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Oprah Winfrey has agreed to boost her on-air commitment to The Oprah Winfrey Network by hosting or starring in a show on the network, according to a Securities and Exchange filing made by Discovery Communications Inc. on Friday.
As part of the amended joint-venture agreement, Discovery agreed to increase by 89 percent, to $189 million, its funding commitment to Winfrey’s OWN network. Get the full story »
CBS affiliate WBBM-Ch. 2 is slaying its “Monster.”
The show “Monsters & Money in the Morning,” which debuted Feb. 1 in the 5 to 7 a.m. weekday slot, will be canceled because of poor viewership. The last show will air Aug. 27. Get the full story »
Walt Disney Co.’s fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped 40 percent on deferred revenue at ESPN and hit movies including “Toy Story 3,” as the media giant and theme-park operator’s results beat analysts’ views.
Shares climbed 1.5 percent after-hours, to $35.75. The stock had risen 9.4 percent this year through the close, better than the broader market. Get the full story »
Shares of Netflix surged more than 6 percent Tuesday, after the company announced an agreement with pay-cable movie channel Epix to stream films from three major movie studios online.
The deal gives Netflix exclusive rights to stream both new releases and older films from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM on its site 90 days after Epix first debuts the films to its premium pay and on-demand TV subscribers. Netflix members will get access to the films starting Sept. 1. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | AT&T is making its U-verse television service available to users of the Apple iPhone and Reasearch in Motion BlackBerry.
When President Barack Obama moved from Chicago to the White House, he also moved to an area with 53 percent more BlackBerries, according to a recent study that pits cities against one another in terms of the gadgets they use.
And if it seems like every hipster in Chicago is rocking out to streaming music at work and on the train, that’s because they are — 45 percent more than their counterparts in Washington, D.C. Compared to D.C., you also won’t see too many Chicagoans watching television on an iPhone or reading books on their gadgets: 66 percent more of us own three or more TVs and we have 50 percent fewer e-Readers per capital than our nation’s capital, according to the gadget census, conducted by Retrevo.com, an electronics review and shopping site. Get the full story »
(Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
For the music-loving public, the Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park is all about 130 bands on eight stages over three days.
Not so much for James Chippendale, 42, and Jerid Schmickle, 36.
It’s their job to worry, worry and worry. They prepare for the worst and try to minimize risks at the event, so no one ends up getting sued — or, if they do, they’re at least insured. Get the full story »
Japan’s trade ministry has ordered Apple Inc’s Japan unit to state on its website that users who are concerned about their iPod nano portable music player catching fire can receive a replacement battery.
The ministry ordered Apple to publish an “easy to understand” statement online explaining how users of the devices — responsible for four cases of minor burns in Japan — can receive replacement batteries and obtain advice, a spokesman for the ministry said on Friday. Get the full story »
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Oakbrook Terrace-based Redbox announced Thursday that it has reached a deal with CVS/pharmacy to roll out DVD rental kiosks at CVS and Longs Drugs locations nationwide and in Puerto Rico.
The $1-per-night DVD vendor, a subsidiary of Coinstar Inc., said about 700 kiosks will arrive at CVS locations by the end of 2010, and expand to thousands of locations by the end of 2011. Get the full story »
Walt Disney Co. has sold film studio Miramax for more than $660 million to Filmyard Holdings LLC, ending months of talks between the media group and various bidders.
Construction magnate Ron Tutor, investment firm Colony Capital LLC and other individuals are part of Filmyard Holdings, Disney said. Get the full story »
BluRay discs are on their way to 13,300 Redbox kiosks nationwide.
The $1-a-day rental kiosk company is offering the BluRay titles at $1.50 a day and expects to expand to its entire network of 23,000 kiosk locations by fall, the Oakbrook Terrace-based company said Thursday. Get the full story »
Sony Corp. lifted its annual outlook and returned to profitability in the first quarter on booming demand for its Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation 3 game consoles.
Rivals Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. also reported profits for April-to-June versus losses a year ago, while Panasonic joined Sony in upgrading its forecast as both cashed in on growing sales in emerging markets. Get the full story »
Nintendo, maker of the Wii home console and DS handheld, slumped into the red last quarter as sales faded amid a strong yen and a lack of new game titles. Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. said Thursday it suffered a loss of 25.22 billion yen ($289.17 million) for the April-June period compared with a profit of 42.32 billion yen a year earlier — the first in six quarters. Sales for the fiscal first quarter sank 25.6 percent to 188.65 billion yen ($2.16 billion).
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC Wednesday confirmed it plans to launch a 3D television channel for consumer subscribers Oct. 1.
BSkyB, the U.K.’s biggest pay-television provider, said customers who pay for its top-tier subscription package and have Sky + high-definition compatible set-top boxes would get the 3D channel free of charge. The company may later allow subscribers on lower-cost packages to obtain the service, a spokesman said. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | The Rolling Stones are reportedly in discussions with with AEG Live and Live Nation Entertainment for their next tour, which is being planned for sometime in the next few years.
