Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) apparently think so based on the cable- and satellite-friendly bill they submitted today called the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act. It would end retransmission consent — the rules that require pay TV providers to negotiate deals with local broadcasters to carry their programming. It doesn’t stop there: The proposal also would end restrictions that enable syndicators to sell shows exclusively into different markets. And it would scrap rules that bar cable companies from importing network programming from out-of-market stations when they can’t strike deals with local broadcasters. DeMint used the trendy magic words — “job creation” — to support the bill. To promote innovation, he says, “we need to stop issuing new regulations and instead remove and modernize rules written to address the last century’s business and regulatory models.” DirecTV agrees, saying that the proposal would “eliminate byzantine regulations that shackle innovation, competition and consumer choice.”
But when it comes to wielding political clout, the bill’s supporters probably are no match for the National Association of Broadcasters which says it “respectfully” opposes the legislation. “Current law ensures access to quality local news, entertainment, sports and life-saving weather warnings. The proposed changes to the Communications Act strike at the core of free market negotiations and broadcast localism, thereby threatening a community-based information and entertainment medium that serves tens of millions of Americans each day.”
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Is Congress Prepared To Deregulate Television?
Casting Directors, Studios Reach Tentative Deal; Ratification Vote Set For Sept. 15
Details of the agreement will remain under wraps, Teamsters Local 399 business agent Steve Dayan said today, until the membership approves or rejects the deal. The Los Angeles branch of the union, which reps about 300 of the 500 or so casting directors and associates, will vote on September 15. No official word on when Local 817, the New York branch, will vote but the same date is likely. The current three-year collective bargaining agreement expires September 30. Under it, the weekly base rate for casting directors on a film is $2,500 and $2,000 for TV. The union’s new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, achieved in just four sessions of negotiations, would be the third between the studios and casting directors, who organized under the Teamsters banner in 2005.
Olivia Wilde Shops Local
Photos by BuzzFoto.com
Olivia Wilde must be working on some projects around the home front. The talented actress was seen shopping at a local Farmer’s Market and swap meet and checking out the home decor!
Stalker Forces Paris Hilton to Beef Up Home Security
According to media reports, celebrity Paris Hilton has upped the surveillance level and the number of security personnel at her condo in Malibu, California, after a male stalker was arrested by the local police outside the celebutante’
And now, relationship advice from Jennifer Aniston. No, really.
Jennifer Aniston outside The Daily Show studios in New York (6/27) Jennifer Aniston dishing out relationship advice is like Adolf Hitler teaching a class on tolerance at the local community college. Nevertheless, she told new! magazine:”You need to
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Ryan Dunn was two and half times drunk
Ryan Dunn was legally drunk The toxicology results are back for Ryan Dunn. Oh hey, guess what . . .West Goshen Police Chief Michael Carroll told the Daily Local News … Dunn’s B.A.C. was .196 … nearly two-and-a-half times…
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BuzzFoto Blind Item #503
This aging actress who was B list in television in her time, has been going into a medical clinic to be treated for several STD’s. She tells friends she’s volunteering at a local Women’s shelter but it’s only to explain her weekly appointments.
BuzzFoto Blind Item #501
We want to thank our good pals over at Blind Gossip for always having our back and promoting us! Check them out for all your Blind Item needs!
This little known star on a childrens network just had a hush-hush moment after getting so drunk this week that she threw up on the floor of a local 7-11. It was all made right when mommy manager swooped in and saved her with a stack of twenties in the cashier’s pocket.
2010's The Black List Scripts Find Buyers
A screenplays on The Black List can mean some green. Days after the new list was revealed by Deadline, two scripts have found homes;
Vendome Pictures has just committed to finance What Happened To Monday?, a futuristic thriller by Max Botkin that was developed by Raffaella Productions. The script follows the story of identical septuplet brothers who struggle to stay alive in an overpopulated world where a “one child” policy outlaws siblings. Raffaella De Laurentiis and Vendome’s Philippe Rousselet are producing. Vendome financed the Summit release Source Code and the Tom Hanks-directed Larry Crowne, which gets released by Universal July 1, 2011 with Hanks, Julia Roberts and Bryan Cranston starring. CAA and EML Entertainment rep Botkin.
