Because of our sick obsession with images of celebrities, it's one of the fastest growing categories in the visual content business. Today, Getty Images, the world's leading creator and distributor of visual content, announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase WireImage, one of the leading creators of entertainment and event imagery, for approximately $200 million in cash. The deal also will include MediaVast, Inc. the owner of WireImage, and sub-brands FilmMagic and Contour Photos. "The demand for entertainment, event and celebrity imagery is growing exponentially, and Getty Images has determined that there are great growth opportunities in the category," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "We are confident that the proposed acquisition will help us expand our global entertainment and celebrity imagery business, allowing us to satisfy growing customer demand in the U.S. and abroad." WireImage's founding photogs and key execs have signed long term agreements to remain with WireImage and Getty Images following the acquisition.

UPDATED (keep refreshing for latest): Hollywood's David Geffen has suddenly become THE campaign issue between two of the Democratic candidates running for president on the heels of last night's huge Obamamania fundraiser in Beverly Hills. Today, the Clinton Camp told Barack Obama to cut ties and return cash "from its top booster" Geffen. Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson issued the following statement today demanding that Obama disavow what Wolfson termed "personal attacks" by Geffen, whom he identified as Obama's campaign finance chair, against Sen. Clinton in this morning's Maureen Dowd column in The New York Times. "While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband. If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money. While Democrats should engage in a vigorous debate on the issues, there is no place in our party or our politics for the kind of personal insults made by Senator Obama's principal fundraiser."

But here's the thing: I've just confirmed that the Hillary camp is wrong. Geffen is NOT the Obama campaign's finance chair (as her communications chair Wolfson claims in his statement) and indeed has no formal role, according to an Obama spokesman who told me the mistake seems deliberate: "They're trying to gin up a controversy." Obama's campaign finance chair is Penny Pritzker (of the wealthy Chicago family who founded the Hyatt hotel chain) who previously served as a member of the finance committee in Obama's campaign for Illinois' U.S. Senate. Shortly after I posted my reporting, Geffen issued a statement on this through his longtime political adviser Andy Spahn: "Despite reports to the contrary, I am not the Campaign Finance Chair and have no formal role in the Obama campaign, nor will I, other than to continue to offer my strongest possible personal support for his candidacy.  My comments, which were quoted accurately by Maureen Dowd, reflect solely my personal beliefs regarding the Clintons."

Immediately, the Obama camp fired back on the Geffen issue with this tough statement from spokesperson Robert Gibbs: "We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Senator Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because 'he's black.'" 

In response to that Obama statement, Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman, a top Democratic fundraiser and a Hillary supporter, told me today Clinton had indeed stepped away from Ford's remarks. "When that Clinton supporter made inappropriate comments, her campaign disavowed it and apologized for his words." Zimmerman, who managed Gore's and Kerry's New York campaigns and will be a key Hillary surrogate in the '08 race, also told me: "I found Geffen's comments that Hillary and Bill 'lie' personal, vulgar and thoroughly inappropriate. I know supporters get emotionally caught up in these contests and say things that are inappropriate. But it's incumbent upon the candidates to set a higher tone and disavow." In actuality, my research shows that Ford apologized for his criticism of Obama, and then HRC said she "appreciated" him doing so.

The controversy stretched to CNN's Situation Room this afternoon where Wolf Blitzer talked about the Hillary/Obama/Geffen harsh words with Democratic campaign vets Donna Brazile (Gore) and James Carville (Clinton). Both politicos seemed to side with Hillary, decried that this had become a campaign issue, and called on Obama to renounce Geffen's statements. But it wasn't like Carville was objective here -- because Geffen attacked him, too, in the Dowd column: "I'm tired of hearing James Carville on television.” Criticizing the "world" Geffen lives in, Carville looked into the camera and addressed David directly: "I'll tell you what, Mr. Geffen -- you can come take my place on TV, and I'll take your money." Closing out the segment, Blitzer commented that the only people pleased by this controversy will be the Republicans.

