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Illinois lawmakers are taking a new look at expanded gambling as a way to reduce the state’s massive budget deficit.
Lawmakers have talked for years about adding new casinos or putting slot machines at racetracks, but the proposals have always fallen apart. They’re getting more serious attention now, with the state facing a roughly $15 billion deficit. Get the full story »
Amazon.com is launching Amazon Studios, a new website that lets users upload scripts and sample movies and then use community tools to evaluate and edit each others’ work.
NCR Corp., which operates Blockbuster Express DVD rental kiosks, has agreed to delay rentals of 20th Century Fox DVDs until 28 days after their release, in its second such deal with a studio.
NCR’s competitors, Coinstar Inc-owned kiosk company Redbox, and Netflix, have also agreed to 28-day delays from several studios.
But NCR said its agreement with News Corp.’s movie studio also allows the kiosk operator to test premium-pricing in select markets for renting out Fox DVDs the same day those titles hit stores. Get the full story »
(AP Photos/Tribune Illustration)
After years of anticipation, speculation and legal tussling, Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc., the Beatles’ Apple Corps and EMI/Capitol Records agreed to make the Beatles’ catalog, spanning 1962-1970, available for legal digital download.
A proposed rendering of the renovations at Wrigley. (Handout)
By Alejandra Cancino and Kathy Bergen | Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts on Monday told the Tribune’s editorial board he doesn’t have a Plan B to come up with $200 million if the state rejects his proposal to borrow that money in a bond offering.
The money will be used to make extensive renovations at Wrigley Field, including repairs of the dilapidated concourses beneath the field, better amenities for players and more bathrooms, he said.
The Cubs’ proposal calls for the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns U.S. Cellular Field, to float $200 million to $300 million in bonds. The bonds would be paid back over 35 years through amusement taxes that Wrigley Field patrons pay. Get the full story »
A TV display at a Best Buy. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The Pay TV industry has heatedly debated this fall whether consumers are dropping their cable or other TV subscriptions to watch more TV content online. A new study by Nielsen, commissioned by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, argues that most people who watch at least some content from the Web on their TV sets are “cord keepers” rather than “cord cutters.”
The study, called “Life is a Stream,” surveyed 769 people 18-49, and used eight focus groups to explore the viewing habits of consumers who watch at least some TV shows and movies from the Internet on their TV sets. That group makes up about 11 percent of the U.S. population, according to the study’s authors.
One key finding of the survey, which will be unveiled this week: 84 percent of such viewers reported that they are watching the same amount, or more, regularly scheduled TV since they started streaming or downloading content to watch on their TV set. Importantly for TV distributors, 92 percent of these entertainment enthusiasts subscribe to a pay TV service, with only 3 percent reporting plans to give up their subscription. Get the full story »
(Tribune file)
The owner of the Chicago Cubs is asking the state to help finance more than $200 million in renovations at Wrigley Field that will ensure the team stays at the historic ballpark for the next 35 years.
The Ricketts family, which purchased the team last year from Tribune Co. in a deal valued at $845 million, has pledged that the project will not be financed by new taxes or an increase in existing taxes, but it would redirect some future revenue to the stadium. Get the full story »
E-books have reached another milestone: their own best-seller lists in The New York Times.
The Times, whose best-seller lists have long been a benchmark for success among authors, announced Wednesday that in early 2011 it will begin publishing rankings for fiction and nonfiction e-books.
The digital market has grown rapidly in the last three years, starting with Amazon.com’s Kindle reader and continuing with Apple’s iPad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
Activision Blizzard Inc. said Thursday that it sold about 5.6 million copies of “Call of Duty: Black Ops” for $360 million on its first day, setting a new record for the videogame industry.
Analysts said the strong Day 1 performance was largely expected given the sizable number of orders, and Activision shares were up slightly in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Get the full story »
Level 3 Communications Inc. said it will become a primary content delivery network provider for Netflix Inc, starting from the new year. The communications service, which is based in Colorado, will store the entire Netflix streaming library of more than 20,000 titles, it said in a statement, in addition to supporting Netflix for streaming movies and TV shows. Get the full story »
Viacom plans to rid itself of Harmonix, the video game developer behind the Rock Band franchise, ending a failed foray into the gaming business.
Shares of Viacom rose more than 4 percent in morning trading on Thursday as the company reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations.
Analysts had long questioned the value of Rock Band for a company known more for its cable networks MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and film studio Paramount Pictures. Get the full story »
For every megawatt of wind power developed in Illinois, 17 manufacturing jobs are created, according to a new study by the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago.
The study, which identified more than 100 Illinois companies that are in the wind industry supply chain, did not identify how many the jobs created are in Illinois, but found that Illinois is fast becoming a hub for the nation’s wind power. Get the full story »
Two boys play the Kinect for Xbox 360 at a Charlotte, N.C. Gamestop store, Oct. 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Caryn Bailey, a 32-year-old blogger and mother of two, is impressed with Microsoft’s new Kinect game-control system. But she already owns the Wii from rival Nintendo, and she’s not ready to shell out hundreds of dollars to switch.
That’s the challenge Microsoft Corp. faces as it begins selling the long-awaited system on Thursday ahead of the lucrative holiday season. To succeed, Kinect will need to exude the kind of iPad-like magic that defies frugality and gets people spending to experience something new, even as they cut back elsewhere in the uncertain economy. Get the full story »
Don’t count Blockbuster out yet.
The Dallas-based movie and game rental chain is hiring about 4,000 seasonal employees to staff its stores nationwide this holiday season. That’s comparable to previous years when Blockbuster wasn’t reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Get the full story »
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed sympathy for a California law that aims to keep children from buying ultraviolent video games in which players maim, kill or sexually assault images of people.
But several justices said the law faces a high constitutional hurdle before going into effect. Get the full story »
