MAKIN’ IT: Maker Studios will be Dish Network’s programming partner for its new online streaming service Sling TV, which targets a young audience of “cord cutters” who don’t hold cable subscriptions. Content from Maker, a Culver City digital media company acquired last year by Walt Disney Co., will look just like a live television channel and feature videos from the multichannel video network. Sling TV as a whole will cost $20 a month and offer a slew of programming options, including ESPN and ESPN2, which will be streaming to noncable subscribers for the first time, and, of course, the Disney Channel.
RAM IT: Stan Kroenke, owner of the St. Louis Rams, announced plans to build a National Football League stadium in Inglewood, immediately arousing excitement about the Rams returning to Los Angeles. But not so fast. Kroenke’s plan to build the stadium at the Hollywood Park racetrack is not a guarantee that the team will come to town, nor has it deterred the developers vying for the chance to host a pro football franchise at planned stadiums in downtown Los Angeles and City of Industry. The Rams will be weighing the potential Inglewood venue against a counterproposal to keep the team in St. Louis. But, yes, it is a possibility, as the Rams could end their current stadium lease as early as next year.
GOING PUBLIC: Michael Riley, a former Walt Disney Co. executive, has been named chief executive of KCETLink Media Group, owner of independent public television station KCET. Riley is the fourth chief executive in the 50-year history of KCET, a non-profit, viewer-supported station headquartered in Burbank. He is replacing Al Jerome, who announced in March that he would be stepping down after 18 years with the station.
SHAM: Audio equipment maker Monster has sued Apple Inc.’s Beats Electronics and its co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young – better known as Dr. Dre – as well as Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. for allegedly conspiring to dupe Monster out of a deal with Santa Monica’s Beats before the company was sold to Apple for $3.2 billion last year. In its complaint, Monster, which helped Beats launch the Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones in 2008, alleges Beats fraudulently acquired the popular headphones through a sham transaction with HTC.
IT’S A MATCH: Thousand Oaks biotechnology company Amgen Inc. and Santa Monica cancer drug developer Kite Pharma Inc. have struck a deal to develop and market cancer immunotherapies using Amgen’s cancer targets and Kite’s technology platform. Amgen will pay Kite $60 million upfront and pay for research costs through the filing of a new drug application. As part of the agreement, Amgen is also eligible to receive as much as $525 million in milestone payments.
DOLLARS: The Commerce chain 99 Cents Only Stores has to pay a lot more than a dollar to settle a lawsuit claiming it improperly disposed of hazardous waste at its 251 stores and distribution centers in California. The company will be opening up its registers to pay out a $2.3 million settlement to rid itself of the suit brought by more than two-dozen county district attorneys and city attorneys throughout the state. The deep-discount chain has now adopted new policies and procedures for the disposal of its hazardous waste, which is now being collected by state-registered haulers and taken to proper disposal facilities.
NEW ORDER: Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria, producers of two of the most successful film franchises at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., have been named co-presidents of feature animation, replacing Bill Damaschke, who has served as chief creative officer since 2011. Arnold and Soria will oversee the creative development and production for the theatrical releases from the Glendale studio, which has recently been plagued with poor box-office performance. The pair have produced a combined eight films for DreamWorks. Soria produced the “Madagascar” franchise and Arnold the two “How to Train Your Dragon” films.
END OF THE LINE: Arthur Leahy, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will step down in April after six years on the job. During his tenure, Leahy supervised the most ambitious rail construction period in the agency’s history, but also oversaw many failures. His performance as chief executive has been under confidential review by the Metro board of directors for more than six months, and a majority of members were ready to let his contract expire in April, sources told the Los Angeles Times.
PORTS: U.S. mediators have agreed to join labor talks at West Coast ports to help revive stalled negotiations between shippers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union that have dragged on for eight months. The dispute between the two sides, which each asked for federal mediation, has been partly blamed for the massive congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The persistent bottlenecks have impacted supply chains across the country, delaying shipments and causing businesses to lose sales.
