After the coffee. Before the Seder.
The Skinny: Am I allowed to talk about "Mad Men" or do I have to provide a window for those who didn't catch Sunday's season premiere? All I'll say is I think I'm going to start dressing like Pete Campbell. I'm sure I can pull it off. Monday's headlines include the weekend box office recap and a big exit from Turner Broadcasting. Also, a profile of new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and a look at CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves' big payday.
Daily Dose: More back-and-forth between the Dodgers and DirecTV, this time over whether the satellite broadcaster is being selective in offering the feed of the team-owned SportsNet LA to Extra Innings, the TV package that lets out-of-market fans watch their favorite teams. Fans and the team are grumbling that DirecTV has not been making the feed available for every game. DirecTV executives countered that this is a channel capacity issue and not a conspiracy. More on the latest spat from yours truly.
By a feather. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" won the weekend box office battle with the animated birds of "Rio 2." The action movie took in $41.4 million in its second weekend, a 56% drop from Week 1. "Rio 2" flew to $39 million, not quite the altitude box office watchers had projected. Also opening was "Draft Day," which made just under $10 million, hardly first-round pick material. Weekend box office recaps from the Los Angeles Times and Deadline Hollywood.
He shoots, he scores! Steve Koonin, president of Time Warner's Turner Entertainment Networks, which includes TNT, TBS, Cartoon and TruTV, is exiting to become CEO of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. He'll also get an ownership stake in the NBA team. TNT carries the NBA and Koonin, an Atlanta native and former Coca-Cola senior executive, has had close ties to the team and the NBA for years. Koonin is the latest high-profile exit from Turner Broadcasting in the last several months after new leadership took over the cable unit. More on Koonin's exit from the Los Angeles Times and Variety.
Few laughs in this skit. Al Franken rose to fame as a writer and performer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." But since becoming a senator, Franken's new role is trust buster. The Minnesota Democrat, who tried unsuccessfully to block Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal four years ago, is now trying to derail the media giant's proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable. Last week, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scrutinizing the deal, Franken grilled Comcast executive David Cohen in an exchange that looked like something out of "A Few Good Men." The New York Times on Franken's role as a foil to big media.
At the wheel. Unlike his predecessor, Julius Genachowski, who mastered the art of disguising what he thought in jargon-filled quotes, new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is a plain-speaking Midwesterner who is not afraid to be blunt or curt. Since taking over last year, Wheeler has cracked down on broadcasters with tough regulations. The Washington Post on Wheeler's FCC.
Adopt me. On Friday, CBS filed its proxy statement, which revealed that Chief Executive Leslie Moonves had a compensation package valued at $66.9 million. That's an 8% increase over last year's package. CBS defended the compensation, citing the company's stock performance. Comcast Corp. also filed its proxy Friday which showed that CEO Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke each had packages of about $30 million. More from the Los Angeles Times.
Must read. Philip Berk, a member and former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the folks behind the Golden Globes, is taking a six-month leave of absence. Berk upset the HFPA with his new autobiography, "With Signs and Wonders," which includes passages about the association and its members and that has caused some discord. The Hollywood Reporter on this page-turner.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Robert Lloyd on the new season of "Mad Men."
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