Category: media

“As co-owner of Landmark Theatres, a chain of 60 cinemas he purchased two years ago, Mark Cuban is building the first all-digital theater empire. His goal is nothing less than to take the film out of the film industry. In March, the conversion to digital begins with two Landmark theaters in San Francisco and Dallas.”

BBC governors have rejected 60,000 complaints against the recent showing of Jerry Springer, The Opera. “The committee admitted the show had caused offence but said it had been justified by its “outstanding artistic significance”. But one governor accused BBC management of a “degree of naivety” in failing to realise the offence that would be caused by the opera, which included hundreds of swear words and portrayed Jesus in a nappy admitting he is a “bit gay”.”

Much has been made of the decline in Ontario’s film industry as a result of the come-ons Hollywood has been getting from other locales across North America. But the real problem may be that Ontario has allowed its homegrown film industry to settle into a malaise brought on by the belief that the American windfalls would never stop. “To tie the fortunes of your film industry to foreign production is like building your dream house on quicksand. U.S. producers may flock here one year — and favour somewhere else the next year. And when they leave, if you haven’t built a domestic film culture, everything crumbles.”

What’s the top-rated morning radio program in the U.S.? No, it’s not Howard Stern, and it’s not some right-wing blowhard shrieking into the microphone about the evils of Dan Rather. It’s NPR’s quarter-century-old bastion of straight news, Morning Edition, which racked up an average of 13.2 million listeners per week in the latest ratings book. That’s actually an increase in listenership from the previous year, despite the bad publicity the program received after NPR dismissed longtime host Bob Edwards last year.

“Disney and fabled Miramax chieftains Harvey and Bob Weinstein wrapped up their divorce yesterday, putting an end to a 12-year marriage that yielded acclaimed hits like Chicago, and Shakespeare in Love, but ended with bitter feuds as the Weinsteins’ ambitions grew. The Weinsteins will exit their 25-year-old company named for their parents, Miriam and Max on Sept. 30, the same day their nemesis, Disney CEO Michael Eisner steps down.”

The Supreme Court proceedings to determine the future of file-swapping technology are attracting a bit of a crowd. In fact, an unexpected array of file-sharing advocates and music fans have gathered at the court to hear the landmark case unfold, many passing out wearable reminders of an earlier copright case involving the entertainment industry: the 1984 Supreme Court ruling which declared video casette recorders to be legal, paving the way for the booming (and highly profitable) home video and DVD market.

“The BBC board of governors has rejected thousands of complaints made over the showing of Jerry Springer – The Opera. The corporation received around 55,000 complaints prior to the screening of the hit West End show, in January, and 8,000 after it had been broadcast. But the governors’ Programme Complaints committee voted by a 4-1 majority not to uphold the complaints. They said the programme’s artistic significance outweighed any offence which might have been caused.”

Attorneys argued before the US Supreme Court Tuesday over whether file-sharing networks should be legal. The court’s decision will have a major impact on future technology development. The main question taken up by the court seemed to be how to protect copyrights without restraining future tech.

“Online demands to hear radio programmes passed nine million in February – up more than 25% on the previous month. The show which is most requested is Radio 4’s long-running soap opera The Archers, with Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 breakfast show in second spot. Online listening to digital-only networks, such as 6 Music, has soared by 83% in the last year.”

A legal conflict is brewing over one of the summer’s biggest potential blockbuster movies, the Crusades epic “Kingdom of Heaven,” with a prominent author accusing the film’s director, Ridley Scott, and the studio releasing the film, 20th Century Fox, of stealing his research for their screenplay.