And just whom are some movie studio heads really backing for president? Publicly, most claim they haven't made a decision yet while they give to all the Democratic candidates who've announced a run for the 2008 presidency. But, in some cases, that's just camouflage. The fact is a few have already made up their minds. Sony Picture Entertainment's two chairmen, Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, are both backing Obama, I understand. Lynton has an Illinois family connection that puts him squarely in the Obama camp, while Pascal went to hear Obama speak a while ago and developed a lasting enthusiasm for his candidacy. Universal Studios prez and COO Ron Meyer is giving to the whole field but in fact supporting only U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd. I'm told it's because the two men have a personal friendship dating back decades. And MGM chairman Harry Sloan is a stalwart McCain backer and has already hosted a fund-raiser. But a lot of eyes are still on Warner Bros' prez and COO Alan Horn who has been one of Al Gore's most lasting loyalists. Hollywood isn't going to believe Gore is sitting out 2008 until eco-minded Horn gets his carbon footprint behind another Democratic candidate.

Did Rudy Giuliani's camp get too far out in front of its recent claim of a forthcoming endorsement and fundraising push from one Hollywood mogul? 

Among the Hollywood VIPs attending tonight's huge Barack Obama fundraiser is Brad Grey. Just getting inside the Beverly Hilton benefit requires a donation, and I've confirmed that the Paramount Pictures chairman coughed up a contribution. Grey's attendance follows what I'm told was a private meeting he had with Obama on Capitol Hill two weeks ago. None of this would be newsworthy if, on Friday, The Hotline (the National Journal's respected daily briefing on politics) hadn't reported that Grey "has agreed to raise money for ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.... [and] plans to endorse Giuliani next week, two sources close to the Giuliani campaign confirmed." The scoop was picked up around the Internet Friday night. One problem: the news came as a surprise to Grey and his people. Because, I'm told, it wasn't true. "Brad is a longtime friend of Rudy's. He spoke to him three weeks ago and said 'I'll help you.' But that's it. He hasn't committed to anybody. It's very early in the race and he will help out a lot of people until it gets closer. He's not officially a Republican," an insider said to me.

In fact, Brad and Rudy have been friends since Grey's production company, Brad Grey Pictures, produced with HBO the 2002 documentary, In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01 which presented an historical record of that day through the eyes of Giuliani and other New Yorkers. There's little doubt that film will be shown repeatedly after Giuliani formally announces his bid for the presidency: it follows the mayor and his staff from their first realization about what was occurring through the tragedy. So it wasn't all that surprising that a Giuliani campaign strategy memo -- obtained and published by the New York Daily News in January -- identified Grey as one of the business leaders who was envisioned as leading a "celebrities" fund-raising arm to help bring in at least $100 million this year, with a scramble for at least $25 million by March 31st. But the internal document also recognized that Grey was "publicly uncommitted" -- leaving open the very real possibility that he was already privately in a relationship with one candidate. Then, as recently as January 31st, Brad attended a fundraiser for Rudy's presidential exploratory committee at the Pacific Palisades home of Bill Simon, the 2002 California GOP gubernatorial candidate who is spearheading Rudy's dollar-getting effort in the state. Certainly all this might lead Giuliani's camp to believe the mayor had snagged Grey and thus scored a coup since GOP support is rare among mostly liberal Hollywood at that level. But shouldn't someone, and even Rudy himself, have called Brad first to confirm? As far as Grey being a Republican or not, hard to imagine any showbiz Democrats hiring one of the Bush daughters as an office intern the way Brad's Brillstein-Grey did when he was still running it the summer of 2001 -- especially after that disputed election and the GOP's general disdain for Hollywood.

Almost over: final polls for the 79th Academy Awards close at 5 p.m. PST today.

