Entertainment Industry News

Week seven of the Live Plus 7 Day Ratings, which include DVR usage, have been released. Thursday, as always, remains the most active night for the DVR, with six of the top 10 (and 8 of the top 15) shows Thursday occupants. But the good news, in particular, for ABC was the 2.36 million additional viewers (representing 16.4 percent) who watched the series-premiere of V via the DVR.

USA has renewed drama Psych for a fifth season, with an order for 16 additional episodes. The new batch of episodes will begin airing next summer.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Washington Post is closing its last U.S. bureaus outside the nation's capital as the money-losing newspaper retrenches to focus on politics and local news.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Playboy Enterprises Inc will outsource all its publishing operations except for editorial to American Media Inc in a bid to cut costs and return its namesake magazine to profitability in two years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the famed film studio that is considering selling itself, has sent confidentiality agreements to about 20 interested parties including Time Warner Inc and News Corp, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A popular newspaper critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, banned for one day for publishing a photograph of a temple of the banned Baha'i faith, can publish again Wednesday, media reported Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co on Tuesday named Carolina Lightcap president of Disney Channels Worldwide, replacing Rich Ross, who left to head up the company's movie studio in October.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple iTunes on Tuesday began featuring downloads of live concerts by about 20 artists who are promoted by Live Nation.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In its bid to make TV advertising more accountable -- and to sell more of it through its online auction service -- Google has teamed up with TiVo, the companies are set to announce Tuesday.

LONDON - An auction house says it is selling a rare first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" found in a family's guest lavatory in southern England.

LOS ANGELES - Two Web sites that sold songs by The Beatles for 25 cents apiece should remain shut down indefinitely, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

NEW YORK - Eight decades after pioneering the concept of broadcasting, NBC is on the verge of a startling move that illustrates broadcast television's decline.

-Friday's Winners (keep in mind that the expectations are lower on this evening): Nothing. Sorry, but 8.43 million viewers for Ghost Whisperer, the most-watched show of the evening, does not a winner make.

NEW YORK - PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix to their TVs using the gaming console, just as Xbox 360 owners have been able to do for a year.

-Yesterday's Winners: Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

LOS ANGELES - With local, organic food, minimal electricity use and on-site composting, the Environmental Media Association's 20th anniversary party might be the green standard for future Hollywood awards shows.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Final box office figures for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" showed the movie's ticket sales rising to $142.8 million from an estimated $140.7 million last weekend, the studio behind the film said on Monday.

Three networks – ABC, CBS and Fox -- dominated this eighth week of the 2009-10 season. CBS finished first overall in households and total viewers, ABC topped the adult 18-49 and adult 25-54 charts, and Fox was the primary force among adults 18-34. Both ABC and Fox built over the comparable year-ago period, with CBS on the downside, particularly in the demos. Even so, CBS has now ranked first in total viewers for seven of the last eight weeks. Comparably, and excluding Oscar week, ABC rose to its most-watched week since the week of Sept. 22, 2008, with a seven-week high among adults 18-49.

-Yesterday's Winners: NCIS (CBS), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS)

-Yesterday's Winners: The 43rd Annual CMA Awards (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - International TV producer Endemol has acquired British production companies Tiger Aspect, Darlow Smithson and Darlow Smithson's Tigress from IMG.

-Yesterday's Winners: Dancing With the Stars (ABC), Two and a Half Men (CBS), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), House (Fox), CSI: Miami (CBS)

LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame after her audition for "Britain's Got Talent" was aired in April, appears set to have the biggest album in Britain this year, music retailer HMV said on Monday.

-Yesterday's Winners: Survivor: Samoa (CBS), CSI (CBS), Grey's Anatomy (ABC), The Office (NBC), The Mentalist (CBS)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Oscilloscope is pulling a Columbia House.

-Yesterday's Winners: Baseball World Series, Game 6 (Fox), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

ATHENS (Reuters) - 20th Century Fox will make a profit with James Cameron's 3D sci-fi epic "Avatar," Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Jim Gianopulos said in an interview, and dismissed reports the movie cost $500 million as "ridiculous."

-Yesterday's Winners: NCIS (CBS), V (ABC), The Biggest Loser (NBC), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS)

Led by games one through four of The Baseball World Series (New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies), it was a clean sweep for Fox, with a first-place finish in households, total viewers and the three key demos -- adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and adults 18-34. Compared to the year-ago week (when there was only the fifth -- and final -- game of Tampa Bay at Philadelphia in The World Series), Fox increased by as much as 54 percent in total viewers. Needless to say, the network is certainly hoping for a seven game series. ...