December 21, 2012
9 Foreign Language Films Vie For OscarBEVERLY HILLS, Calif.–Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards๏ฟฝ. Seventy-one films had originally qualified in the category.
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director;
Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director;
Chile, “No,” Pablo Larra๏ฟฝn, director;
Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director;
France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Korm๏ฟฝkur, director;
Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim R๏ฟฝnning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director;
Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director.
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2012 are again being determined in two phases.
The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 71 eligible films between mid-October and December 17. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.
The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 4, through Sunday, January 6, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center๏ฟฝ, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users’ inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called “other.”
Launched in 2011, the “other” folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don’t know, based on Facebook’s reading of your social connections. Many users ignore this folder.
Now, users will be able to pay $1 to route their messages to non-friends. Facebook said Thursday that it is testing the service with a small percentage of individuals — not businesses — in the U.S.
“For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox,” Facebook said in an online post. “For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them.”
The company says charging for messages could help discourage spammers.
In October, Facebook unveiled another feature that lets users pay if they want more people to read their updates. For $7, users can promote a post to their friends, just as advertisers do.
Senators write Sony, criticize ‘”Zero Dark Thirty”By Donna Cassata
WASHINGTON (AP) — The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” is misleading and “grossly inaccurate” in its suggestion that torture produced the tip that led the U.S. military to find terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, three senators said Wednesday in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The filmmakers dispute that interpretation and encourage people to see their movie, already considered a top Oscar contender, before characterizing it.
The members of the Senate Intelligence committee — Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and John McCain — insisted that Sony and its president and CEO, Michael Lynton, had an obligation to alter the movie and make clear that torture in the hunt for bin Laden was fiction and not based on fact.
“We are fans of many of your movies, and we understand the special role that movies play in our lives, but the fundamental problem is that people who see ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ will believe that the events it portrays are facts,” the three senators wrote. “The film therefore has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner.”
McCain has insisted that the waterboarding of al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to the bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
Last year, McCain asked then-CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he said the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.
Feinstein, who heads the Intelligence committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.
In their letter to Sony, the lawmakers said the “use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America’s values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged. It remains a stain on our national conscience. We cannot afford to go back to these dark times, and with the release of ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ the filmmakers and your production studio are perpetuating the myth that torture is effective. You have a social and moral obligation to get the facts right.”
Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal said in a statement from Sony that they depicted “a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.”
Bigelow and Boal, who won Oscars for “The Hurt Locker,” said the new film showed that no single method was responsible in the successful manhunt for bin Laden, and no single scene in isolation captures the total effort the movie dramatizes.
McCain said he watched the movie Monday night after receiving a copy.
“Zero Dark Thirty” is opening in New York and Los Angeles this week. It opens across the country next month.
Chinese ad firm to leave US stock market in buyoutBEIJING (AP) — A Chinese advertising company says it has agreed to be taken private and removed from U.S. stock markets in the biggest transaction of its kind for China.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. said Thursday it will be bought by a group that includes its chairman, private equity firm Carlyle Group and Chinese investors. The transaction values the company at $3.7 billion.
Focus Media announced plans for the change in August and complained U.S. markets were undervaluing its shares. The company was formed in 2003 and operates electronic advertising displays in elevators, grocery stores and other locations.
Several other Chinese companies have withdrawn from U.S. stock exchanges this year following accusations of improper accounting by some and a dispute between Beijing and Washington about who can oversee their China-based auditors.
Google to sell part of Motorola for $2.35 billionBy Michael Liedtke, Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is selling Motorola Mobility’s TV set-top business for $2.35 billion, lightening the load that the Internet search leader took on earlier this year when it completed the biggest acquisition in its history.
The cash-and-stock deal announced late Wednesday will turn over Motorola’s set-top division to Arris Group Inc., a relatively small provider of high-speed Internet equipment that is looking to become a bigger player in the delivery of video. Investors applauded the move, driving up Arris’ stock by nearly 17 percent.
Google’s decision to jettison the set-top boxes comes seven months after the Mountain View, Calif., company took control of Motorola Mobility Holdings in a $12.4 billion purchase.
The set-top boxes were never a big allure for Google, although the company is interested in finding ways to pipe its service on to TVs so it can sell more advertising.
Google prized Motorola for its portfolio of more than 17,000 mobile patents. Those form an arsenal that it can use in a fierce battle that has broken out over intellectual property as smartphones and tablet computers have emerged as hot commodities in recent years.
