: Share the
- joy, spread the love, but let
your gums flap once about Oprah and we will
- respond with a nail gun to your
soft tissues.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- TEMP'S LUCKY DAY AFTER AILES IS
WOWED BY HER FORECASTING
- ACUMEN
- Wednesday, April 25 11:43
a.m.
-
- Landing an on-air spot is one
of the hardest gigs in journalism. Unless, of
- course, your name is Ginger. On
Monday, Ginger Williams was a
- Manhattan temp; she got a call
that Fox News needed someone for the
- day. Little did she know that
Fox & Friends producer Matt Singerman
- planned to have whomever showed
up do the 9 a.m. weather on-air.
- Williams's day only get better
when she was told that Fox News president
- Roger Ailes had seen her
on-camera debut and was dutifully impressed.
- "His reaction was pretty
positive," Singerman said. "We got her resume
- and set up a meeting."
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- FEED MAKES READERS A BIGGER
PART OF ITS MENU
- Wednesday, April 25 10:54
a.m.
-
- Overshadowed for most of its
life by Slate and Salon, Feed has been
- perhaps the quintessential Web
'zine, run by erudite editors who gladly
- publish semi-esoteric essays
and ask readers to go along for the ride.
- That formula changed a bit
Tuesday, when the site unveiled a major
- tweak to its recent redesign
that puts the readers firmly in charge.
Literally
- shoving aside the top story of
the day, Feed's new message board
- (dubbed "The Filter") now
dominates the front page. Links to stories
- outside the site, plus the
discussions they kick up, will help bulk up
Feed's
- daily offerings, while every
Feed-written story will have a filter
attached
- directly to it as well. The
Filter's technology is provided by
Plastic.com,
- Feed's sister community site in
the Automatic Media family (Inside.com is
- also affiliated with Plastic).
But doesn't begging the readers for help lead
- to lazy publishing? "I suppose
it's a temptation for publishers," says Feed
- co-editor in chief Stefanie
Syman. But, she adds, it's nice to know the
- readers can fend for
themselves. "I don't feel now that if I don't
get
- something up every two hours,
the site goes dead. There's activity up
- there that goes above and
beyond the actual work."
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- MORE LINKS ON NBC AND
PAX
- Tuesday, April 24 08:26
p.m.
-
- If you aren't yet sick of
acerbic Brit Anne Robinson's eerily addictive
- "goodbye" catch phrase, you'll
get your chance. NBC announced today that
- the network has picked up 13
additional episodes of The Weakest Link to
- be aired this summer. The
prime-time game show has given life to the
- Monday time period where the
network was barely breathing. In addition
- to the 26 Link episodes NBC has
banked (pun intended), it is likely that
- tomorrow PAX TV will announce
plans to air a second run of the trivia show
- as soon as this summer. The
move wouldn't be much of a surprise since
- PAX head Jeff Sagansky was the
link between the BBC program and NBC.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- A FRESH START FOR BOTH MCGRAW
AND LEVIN AT SIMON & SCHUSTER
- Tuesday, April 24 05:34
p.m.
-
- Phillip C. McGraw (that's Dr.
Phil to his Oprah-loving friends) isn't the
only
- one making the move from
Hyperion to Simon & Schuster this week,
as
- the New York Daily News
reported on Tuesday. Martha Levin, who left
her
- job as vice president and
publisher of Hyperion to step in as publisher
of
- S & S's Free Press group
when Bill Shinker resigned earlier this
month,
- officially started her tenure
there this Monday. Of course, it's purely
- coincidental, says Carolyn
Reidy, president of Simon & Schuster
Adult
- Publishing Group, who points
out that the McGraw package was in the
- works long before Levin was a
glimmer in Viacom-owned S & S's eye.
-
- World rights for the books were
acquired by Dominick Anfusco, vice
- president and senior editor at
S & S, for the new Simon & Schuster
Source
- imprint, and the four-book deal
indicates that McGraw will be with the
- publisher for a good, long
while.
-
- This is the second big score in
as many weeks for Source, which recently
- paid $4 million for two books
by Cheryl Richardson, an Oprah-annointed
- "life coach."
