Search Results for: french

A decade after the release of their most popular album, Dirty, dissonant art rockers Sonic Youth are reissuing the disc along with two of their other titles as double-CDs bloated with bonus material. Dirty, Goo (1990) and Daydream Nation (1988) will be issued before summer by Universal with all of the original tracks remastered, along with previously unheard demos, live cuts and B-sides, the band’s publicist said. Sonic Youth also plan to issue three of their video titles on DVD: “The Goo That Lives on in My Heart” (1991), “1991: The Year Punk Broke” (1992), which chronicles the group’s 1991… Read more »

As Epic Records commitment to artist development continued to flourish in 2001, Epic will bring an entirely new group of exciting artists to the stage in 2002. The Epic team will work as one cohesive unit towards our common goal: helping our artists rise to the top of the marketplace. EPIC RECORDS 2001 RECAP Flickerstick – Winners of the breakthrough VH1 series Bands on the Run released their major label debut Welcoming Home The Astronauts. The album was re-mixed by Tom Lord Alge (Weezer, Blink-182, Marilyn Manson) and includes two new songs, “Execution By X-mas Lights” and “Smile.” Flickerstick will… Read more »

When Jean-Marie Messier, the deal-hungry chief of media giant Vivendi Universal, snapped up Seagram and its vast array of entertainment assets last year, the cynics came out in force. How would Messier, a former French banker and civil servant with no experience in the cut-throat and idiosyncratic world of Hollywood, succeed where outsiders had always failed before? And how would the Franco-American conglomerate, with no distribution outlets in the United States to speak of, match the profit potential of rivals like AOL Time Warner Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc. In recent days, Messier has made an ambitious attempt… Read more »

French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal has agreed to buy the entertainment assets of USA Networks Inc. for about $12.4 billion in cash, stock and assumed tax liability, a source familiar with the deal said Sunday. One source said Vivendi’s board approved the deal on Friday, the same day the company said it will buy an 11 percent share of EchoStar Communications Corp., the No. 2 U.S. provider of satellite television. Meanwhile, USA Network approved the deal late Sunday, according to another source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The companies plan to make an annoucement in the near future, probably… Read more »

Four years after the divorce, Vivendi Universal and USA Networks are poised to tie the knot again in a $12.4 billion deal, expected to be announced today in New York. The deal will put the TV assets acquired by USA in 1997 back under Universal’s control and install USA chairman and CEO Barry Diller as the head of the studio’s film, TV and theme park operations. Sources said the complex transaction was structured as the creation of a joint venture between Vivendi Uni and USA encompassing Universal’s film studio and theme parks and USA’s cable channels, including USA Network and… Read more »

The tension is palpable at Universal Studios as USA Networks CEO Barry Diller considers merging his media empire with the studio’s Vivendi Universal parent. “All we know for sure is that Barry Diller is going to be a helluva lot richer a week from now,” said one senior studio executive who was about to attend the Universal Christmas Party. Vivendi Universal, seeking an elusive U.S. distribution outlet for its array of television and film assets, said on Tuesday it was in talks to buy the entertainment assets of USA, which is about 40%-owned by the French company. Whatever Diller does,… Read more »

Vivendi Universal, seeking an elusive U.S. distribution outlet for its array of television and film assets, said on Tuesday it was in talks with USA Networks, sending the U.S. firm’s stock up sharply. Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier told Reuters the talks with media mogul Barry Diller’s USA Networks may lead to a purchase of the firm’s entertainment assets. But he rubbished as “absurd” a report that Vivendi could pay up to $18 billion. “We confirm that discussions have been ongoing for several months between Vivendi and USA Networks with a view to optimizing synergies in the entertainment area,” Messier said.… Read more »

iRiver America announced today the US introduction of iMP-350 SlimX(TM), its top-of-the-line CD/WMA/ASF/MP3 player. As the world’s slimmest multi-CODEC and CD player (16.7 mm), the SlimX supports MP3, WMA (Windows Media Audio), ASF, optional AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), multiple CD formats, holds up to 650 MB (over 250 songs) on a single CD, and upgradeable firmware consumers can download via the Internet. “We are meeting the demands of increasingly sophisticated audio consumers,” said John Kim, President of iRiver America. “iRiver’s award- winning engineers have unveiled SlimX, which harnesses the latest technology to deliver top quality sound using less storage space… Read more »

Edgar Bronfman Jr will step down as executive vice chairman of media giant Vivendi Universal next year, leaving flamboyant Frenchman Jean-Marie Messier solo at center stage. Vivendi said on Thursday that Bronfman, head of Canada’s Seagram before it merged with France’s Vivendi last year, would step down at the end of the first quarter 2002, though he would remain non-executive vice chairman of the board. “I deeply regret Edgar’s decision but fully understand his wishes,” Messier said in a statement. he said Bronfman was standing down to spend more time on his “personal and family interests.” It was not clear… Read more »

Edgar Bronfman Jr will step down as executive vice chairman of media giant Vivendi Universal next year, leaving flamboyant Frenchman Jean-Marie Messier solo at center stage. Vivendi said on Thursday that Bronfman, head of Canada’s Seagram before it merged with France’s Vivendi last year, would step down at the end of the first quarter 2002, though he would remain non-executive vice chairman of the board. “I deeply regret Edgar’s decision but fully understand his wishes,” Messier said in a statement. he said Bronfman was standing down to spend more time on his “personal and family interests.” It was not clear… Read more »