Motorola also makes smartphones and tablets, a manufacturing business that Google will retain, despite lingering concerns on Wall Street about the hardware shrinking Google’s profit margins and possibly alienating other device makers that use the company’s Android software.
Besides not being a natural fit for Google, Motorola’s set-top box also has become a potentially expensive liability. Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo Inc. is seeking billions of dollars in damages in a lawsuit alleging that Motorola’s boxes infringed on its patents. Those claims are scheduled to go to trial next year in federal court in Texas.
Although they declined to provide specifics, Arris Group executives told analysts in a Wednesday conference call that Google still must cover most of the bill for any damages or settlement that TiVo might win.
TiVo already has negotiated about $1 billion in combined settlements in other patent-infringement cases it has brought against other companies, including Dish Network Corp., AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications.
The proposed sale of Motorola’s set-top division calls for Google to receive $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million worth of Arris stock. If the deal wins regulatory approval, Arris Group expects to take over the division before the end of June.
Google will also pare its expenses, something likely to please investors concerned about Motorola being a drag on the company’s earnings. Arris said about 7,000 people work in Motorola’s set-top division. Google ended September with about 53,500 employees, including 17,400 who worked on the Motorola side of its operations. More than 20,000 people worked at Motorola Mobility when Google became the owner in late May, but the payroll was slashed as part of an effort to pare the losses that have been piling up within Motorola as its once popular cellphones lost market share to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics.
But Motorola’s set-top business had been making money, according to Google, though the company didn’t say how much.
In the past year ending in September, Motorola’s set-top operations generated $3.4 billion in revenue. That makes it twice as big as Arris Group, whose revenue totaled $1.3 billion during the same period. Arris Group, which is based Suwanee, Ga., had earned $39 million through the nine months of last year after suffering a loss of nearly $13 million for all of 2011.
“This represents a great leap forward for Arris,” CEO Bob Stanzione said during Wednesday’s conference call.
Arris’ stock surged $2.46 to $17 in extended trading Wednesday while Google’s stock dipped $2.61 to $717.50.
The other half of the old Motorola Inc., Motorola Solutions Inc., remains an independent company. Based in Schaumburg, Ill., it sells communications equipment to government and corporate customers.
Internet ad revenue rises 18 pct to $9.3B in 3Q
NEW YORK (AP) — Internet advertising hit a new high in the third quarter as marketers continued to shift money from print and broadcasting.
The $9.3 billion spent on Internet ads from July through September is an 18 percent increase from $7.8 billion at the same time last year, according to a breakdown released Wednesday by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau, a trade group.
The third-quarter total marks the highest ad volume for any three-month period since 1995, when online marketing first began to move to the Web. Another record is expected in the current quarter ending this month.
Internet advertising more than doubles the amount in U.S. newspapers’ print advertising, which totaled $4.5 billion in the third quarter, according to the industry’s own figures.
The upheaval has been driven by the growing number of people who rely on computers and mobile devices to get information on the Internet.
The increasing number of Internet ads helps subsidize many free online services, including search, email and social networking.
Google Inc., the Internet’s search leader, has been the biggest beneficiary of the online ad boom so far. Other major sellers of online ads include Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL Inc.
Despite its steady growth, the Internet still lags well behind television as the most popular marketing machine. Through the first half of this year, U.S television advertising revenue approached nearly $35 billion, up 6 percent from last year, according the most recent data from the trade group TVB.
TV stations enjoyed another prosperous period in the third quarter as money poured in from political campaigns heading into November’s elections.
“The Grandmaster” to premiere at Berlin festival
BERLIN (AP) — Chinese director Wong Kar-wai’s martial arts epic “The Grandmaster” will have its international premiere at next year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Organizers say the film, starring Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang and Chang Chen in a 1930s-set drama about the life of legendary martial arts expert Yip Man, will open the festival, which runs Feb. 7-17.
Shanghai-born Wong, whose previous films including “As Tears Go By,” ”Chungking Express,” ”Happy Together” and “In the Mood for Love,” will also lead the jury at the 63rd edition of the festival.
Other films to have their international premiere in Berlin are Ulrich Seidl’s sex tourism story “Paradise: Hope” and Gus Van Sant’s film “Promised Land” about the shale gas industry, starring Matt Damon.
