Deveopmentally Disabled or Challenged Individuals Get a Chance to Learn Filmmaking

   Joey Travolta's (John Travolta's older brother) Inclusion Films trains adults with developmental disablilities the fundamentals of filmmaking.  The Burbank based company, founded in 2006, works with students that have autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome.  All aspects of filmmaking are covered in the course including:  set building, script writing, lighting, camera operation, etc.  Inclusion Films is working with Easter Seals of Southern California to provide jobs to graduates of the program and is in discussions with various studios to set up internship programs for the students, Travolta said.  See also,http://www.latimes.com/.

Television's First Thre Months Winners and Losers of The 2011-2012 Season

   Despite some high profile misses, it has been a decent season for the broadcast networks.  The combined prime-time audience for the five broadcast networks:  The CW, NBC, FOX, CBS, and, ABC was up slightly from last season.  Some of the losing television shows will be given a second chance.  Here are some winners and losers.   The winners:  NBC's "Whitney" and "Up All Night", Fox's "New Girl", CBS's "Two Broke Girls" and Two-and-a-Half Men", and ABC's "Once Upon a Time."  The losers:  NBC's The Playboy Club", "Prime Suspect", and "Free Agents";  Fox's "Terra Nova", and ABC's PanAm.  See also, http://www.billboard.com/.

Increasing Costs for Viewing NFL Games

   Television  (T.V.) rights, the agreement that teams make with broadcasting networks like CBS, Fox, ESPN, etc., will be increasing over the next few years.  With the networks paying roughly $1 billion dollars per year (ESPN paying $2 billion for its package) consumers and smaller T.V. networks will probably trade the costs on to consumers with higher subscription fees.  See also, http://www.sportsillustrated.com/.

FCC Seeks to Allow More Media Ownership in Same Market

   Washington D.C. - Right now there are strict rules on the ability of companies to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same local market.  This proposal would affect the 20 most populous markets in the country.  Congress requires the FCC to review certain rules every four years.  The primary issue is companies that own huge portions of a particular market have less incentive to provide quality to the consumer, if no other companies compete with them.  See also, www.nytimes.com.

WikiLeaks Confession

   Ft. Meade, MD -  As the WikiLeaks case goes on, an Army Intellegence Analyst,  Private First Class Bradley Manning, has allegedly told a confidential informant, Adrian Lamo, that he downloaded half-a-million classified files from a military computer network.  See also, http://www.nytimes.com/.

Three Firms Six New Oriental Television Channels

   Hollywood -    Saban Capital, Lionsgate (Hollywood's largest independent film studio), and Celestial Pictures, have combined on a deal that wil create Celestial Tiger Entertainment.  The new venture will launch with six new Oriental channels including three owned by Celestial Pictures, and three owned by Tiger Gate Entertainment (a company formed two years ago by a collaboration of Saban and Lionsgate).  See also, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/.

Fox vs Time Warner

   Time Warner already has the Lakers, taken from Fox Sports West (FSW), in a 20-year $3 billion dollar deal that begins in the 2012-13 season, and the rights to the Los Angeles Galaxy for $55 million dollars over 10 years.  Now, it wants Foxe's rights to the Dodgers.  The Dodgers are currently on Foxe's Prime Ticket channel through 2013.  See also, http://www.sportsillustrated.com/.

Billionaire Zell Sues

   In another twist to the ongoing Tribune Company bankruptcy case, a Sam Zell affiliate, EGI-TRB, filed suit Tuesday December 20, 2011, in Chicago's Cook County Circuit Court.  The suit alleges that a 2007 $8.2 billion dollar leverage buyout, that Zell himself was the architect of, was a fraudulent conveyance, meaning it left the owner companies including:  The Los Angele Times, KTLA Channel 5, The Chicago Tribune, and other media assets, insolvent from the start.  See also, http://www.chicagotribune.com/.

CNN Host Piers says Hacking Practice Not His

    Hollywood - CNN host Piers Morgan said during a British inquiry held via videotape, that hacking into telephones by tabloids was a "widespread practice" that he never sanctioned or engaged in when he was running the Daily Mirror, or while he world for News Corporation's News of the World.  See also, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/.

Express Scripts Medco Health Solutions Merger

   Proposed merger would make e-prescribing (the ability to electronically send an accurate, error-free, and understandable prescriptions directly to a  pharmacy from the point-of-care of the patient) more widely available to consumers.  See also, http://www.nejm.org/.

Hot NBA Wife Vanessa Lain Bryant

Kobe Bryant Vanessa Bryant had no prenuptial agreement

Kobe's Divorce

 Hollywood - Vanessa Laine-Bryant has filed for divorce from basketball superstar Kobe Bryant.  See also, dailybreeze.com.

Hollywood Terror Near Sunset and Vine

 Los Angeles - LAPD officers fatally wounded a gunmen that had been shooting at cars and pedestrians near Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, as he casually strolled along the pavement.  One driver, a 40 year old Hollywood music producer was shot and later died at Cedars Sinai Hospital.  See also, Latimes.com.

Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour by Cirque du Soleil - OFFICIAL S...

Circque du Soleil begins to Immortalize The King of Pop

Las Vegas - Canadian based Circque du Soleil has opened another one of its 15 worldwild acts.  This one, among a half- dozen others in the same city, is at the Mandalay Bay.  The show, a tribute to pop-star Michael Jackson, opened December 3, 2011 and will run through December 27, 2011.  See also, Latimes.com.

Communicating by Music (Michael Jackson's music)

   Michael Jackson's estate earned $175 million dollars in the last year.  That means if he could have toured, he quite possibly, would have been the second largest earner on tour.  U2 was the highest earning tour.   See also, http://www.rollingstone.com/.