So, finally, satellite radio operators XM and Sirius announce today they're going to merge. Which means Howard Stern and Martha Stewart will pair up with Oprah Winfrey and Ryan Seacrest. (Like they're not already over-exposed.) But whether antitrust and communications regulators will agree is dicey. Already FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin is voicing concerns. As of Friday, Sirius carried a market capitalization of $5.2 billion. XM was valued at about $3.8 billion. Combined, the tax-free, all-stock merger has a combined enterprise value of approximately $13 billion. According to news reports, the two companies worked over the weekend to finalize a "merger of equals," but Sirius CEO Mel Karmazen (ex-Viacom and Infinity) will run the new corp while XM chairman Gary Parsons will keep the title.

Well, Steven Spielberg has achieved immediate results after complaining publicly that Paramount was grabbing credit for DreamWorks movies. Look at this tortured clarification which a Paramount publicist issued by email today to Hollywood reporters to ensure there is no confusion: "To clarify, Norbit is a DreamWorks Pictures production, marketed and distributed by Paramount. Dreamgirls is a co-production between DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, also marketed and distributed by Paramount."

MONDAY AM: Ghost Rider gunned the Marvel / Sony marketing engine for No. 1 as the biggest Presidents Day Weekend opening ever by a big margin. It sped to a whopping $44.5 million for Fri-Sat-Sun and $51.5 mil for the four-day holiday. Even though critics were lukewarm at best about the action film based on the popular Marvel comic book, it beat previous record holder 50 First Dates ($45.1 mil for the four-day holiday). Ghost Rider is the biggest film opening so far in 2007 -- and Nicolas Cage's biggest since 2003's National Treasure because he's been in a slump at the box office. Audience breakdown for the film is 62% male and 38% female with 55% under age 25 and 45% are age 25 and older. On the other hand, newcomer Walden / Disney's children's fantasy Bridge To Terabithia received wonderful reviews which propelled it into 2nd place for the weekend with $22.2 mil for Fri-Sat-Sun and $27.6 mil for the four-day holiday. With the long weekend stretching ahead of parents, the pic received a nice Saturday and Sunday kiddie bounce. DreamWorks' one-week holdover Norbit starring Eddie Murphy in multi-roles was the surprise No. 3 considering that five new films came into the marketplace, all of which made over $10 mil for the three-day weekend. (Its cume as of Monday is $62.7 mil.) Pic made $16.8 mil for Fri-Sat-Sun and $20.7 mil for the four-day holiday. (more...)

In light of Disney losing a federal court ruling revealed today over Winnie the Pooh rights, I'm told that the Disney Channel is getting ready to unveil its My Friends Tigger & Pooh cable TV show. This is basically a re-launch of the company's very profitable Pooh franchise. Tens of millions of dollars have been poured into the creation of this new CG TV series, all with the hope of freshening up A.A. Milnes' characters and making Pooh & pals seem that more appealing to the SpongeBob generation. Even more to the point, I'm told the Mouse House has already lined up dozens of licensees to create My Friends Tigger & Pooh merchandise, which supposedly is due to hit store shelves this Fall. With this huge new Pooh push about to get underway, the company can't want negative publicity to undermine what Disney hopes will be as big a goldmine as that new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse CH TV series has proved to be. Talk about bad timing...

There's an important federal court ruling revealed today having to do with Disney and rights to the Winnie the Pooh character. The case is Clare Milne et al v. Stephen Slesinger Inc., U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 02-8508.
I defer to Bloomberg's story:

"Disney Loses Court Ruling Over Winnie the Pooh Rights: By Edvard Pettersson. Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co., the world's second-largest media company, lost a court bid to void the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters held by Stephen Slesinger Inc. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled yesterday in Los Angeles federal court that Disney and the granddaughters of Pooh author A.A. Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard can't challenge a licensing agreement struck with Slesinger in 1983. The ruling, disclosed on the court's Web site today, eliminates a procedural hurdle to Slesinger seeking more than $2 billion in damages from Disney. Disney had tried to terminate Slesinger's rights to characters the media company has marketed for more than four decades. Slesinger acquired the rights from Milne in 1930. 'This is definitely a setback for Disney,' said Carole Handler, an intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner in Los Angeles. 'They tried to dismantle the license of the party that has been most troublesome to them in court.' The ruling is part of a larger 16-year legal battle between Disney and Slesinger that's being fought in state and federal courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Last week, Los Angeles-based Slesinger asked the Patent Office to cancel rights to 25 Pooh-related names obtained by Disney since 1996. Disney 'was not the owner of the registered marks at the time that these filings were made,' Slesinger said in a petition. The company was 'at most, only a licensee.' (more...)

