July 6, 2012
HBO abandons plans for film on Fox News ChannelNEW YORK (AP) — HBO is dropping its plans to make a film on Roger Ailes and the rise of Fox News Channel.
The network had optioned film rights to work by media writer Gabriel Sherman, who is writing a book on Fox News. But HBO said Thursday that it’s not going forward with those plans, saying it wouldn’t be appropriate considering the network’s ties to Fox competitor CNN. Both HBO and CNN are owned by Time Warner.
Until a report on the website Deadline Hollywood on Thursday, it wasn’t even common knowledge that HBO was working on a Fox film. HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson says little work had been done so far.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski (MEE’-kah brah-ZIHN-skee) are among the producers of the shelved film.
Jerry Seinfeld to debut Web series set in cars
NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Seinfeld is going back on the road.
The comedian announced Thursday that he’ll debut the Web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” on July 19. The interview show will feature Seinfeld’s comedian friends as guests.
In a teaser video, Seinfeld is shown driving various vintage cars with Larry David, Ricky Gervais (jur-VAYSS’), Michael Richards, Alec Baldwin and others.
The show is presented by Crackle, the digital network owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Recent projects by the 58-year-old Seinfeld include producing the NBC panel-style reality TV series “The Marriage Ref” and directing Colin Quinn’s Broadway show “Long Story Short.”
EU Parliament rejects ACTA anti-piracy treaty
By Don Melvin
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament overwhelmingly defeated an international anti-piracy trade agreement Wednesday after concern that it would limit Internet freedom sparked street protests in cities across Europe.
The vote — 39 in favor, 478 against, with 165 abstentions — appeared to deal the death blow to the European Union’s participation in a treaty it helped negotiate, though other countries may still participate without the EU.
Supporters had maintained that ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was needed to standardize the different national laws that protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion goods and other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft. EU officials said, too, that protecting European ideas was essential to the economic growth the continent so badly needs.
But opponents feared the treaty would lead to censorship and snooping on the Internet activities of ordinary citizens. Alex Wilks, who directed the anti-ACTA campaign for the advocacy group Avaaz, said the agreement would have permitted private companies to spy on the activities of Internet users and would have allowed users to be disconnected without due process.
Eight other countries also signed the agreement — the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea — though none has yet ratified it. The EU vote will not affect them.
The treaty was unanimously approved by the 27 EU heads of government in December. But EU efforts to ratify it ran into trouble almost immediately. For the EU to become a party to the treaty, all 27 member countries would have to formally approve it.
Protests erupted on the streets of several European cities. A petition by Avaaz in opposition to ACTA garnered 2.8 million signatures and played an important role in influencing the debate.
It began to look increasingly unlikely that all 27 countries would ratify the agreement, so much so that in February the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, suspended ratification efforts and instead asked the European Court of Justice to render its opinion. The hope clearly was to stall for time and try to resume ratification efforts, armed with a favorable court opinion, in a calmer atmosphere.
A release on behalf of Europe’s “creative industries,” saying it represented 130 trade federations representing sectors employing over 120 million workers, bemoaned Wednesday’s vote, saying it would damage Europe’s economy.
“The decision on ACTA is a missed opportunity for the EU to protect its creative and innovation-based industries in the international market place,” the statement said. “Intellectual property rights remain the engine for Europe’s global competitiveness and a driver of economic growth and jobs.”
The failure to ratify the treaty is a humiliation for the European Union, which was one of the prime movers in the multi-year effort to negotiate the agreement. EU officials had maintained that ACTA would change nothing in European law, but would be simply an instance of the EU leading by example and exporting its strong copyright protection laws to other countries where safeguards are weaker.
Netflix’s monthly video streaming tops 1B hours
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix says its subscribers watched more than 1 billion hours of online video last month as the advent of high-speed Internet connections and high-powered mobile devices change people’s viewing patterns.
The milestone announced Tuesday is the latest sign that the Internet video service may be starting to reduce the amount of time its 26.5 million streaming subscribers spend watching advertising-supported entertainment bundled in more expensive cable-television packages. Netflix Inc. sells the service for $8 per month.
The rising usage of Netflix also indicates that the company’s recent efforts to expand its Internet video library are paying off.
The 1 billion hours of collective viewing during June works out to a monthly average of 38 hours per streaming subscriber. That’s up from an estimated 28 hours per customer in December.
Kodak wins OK to auction digital patents
NEW YORK (AP) — Kodak says bankruptcy court has approved an auction of its imaging patent portfolios over the objections of Apple and FlashPoint Technologies, giving the photography pioneer clarity on ownership claims.
