CBS is working round the clock to keep David Letterman's explanation of his extortion case off the Internet. The clip was not posted to either CBS.com nor TV.com and CBS censors have removed many copies of the ten minute clip from YouTube. While the network is obviously worried about the clip diminishing the Late Show brand, analysts believe that the clip, which would cause a viral buzz, could have positively increased attention to the show.
The latest reports on the Comcast-NBCU negotiations say that GE wants to purchase 20% of NBCU from Vivendi for a 49% stake in the company. If agreed upon, Vivendi would no longer own a piece of NBCU, while Comcast would own the controlling interest. Of course the deal may run into anti-trust issues as negotiations continue.
Last week Time Warner shareholder Gordon Crawford noted that he thought Time Warner was set to sell of its magazine division. However, CEO Jeff Bewkes denied the story, saying simply "Time Inc. is not for sale." Bewkes went on to note that the magazine business was solid, despite recession fueled ad rates.
Reports are coming out that TMZ helped in charging the man who took videos of sportscaster Erin Andrews while in her hotel. Michael David Barrett, who used a peephole in a wall to spy on Andrews, tried to sell the scandalous clips to TMZ. Rather than deal with the stalker, TMZ notified authorities and helped in getting Barrett arrested.
Sony enjoyed a strong week at the box office with Zombieland and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs coming in at number one and two. Zombieland earned approximately $25 million, while Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs grossed $16.7 million to make Sony the highest grossing studio for the week.
Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV. Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net For information about Get Digital Classes, visit www.shellypalmer.com/seminars