James Bond Production Designers To Receive Art Directors Guild’s Cinematic Imagery Award
LOS ANGELES–The Production Designers behind the 23 James Bond films will be honored with the prestigious Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild Excellence In Production Design Awards Presented by BMW, it was announced today by John Shaffner, ADG Council Chair, Producers Greg Grande and Raf Lydon. Set for February 2, the ceremony will honor 50 years of the longest running franchise in film history for its visionary and innovative design.
The Cinematic Imagery Award will go to production designers Sir Ken Adam, Peter Lamont, Allan Cameron and Dennis Gassner.
“For 50 years the Bond films have entertained and inspired us with their audacious sense of style, imagination and sophistication. Their visual mastery of detail are to design what “shaken not stirred” is to the creation of the perfect dry Martini!” Shaffner stated.
The ADG’s Cinematic Imagery Award is given to those whose body of work in the film industry has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the movie-going experience. Previous recipients have been the principal team behind the Harry Potter films, Bill Taylor, Syd Dutton, Warren Beatty, Allen Daviau, Clint Eastwood, Blake Edwards, Terry Gilliam, Ray Harryhausen, Norman Jewison, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg, Robert S. Wise and Zhang Yimou.
Nintendo’s TVii a replacement for the remoteRyan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nintendo is switching on a television service that transforms the tablet-like controller for its new Wii U game console into a remote that changes the channel on your TV and puts programs from the Internet just a few finger taps away.
The TVii service will debut in the U.S. and Canada on Thursday, the company said. That’s a delay from previous plans to have the service available when the game console went on sale in North America on Nov. 18. The TVii service launched in Japan on Dec. 8.
The aim of TVii is to bring order to the hundreds of channels on regular TV and the thousands of shows and movies available through apps from Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Hulu Plus and Google Inc.’s YouTube.
It’s the first time a video game console maker has integrated live TV controls in a device and could be the extra incentive needed for on-the-fence shoppers ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Nintendo Co.’s Wii U console has a unique controller — the GamePad — which is covered with joysticks and buttons and boasts a front-facing camera and 6.2-inch touch screen. The GamePad also houses an infrared emitter that talks directly to your TV or set-top box.
TVii scans what’s available and offers you the option of watching a show, sports event or movie on live TV or through apps that connect to the Internet. By the end of March, Nintendo says that it will integrate TVii with TiVo so that it will be possible to program a TiVo digital video recorder through the game console as well.
“This is a way to get every member of the household to pick up the GamePad hopefully every day,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. “Hopefully this leads to a significant change in how consumers view and interact with their TV.”
For years, home entertainment enthusiasts have had to grapple with a bunch of different controllers to work their televisions, set-top boxes, DVRs, disc players and game consoles. TVii has the potential to dispense with some of that hassle.
If you search for “The Walking Dead,” for example, TVii will show you the next time it’s on AMC and give you the option of buying previous episodes from Amazon or watching them on Netflix. If it’s on now, you can change the channel from the GamePad. Users will be able to watch only channels they already get via antenna or through their TV provider, but search results will include all the options available, which could entice some people to upgrade their channel packages. Netlfix and Hulu Plus require separate subscriptions that cost $8 a month each. TVii itself is free.
TVii also has a traditional channel guide and will recommend shows you might like based on favorite shows, networks and movies that you enter. Different users can have different profiles, and parental controls are included.
Nintendo hopes the service boosts sales of its console. About 425,000 Wii U units were sold in the first seven days on sale. That’s faster than the rollout of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 when they debuted in November 2005 and November 2006 respectively, although initial sales are often constrained by supply, not demand.
Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities said the TVii service puts Nintendo a step ahead of its competitors, but he expects Microsoft to close the gap next year with a next-generation Xbox that includes a TV tuner. Microsoft hasn’t announced such a device.
“It gives them a head start. I think they should be congratulated on making this a truly multimedia device,” Pachter said. “I don’t think that advantage is going to last very long.”
Nintendo has also added social networking features to its service. A team of curators will watch the top 100 shows on live TV and post details and a screenshot of important events, such as “a great shot in a basketball game or an unexpected twist in ‘Mad Men,'” according to Zach Fountain, director of network business for Nintendo of America.
Users can then comment on these moments and have those posts show up on Nintendo’s Miiverse network, as well as Facebook and Twitter if they choose. Users that express emotions could wind up with a sad or happy-looking Mii avatar.