The Rochester, N.Y., company announced a year ago it was looking to turn 1,100 digital imaging patents into ready money. The patents then represented about 10 percent of Kodak’s total portfolio.
The auction is expected to be held in early August, Kodak says. It says it will still seek dismissal of the “baseless” Apple and FlashPoint claims this month.
Kodak, founded in 1880, filed for bankruptcy protection in January after being hurt first by Japanese competition and then by its inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology over the past decade.
Ex-NBC president Julian Goodman dies at age 90
NEW YORK (AP) — Former NBC president Julian Goodman, who helped establish Chet Huntley and David Brinkley as a well-known news team and led the network from 1966 to 1974, died Monday. He was 90.
Goodman died in Juno Beach, Fla., where he lived after retiring as chairman of NBC’s board in 1979, according to NBC.
Goodman, a native of Glasgow, Ky., joined the network at the night news desk in Washington in 1945. He rose through the ranks to become executive vice president of NBC News at the time Huntley and Brinkley were competitors to Walter Cronkite on CBS.
As network president, he later gave Johnny Carson a long-term contract to stay on the “Tonight” show and helped make the American Football League a force by broadcasting the upstart league. NBC televised the 1969 Super Bowl, in which the New York Jets beat the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Goodman was also at the helm during an infamous football incident: when NBC switched to the movie “Heidi” in 1968 and missed as exciting finish to a Jets-Raiders game.
Goodman later expressed pride at being included on former President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list.”
“Julian was one of the great statesmen of network television, a journalist who rose through the ranks to the highest levels of NBC — and always stayed true to the place of public service as an obligation of what we do,” former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw said.
He is survived by his wife and four children.
Avid Divests Itself Of Consumer Businesses, Will Cut 20% of Workforce
BURLINGTON, Mass.–Avid Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) is divesting itself of consumer businesses while announcing plans to cut approximately 20 percent of its workforce, all in an effort to reduce costs and put the company’s focus back fully on its core markets in the Media Enterprise and Post & Professional divisions.
Avid has agreed to sell its consumer audio and video product lines. Consumer audio products are being bought by inMusic, the parent company of Akai Professional, Alesis and Numark, among others. The inMusic brands are best known for their product offerings in music production, performance and DJing. The Avid products acquired by inMusic include M-Audio brand keyboards, controllers, interfaces, speakers, digital DJ equipment and other product lines. Avid will continue to develop and sell its Pro Tools® line of software and hardware, as well as associated I/O devices including Mbox and Fast Track.
Meanwhile, Avid’s consumer video editing line is being sold to Corel Corporation. The products involved in this transaction include Avid Studio, Pinnacle Studio, and the Avid Studio App for the Apple iPad®, as well as other legacy video capture products.
Avid estimates that the proceeds from these transactions with Corel and inMusic will be approximately $17 million, subject to closing inventory adjustment, with a portion held in escrow. The divested product lines contributed approximately $91 million to Avid’s 2011 revenue of $677 million. As part of the transactions, certain employees of Avid will transfer to each acquiring company.
Avid is also reducing the overall number of its employees as it streamlines operations, with approximately 20 percent of its permanent employee base impacted by the divestitures and headcount reduction plans.
“The changes we are announcing today make Avid a more focused and agile company,” said Gary Greenfield, CEO of Avid. “By streamlining and simplifying operations, we expect to deliver improved financial performance and partner more closely with our enterprise and professional customers. Our objective remains to provide these customers with the innovative solutions that allow them to create the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world.”
Sony to buy game streaming company GaikaiNEW YORK (AP) — Sony is buying the video game-streaming company Gaikai for about $380 million in a bid to establish a new cloud-based gaming service.
Video game streaming is not as widespread as music and movie streaming, largely because the technology is far more complicated. Games cannot be compressed into smaller files, like movies are, before they are sent over a broadband connection. And since they are interactive, video games require an immediate reaction to a player’s actions so that on-screen characters can respond as expected.
Gaikai’s technology lets people play video games on Internet-connected devices, including mobile gadgets, computers and TV sets.
Tokyo-based Sony Corp. said Monday that Gaikai will become part of its video game business, Sony Computer Entertainment.
One of Gaikai’s biggest rivals is OnLive Inc., another company that lets people play high-end video games streamed from remote servers. Palo Alto-based OnLive, which is privately held, had no comment on the acquisition.
Sony shares fell 8 cents to $14.16 in afternoon trading.
