Viacom-YouTube Secrets To Be Exposed in Lawsuit
NEW YORK (AP) – Viacom and YouTube likely will be forced to expose business secrets and other previously confidential information Thursday when reams of court documents are expected to be unsealed.
The sensitive material is coming out in Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube. A judge is releasing the documents to show why Viacom and YouTube each believe he should rule in its favor.
Viacom’s lawsuit alleges that YouTube became the leading video site by rampantly infringing on copyrights. The New York federal case began in 2007, shortly after Google bought YouTube for $1.76 billion.
Viacom, owner of Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, argues YouTube showed copyright-protected clips without permission. YouTube maintains it followed copyright laws governing the Internet.
‘Toy Story’ creator Pixar earns theater award
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The makers of “Up,” ”WALL-E” and other Academy Award-winning cartoons have taken home a new prize.
Disney-owned Pixar Animation received the ShoWest Big Ten Award on Tuesday in honor of the company’s perfect track record — 10 films, 10 blockbuster hits, including “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.”
John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative mastermind and director of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2,” accepted the award just before screening the franchise’s sequel, “Toy Story 3,” for the audience at ShoWest, an annual convention of theater owners.
Lasseter thanked theater owners for supporting Pixar from the start and promised that “we will keep delivering great movies. We’re not stopping at 10.”
“Toy Story 3” opens in theaters June 18.
‘Avatar’ To Be Released on DVD, but Not in 3-D
NEW YORK (AP) — “Avatar” is coming to DVD, but not yet in 3-D.
Twentieth Century Fox announced Tuesday that James Cameron’s sci-fi epic will be released on Blu-ray and regular DVD on April 22. The studio noted that the release date coincides with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
No announcement was made regarding a 3-D DVD release, but a Fox spokesman said one can be expected in the future. The market for 3-D home video is still in the nascent stages, though TVs equipped for 3-D are increasingly being produced.
The DVDs won’t include special features. Producer Jon Landau said in a statement that the lack of extras was done to improve picture and sound quality.
The announcement comes while “Avatar,” which won three Oscars, remains in the top-10 at the box office. It has earned more than $730 million domestically.
Studios, Theaters Debate DVD Release Dates
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Hollywood studios and movie theaters are trying to come to terms in a debate over how quickly films move from the big screen to DVD.
The time between theatrical and home video releases gradually shrank as studios cashed in on booming DVD sales starting in the late 1990s.
The average gap between big-screen and DVD releases has held steady at about four months in recent years, but Disney upset theater owners with a plan to narrow the window to about three months for its blockbuster “Alice in Wonderland.”
Theaters worry a shorter gap undermines ticket sales.
The issue is a key topic this week at ShoWest, an annual convention for theater owners, where studios trot out stars, films and footage to promote upcoming releases.
Filmmaker Tim Burton Gets French Cultural Honor
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand made the director of such films as “Alice in Wonderland” and “Edward Scissorhands” an officer in France’s National Order of Arts and Letters.
Burton, wearing a dark suit and his trademark fuzzy hairdo, says he has always loved France and felt a special connection with the French public.
Burton says “I feel much more at home here than I do in my own country and I thank you very much.” A green and gold medallion was pinned to his lapel.
French actress and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard was also honored at Monday’s ceremony at the Culture Ministry.
FCC Unveiling Sweeping National Broadband PlanJoelle Tessler, Technology Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – Communications regulators are unveiling a sweeping proposal to overhaul U.S. broadband policy. Their aim: to bring affordable, high-speed Internet connections to all Americans and make access much faster for people who already have broadband.
Yet it’s not certain the Federal Communications Commission can find the funding, corporate support and legal clearance to carry out the entire vision of the plan.
Already, broadcasters oppose one key element of the proposal, which calls for reclaiming some airwaves now in the hands of TV stations and instead selling those frequencies to companies that deliver wireless Internet access. And the FCC hopes to modernize the federal program that subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas – something that Congress and federal regulators have been trying to do for years.
The FCC plan, mandated by last year’s stimulus bill and being delivered to Congress on Tuesday, lays out an ambiti ous vision for wiring the entire country with broadband. It reflects the Obama administration’s position that high-speed Internet access is no longer just a luxury but is critical for economic development, education and health care.
“To me, broadband is an infrastructure challenge that’s very akin to what we’ve faced in the past with telephones and electricity,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in an interview with The Associated Press. Genachowski has made the national broadband plan his top priority, and his legacy at the commission will be linked closely to the plan’s success or failure.