-
- Self Matters: Creating Your
Life from the Inside Out is the first book on
deck
- and will be available in
hardcover in fall 2001. According to Reidy, it
builds
- on the ideas in McGraw's
previous books, Life Strategies and
Relationship
- Rescue. Trade paperback
versions of all of the new titles will be
published
- by S & S's Fireside
imprint, which also published Life Strategies for
Teens,
- written by McGraw's
twenty-year-old son, Jay. This is quite the
family
- affair.
-
- TOP STORIES ON
INSIDE: April 25, 2001
-
- RATINGS REPORT: CHAINS OF LOVE
HAS NO LOCK ON
- VIEWERS
- Racy reality series is proving
to be a weak link for UPN,
- while All Souls scares more
people with its ratings than its
- spooky plotlines.
-
- BY PICKING ON ACADEMICS, RECORD
INDUSTRY PLAYS
- THE BAD GUY -- AT THE WORST
POSSIBLE TIME
- Just as an appeals court is
about to weigh the
- constitutionality of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a
- lawyer for the labels uses the
controversial act to try to
- stop some professors from
publishing. And it was all a
- bluff.
- Digital Copyright: Full
Coverage
-
- NEW YORK TIMES/MACNEIL-LEHRER
TV SHOW STALLED
- AT THE GATE FOR LACK OF
FUNDING
- Debut of Arthur Sulzberger
Jr.'s pet project -- a nightly
- news program called National
Edition -- is postponed
- pending white-knight
underwriters. Will oil giant be one of
- them?
-
- FONTANA: CLUTTERING THE TV
SCREEN WITH PROMOS
- FOR WHAT COMES NEXT
- By jamming shows with teases
and network logos, viewers
- are being distracted from
what's on the air. Or is that the
- point?
-
- PANTHEON PAYS OVER $500,000 FOR
EX-SEC CHAIRMAN
- ARTHUR LEVITT'S INVESTMENT
GUIDE
- While better known as a
literary house, the Bertelsmann
- imprint takes on an advice book
for the little guy from the
- big enforcer of stock trading
regulations.
-
- NETWORKS HUNKER DOWN FOR
WORST-CASE
- SCENARIO: FOX LEADS WITH OVER
100 HOURS OF
- STRIKE-PROOF PRIME-TIME
SHOWS
- As writers' and actors'
contract deadlines loom, a TVtracker
- report details the extent of
stockpiling and posthaste
- reality-show production. Dick
Wolf has a very full la
- ///
-
- BLOCKBUSTER, NO,
ENRON, TALKS VOD AT NAB
- Tuesday, April 24 03:05
p.m.
-
- Only six weeks ago, Blockbuster
and Enron dissolved their 20-year video
- on demand (VOD) partnership
under a cloud of acrimony. It was
- surprising, then, to see
Blockbuster vice-president of new media Steve
- Pantelick listed as a panelist
for a program on audio and video first
- movers here at NAB today. Of
course, the audience was even more
- surprised when instead of
Pantelick, they got Bradford Brooks of Enron
- Broadband Services, the group
within the energy giant working on its now
- stand-alone on-demand ventures.
Before begining his presentation,
- Brooks tackled the confusion in
the air head-on: "Obviously, we did have
- a breakup. We had different
corporate objectives." Brooks said no more
- about the collapse of the deal
(including Blockbuster's accusation that
- Enron's network had security
holes), nor did he explain exactly why the
- speaker switch had been made,
other than the obvious reasons.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- NATIONAL REVIEW EDITOR
PRACTICES LESS-THAN-FULL DISCLOSURE
- Tuesday, April 24 11:46
a.m.
-
- Richard Lowry, the
preternaturally boyish editor of the National Review,
is
- one of the best chroniclers of
the political scene. Just ask him and he'll
- tell you as much. In a recent
issue of his magazine, Lowry reviews two new
- books on the post-election
imbroglio: Jake Tapper's Down and Dirty and
- the E.J. Dionne and William
Kristol-edited Bush v. Gore, a collection of
- legal opinions and commentary.
Lowry writes that the commentary in
- particular "stand(s) up well as
an account of the 'outside story' in
Florida."
