Search Results for: 2007

Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation’s only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street. Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.’s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say it will mean huge cost savings that will lead to a first-ever profit for the relatively nascent industry. The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Tate had insisted that… Read more »

British pop star George Michael has a tip for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama — team up with former rival Hillary Clinton. Michael, 45, touring North America for the first time in 17 years, told fans during a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden that “I know you guys all need a change.” He admitted he doesn’t know what kind of change Obama would bring if elected, saying that after “months of watching CNN” he still does not know what Obama or Clinton stand for. But he went on to say that the Illinois and New York… Read more »

Among the most notorious on-screen gaffes ever, Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” on CBS during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show drew a $550,000 indecency fine from the Federal Communications Commission. Now a federal appeals court has thrown it out. A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the FCC “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity, which it noted lasted just over half a second. An estimated 90 million people watching the Super Bowl heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this… Read more »

BROOKLYN, New York – What does Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig have in common with Sting and Gene Simmons? It’s definitely not a shared sense of style. But like Sting and Simmons, the cardigan-and-Top-Sider-sporting 23-year-old spent a year as the antithesis of the flashy, rule-breaking rock star: a teacher. Before belting out tunes like “Oxford Comma” and “A Punk” in front of sold-out crowds and landing on the cover of Spin – along with bassist Chris Baio, keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and drummer Chris Tomson – Koenig was juggling band practice and performances with a day job as an eighth-grade teacher… Read more »

A musicians union has filed a federal lawsuit against the producers of “American Idol,” claiming musicians were underpaid because the show’s live music was re-recorded for reruns. The American Federation of Musicians filed the suit seeking unspecified damages Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging that American Idol Productions Inc. and its subsidiary Tick Tock Productions Inc. violated a collective bargaining agreement. That contract says the show’s musicians should be paid royalties for rebroadcasts of the show, the lawsuit said. The producers are required to pay 75 percent of scale to musicians who appear in the original show… Read more »

Coldplay sold 125,000 copies of its new album on the first day of release in Britain, a solid tally industry experts say should be music to the band’s ears and those of its ailing record label EMI. “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends” now looks “certain” to top Sunday’s album chart, according to The Official Charts Company which tracks record sales, even though it was released on Thursday rather than at the start of the week. “Coldplay are an international act … and these sales figures in the UK are the first indication of how the album… Read more »

Maroon 5’s 2007 album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” will be reissued in expanded form July 8. The A&M/Octone package will include a bonus DVD with four music videos and a full concert shot last year in Montreal. In addition, the original CD is bolstered with five B-sides: “Infatuation,” “Miss You Love You,” “Until You’re Over Me,” “Story” and “Losing My Mind.” Also tacked onto the track list is “If I Never See Your Face Again,” Maroon 5’s new single featuring Rihanna. The original version of “Won’t Be Soon” has sold 1.85 million copies in the United Stated, according… Read more »

When Hartmut Ostrowski was an up-and-comer in Bertelsmann’s printing and services division in the 1990s, his bosses were discouraged from speaking at meetings of the top executives. In the glamorous world of Bertelsmann, a global media empire with music, television, and publishing properties – Germany’s answer to Time Warner – services were viewed as strictly a backstage function. Now, with Mr. Ostrowski at the helm of Bertelsmann, the stagehands are striding into the spotlight. Two weeks ago, he named Markus Dohle, a 39-year-old German who runs the company’s printing operations, as chief executive of Random House, the world’s largest consumer… Read more »