Category: media

Google just got handed a fine of $22.5 million for “making erroneous statements” in its privacy policy, but that’s nothing for the giant. And it doesn’t look like the U.S. will have any privacy laws in place anytime soon.

As in, nothing may change. That means bundled services and cable. Forever.

When a foul-mouthed teddy bear wallops the likes of Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler at the box office, the days of star-driven comedies may be waning.

“A sustained decline in the number of people subscribing to pay TV has ramifications for pay-TV operators and for TV channels, most of which share in the fees paid by subscribers. Big entertainment companies generate much of their profits from subscription fees paid to TV channels.”

“Oscar-winning director James Cameron said on Wednesday that he will open a joint venture in China to provide 3-D filming technology, the latest move by Hollywood to secure a foothold in the country’s booming movie industry.”

“Disney’s stock price of $50.49 left it with a $90.24 billion market capitalization Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance, just below that of Comcast, which remained the most valuable of the seven major media conglomerates.”

“We feel like we’re victims of a hostile takeover,” an Alabama Public Television employee who helped blow the whistle on the commissioners’ plan told Salon. “This is going to set a national precedent. Everyone is gunning for public television; this is how they’re going to do it.”

“Born in 1958 at the height of the Cold War, NASA is in the midst of transforming itself into the very model of a 21st-century media company that creates and distributes its own content, in large part by allowing its employees to express themselves at will.”

In The Ambassador, Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger heads to the Central African Republic “with plans to open a match factory staffed by pygmies. His real aim, though, is to worm his way into the upper echelons of government and smuggle out a swag of diamonds under the guise of diplomatic immunity” – with Liberian credentials purchased from a corrupt official in Monrovia. Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wants to prosecute Brügger; the CAR government appears not to care.

Filmmaker Jacob LaMendola, who lacks a sense of smell: “For all of my 24 years, part of the human experience has been a mystery to me. I made Anosmia in order to explore this sensual puzzle. The film was a rare chance for me and some fellow anosmics to get a few things off our chests. We admit what we don’t understand, what we find exciting and strange and what makes us cry.”