Archive: February 2009 (101-110 of 218)

Feb 17 2009 02:40 PM ET

Sirius XM Radio and Liberty Media reach deal

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Categories: Television

Sirius XM Radio won’t have to file bankruptcy or relinquish control to EchoStar and Dish Network honcho Charles Ergen after all. Today, Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin announced he’s reached a deal with Liberty Media Corporation, the largest shareholder in DirecTV. Liberty will invest $530 million into Sirius XM Radio in two phases.

Feb 17 2009 02:32 PM ET

600-plus TV stations will go digital this week

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Categories: Television

The latest dispatch from The Great Shift To Digital 2009: While many TV stations will take advantage of a grace period passed by Congress to wait until as late as June 12, a patchwork of 641 stations across the country — mainly in thinly populated areas — are turning off their analog broadcasts this week or have already done so. According to the Nielsen Company, 5.1 percent of all homes were not ready for the analog shutdown by today, Feb. 17. Robert Prather, president of an Atlanta-based company that owns 36 stations, believes waiting any longer to make the switch is useless. "The ones who aren’t going to be ready aren’t going to be ready in June anymore than they are now," he said.

Feb 17 2009 01:57 PM ET

Trump Entertainment unit to seek Chapter 11

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Categories: Television

Donald Trump’s casino group, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., filed for bankruptcy today after missing a $53 million interest payment at the start of December. This marks the third appearance in bankruptcy court from Trump Entertainment; the group’s most recent proceedings occurred in 2005, just after the fourth season of NBC’s Donald Trump-hosted reality series, The Apprentice. The second season of Celebrity Apprentice, also hosted by Trump, premieres March 1.

Feb 17 2009 01:50 PM ET

R.I.P.: Louie Bellson, legendary jazz drummer

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Categories: In Memoriam, Music

Louie Bellson, the drummer and band leader who played with jazz greats for morethan six decades, died Saturday in Los Angeles from complications ofParkinson’s disease. He was 84. Bellson played with the Benny Goodman and Harry James bands until WWII, then later played with Tommy Dorsey and Duke Ellington among many others. The L.A. Times‘ obit recalls Ellington’s great regard for Bellson: "Not only is Louie Bellson the world’s greatest drummer…he’s the world’s greatest musician!"

Feb 17 2009 01:21 AM ET

'American Idol' to take on 'Lost' on Wednesday nights

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Categories: Television

Fox plans to move American Idol‘s results show to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays starting March 11 so the reality behemoth will go head to head with ABC’s Lost for the rest of the season, The Hollywood Reporter reported Monday. The freshman Tim Roth procedural series Lie to Me will shift to 8 p.m. in a programming swap. The Reporter notes that the ratings for Lost have fallen each week this season and that a recent two-hour Idol on Wednesday night seemed to erode the ABC show’s viewership further. We’ll leave it to Jack and the gang to determine if Fox could be in cahoots with the Dharma Initiative.

Feb 16 2009 01:17 PM ET

'Slumdog' continues awards sweep with editing, cinematography prizes

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Categories: Movies, Television

Oscar front-runner Slumdog Millionaire continued its sweep of pre-Oscar awards on Sunday. Director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle earned the American Society of Cinematographers Award for feature film, according to Variety. Danny Boyle’s India-set movie also picked up an ACE Eddie Award for editor Chris Dickens in the dramatic feature category, according to the America Cinema Editors website.

In addition to the Slumdog honors, Variety reported that the cinematographers recognized Nelson Cragg in episodic TV for CBS’ CSI ("For Gedda") and David Stockton in the TV movie/miniseries/pilot category for CBS’ Eleventh Hour.

And for the first time in the ACE Eddie Awards’ 59-year history, an animated film won a feature prize: WALL•E editor Stephen Schaffer was recognized in the comedy/musical category. Jinx Godfrey earned honors for the documentary Man on Wire. TV winners included the half-hour series 30 Rock; the one-hour series Breaking Bad; noncommercial series True Blood; nonscripted show Greensburg on Discovery; and TV movies Recount and 24: Redemption.