Live sporting events such as pro or college football will also be accompanied by scores and play-by-play summaries on the GamePad’s screen.
One problem with the service could be the GamePad’s battery life. Nintendo says the controller can be used three to five hours depending on activity and screen brightness before it needs to be charged. But TV ratings agency The Nielsen Co. says the average American watches nearly five hours of TV per day. Heavy users may need to keep the controller plugged in to a wall socket, or buy a $25 battery pack that its maker, Nyko, promises will double the battery life.
Kodak to receive $525M from patent saleROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Eastman Kodak will receive about $525 million from the sale of its digital imaging patents, money the struggling photo pioneer says will help it emerge from bankruptcy protection in the first half of next year.
The Rochester, N.Y., company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January after struggling to adapt to the shift to digital photography.
Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday the patent sale will help it repay a substantial amount of its initial debtor-in-possession loan, and it satisfies a key condition of new financing that required the sale of the patents for at least $500 million.
In November, Kodak said it would receive loans worth $830 million in a new, cheaper financing package, replacing a $793 million deal.
Kodak has been pummeled in recent years as consumers switched to digital photography from film. It put its patents up for sale in July 2011. Analysts initially thought the portfolio could fetch between $2 billion and $3 billion because patents have become highly valuable to digital device makers who want to protect themselves from intellectual property lawsuits, but the company struggled to find a buyer. Meanwhile, Kodak has been working to refocus its business on commercial and packaging printing, leaving behind its digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames businesses.
It is selling the patents to a group of licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corp. The deal also includes an agreement to settle patent-related litigation.
Kelsey Grammer to host 65th Annual DGA Awards
LOS ANGELES–Directors Guild of America president Taylor Hackford and 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner chair Michael Stevens announced that director/actor/producer Kelsey Grammer will host the 65th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 2, 2013 in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
Grammer, who starred for two seasons on the critically acclaimed Boss, became a DGA member in 1996 and was himself nominated for a DGA Award for outstanding directing in a Comedy Series for the “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz” episode of Frasier. In addition to directing nearly 40 episodes of Frasier, Grammer’s other directing credits include Everybody Hates Chris; Out of Practice; My Ex Life; Alligator Point; and Hank. Grammer most recently voiced the character of the Tin Man in Dorothy of Oz and just finished acting in the feature film Reach Me, both slated for 2013.
This will be Grammer’s second consecutive turn hosting the DGA Awards.
U.S. cigarette makers reach deal with states
WASHINGTON (AP)–Three U.S. cigarette makers say they have reached a settlement with 17 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico to resolve a dispute over payments required under a 1998 anti-smoking agreement.
Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Inc. said Tuesday that they will give the states their portion of more than $4 billion in disputed payments. In exchange, the manufacturers will receive credits against future payments.
The payments stem from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that ultimately prevented companies from being sued by state governments for the costs of health care for smokers. The settlement required a combination of yearly payments to states and voluntary restrictions on tobacco advertising and marketing.
The states participating in the settlement are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Government says it is investigating data brokers
By Richard Lardner
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says it will investigate companies that collect and sell personal information about consumers to determine whether they need to improve their privacy practices.
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it ordered nine data brokers to provide the agency with details about their sources of information, how they use the information they gather and whether consumers have access to the data.
The consumer profiles assembled by data brokers allow advertisers and retailers to tailor marketing campaigns to specific customers.
The nine companies are: Acxiom of Little Rock, Ark.; Corelogic of Irvine, Calif.; Datalogix of Westminster, Colo.; eBureau of St. Cloud, Minn.; ID Analytics of San Diego; Intelius of Bellevue, Wash.; Peekyou of New York; Rapleaf of Chicago; and Recorded Future of Cambridge, Mass.
Nielsen and Twitter team to measure TV tweetsNEW YORK (AP) — Twitter and the TV ratings firm Nielsen are joining forces to create a way to measure TV-related conversation on the micro-blogging site.
The companies say the new Nielsen Twitter TV Rating will be available at the start of the fall 2013 season.
This new service will be designed to complement Nielsen’s traditional TV ratings, giving TV networks and advertisers the real-time metrics required to chart TV audience social activity. It’s the first-ever measurement of the total audience for social TV activity — both those participating in the conversation and those who are exposed to it.
Increasingly, viewers discuss TV on Twitter, resulting in a new dynamic between audiences and programming. The companies say Twitter’s more than 140 million active users send 1 billion tweets every 2 1/2 days.
