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| Missing Hollywood executive declared dead: Los Angeles county official Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:57 PM PDT (Reuters) - A Hollywood studio executive who investigators said may have been murdered was declared dead on Thursday, the second anniversary of his mysterious disappearance, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. Gavin Smith, a 57-year-old film distribution executive for 20th Century Fox, was last seen on the night of May 1, 2012, driving in his black Mercedes Benz away from a friend's house in Oak Park, northwest of Los Angeles. "A death certificate was issued," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy Quiana Birkbeck said on Thursday. The facility was linked to John Creech, a man who was imprisoned in a Los Angeles County jail on an unrelated narcotics conviction. Full Story | Top |
| Singer Chris Brown in jail for at least another week, judge says Thursday, May 01, 2014 06:02 PM PDT  A Los Angeles judge on Thursday said R&B singer Chris Brown will remain in jail for at least another week as the pop star deals with dual cases on both sides of the country. Brown, who will now spend his 25th birthday on May 5 behind bars, has been held since March 14 after his dismissal from a rehabilitation center violated the terms of his court-ordered treatment related to his 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, the pop singer Rihanna. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Brandlin said Brown would remain incarcerated unless a resolution on the terms of his probation in the Rihanna case could be agreed to between the prosecutor and Brown's attorney by a scheduled hearing on May 9. Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, said if he cannot resolve the case with prosecutor, Mary Murray, by next week, he will ask the court to release Brown on certain terms and conditions. Full Story | Top |
| New Michael Jackson song to debut at iHeartRadio awards Thursday, May 01, 2014 05:56 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first single from late singer Michael Jackson's posthumous album will premiere at the iHeartRadio Awards on Thursday, ahead of the record release later this month. "Love Never Felt So Good," originally written and recorded by Jackson in 1983, is the debut single for "Xscape," released on May 13 by Epic Records in partnership with Jackson's estate. The song will be available for purchase starting at midnight Friday. The album will feature eight previously unreleased songs from Jackson that were recorded between 1983 and 1999. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netflix brings net neutrality concerns to U.S. regulators Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:57 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After weeks of public outcry, Netflix Inc brought its concerns about Internet neutrality directly to U.S. regulators this week in meetings with Federal Communications Commission staff, according to sources familiar with the matter. The video streaming company has been outspoken in its push to do away with fees that content companies pay Internet service providers to deliver their video and other data to consumers. Netflix recently agreed to pay such fees to Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc to ensure smooth delivery of its videos, but it argues they weaken the principle of net neutrality, which says all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Netflix's representatives brought that message to the FCC commissioners' offices in meeting with advisers over the course of several days this week, the sources said, as the agency prepares to rewrite so-called Open Internet rules that regulate net neutrality by setting limits to how Internet providers treat web traffic crossing their networks. Full Story | Top |
| Peaches Geldof's death likely linked to heroin: police Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:07 PM PDT  Heroin probably played a role in the death of Peaches Geldof, the daughter of musician and Band Aid founder Bob Geldof, who died in her family home last month while alone with one of her two young sons, police said on Thursday. "There was recent use of heroin and the levels identified were likely to have played a role in her death," Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham said in a statement at the opening of the inquest into Geldof's death. Geldof, a media and fashion personality and the mother of two young boys, was the second of Irish musician and campaigner Bob Geldof and Yates's three daughters. The inquest heard her body was found by her husband of two years, musician Thomas Cohen, in a spare bedroom of their home in Wrotham, Kent, in southern England in the afternoon of Monday, April 7. Full Story | Top |
