• Tommy Hilfiger is not a racist. And he’s hired “outside people” to keep an eye on anyone who claims otherwise.
• Ion Media Networks, NBC Universal and hedge fund Citadel to get in bed together, feel awkward about it in the morning.
• Time Warner mags are still a drag on earnings. Fortunately, the insanely priced restaurants in the TWC more than make up for it.
• Tivo offers its customers the ability to fast forward through all the annoying commercials. Including all the annoying commercials for Tivo.
• How many over-privileged Communications majors does it take to plan an after-party for Charlotte Ronson? Answer: Who cares—as long as they’re attractive.
• And finally, April showers brings…lousy ratings for CNBC.
• CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo free to ride with Citigroup any time she wants.
• NYT is “praised” for not being as boring, apathetic as usual.
• Former NBCU Treasurer could face up to 20 years in jail for his “pillaging.”
• The editor of an alternate weekly newspaper quits because he just can’t stand The Man.
• Meanwhile, John Ambrosia quit the Sun-Times Media Group because there was a shortage of “truthiness.”
• Those damn movie trailers are so persuasive even we’re convinced Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a drama
• The former treasurer at NBC Universal is arrested for allotting a suspiciously large percentage of the budget towards, well, himself.
• Tyra Banks talks about bulking up for her role as the increasingly irritating host of America’s Next Top Model.
• Check out the gold chain! Those chiseled abs! Josh Duhamel has gotta be the hottest guy this side of New Jersey!
• Special Olympics thanks American Idol for treating “special” contestants as nastily as everyone else.
• A bunch of Brooklyn idiots plan to race shopping carts on January 27th…and it’s not too late to join them.
• Not exactly sure why anyone would want to watch it, but here’s footage of Nicole Kidman mini-car crash caught on tape.
Who dares to take on the Internet proprietor giants MySpace and YouTube? Universal Music does. The company “has plans” for those devious copyright infringers who host videos owned by Universal. (We take it Universal isn’t responsible for YouTube sponsor Paris Hilton’s video.)
Bascially it’s the same thing YouTube went through with Saturday Night Live’s “Lazy Sunday” video — those who upload videos onto You Tube and MySpace shasay past the copyright and ownership of content laws. Though both sites technically act as “hosts” for content, and are known to take copyrighted material down once they’re informed of it, Universal is not too happy with all their for sale content being freely distributed all over the place.
Then, there’s also Huffington Post’s explanation.
Universal Music Group is going after MySpace (Fox) and YouTube (not Fox) for cash because they’re too stupid to come up with their own ways of repurposing their own content.
Which is probably more spot-on than the whole “YouTube doesn’t respect infrigement laws” theory.
MySpace, YouTube targeted by Universal Music Group [Ars Technica]
Universal Sues MySpace, YouTube [Eat the Press]