Hollywood, beware: the Los Angeles Times has decided to pursue the type of tabloid journalism associated with the National Enquirer. I have learned that reporter Kim Christensen is working on an article about studio mogul Ron Meyer's gambling history. It is a history that is years old, that has never impacted his professional work, and that is not illegal. Nor has Meyer, in his 12th year as president and COO of Universal Studios, tried to keep his gambling a secret: he has routinely informed all his employers about this over the years. (I myself have known all about his high-stakes poker games for eons...  his Hollywood friends have known all about it for eons... and Julia Phillips mentioned it in her autobiography, You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again.) Further, there is no apparent peg for his gambling to be made public now -- especially since Meyer hasn't gambled in years. Yet Christensen is pursuing the story nonetheless, convinced there is some convoluted Pellicano link to it. (FYI, I understand Pellicano and Meyer never once talked about his gambling...) I could understand if the mogul chose to talk about his gambling history and therefore sought out the Los Angeles Times. But, instead, the paper is trying to drag the info out of the mogul. I am aghast. I, for one, pride myself on being a tough reporter, but I and other serious business journalists draw the line: we go after what execs do in their work, but not what they do in their personal life if it has no bearing on business. It's simply wrong. (And, by the way, this is the second time Christensen has gone after Meyer's personal life, and, as I posted here at the time, that article contained numerous inaccuracies not to mention unreliable sources.) What I also don't understand is why the LA Times is choosing to spend its limited investigative resources on this when there are stories so much more worthy of probing about the business of Hollywood itself -- especially with a strike likely this year -- that the paper just lets slide year after year. (And if the attempt is to titillate readers, there are far more scandalous stories out there about Hollywood moguls' personal behavior impacting their professional work. But, as I said, this story doesn't fall into that category.) My opinion is that Christensen and his editors should be ashamed of themselves. (My calls today to both staff writer Christensen and editor Jim O'Shea have not yet been returned.) If Hollywood had any guts, then the most important people in this industry would call the Los Angeles Times to complain. Or refuse to cooperate with reporters there. Or stop advertising in its pages. Recognize you could be the next mogul who is targeted for this unfair tabloid treatment.

Marvel / Sony's Ghost Rider opens this holiday weekend and my box office gurus are sticking to their prediction of $35+ mil. (Pic could aim at Daredevil-like box office "but $45 mil looks like a lot to do with all the competition," I'm told.) Right now, the experts say positions 2 through 5 are really hard to call. From Lionsgate, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls opened Wednesday with $4.5 mil, slightly higher than Warner Bros.' Music and Lyrics, which did $4.1 mil. So perhaps they'll be #2 and #3. On the other hand, Walden/Disney's Bridge to Terabithia is getting great reviews, and it may be #4 or #5 depending on how much DreamWorks / Paramount's Norbit drops. Meanwhile, did you guys see Nic Cage on Leno this week? He had even worse hair than he sports in the pic.

If you have a few minutes to waste (and don't we all...), watch this video cartoon about Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates. Who knew that the coming iPhone and the already here Zune have built-in Star Wars light sabres? Alert George Lucas' attorneys.

