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MTV will take its irreverent Video Music Awards to Miami this year. The live event, in its 21st year, will be held Aug. 29 at the AmericanAirlines Arena, the cable television network announced Friday. It will be the first time the show is held outside Los Angeles or New York, which has hosted the awards in recent years. But because the Republican National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, having the VMAs in New York would have been difficult, said the VMA’s executive producer, Salli Frattini. “There were very, very limited venue possibilities in New York because… Read more »

Internet service providers have neither an obligation nor, in some cases, the technical means to help the recording industry identify 29 alleged music pirates, a federal judge heard yesterday. The Canadian Recording Industry Association has asked for a federal court order that would force the country’s five largest high-speed service providers to disclose the names, addresses and other personal information relating to unauthorized “uploaders” of copyrighted music. Lawyers for the group argued yesterday that the ISPs “hold the key” to identifying the 29 accused file-swappers and have a duty to co-operate that overrides any privacy concerns related to policy, legislation… Read more »

Chris Rock will be back as host of the MTV Video Music Awards, the cable channel announced Wednesday. But he acknowledges that his stand-up skills are a little rusty. So the comedian is going on a cross-country club tour to prepare for the 20th annual awards show Aug. 28 at Radio City Music Hall. “I haven’t performed in a lo-o-o-o-ng time,” Rock told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. After starring in the Emmy-winning “Chris Rock Show” on HBO in the late ’90s, he’s been focusing on films the past few years, including “Down to Earth,” a remake… Read more »

Barry Diller’s USA Interactive sued Vivendi Universal on Tuesday over a tax dispute, saying the French entertainment company reneged on its partnership agreement with USA to save much-needed cash. USA and Vivendi formed a joint venture, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, last year combining Universal’s film, television and theme park properties with USA’s cable channels and television production company. Diller recently stepped down as VUE chairman. As part of the deal, USA has claimed Vivendi must make annual payments to reimburse USA for taxes that will become due on income it receives from the preferred shares it owns in VUE. The unusual… Read more »

The dress code for MTV’s New Year’s Eve party gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “casual chic.” The cable music channel will ring in 2003 with a pajama party, with performances from the Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne, Busta Rhymes and Good Charlotte. Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy, who co-star in the upcoming movie “Just Married,” will host the party with Carson Daly. Sway from MTV News and comedian Jeffrey Ross also will take part. The festivities will air live from MTV’s Times Square studios starting at 10:30 p.m. EST Dec. 31. Leading up to New Year’s Eve, the… Read more »

Sharon Osbourne may regret her hit MTV series, but she’s still fond of television, and reportedly has signed up as host of a syndicated talk show. The wife of rock star Ozzy Osbourne has reached a deal with Telepictures Productions for the show beginning in fall 2003, Electronic Media online reported Thursday. A spokesman for Telepictures said the company doesn’t comment on projects in development. Terms of the deal were unavailable, Electronic Media said. In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters that aired this week, Osbourne said she wouldn’t invite MTV’s cameras into her home for reality series “The Osbournes”… Read more »

Newly installed VH1 toppers Brian Graden and Christina Norman are moving quickly to put their stamp on the struggling music cable network, greenlighting an aggressive fall slate of series and specials aimed at building on the channel’s still-strong retro music brand. VH1 is also beefing up its “Movies That Rock” franchise, snagging the broadcast premiere of the Oscar-winning “Moulin Rouge” and several other theatricals. And rather than simply repurposing other networks’ music specials, Graden wants VH1 to sign A-level talent for original concert specials. The flurry of activity comes barely three months after Graden was named entertainment president of the… Read more »

Godfathers of Britpop Oasis have joined the stars lining up for the fly-on-the-wall treatment made famous in the hit show “The Osbournes,” which followed rock singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. Tour-bus footage of the famously foul-mouthed Gallagher brothers has already been released and singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher told music Web site nme.com he is also keen for cameras to film his domestic life. “That would be fantastic, but how would you have breakfast with the guy with that big furry thing (the microphone boom) and someone running around after him with the cable?” he was quoted as saying. MTV’s profanity-prone… Read more »

MTV has rescheduled its Video Music Awards out of respect for the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The ceremony, which usually takes place the first Thursday in September, has been moved up a week to Aug. 29. “By bringing together artists, fans and the city’s creative community for MTV’s biggest night of the year, we hope to show our love and support for the place we truly call home every day,” the cable network’s president, Van Toffler, said in a statement Wednesday. For the fourth straight year, the Video Music Awards will take place in New York,… Read more »

“MTV’s Shore Thing” will broadcast all summer from a beach house on the boardwalk, just as it did in 1998. Beginning April 29, MTV will take over a two-story house on the boardwalk, between Kearney and Fremont avenues, using it as backdrop for shows and specials, including “Total Request Live.” The house is occupied by the Seaside Heights Beach Patrol, which will move to a nearby bathhouse to make room for the cable network’s production operations. MTV will pay $45,000 to renovate the bathhouse and $44,000 in cash to the borough as compensation. But civic leaders say the value of… Read more »