Quick Takes: NBC anchor Brian Williams set to ‘Rock’

NBC News has given a muscular-sounding name to its new prime-time newsmagazine: “Rock Center With Brian Williams.”

Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” will host the hour-long, as-yet-unscheduled program, with reports from Harry Smith, Kate Snow and other network correspondents.

The name, though, may take some getting used to, which Williams wryly noted in the news release Monday: “Hopefully our journalism will speak louder than any name. If it doesn’t, perhaps people will tune in to ‘Rock Center’ hoping to see Tina Fey.”

—Scott Collins

Bob Seger albums go digital

Just put those old records back on the shelf: Bob Seger is headed to iTunes.

The rocker’s move into the digital music world starts Tuesday, when his two multiplatinum concert albums — “Live Bullet” (1976) and “Nine Tonight” (1981) — are released for download at iTunes and Amazon.

With 16 studio albums — and a new one to come next year — the 66-year-old Michigan icon has only scratched the surface and said his remaining catalog “will come out in dribs and drabs.”

Seger, who has never released a boxed set, said he’ll also use iTunes to unveil songs from his sizable backlog of unreleased material.

—Detroit Free Press

‘SpongeBob’ bad for young brains?

The cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is in hot water from a study suggesting that watching just nine minutes of that program can cause short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year-olds.

The problems were seen in a study of 60 children randomly assigned to either watch “SpongeBob,” or the slower-paced PBS cartoon “Caillou” or assigned to draw pictures. Immediately after these nine-minute assignments, the kids took mental function tests; those who had watched “SpongeBob” did measurably worse than the others.

Previous research has linked TV-watching with long-term attention problems in children, but the new study suggests more immediate problems can occur after very little exposure — results that parents of young kids should be alert to, said the authors of the study, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Nickelodeon spokesman David Bittler disputed the findings and said the show is aimed at ages 6 to 11, not 4-year-olds.

—Associated Press

Music royalties extended by EU

The European Union on Monday agreed to extend royalty protection for music performers and producers from 50 years to 70 years.

The EU said it wants to make sure artists are covered throughout their lifetimes and do not have to face a decline in income in their later years.

Opera singer Plácido Domingo welcomed the decision as “great news for performing artists.”

Thousands of European performers who recorded in the 1960s were on the verge of losing airplay royalties and suffering a subsequent loss of income.

—Associated Press

Gore talk on climate change

Current TV plans to air a presentation on climate change by former Vice President Al Gore.

The live broadcast of Gore’s multimedia talk begins Thursday at 4 p.m. Pacific time. The cable network said Monday that it would culminate a worldwide, 24-hour initiative called “24 Hours of Reality,” designed to explore the scope and effect of global warming.

Gore is a Nobel laureate for his environmental activism and is chairman of Current TV.

—Associated Press

Finally

Jackson show: Jamie Foxx has been named to host the Michael Jackson tribute concert planned for Oct. 8 in Wales. Christina Aguilera, Smokey Robinson and Cee Lo Green are among the show’s performers.