The Morning Fix: Comcast may squeeze NBC’s sports budget. Redbox wants to stream its kiosks. Inside Mel Gibson’s legal battles.
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After the coffee. Before wondering if we’ll go a whole day without Charlie Sheen opening his mouth in front of a microphone.
The Skinny: Wonder if Time Warner Cable is having second thoughts on its deal with the Lakers after that dismal performance against Cleveland. While Time Warner Cable may be shelling out big bucks for sports, NBC Universal’s new owner, Comcast Corp., may be tightening the purse strings on its sports budget.
Flame-out? When General Electric Co. owned NBC Universal it had a reputation for being a little stingy except when it came to the Olympics, where it let the network spare no expense. New owner Comcast may not feel so warm and cuddly about keeping the Gold. On an earnings call Wednesday, NBC Universal chief executive Steve Burke told analysts, ‘We are here to make money’ when asked whether NBC would bid aggressively on the 2014 and 2016 games. If NBC does back off the Olympics, it would be a big blow to Dick Ebersol, the head of all things sports at the company. More from the Los Angeles Times and Ad Week.
Taking liberties. Blurring the line between fact and fiction is nothing new in Hollywood, and this year’s Oscar favorites did their part to bend the truth here and there in the name of art. The Hollywood Reporter looks at some of the more obvious examples of movie-makers bending the truth with this year’s contenders.
Streaming kiosks. Redbox, perhaps thinking it’s taking this whole big-red-kiosk-outside-the-7-11 thing as far as it can go, is pushing ahead with a streaming service that it hopes will battle Netflix. A potential partner for Redbox could be Amazon. More on Redbox from Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Disney has raised the wholesale prices it charges to Redbox and Netflix, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tough talk. The White House said the people who attacked CBS correspondent Lara Logan while she was covering the revolution in Egypt need to be brought to justice. Logan, who has returned to America and is recovering, also received a call from President Obama. Details from the New York Post.
Fashionable news. Perhaps recognizing an opening and wanting to bring attention to a big story, CNN has beefed up its ... fashion coverage. Fashion Week, which seems to happen every other week there, is getting plenty of love from CNN, notes the New York Times.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Inside the battle between Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva. Watson the computer wins on ‘Jeopardy!’
-- Joe Flint
Follow me on Twitter so I can start selling advertising. twitter.com/JBFlint