The show claims the change is not because of all the protests, and bad publicity, surrounding it. But the exec producer of Fox TV's 24 has just announced that the series will cut back on the torture scenes. Howard Gordon tells Philadelphia Inquirer's Gail Shister, in a TV column published today, the decision is driven by creativity, not criticism. I say what a load of crap. Even Gordon admits he's not oblivious to the avalanche of protests mounted by groups ranging from human rights protectors to the Parents Television Council to the U.S. military. (The military's abhorrence of the show's torture depictions, and its attempt to get them off the air, was outed this week by The New Yorker.) But look at the cold-blooded reason this smug asshole gives to explain the change. "What was once an extraordinary or exceptional moment is starting to feel a little trite. The idea of physical coercion or torture is no longer a novelty or surprise. It's not something that we, as writers, want to use as a crutch. We'd like to find other ways for Jack to get information out of suspects," says Gordon. "Our appetite has decreased. Personally, I think the audience may be tiring of it as well. My wife says it's too much." The result is that the final eight to 10 episodes this season -- the show's sixth -- will include fewer torture scenes, Gordon says, adding that 16 of the 24 ordered segments have been shot. But Melissa Caldwell, senior director of programs at Parents Television Council, tells Shister: "It's almost too little, too late." I agree. So, once again, I call for a boycott of the show. 

Hollywood added to the international lexicon with famous couple terms like Bennifer, TomKat, Brangelina. Now Washington D.C. is unleashing Barchelle to describe The Obamas (Barack + Michelle). The couple's cover for Ebony recently shot up sales of the magazine. And this is interesting: parallels between the couple and The Cosby Show's iconic Cliff and Claire Huxtable are being touted everywhere. (Why does real life always relate to Hollywood, and vice versa?) Writes Politico.com (a new and savvy political website): "They revive the image of a devoted and affectionate black couple -- something not often celebrated by the media. Particularly in the mainstream media there aren't enough images of loving black couples beyond The Cosby Show ... The Huxtables were the quintessential power couple by any generation's standards. They both had respected careers -- he was a doctor and she was a lawyer -- cooked family dinners together, and enjoyed (and routinely disciplined) their five children -- all the while looking fabulous. (Remember those classic Coogi sweaters?) They also appeared to be very much in love, playfully teasing each other or cuddling on the couch to strains of jazz in the background. When it comes to comparing the Huxtables and Obamas, the similarities go beyond the obvious -- successful, black and well-off. Barack and Michelle, much like Cliff and Claire, have been charged, by some, with being too good to be true."

Not surprising that contestant Tom Lowe, dogged by not one but four controversies, was eliminated from Fox's American Idol tonight when the judges narrowed the field to the Top 24. Oh, and tonight's show had a shameless plug for this July's The Simpsons movie, which is also from Fox. Sickening bit of synergy, that.

There still are some people working for ICM. But you won't be able to reach them in their office over the next few days. I'm told the agency will be closing at 1:00 p.m. Thursday in preparation for its office move to Century City. and will re-open on Tuesday, February 20th. Unlike when CAA made its move, ICM's phone numbers will remain the same. Its new address will be: 10250 Constellation Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Don't worry, if you really need to reach ICM agents, I'm sure assistants will be driving their lords and ladies around the city 24/7, rolling calls on car phones.  

So Beyoncé is on the cover of Sports Illustrated's annual wet dream Swimsuit Issue. That should be big news in media circles because, as SI managing editor Terry McDonell just told me, it's the first time a Hollywood celebrity has the coveted cover of this issue instead of a model. I see the Hollywood transformation of the magazine biz as complete: Models, out. Celebs, In. There's even a term for them: Style Idols. (This time SI's swimsuit issue is music-themed. She also got a big plug: she posed in a bikini by House of Dereon, the fashion label she started with her mother.) Of course, this has been coming for some time, and it's bad enough to make you feel sorry for models. (As if...) The numbers of so-called Supermodels which are households names have been dwindling because they can't get enough covers. Look at Vogue's 2006 covers: a model appeared on only one of the 12. And that was 41-year-old Linda Evangelista on the August cover. News reports say she was the first model on the front in more than a year. Drew Barrymore had February, Natalie Portman March, Jennifer Aniston April, Kirsten Dunst September, Sandra Bullock October. Recently Angelina Jolie. Jennifer Hudson lands on March -- mouth open, fierce weave and tons of cleavage spilling -- but the image has African-American media slamming Vogue.