Paramount Pictures has acquired Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies, a Black List script by Carrie Evans & Emi Mochizuki, two graduates of the Disney Writing Program who also scripted College Road Trip. The film is being produced by Todd Garner’s Broken Road, Oops Doughnuts partners Andy Fickman and Betsy Sullenger, and Bryan Brucks’ Brucks Entertainment. The script is in the vein of Goonies, and is about a local boy scout troop that must save the local girl scout troop from a zombie outbreak on an overnight camping trip. Devra Lieb reps the scribes and Brucks manages them. Sean Robins will be exec producer.
Paris Shops Petco
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Photo by Gustavo Munoz/BuzzFoto.com
Paris Hilton dressed up in heels and black tights, left a local Petco with her teacup chihuahua in tow and purchased a Petmate Autofeeder.
Jessica Hall Rides By in the LA Sun
Jessica Hall
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Photo by Henry Flores/BuzzFoto.com
We were out and about when we found the stunning Jessica Hall working out and riding a bike at a local LA park. The gorgeous model gave us a smile as she passed by.
The New “Buzz Girl” From Oahu
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BuzzFoto spent the last two weeks in the beautiful islands of Hawaii and we were kept busy by the local beauty! We met local Television Personality Marisa Sundari and had this amazing photo session with her. Marisa is incredibly talented and sensual with an exotic talent for making an incredible set of photos. Click through the gallery above to see shots from the setup. Make sure to watch Marisa below. She is the spokesperson for Dream Island Homes!
UK Government To Scrap Rules Stopping Local Press From Running TV Stations
Local TV channels don’
Paramount Reacts To Film Extra Seriously Hurt By 'Transformers 3' Stunt Gone Wrong
EXCLUSIVE UPDATE 5 PM: Paramount just weighed in with me to say that the injured extra was not involved in the stunt, 
that her car was not involved in the stunt, that a “freak accident caused her injury”, that she and her car were more than 500 feet from the stunt, that she was struck by a flying metal object whose welding had come apart and not by a steel towing cable, that the stunt from Tuesday had to be repeated Wednesday because of a “timing issue” and not because it had failed, and that “nobody has done movies more safely than Michael Bay”. The studio, however, could not explain why its version of events was so at odds with the local police and media reports. “We feel horrible that anyone was injured and will take all appropriate action,” a Paramount exec told me.
9:30 AM: Safety questions on Michael Bay’s set are being forwarded to me after an actress employed as a movie extra was “critically” injured during a Transformers 3 stunt that went wrong in Northwest Indiana. According to news reports quoting local police, the movie was filming a stunt involving multiple vehicles and drivers and flying cars when a metal object struck Gabriella Cedillo’s personal 2006 Toyota. It went through the windshield and hit the 24-year-old driver who was not a stunt professional or member of the … Read More
All Basic Crafts Unions Ratify New Pacts
Last night, members of Local 755 were the fifth and final of the Basic Crafts unions to ratify the tentative agreement reached Saturday, July 24, 2010 (Teamsters Local 399 were the first to ratify, doing so on July 25). In response to ratification by all of the Basic Crafts, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has issued the following statement:
‘
New book claims gay porn star had affair with Christopher Reeve
(HMG) – With both parties in this situation already dead perhaps this secret would have been better to have been taken to the grave. But a new book ‘Hollywood Babylon Strikes Again’, by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince that is available online and in local bookstores, the authors poured through Hollywood’
Jessica Stops By Beverly Drive
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Jessica Alba stopped for a little rest as we snapped her grabbing a coffee and shopping at a local beauty supply store on Beverly Drive.
Photo by Gustavo Munoz/BuzzFoto.com