- Indeed. Lowry himself has one
piece in Bush v. Gore, and his writers have
- three more -- a little tidbit
that doesn't make it into his review. Not
- surprisingly, Tapper's work
doesn't fare as well. "Since Tapper never
- acknowledges that any issue
joined in Florida was more profound than
- Gore's and Bush's attempts to
maneuver their way to victory, all his
- reporting makes for a less
compelling account of the controversy than
- Kristol and Dionne's collection
of reprints," Lowry writes. Next time, Tapper
- should make sure to include
some of Rich's own wisdom.
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- TED KOPPEL SINGS HIS HEART
OUT
- Tuesday, April 24 10:54
a.m.
-
- Ted Koppel was inducted into
the National Association of Broadcasters
- Hall of Fame on Monday,
treating the audience to an acceptance speech
- that resembled a Catskills
audition. First, the normally somber-faced
- Nightline host told an
elaborate knee-slapper about famous writers
who
- decline awards for being great
American authors, using the story to openly
- question why he was deserving
of the NAB honor. Then he noted that ABC
- is the only major broadcast
network to remain in the NAB -- all the
others
- have dropped out. "It was down
to me and (Sam) Donaldson anyways,"
- he quipped. After that he sang
two songs: one about the Great Wall of
- China (to the tune of "You're a
Grand Old Flag") and then, with audience
- backing, a number in which he
thanked the Ayatollah Khomeini for
- helping to launch Nightline.
Are 21 years of late-night broadcasts finally
- taking their toll?
-
- - - - - - - -
-
-
- YOUNG LIONS AWARD
DANIELEWSKI
- Tuesday, April 24 10:13
a.m.
-
- While the elders of the
publishing business supped at Lincoln Center
for
- the annual PEN dinner, the new
generation was awarding and partying
- thirty blocks south. The first
annual Young Lions Fiction Awards,
- established by the New York
Public Library, gave out its first awards
- Monday night at the 42nd street
branch. The winner of the 35-and-under
- literary achievement prize:
Mark Z. Danielewski, for his novel House of
- Leaves. The members of the
Young Lions committee behind the awards --
- actor and published novelist
Ethan Hawke, writer Rick Moody and William
- Morris head Jennifer Rudolph
Walsh -- were on hand to host the evening.
- After Moody explained that the
motivation behind the award (which carries
- a $10,000 cash prize) is to
"attempt to provide gratification to young,
- talented writers," many of whom
labor away at day jobs while working on
- their novels, Hawke and his
wife Uma Thurman (who really does exude a
- casual elegance) took turns
reading excerpts from each nominated work.
- All of the nominated writers
made it to the event - Darin Strauss (Chang
- and Eng), Myla Goldberg (Bee
Season), Heidi Julavits (The Mineral Palace),
- David Ebershoff (The Danish
Girl), Akhil Sharma (The Obedient Father) and
- of course Danielewski. Runners
up each received a leather- bound copy of
- his or her book, made possible
by the William Morris Agency. Meanwhile,
- back at PEN, jailed Iranian
Publisher Shahla Lahiji and Uzbek novelist
- Mamadali Mahmudov received
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write
- Awards. There's no cash prize
involved here, of course, but history
- suggests the two might win
something even more valuable. Two previous
- recipients of this particular
award have been freed from prison.
-
- TOP STORIES ON
INSIDE: April 24, 2001
-
- AT TIME INC., 15 YEARS OF
SERVICE AND 50 YEARS OF
- AGE GETS YOU A BUYOUT
OFFER
- In a post-merger hunt for
savings, the publishing division
- of AOL Time Warner offers an
enhanced pension to old
- hands. Some young guns may also
get a piece of the
- action.
-
- NETWORKS HUNKER DOWN FOR
WORST-CASE
- SCENARIO: FOX LEADS WITH OVER
100 HOURS OF
- STRIKE-PROOF PRIME-TIME
SHOWS
- As writers' and actors'
contract deadlines loom, a TVtracker
- report details the full extent
of stockpiling and posthaste
- reality-show production. Dick
Wolf has a very full larder.
-
- RATINGS BULLETIN: WEAKEST LINK
HOLDS IT TOGETHER
- IN WEEK TWO
- The nasty game show continues
to build its audience
- through the hour while bringing
NBC big time-period
- increases. Insult-wielding
Robinson seems to turn older
- viewers off, but 18-49 results
shoot up. UPDATE
-
- VIACOM POSTS RECORD REVENUES
AND SMALL LOSS
- It says 1st-quarter revenues
and cash flow are improved
- from a year ago but that
charges from its purchase of CBS
- led to a loss.