Some media mavens credit, or blame, InStyle mag for setting the trend because the hugely successful outlet has put celebs on its covers from the start. Harper's Bazaar is increasingly using celebs (a pregnant and naked Britney Spears on its cover last year). So has W. But the financial problem for the modelling industry is that, without those big magazine covers, no model can transition into a Supermodel with the accompanying day rates. Meanwhile careers are going into reverse, models become actresses (Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, etc.) and then snag a mag cover. Hollywood celebs don't guarantee newsstand performance, but they often help. Looking at major titles over the first six months, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations released in 2006, Mandy Moore was Elle's best-selling cover in the period (June; 382,900 copies, up 46% over June 2005) and was Glamour's second best-selling one (February; 870,014, down 7%). But her May cover was Cosmopolitan's worst performer (1,800,265, down 1.4%).

Cosmo fared better with Beyoncé for its February cover (2.1 million single copies, the best for the period and a 2.2% increase from February 2005. Jennifer Aniston was the best-selling cover for Vogue (April; 571,346, up 7.4%) and for In Style (January; 865,102, down 5.5%) and was Harper's Bazaar's second-best cover for the period (June; 216,000, up 25%). But Drew Barrymore was a bomb for both Vogue (February; 356,458, down 10.5%) and Marie Claire (April; 297,081, down 38.9%). Eva Longoria was Allure's best-selling cover in April by moving 314,128 copies, but that was 30% lower than last year's April issue. For Glamour, Sarah Jessica Parker on the March cover was the top performer at 878,040 copies (up 6.8%). So what about the models? Well, Glamour's May cover, with model Alessandra Ambrosio, moved 727,097 issues, the softest of the period and a 15.6% decline over last year. InStyle also posted its lowest single-copy sale for the period with Heidi Klum (June; 717,839, down 21.3%).

Since Oscar coverage gets so damn serious this time of year, I thought I'd lighten up things with this New York Observer column by screenwriter Bruce Feirstein: advice from Entourage agent Ari Gold to Al Gore about his Oscar acceptance speech. (But, if An Inconvenient Truth wins Best Documentary, I've already reported that Gore won't announce a run for U.S. president at the Academy Awards...):

"...I’ve got two words of warning for you: Roberto Benigni. Who’s Roberto Benigni, you ask? Precisely my point: He’s the Italian guy who climbed over the seats to pick up the Oscar for Life Is Beautiful in 1999—after which he vaporized and disappeared into the ozone like yesterday’s carbon emissions. (Yeah, I know that’s not exactly right. But you know what I mean.) ... Make the speech short and self-deprecating (no reason to bring in Naomi Wolf; go with the classic black tux) and say something to the effect of: “I think I’m supposed to say it’s nice to be nominated. But having been ‘nominated’ once before, I’ve got to tell you: It’s a lot better to win …. Which is why, tonight, I’m announcing my candidacy for President. Together, with your help, we can return to the kind of people we once were, and go forward to become the kind of great nation were always destined to be.” And that’s it. Over, done and out. And by the time you show up Graydon’s, there won’t be a full checkbook in the house. ...There’s only one thing Hollywood loves more than a winner: A comeback. Hug it out, babe..."

It's now official: Al Franken, the one time Saturday Night Live comic best known for creating the character "Stuart Smalley", announced today he will make a run for Republican incumbent Norm Coleman's U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. Franken did so on the last day of his show on the liberal radio network Air America. "Minnesotans have a right to be skeptical about whether I'm ready for this challenge, and to wonder how seriously I would take the responsibility that I'm asking you to give me," said Franken, who's also a best-selling political author. "I want you to know: Nothing means more to me than making government work better for the working families of this state, and over the next 20 months, I look forward to proving to you that I take these issues seriously." He's expected to be challenged by several other Democrats. I've listened to his radio show regularly since its inception, and I've gotta say that Franken's command of the issues has grown exponentially week by week, month by month thanks to guests on his show like wonk Norm Ornstein. He's going to make a compelling candidate and give the race a national profile. I've said this before and I'll say it again: I don't understand why Hollywood talent who are Democrats don’t want to run, don’t want to walk, don’t want to even get their foot in the door for political office. What’s stopping them? Stop being cowards, people. 