Nielsen to buy Arbitron for about $1.26 billion
NEW YORK (AP) — Nielsen is buying Arbitron for about $1.26 billion.
The radio audience ratings company will give Nielsen a clearer picture of unmeasured areas of media consumption like streaming audio.
Nielsen Holdings N.V. provides global data about what people watch and buy. The company said Tuesday that it will pay $48 per share, which is a 26 percent premium to Arbitron’s Monday closing price of $38.04.
Arbitron Inc., based in Columbia, Md., currently has about 26.2 million outstanding shares, according to FactSet.
The acquisition is expected to add about 13 cents per share to Nielsen’s adjusted earnings a year after closing and about 19 cents per share to adjusted earnings two years after closing.
The boards of both companies have approved the deal.
Nielsen has headquarters in the Netherlands and New York.
Diet Pepsi plans ad campaign after sweetener tweak
NEW YORK (AP) — Diet Pepsi is sending a valentine to soda lovers, now that the soft drink’s staying power has been improved with a new sweetener.
Starting at the end of January, PepsiCo Inc. will begin airing TV ads with the tag line “Love Every Sip,” along with the rollout of special edition silver cans featuring the blue-and-red Pepsi logo in a heart shape. The company is working with designers to introduce other special designs later in the year as well.
The campaign to reinvigorate the brand comes after PepsiCo quietly added another artificial sweetener to Diet Pepsi to help stabilize the taste of the drink. In addition to aspartame, the company says Diet Pepsi will now include a “very small amount” of a sweetener called acesulfame potassium to help the taste maintain its potency over time. The ingredient, also known as ace-K, is often used in conjunction with other artificial sweeteners and can be found in a wide array of food and newer diet sodas.
Before launching the new campaign, executives wanted to make sure Diet Pepsi was “as good as it can be,” said Angelique Krembs, vice president of marketing for PepsiCo. She said that process included testing various flavor tweaks, as well as sweetener adjustments.
Krembs noted that the taste of cola is more complicated than people realize, and that mixing ingredients in different ways can alter which flavor notes are highlighted. Diet Pepsi in Great Britain, for example, has a slightly different flavor than in the United States.
Ultimately, Krembs said the company decided to stick with the same Diet Pepsi flavor in the U.S. but move ahead with a sweetener change to make the taste “come across in high definition.” Diet Pepsi will now use the same sweetener mix used in Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry. The change, which Krembs said was years in the making, is the first sweetener tweak since the 1980s when Diet Pepsi switched from saccharine to aspartame.
It also comes amid a broader push by PepsiCo tries to bolster its flagship soda brands. The company, based in Purchase, N.Y., has been pouring more money into advertising after losing market share to Coca-Cola Co. in recent years. With regular Pepsi, which comes in deep blue cans, it recently signed a wide-ranging deal with singer Beyonce as well as a five-year deal to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show.
The two new TV spots for Diet Pepsi will take place at a wedding and a cafe and star “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara, who the company first partnered with last year. As with the current ads, they’ll play on theme that Vergara is expressing desire for a love interest, when in fact she’s lusting after Diet Pepsi.
The ads, which were developed by the agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, are intended to appeal primarily to women — the target customers for Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke. This fall, Diet Coke also adopted a new look designed to fit in with “fashionistas’ fridges.” The logo began as a special edition can last year and is now the packaging across the U.S.
For now, Diet Pepsi says the look of its can will remain the same after the special edition cans featuring the heart logos run their course.
PepsiCo isn’t disclosing how much it’s spending on marketing for Diet Pepsi in 2013, but company spokeswoman Andrea Foote said it’s more than what it has spent in the past few years. Foote also noted that the company’s continued partnership with Vergara shows the ads are resonating with customers.
TV network aimed at millennials set for summer
NEW YORK (AP) — Participant Media plans to launch a cable network aimed at viewers 18 to 34 years old with programming it describes as inspiring and thought-provoking.
The as-yet-unnamed network is set to start next summer with an initial reach of 40 million subscribers, the company announced Monday.
Targeting so-called millennials, Participant is developing a program slate with such producers as Brian Graden, Morgan Spurlock and Brian Henson of The Jim Henson Company.
Evan Shapiro, who joined Participant in May after serving as President of IFC and Sundance Channel, will head the new network.
