The Morning Fix: Cablevision’s DVR win; Fox wants to hit brakes on “Unstoppable;” career advice for Zack Galifianakis
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After the coffee. Before prepping for Sun Valley.
Supreme Court likes its DVR. The Supreme Court gave a green light to Cablevision’s new remote storage digital video recorder, which programmers argued was similar to video-on-demand and hence should require compensation. The Los Angeles Times notes that the new DVR could be yet another blow to television advertising.
Hit the brakes! Fox is trying to put the stop on the budget for Tony Scott’s ‘Unstoppable,’ Variety’s Mike Fleming and The Hollywood Reporter say. This comes just weeks after Sony decided it didn’t want to make ‘Moneyball’ because of cost and fear of little return.
Back to work! ‘Law & Order: SVU’ stars Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay have signed new deals two stay with the show for two more years. Variety says they got small raises but not profit participation.
Career advice. Blogger Marshall Fine offers Zack Galifianakis, the breakout star of ‘The Hangover’ some advice on his next movie. In a nutshell, whatever Jack Black does, do the opposite.
Too Many Channels? The Wall Street Journal’s Martin Peers thinks there are too many cable networks that the industry base carriage of channels on ratings performance. That, he argues, would lower costs to consumers and thin the ranks. Sure, but good luck getting either programmers or distributors to do anything that would lower costs to consumers.
Souvenirs. Lots of people who held tickets to the Michael Jackson concerts in London would rather hold onto the ticket for the show that never was then get a refund,’ reports The Wrap. Can you say eBay?
In today’s Los Angeles Times: Disney will expand its Hong Kong theme park. Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson. ‘Transformers’ Ramon Rodriguez is rising fast.
-- Joe Flint
