Search Results for: mest

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 »

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. has often been derided as the spoiled rich kid who blew his family’s liquor fortune on Hollywood, but in reality he nearly tripled it. Now, capping six years of intense dealmaking which culminated in folding the Bronfman family-controlled concern Seagram Co. Ltd. into the world’s second largest media company, Vivendi Universal, the soft-spoken mogul plans to walk away, possibly to start a new company. Save for the timing, it was no surprise that on Thursday, Bronfman, 46, said he would step down as executive vice chairman of Vivendi in 2002. The announcement came one day after another… Read more »

“Scream” director Wes Craven and longtime producing partner Marianne Maddalena have signed with the William Morris Agency. The duo had been represented by Intl. Creative Management. Craven, whose “Scream” trilogy grossed more than $350 million at the domestic box office, and Maddalena have an overall deal at Miramax/Dimension. Craven’s credits include “Music of the Heart,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Vampire in Brooklyn.” The next picture Craven is likely to direct is “Pulse” for Dimension, based on a Japanese ghost story from which Craven will develop a script.

Britney Spears, a former Mousketeer, is at the center of an aggressive drive into the movie business by a handful of young pop stars molded by the music industry and MTV. Not since the 1960s, when singers like Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Johnny Cash crooned their way onto movie screens, have studios produced as many star vehicles to showcase the hip-shimmying musical talents of the day’s teen idols. Their holy grail is “The Bodyguard,” starring Whitney Houston, which grossed $122 million and relaunched a pop song that became a perennial hit. The soundtrack is one of the best… Read more »

Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and YourMobile/PWS today announced the launch of a new online commercial wireless service which will offer ringtones – musical options for the ring on mobile phones indicating incoming calls – to music fans for purchase within the United States, at http://wireless.sonymusic.com. The ringtones offered will represent compositions associated with a wide array of SME artists, as well as ringtones representing artists from a variety of other music labels and companies. Thousands of musical ringtones will be immediately available for sale domestically. While the initial launch of the service will focus on the U.S. market, additional ringtone… Read more »

While Ali G was insulting German celebrities in a naff bit of hosting in the country’s financial capital, many people were wondering why MTV had selected the less than musical city on the Main for this year’s event. Was it for the internet address, MTV.de, which was held by a local transit company until MTV announced that it had decided to come to Frankfurt? More probable is that the music television pioneer was trying to boost its visibility in Europe’s largest media market, a place where the locals are, in US parlance, kicking its ass. Viva Media, which is listed… Read more »

Top showbiz execs pledged Sunday to step up their contribution to the war effort after a meeting with White House senior advisor Karl Rove. Details of Hollywood’s multifront initiative will be forged over the next few weeks, but industry moguls made clear their desire to pitch in. The campaign will include helping the Bush Administration spread its message regarding the war on terrorism both at home and abroad, support for U.S. troops and buttressing resolve among the American public. “All of us in the industry have an incredible urge to do something,” said Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing. One concrete… Read more »

Marilyn Manson aren’t the only modern rockers revisiting ’80s hits for the soundtrack to “Not Another Teen Movie,” which comes out December 4. In addition to monsieur Manson’s creepy version of “Tainted Love,” which was a top 10 hit for Soft Cell in 1982, the disc will feature Goldfinger covering Nena’s “99 Red Balloons,” Saliva tackling the Pretenders’ “Message of Love,” Mest covering Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” Muse reworking the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” Good Charlotte playing Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s “If You Leave” and Phantom Planet covering Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s… Read more »

Rounding out its programming lineup as it launches the nation’s first digital satellite radio service, XM Satellite Radio’s “NASCAR Rig” will tour the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit throughout the Southern United States this fall. XM launched its service Sept. 25 in its two lead markets and expanded throughout the entire Southwest and Southeast in mid-October. XM will complete its national rollout in November. “XM is proud to offer NASCAR fans the world’s first 24-hour radio channel devoted to America’s most popular spectator sport,” said XM President and CEO Hugh Panero. “Our XM rig will help spread the word as we… Read more »