The Morning Fix: Spyglass in lead for MGM. Disney’s ‘Phineas and Ferb’ gets some love. ‘American Idol’ lowers bar. ‘Boondocks’ takes on Tyler Perry
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After the coffee. Before watching people fall off buildings on ABC’s ‘Downfall’ tonight.
Be careful what you wish for. Spyglass Entertainment is looking like the odds-on favorite to operate the financially struggling MGM. According to the Wall Street Journal, Spyglass sent a proposal to MGM’s creditors, including J.P. Morgan. As has been reported numerous times, MGM would likely enter a prepackaged bankruptcy. One of the appeals to creditors doing a deal with Spyglass as opposed to Summit Entertainment, the company behind the ‘Twilight’ franchise, is that they would get more equity in MGM.
Don’t you love it when this happens? Both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times have features on Disney Channel’s cartoon ‘Phineas and Ferb’ looking at how it has become the cable channel’s big franchise. Not only is Disney cranking up the merchandising, but there is also a movie in the works. So, is this Disney’s ‘SpongeBob,’ as the New York Times suggests? Well, Viacom’s Nickelodeon isn’t sweating yet.
Shopping marriage? The New York Post suggests that mogul John Malone’s Liberty Media will look to marry his shopping channel QVC with Home Shopping Network Liberty has tried to do that before, but this time the company says it’s not in the works. But that’s not stopping some on Wall Street from speculating about such a pairing, and, of course, if there is analyst whispering, there’s a New York Post story ready to go.
Criticizing Comcast-NBC. As expected, comments filed Monday with the Federal Communications Commission revealed that the harshest critics of Comcast’s proposed deal to acquire control of NBC Universal were public advocacy groups, rival satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish Network and Bloomberg TV, which owns a business cable network. Some express concern about what the combination of the biggest cable and broadband provider with an entertainment giant means for the public in terms of cost and access to content while others, (cough, Bloomberg) may be looking to use the regulatory process to squeeze Comcast into doing favorable deals. More on the comments from the Los Angeles Times and The Hill. Meanwhile, the most scrutinized deal in history will get another look from the House Communications Subcommittee in a field hearing to be held in Chicago in July. More on that from Broadcasting & Cable.
Why don’t they just put in a height requirement and leave it at that? The age to get on ‘American Idol’ is being lowered from 16 to 15 next season. The maximum age remains 28, which seems kind of like a rip-off! More from the Hollywood Reporter.
Never mind his marriage or professional life. Tiger Woods’ messy personal life ended up costing IMG, his management company, almost $5 million in commissions from the golfer’s endorsement deals. Of course, as CNBC notes, that means Woods himself lost somewhere between $20 million and $30 million.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: ‘The Boondocks,’ an animated show on Turner’s Cartoon Network, took some nasty swipes at Tyler Perry in Sunday’s episode. Besides his hit movies, Perry also has a show on TBS. As Greg Braxton notes, don’t sit Perry and ‘The Boondocks’ creator Aaron McGruder next to each other at the next family picnic. The latest on the Los Angeles Film Festival.
-- Joe Flint
Go ahead, make my day. Follow me on Twitter at: twitter.com/JBFlint