Today's Hollywood Reporter has an interview with Sumner Redstone which mentions Brad Grey. (Three of the four movies mentioned are DreamWorks pics...):

THR: Paramount didn't have a great year last year ...
Redstone: Paramount is in a major turnaround right now. Dreamgirls has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. Babel has been nominated for (seven), including best picture. Steven Spielberg has a picture coming, Transformers. I've seen part of it, it is fantastic. Norbit opened to $34 million on its first weekend. You will see us rising from the bottom to the top or very near the top in the first six months of this year. We have a great leader in [Paramount Pictures CEO] Brad Grey. We think he is doing just about all the right things. Before I came to Germany, I saw him in London at the BAFTAS, where several of our pictures were nominated. He's a great leader. I've always said what makes a difference between the winners and the losers is what management brings to the assets. And I believe we have the best management possible at Viacom, at CBS and at the studio.

THR: Looking to the future, what are the problems that worry you the most? What keeps you up at night?
Redstone: The only thing that keeps me up at night worrying is that I won't be here tomorrow. I don't stay up worrying because everything is really going well at CBS and Viacom and certainly at the studio.

THR: I have to ask about the Tom Cruise incident. Do you think the decision to break off your production agreement with Cruise/Wagner sent a signal to the industry about the power relationship between talent and the studios?
Redstone: Look, I didn't intend to send a signal. I prefer not to talk about Tom Cruise, who is a great actor. It was just his behavior. It was at that time unacceptable. But if there was a message, it was this: We are paying the talent too much. I never talked to anyone at the company about that, I wouldn't. Because it is not the talent that makes the movie, it is the script. The play's the thing, as someone once said. And if you have a great script, the talent rushes to appear in it and not at too heavy a price.

THR: Does that mean you are paying more for your scripts?
Redstone: No comment.

THR: Are you ever going to retire?
Redstone: Of course not. You look very good now, but I hope when I see you again in 15 years you look as good as I do. Ultimately, the boards of each company will determine my successor, but they won't have a chance to do that for a long time. My daughter (Shari) has been mentioned. She is very competent, but she is very busy with National Amusements, and I am not sure how much she wants it. As I said to her, ultimately the decision has to rest with the board to determine who the successor should be. And that is the way it should be.

American Idol 6 would be nothing without its controversy. The latest: 28-year-old ex-British boy-band'er Tom Lowe is the target of not just one but four controversies, which is a rarity even for that Fox show. Allegations include that Lowe is too successful, or too well-connected, to compete fairly on the show. Then there's the report this runner-up “Britain Choirboy of the Year” posed nude (with all the appropriate places covered) for a trendy British magazine. A college interview presents him as the first "out" gay American Idol contestant. There are headlines how he's had influential helpers -- so influential that the British press alleges one of them may be Simon Cowell himself, and the Boston Herald says the other is the Massachusetts Tourism Board. But there's also another issue: just what, exactly, is American Idol supposed to be? Is it an obvious avenue for finding undiscovered talent (like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood)? Or is it a shrewd method of banking on a sure thing (like Taylor Hicks, who'd already put out an album pre-Idol). And what about the show's forced notion of "wholesomeness"?

Contestant Lowe by age 18 was already an accomplished singer and a one-time British teen heartthrob. The former Take That backup vocalist on the group's 1995 UK tour followed that up with a UK hit two years later as part of the boy-band North and South, featured in a British kids TV series No Sweat. That group hit No. 7 on the UK singles chart with “Man Not a Boy”, but despite the hype, sales were disapppointing and the band broke up in 1999. Lowe also had some acting success on London's West End -- the equivalent of Broadway -- landing leads in Les Miserables and Cats under the name "Tom Lucas". From there, he traveled to Harvard University where, as Thomas P. Lowe, he graduated in East Asian studies in 2005.