At Saturday’s Art Directors Guild Awards, production designers for Slumdog won in the contemporary movie category, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won for period film, while The Dark Knight was recognized for fantasy film. Slumdog is not a nominee in the art direction category of the Academy Awards; EW’s own Dave Karger predicts a win for Benjamin Button in this category, over Dark Knight, Changeling, The Duchess, and Revolutionary Road.

Feb 15 2009 10:05 PM ET

Chris Brown on alleged battery: 'Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am'

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Categories: Music

Singer Chris Brown has issued his first public statement about his Feb. 8 arrest on felony battery charges, CNN.com reports. "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired," Brown’s statement reads. "I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other lovedones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person."

The statement adds, "Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reportedin the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about thismore, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say exceptthat I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, onblogs or any place else. Those posts or writings under my name arefrauds."

Brown was arrested and released on bail last weekend after an incident that reportedly involved his girlfriend, Rihanna. The LAPD’s investigation into the incident is reportedly ongoing.

More on Chris Brown from EW:

Ken Tucker on MTV’s Chris Brown-Rihanna special

Chris Brown seeking crisis-management expert?

Feb 15 2009 05:04 PM ET

M.I.A. gives birth: It's a boy!

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Categories: Music

M.I.A. gave birth to a baby boy on Feb. 11 in L.A., People.com reports. This is the first child for the musician and her fiance, Benjamin Bronfman. According to a post on her blog, M.I.A. went into early labor just hours after performing for millions during the Grammys ceremony last weekend.

Feb 15 2009 03:46 PM ET

'Octomom' loses PR team; will Hollywood give up on her, too?

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Categories: Television

The decision by two Brentwood, Calif., publicists to stop representing Nadya Suleman underscores just how impatient — and angry — the public has become over the controversial mother of 14 children. Joann Killeen told the Los Angeles Times that she and her husband-partner Mike Furtney decided to drop Suleman as a client after they received many threatening calls and letters. The duo, who had been representing Suleman for free, created a website for the 33-year-old single and unemployed mother that sought donations for her octuplets and six other children.

"The American public has just lashed out," Killeen told the newspaper. "I think it has to do with the economy, healthcare … there are not a lot of jobs, people are unemployed and are trying to take care of their families."

A Tennessee-based firm has stepped up to manage Suleman’s appearances and a possible book deal. It’s unclear whether Suleman is still a prime candidate for a reality show, though Furtney had told EW that the offers were "serious." TLC President Eileen O’Neill also told EW that "there is a [waiting] period here to see if there’s something that we as a network feel makes good sense. There are so many things going on in that woman’s life right now … we’re all waiting to see what happens next."

TLC viewers — using the network’s website as a sounding board — have threatened to boycott any new show that would feature Suleman and her brood.

Feb 15 2009 01:20 AM ET

'Milk of Sorrow' wins top prize at Berlin Film Festival

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Categories: Movies

Peruvian director Claudia Llosa’s Milk of Sorrow, the magic-realism-tinged story of women suffering the effects of the long battle between Peru’s government and Shining Path terrorists, won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter reported Saturday.

Argentinian director Adrian Biniez’s debut Gigante (about a supermarket security guard obsessed with a late-night cleaner) shared the runner-up Silver Bear prize with German director Maren Ade’s Everyone Else. The latter film’s star, Birgit Minichmayr, won best actress honors, while Sotigui Kouyate took best actor for the British film London River (about the aftermath of the London terror bombings).

American films were not completely shut out of the competition. Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon won the best script award for The Messenger, a film about two U.S. soldiers (Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson) assigned to inform a young widow (Samantha Morton) that her husband has died in Iraq. In addition, the festival’s Audience Award went to Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno’s gonzo-style documentary The Yes Men Fix the World in which the prankster filmmakers pose as reps for multinational corporations to make increasingly outrageous proposals.

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