Google responds to European competition watchdog
BRUSSELS (AP) — Google Inc. chairman Eric Schmidt has responded by letter to concerns about his company’s possible abuse of its dominant market position in Internet search and advertising raised earlier this year by the European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia.
Almunia’s spokesman, Antoine Columbani, confirmed receiving the letter Monday, but did not disclose details.
Almunia warned Google in May that it needed to quickly propose changes to the way it promotes its own offerings in search results.
“We have made a proposal to address the four areas the European Commission described as potential concerns,” said Al Verney, a Google spokesman in Brussels. “We continue to work cooperatively with the commission.”
Last week the commission closed its antitrust case against Microsoft after more than 10 years and a billion euros (dollars) in fines.
Cinesite announces the winner of its 2012 Inspire Internship ProgramLONDON, UK — Cinesite, one of the world’s leading digital visual effects houses, announced July 2 that Firtina Ozbalikci, a second year computer science student from the University of Bath, is the winner of its 2012 Inspire Internship program.
Firtina won Inspire’s first technical effects internship, which was launched this year to encourage skilled computer programmers to consider a career in the visual effects industry. He was chosen from hundreds of applicants.
“I’m honored to be selected as the winner as I’ve wanted to work in the entertainment industry since I was young,” he said.
Firtina has won a six-week paid placement at Cinesite, which will take place this summer. Under the supervision of Head of Pipeline Alexander Savenko and Senior Pipeline Technical Director Don Boogart, he will be working on integrating Cinesite’s core libraries into new technology and developing Cinesite’s real-time rendering capabilities.
“This placement will give Firtina the opportunity to see how graphics programming can be used in a fast-paced production environment and learn what it’s like to work with artists and creative supervisors under tight production deadlines,” Savenko said. “Developing cutting-edge technology into easy-to-use production tools is no mean feat, and this experience will give him a taste of what’s required.”
Previous winners of Inspire visual effects internships have worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and John Carter, and are currently working on World War Z and Skyfall.
“We see a distinct lack of skilled programmers coming into the visual effects industry which is why we decided to offer a technical effects internship this year,” said Antony Hunt, managing director of Cinesite. “Programmers play a vital role in creating the tools we need to deliver stunning visual effects. We’re looking forward to showing Firtina what it’s like to work in this world-class industry, and we hope we’ve inspired other talented programmers to consider visual effects as an exciting career option.”
ANA welcomes entries for 12th annual Multicultural Excellence Awards NEW YORK — The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is now accepting entries for its 12th annual Multicultural Excellence Awards.
The awards recognize marketers and their agencies for their work in producing outstanding multicultural advertising and marketing campaigns.
Winners will be announced at the ANA’s 14th Annual Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference from October 28-30 in Miami Beach, Fla. For a campaign to be eligible, it must have appeared between June 2011 and June 2012.
“The ANA’s Multicultural Excellence Awards have become the highest industry recognition bestowed upon client and agency partners for exceptional creativity and results in multicultural marketing,” said Bob Liodice, president and CEO, ANA. “The Excellence Awards provide an unprecedented opportunity for industry leaders to showcase their break-through branding and promotional campaigns in various platforms.”
This year, the ANA will review submissions that reflect excellence in key multicultural and media categories, as well as overall business performance.
Multicultural: African-American, Asian, General Market, Hispanic, and LGBT
Media: Digital Media, Radio, Print
Significant Business Results:
Companies and agencies are encouraged to submit multiple entries within a category or across multiple categories. For additional rules, fees, and submission guidelines, interested parties can go to www.ana.net/awards. The deadline for submissions is August 13, 2012.
A portion of the proceeds collected from the awards submission fees fund scholarships for high-potential multicultural students planning to pursue careers in advertising and marketing.
Additional information about the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference is available at http://www.ana.net/conference/show/id/MCC-OCT12.
The film academy announced its roster of potential new members Friday. It includes best actor winner Jean Dujardin and supporting actress Octavia Spencer, along with nominees Berenice Bejo and Jessica Chastain.
Oscar-nominated “Bridesmaids” star Melissa McCarthy, “Albert Nobbs” supporting actress Janet McTeer, “A Better Life” star Demian Bichir and best director winner Michel Hazanavicius are also among the 176 moviemaking professionals asked to become academy members.
Academy president Tom Sherak called the invitees “some of the most talented, most passionate contributors to our industry.”
Other actors on the list include Matthew McConaughey, Bryan Cranston, Kerry Washington, Jonah Hill and Andy Serkis.