At Harvard, he became something of a campus legend, first competing for the title of Mr. Harvard in which contestants were "parading in bathing suits, shaking scantily-clad behinds to the tunes of Britney Spears, and performing a racy striptease," described the Harvard Crimson student newspaper. Then, "in his subdued mohawk and slight trace of black eyeliner", he was a wannabe rock-star in the campus band “Tommy and the Tigers,” according to the paper, which noted that Lowe’s costume choices included a pink lounge suit. In a 2005 interview with the Crimson, Lowe appears to out himself. “Harvard allows me to dress however I want, wear my hair however I want, sleep with whomever I want," he said. He announces plans to move to New York to meet with talent agents and "sees himself playing a British rock star on The O.C. or Desperate Housewives. In the latter show, Lowe predicts he will take part in 'a gay love affair with Teri Hatcher’s boyfriend. He’ll meet me and decide that he is questioning his sexuality. He’ll fall for my British accent.'” 

The next ruckus to surround him: when the Boston Herald reported in December 2006 that Massachusetts taxpayers footed the bill for a $60,000 six-month contract to star Lowe, then an aspiring Idol contestant, in a $400,000 Web-TV video tourism promo. The Herald reported that tourism board critics wondered why Lowe was signed up for such a long period of time in the first place. Talk about a lucky break. Then his Tourism Board bosses approached the Boston Red Sox and next thing Lowe was belting out the "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Fenway Park.

Looking blond and buff, Lowe auditioned for Idol 6 in Seattle, and immediately established himself as one of the best singers. He was called "the best-kept secret" on the Internet when he sang the Luther Vandross-covered soul classic "Always and Forever". Though the Seattle auditions were kinda lousy, Lowe's solid one wasn't aired on Fox. (It did on ITV2 in the UK on January 19th. It's here on YouTube.) One reason why: during his audition, Lowe was asked by judge Randy Jackson, "Simon ever try to sign your band? Replied Lowe: "No, but I believe Simon was working for BMG at the same time I was there." Jackson looked like he'd unearthed a secret. "Well, Simon," he asked. "Small world," an embarrassed-looking Cowell answered. "Small world," Jackson repeated. Immediately, the British press ran headlines how "the fix is in" on American Idol 6 and accused Cowell of planting the British pop star who was once signed to his record company. Certainly Lowe's singing ability and good looks were reason enough to move him to Hollywood. Meanwhile, the Internet began buzzing about Lowe's having "outed" himself in the Harvard Crimson.

Audiences won't find out whether Tom Lowe moves into the semifinalist round until Wednesday. But already reports are circling that Lowe didn't make it into the top 24 contestants. So did all these controversies hurt Lowe's Idol chances? You think?

Back on February 1st, I reported here that the Los Angeles Times' California investigations editor, Vernon Loeb, "is loudly telling anyone and everyone he wants out. No surprise, since he'd been among the most vocal of the paper's anti-Tribune Co., pro-Baquet cadre. I'm told that he's been interviewing with the Philadelphia Inquirer to be a top editor there in Metro (some even say Metro editor)." And here's the memo today, courtesy of Poynter, that, yes, he's become the Inquirer's Metro Editor.

The Pellicano Scandal legal proceedings are starting to resemble the Scooter Libby legal proceedings. It has to do with press leaks and so-called "source waivers." There's this continuing probe into the sources behind the leaks of info, documents and audiotape to The New York Times. So in today's filing responding to Hollywood superlawyer Terry Christensen's legal bitching about all the leaking, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles urged defendants and their counsel to sign "source waivers" in order to obtain "full testimony" from NYT reporters David Halbfinger and Allison Hope Weiner. Does this mean Dick Cheney will testify?