Category: media

A new study commissioned by the Canadian film industry disputes the idea that “runaway” movie shoots are hurting U.S. interests. “Despite claims of U.S. job losses, employment in the U.S. production industry has actually increased by 6.6 per cent since 1998.” The report also disputes the figures in an earlier study backed by American actors and producers, which claimed that Canada had caused $10.3 billion worth of economic loss to U.S. film interests.

When Congress gave broadcasters a new digital spectrum, it did so with the expectation of getting the old spectrum back. Now broadcasters don’t seem to have any intention of holding up their end of what was for them an excellent bargain. “Last month, the Senate Commerce Committee killed a bill that would set a reasonable but firm deadline of 2009 for the return of the analog channels. In its place, the committee adopted a bill — backed by the broadcasters, naturally — that could enable them to hold on to most of their spectrum indefinitely.”

“The Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday that it would fine 169 Fox television stations $7,000 each, or a total of $1.18 million, for violating indecency rules when it showed a particularly graphic episode of the show “Married by America” last spring… The commission found an April episode of the show violated the indecency rules through a series of sexually suggestive and explicit scenes.” At least one Fox affiliate had refused to air the episode, and will not be fined.

You can’t open a newspaper these days without coming face to face with a story extolling the virtues of HBO’s runaway hit mob drama, The Sopranos. But at least one demographic is not at all enamored of Tony and his gang of thugs: Italians, who see the portrayal of all-Italian mobs as stereotypical and insulting. “On Monday, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister added his voice to protests by Italian-Americans at the depiction of their community.”

Having a governor with serious Hollywood clout is paying big dividends for California’s movie industry. “Capitalizing on his industry insider knowledge, the governor has signed laws to ease red tape in filming, fought Internet video piracy, appointed proven Hollywood veterans to the state film commission, and mandated film industry liaisons in all state agencies and departments.” The effects have been most immediately noticable in the number of films being made in the state which might otherwise have fled to Canada or other lower-cost environs.

British film has long been a source of derisive humor for many in the UK, with local productions underfunded, underproduced, and overwhelmed by Hollywood’s seemingly endless resources. “Yet unlikely as it may seem, there is currently an unfashionably buoyant air about contemporary British film-making – if not within the industry, then at least as far as audiences are concerned.”

Howard Stern’s jump from traditional radio to satellite service Sirius could mark the moment when subscription radio becomes as indispensable to most consumers as cable TV. Or, it could relegate Stern to the fringes of pop culture and have little effect on over-the-air broadcasters. The truth is, no one knows whether Sirius’s gamble will pay off. “The challenge is to train the audience to pay for what they want to hear, uninterrupted by commercials, in the same way HBO trained us to pay for what we want to see, uninterrupted.”

Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s classic political satire of the nuclear age, has aged well, and the hilarious yet terrifying premise of the film – that a wacky collection of incompetent statesmen and insane warmongers could destroy the world in a fit of pique – may be the most potent reminder we have of the uncertainty of Cold War reality. But a closer examination of what we now know about the film and its era reveals that it is more than a brilliant work of fiction. “In its own loopy way, the movie is a remarkably fact-based and specific guide to some of the oddest, most secretive chapters of the Cold War.”

Several major Hollywood studios and record labels have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court of a recent federal court decision which held that the makers of file-swapping software are not liable for the illegal actions of their customers. Free speech advocates are encouraging the high court not to review the case, saying that it represents a direct attempt to intimidate software makers and the public. There are also timing questions surrounding the petition, which was filed after the controversial Induce Act stalled in the U.S. Senate last week.