-
- MURDOCH REPLACES EDITOR OF THE
NEW YORK POST
- WITH VETERAN JOURNALIST FROM
DOWN UNDER
- Xana Antunes, in the job since
1999, is said to have
- resigned for personal reasons,
clearing the way for the
- editor in chief of Sydney's
Daily Telegraph.
-
- TECHNOLOGY TIMES
OUT ON PRINCE
- Monday, April 23 02:40
p.m.
-
- As previously reported in
Inside, Prince may have found a way to
connect
- to his audience -- and his
audience's pocketbooks -- online via his NPG
- Music Club. But last week his
customized application for downloading
- stopped working (apparently
Apple timed out a test version of its
- QuickTime software without
informing the Purple One). So over the
- weekend npgmusicclub.com gave
up on the customization entirely. Now
- members log in to the Web site
and download directly. Five more music
- files appeared over the
weekend, too, although one of them, "The
- Work," was dropped to Napster a
week earlier.
-
-
-
- A LICENSE TO END ALL
DIGITAL-MUSIC LICENSES
- Monday, April 23 11:32 a.m.
-
- With the battling over
digital-music distribution and royalties still at
a
- fever pitch, the online legal
activists at The Electronic Frontier
- Foundation are promoting what
they call a middle-of-the-road solution.
- On Saturday at the New York
Music & Internet Expo, EFF introduced an
- "open audio license," an
electronic text tag inserted into the digital
code
- of a song that provides
information about the song's author, contact
- information and copyright
policies. If an artist uses the new (O) tag,
it
- basically gives music listeners
an automatic permission slip to do some
- of the things that normally
require the express written consent of the
- copyright holder, such as
copying and distributing music on Napster,
- performing or broadcasting the
works in public royalty free and adapting
- the music for sampling.
-
- With the contact information
embedded in the songs, users are
- encouraged to send artists
payment on their own. It's the digital
- equivalent of the Grateful Dead
approach to letting fans tape and swap
- music in order to help their
concerts sell-outs. The EFF hopes this new
- alternative to the royalty and
permission system fosters the spread of
- music across the Net, without
the need to trouble lawyers. But with such a
- system, would musicians even
need copyright at all? "No lawyer would
- ever tell someone to give up
copyright," says Robin Gross, attorney for
- the EFF, who says that the
system still can protect artists from having
- their music pirated by rivals
who could then claim copyright protection for
- it. Taking a page from Napster,
the EFF wants to collect songs from artists
- using the open audio license,
which the group would then host on its Web
- site.
-
-
- TOP STORIES
ON INSIDE: April 23, 2001
-
- MURDOCH GOES STRAIGHT TO
GENERAL MOTORS CEO IN
- EFFORT TO BUY
DIRECTV
- Stymied by the satellite TV
provider's management, News
- Corp.'s chairman heads to
Detroit to plead his case with
- its parent company.
-
- YAHOO BROADCAST, THE WEB
EXPERIMENT IN TV-LIKE
- PROGRAMMING, STARTS
TODAY
- Just in time for the NAB
convention, the popular portal
- brings a multichannel universe
to your desk, and new
- revenue streams to its
business. But will you watch video
- on your computer and will your
boss mind if you do?
-
- THE GLOSSIES: ALL YOUR RATE
BASE ARE BELONG TO US
- ... and other runners-up in the
re-rename Smart
- Business: Technology at Work
contest, not to mention the
- winner. Plus: Yet another David
takes on Dave Eggers.
-
- NBC GETS VIEWERS TO PONY UP FOR
GRACE'S SHIRT
- Combining product placement and
e-commerce, the
- network pushes a T-shirt seen
on Will & Grace through
- Polo.com -- a Web site it
co-owns with Ralph Lauren.
-
- NEW SALES: SOME SERIOUS FICTION
AND A
- JET-SETTER'S SURVIVAL
GUIDE
- Donadio & Olson's Ira
Silverberg sold three books last
- week, and FSG did a lot of
buying (from him and others).
MORE
Inside Dope - June/July
|
|
com/tvismartclippings