| Peaches Geldof's death likely linked to heroin, inquest hears Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:42 AM PDT  Heroin probably played a role in the death of Peaches Geldof, the daughter of musician and Band Aid founder Bob Geldof, who died in her family home last month while alone with one of her two young sons, police said on Thursday. A post-mortem examination failed to establish the cause of her death on April 7 but an inquest was told on Thursday that forensic tests found heroin in the 25-year-old's system. Her death brought back memories of that of her mother, television presenter Paula Yates, who died of a heroin overdose aged 41 in 2000 while alone with her youngest daughter, Tiger Lily, then aged four. "There was recent use of heroin and the levels identified were likely to have played a role in her death," Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham said in a statement at the opening of the inquest into Geldof's death. Full Story | Top |
| Viacom buys Britain's Channel 5 to boost global presence Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:32 AM PDT  U.S.-based Viacom Inc said on Thursday it would buy British TV broadcaster Channel 5 from media baron Richard Desmond for $760 million (450 million pounds) as a keystone to develop its worldwide presence. Viacom, which owns a stable of cable channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and movie studio Paramount Pictures, said the deal would also allow the company to tap new ideas. Channel 5 is the free-to-air network that broadcasts popular hit shows such as reality show "Big Brother" and the crime drama CSI franchise and has more than 43 million viewers per month, according to the company. "It was a unique opportunity," Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said about the deal, the largest to date for Viacom since it split from broadcaster CBS in 2006. Full Story | Top |
| Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' draft set for auction Thursday, May 01, 2014 05:41 AM PDT  Bob Dylan's four-page original manuscript for "Like a Rolling Stone" - considered to be one of the greatest rock songs ever - is expected to fetch $1 million to $2 million when it is put on auction in June, Sotheby's said on Thursday. Also for sale in the "Presley to Punk" auction in New York will be memorabilia from the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Joni Mitchell and the Rolling Stones. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli filmmaker Assi Dayan, son of defense minister Moshe, dies aged 68 Thursday, May 01, 2014 05:23 AM PDT  Celebrated Israeli actor and director Assi Dayan, whose father Moshe Dayan became internationally known as Israel's eye patch-wearing defence minister during two Middle East wars, died on Thursday at the age of 68, his family announced. Dayan, who was plagued by substance abuse during his career and had a history of heart trouble, was found dead in his Tel Aviv home. Moshe Dayan served as defence minister in the 1967 war in which Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and the Sinai desert, and in the 1973 conflict with Egypt and Syria. Assi Dayan's mother Ruth, 97, is a long-time peace activist who has maintained a public silence about her husband - whose extramarital affairs were common knowledge in Israel - since their divorce in 1971 after 36 years of marriage. Full Story | Top |
| Rivals poach Publicis, Omnicom clients, staff as merger faces snags Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:05 AM PDT  By Kate Holton, Jennifer Saba and Leila Abboud LONDON/NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) - Publicis and Omnicom have lost more than $1.5 billion of client work in recent weeks and face a fight to retain billions more, including a huge Samsung contract, just as the two advertising firms struggle to keep their merger on track. When the world's second and third-largest ad groups announced a merger last July, it sparked talk from rivals, led by Martin Sorrell, the boss of current leader London-based WPP, that the U.S. and French firms could lose clients and talented staff as a result. Several large contracts, including Vodafone's $1 billion global media and buying account, moved hands from Omnicom to WPP in April. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced it was moving its multibillion-dollar ad and media business from Publicis and WPP to Japan's Dentsu Aegis and U.S. Interpublic. Full Story | Top |
| BSkyB defies competition with strong TV customer growth Thursday, May 01, 2014 02:06 AM PDT  By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - British pay-TV operator BSkyB defied increasing competition to add 74,000 net new TV customers in its third quarter, more than twice the growth recorded last year and well ahead of forecasts. BSkyB, which has broadened its offering with increased content and services after BT encroached on its traditional stronghold of sports coverage, said it had achieved growth in both its satellite subscription package and its cheaper online offering. The dominant player in the pay-TV market for the past 10 years, BSkyB launched an online offering in 2012 to reach those consumers who were unwilling to sign up to a 12-month package. REVENUE BOOST The solid trading performance helped the group, 39 percent-owned by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox , to report nine-month figures in line with forecasts. Full Story | Top |
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