Veteran location manager Aine Furey will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) at the 8th Annual LMGI Awards. With a career spanning almost four decades and over 400 hours of screen time, Furey can easily be called a pioneer who was instrumental in establishing Ontario as an attractive production environment for film and television production. The LMGI Awards “Celebrate the Where” gala will be held on Saturday, October 23, at 2 p.m. PT, presented, via a digital ceremony on YouTube.
LMGI Awards chair John Rakich noted, “Aine was a mainstay in local production from its early days of small local productions to the thriving global production center Ontario is today. The Location Managers Guild International is proud to have Aine Furey accept our Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Furey’s many credits include Canadian Bacon, Relic Hunter, Lost Girl, Mutant X, The Littlest Hobo, Night Heat and Due South. She helped established a path for location professionalism in not just establishing industry practices and standards but in the legacy of dozens of careers she trained and mentored. Even now in her retirement, she still does the occasional bit of location scouting for productions in need and is always helping the local film commissions in creating image packages.
Furey grew up in Dublin at a time before television existed in Ireland so going to “the films” was a big deal and it became a lifelong fascination. Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1959 where her first step into “showbiz” was working at the Mission Playhouse while in high school. After graduation, she returned to London and began to get work as an actress. That came to an abrupt end when she was injured in a car accident, which led to her lifelong career in location work.
The LMGI Awards honor the outstanding and creative visual contributions by location professionals in film, television and commercials from around the globe. The LMGI Awards also recognize outstanding service by film commissions for their support “above and beyond” during the production process.
This year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 8th Annual LMGI Awards will, once again, be presented on a digital platform, streaming to a worldwide and more inclusive audience.
DirecTV calls off acquisition of rival Dish, possibly ending a yearslong pursuit
DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company.
The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them about $1.6 billion, collectively.
The retreat by DirecTV this week may end a years-long effort by the company to acquire both Dish and Sling after it announced the bid in September.
DirecTV was looking to acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that included a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The deal was contingent on several factors, including regulatory approvals and bondholders writing off debt related to Dish.
"While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV's balance sheet and our operational flexibility," DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement.
The prospect of a DirecTV-Dish combo has long been rumored, and reported talks resurfaced over the years. And the two almost merged more than two decades ago — but the Federal Communications Commission blocked the deal valued at the time at $18.5 billion deal, citing antitrust concerns.
The pay-for-TV market has shifted significantly since. As more and more consumers tune into online streaming platforms, demand for more traditional satellite entertainment continues to shrink.
DirecTV says that it will continue to invest in next-generation streaming platforms and offer new packaging options while integrating content from live TV alongside direct-to-consumer... Read More