Parent company Participant Media has produced a number of fiction and nonfiction films including “Charlie Wilson’s War,” ”An Inconvenient Truth” and Steven Spielberg’s current biopic “Lincoln.”
MediaVest hires Bokor as Director of Advanced Media
NEW YORK–MediaVest has appointed Jonathan Bokor to the new post of sr. VP and director of advanced media. Based in the agency’s New York City office, Bokor will report to Brian Terkelsen. Bokor will lead all initiatives in the field of advanced media, driving agency and client strategy across addressable advertising, social and mobile TV, connected TV, on-demand video, and interactivity.
Bokor brings over a decade of television and technology industry experience driving incremental revenue for media companies, including Walt Disney Internet Group where he secured new rights agreements with the NFL and the PGA Tour for the pioneering Enhanced TV two-screen iTV app, and Tandberg Television/Ericsson, where he played a key part in the commercial deployment of HSN’s Shop By Remote EBIF app on Comcast, which continues to be one of the most successful t-commerce deployments in the U.S..
Bokor joins MediaVest from Canoe Ventures, where he served as the general manager of Interactive TV Solutions. In that role, he directed the company’s interactive television segment and oversaw the rollout of its RFI (Request for Information) product, which netted Canoe its first revenue generating iTV ad sales.
MediaVest CEO Terkelsen stated, “Technology is fundamentally changing the very nature of traditional media messaging, allowing conventional communications vehicles—especially television—to become more relevant, compelling and measurable. Jonathan is a leader in this field and will be a tremendous asset to MediaVest and our clients.”
MediaVest’s long-standing client partnerships include some of the world’s leading marketers including Mondelez, P&G, The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft and Walmart.
Jack Hanlon, actor in “Our Gang” films, dies in Nevada
By Martin Griffith
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Jack Hanlon, who had roles in the 1926 silent classic “The General” and in two 1927 “Our Gang” comedies, died Thursday in Las Vegas, family members said Sunday. He was 96.
The precocious, freckle-faced Hanlon was a natural as a child actor from 1926 to 1933, said his niece, Wendy Putnam Park of Las Vegas.
“He was absolutely the sweetest, most charming man,” Park told The Associated Press. “He loved talking about being in the movies if you brought the subject up. He loved sharing stories about being in them.”
After a small role with Buster Keaton in “The General,” he played mischievous kids in two of Hal Roach’s “Our Gang/Little Rascals” films: “The Glorious Fourth” and “Olympic Games.”
Hanlon also played an orphan in the 1929 drama “The Shakedown,” and got an on-screen kiss from Greta Garbo in the 1930 film “Romance.”
He appeared in eight more “talkies,” including “Big Money” with Clark Gable, in the 1930s before calling it a career at the age of 16. He rarely made more than $5 a day.
His friend, Bob Satterfield, told the Las Vegas Sun that he watched the Our Gang films and “The General” with Hanlon.
“He told me it was like watching someone else because it was a lifetime ago … Jack led a full life,” Satterfield, a Southern California high school activities director and silent film buff, told the Sun.
After leaving Hollywood, Hanlon became an Army paratrooper and mover for Allied Van Lines. He had resided in Las Vegas for 18 years, Park said, and lived in his own home until October when he moved to an assisted living center.
“Surprisingly, he was in good physical shape until two months ago,” Park said. “He liked being independent and watching old movies on TV. He basically died of old age.”
He will be buried in Santa Monica, Calif., along with his wife of 37 years, Jean.
Survivors include two other nieces and a nephew.
Seven features Advance In Race for Makeup & Hairstyling OscarBEVERLY HILLS, Calif – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 85th Academy Awards.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Hitchcock”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“Les Mis๏ฟฝrables”
“Lincoln”
“Looper”
“Men in Black 3”
“Snow White and the Huntsman”
On Saturday, January 5, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.
Oscar Nominations Voting Opened Today December 17th
Beverly Hills, CA – Nominations voting for the 85th Academy Awards opened at 8 a.m. PT, Monday, December 17, for the 5,856 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Members will have until 5 p.m. PT, Thursday, January 3, 2013, to vote electronically or mail in a paper ballot. Any paper ballots received after the deadline will not be counted.
Nominations and final Awards ballots will be tabulated and verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
This will be the first year the Academy is providing its membership the opportunity to vote electronically. Several voting resources will be available to members, including assisted voting stations in Los Angeles, New York and London, and a 24-hour support call center during voting periods.
