Layoffs Expected at Disney
Walt Disney Studios is expected to lay off as many as 10 percent of its employees this summer as part of cost-cutting connected to the recent purchase of Pixar Animated Studios, according to published reports and studio sources, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The Pixar deal resulted in the longtime Disney movie supplier merging with Disney’s existing animation division, causing some job replication. Sources said Tuesday the cutbacks are expected to affect all units at the studio.
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MGM Drops Sony as DVD, TV Distributor
The tensions between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and its studio investor resulted in a board vote Tuesday that will end the fabled company’s reliance on Sony Pictures Entertainment as a distributor of its DVDs and television shows, the Los Angeles Times reports. News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox Film Corp. will now release MGM’s DVDs worldwide. Previously, Fox had split the distribution of MGM’s home entertainment properties with Sony, which had handled the domestic sales. As part of the deal, Fox has agreed to an unusual arrangement: It will devote a sales force to handling MGM products. MGM also has scratched Sony as the global distributor of its television shows and will once again handle sales in-house as it had as a stand-alone studio.
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Suit Contests QM’s Monroe Exhibit
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Queen Mary and the curator of “Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit,” aboard the ship, alleging that items in the exhibit are fake and demanding monetary damages for everyone who has purchased a ticket to the exhibit, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports. The exhibit, which closes June 15, is advertised to contain such material as Monroe’s sweaters, blue jeans, bathing suit, lingerie, objects from her marriage to Joe DiMaggio, evening gowns, jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and hand-held mirrors. The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names as defendants the RMS Foundation Inc., which operates the Queen Mary; Robert Otto, the exhibit’s curator; and Mark A. Roesler, CEO of CMG Worldwide, which manages the estate of Marilyn Monroe. Roesler and Joseph Prevratil, head of the RMS Foundation, said they have not seen the lawsuit and wouldn’t comment. P
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Few Clouds in Forecast as Budget Talks Start
With the June 15 deadline for passing a state budget just two weeks out, lawmakers from the Assembly and Senate are expected to start work today hammering out the final details of a roughly $131.6 billion spending plan, the Sacramento Bee reports. So far this year, $7 billion in unexpected tax revenue has changed the normally rancorous budget process into an uncharacteristic lovefest between Democrats and Republicans. But it still remains to be seen whether the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can deliver an on-time budget for the first time in two decades. But exactly what constitutes exercising enough caution is likely to be the biggest focus of debate.
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Antitrust Officials Said to Be Watching Napster Suit
Federal antitrust investigators are reexamining the online music pioneer’s long-standing claims that the major record labels improperly conspired to keep authorized downloads off the Internet, the Los Angeles Times reports. Justice Department officials are closely tracking a court fight in federal court in San Francisco between the labels and the financial backers of the original Napster, the file-sharing network that debuted in 2001 and became emblematic of online piracy. Napster filed for bankruptcy protection, and the name was bought and assumed by Roxio Inc. in 2002. The labels are suing venture capital firm Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and German conglomerate Bertelsmann, which owns label BMG, accusing them of contributing to the piracy by the first Napster users. As part of its defense, Hummer Winblad has alleged that the labels violated antitrust laws by colluding to refuse to license their music to Napster for legitimate distribution.
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