The proposal sets a goal of connecting 100 million U.S. households to broadband connections of 100 megabits per second – at least 20 times faster than most home connections now – by 2020.
The plan also calls for every American community to have at least one anchor institution, such as a school, library or hospital, that has ultra-high-speed Internet access – at least a gigabit per second, or 10 times faster than the 100 megabits per second envisioned for home connections.
In addition, the plan is designed to encourage more people to subscribe to broadband. About two-thirds of U.S. households have high-speed Internet access now. Many people in the other one-third could get broadband but choose not to buy it, either because they think it’s too expensive or because they don’t see a need for it. The FCC plan calls for increasing adoption rates to more than 90 percent of the population.
‘Mission: Impossible’ Star Peter Graves DiesLOS ANGELES (AP) – Peter Graves, the tall, stalwart actor likely best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running television series “Mission: Impossible,” died Sunday.
Graves died of an apparent heart attack outside his Los Angeles home, publicist Sandy Brokaw said. He would have been 84 this week.
Graves had just returned from brunch with his wife and kids and collapsed before he made it into the house, Brokaw said. One of his daughters administered CPR but was unable to revive him. Graves’ family doctor visited the house and believed he had a heart attack, Brokaw said.
Although Graves never achieved the stardom his older brother, James Arness, enjoyed as Marshal Matt Dillon on TV’s “Gunsmoke,” he had a number of memorable roles in both films and television.
Normally cast as a hero, he turned in an unforgettable performance early in his career as the treac herous Nazi spy in Billy Wilder’s 1953 prisoner-of-war drama “Stalag 17.”
He also masterfully lampooned his straight-arrow image when he portrayed bumbling airline pilot Clarence Oveur in the 1980 disaster movie spoof “Airplane!”
Graves appeared in dozens of films and a handful of television shows in a career of nearly 60 years.
The authority and trust he projected made him a favorite for commercials late in his life, and he was often encouraged to go into politics.
Graves’ career began with cheaply made exploitation films like “It Conquered the World,” in which he battled a carrot-shaped monster from Venus, and “Beginning of the World,” in which he fought a giant grasshopper.
He later took on equally formidable human villains each week on “Mission: Impossible.”
He also played roles in such films as John Ford’s “The Long Gray Line” and Charles Laughton’s “The Night of the Hunter,” as well as “The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell,” ”Texas Across the River” and “The Ballad of Josie.”
Graves’ first television series was a children’s Saturday morning show, “Fury,” about an orphan an d his untamed black stallion. Filmed in Australia, it lasted six years on NBC. A western, “Whiplash,” also shot in Australia, played for a year in syndication, and the British-made “Court-Martial” appeared on ABC for one season. In his later years, Graves brought his white-haired eminence to PBS as host of “Discover: The World of Science” and A&E’s “Biography” series.
He noted during an interview in 2000 that he made his foray into comedy somewhat reluctantly.
Filmmakers Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker had written a satire on the airplane-in-trouble movies, and they wanted Graves and fellow handsome actors Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack to spoof their serious images.
All agreed, but Graves admitted to nervousness. On the one hand, he said, he considered the role a challenge, “but it also scared me.”
“I thought I could lose a whole long acting career,” he recalled.
“Airplane!” became a box-office smash, and Graves returned for “Airplane II, The Sequel.”
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Graves adopted his grandfather’s last name to avoid confusion with his older brother, James, who had dropped the “U” from the family name.
ABC, Lifetime Among Winners of GLAAD Media Awards
NEW YORK (AP) – Joy Behar, Cynthia Nixon and the ABC drama series “Brothers & Sisters” are among this year’s recipients of media awards from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Presented Saturday in New York, winners of the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards also include the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the Lifetime network film “Prayers for Bobby” and a report on CNN’s “American Morning” program called “Why Will Won’t Pledge Allegiance.”
The ABC daytime drama “One Life to Live” and an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” were also recognized, as were the Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.
“Sex and the City” star Nixon was honored with the Vito Russo Award, which is named after a founding member of GLAAD and is presented to a gay media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the gay community.
Behar, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” received the Excellence in Media Award.
The GLAAD Media Awards salute fair, accurate and inclusive representation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives in the media. The remainder of this year’s awards – chosen from a total of 152 nominees in 32 categories – will be presented at ceremonies held in Los Angeles and San Francisco in April and June, respectively.
