One eye on TV, one on the Internet

A TV-Net time share

The amount of time viewers spent watching TV while at the same time cruising the Internet grew 34.5% last year to an average of 3.5 hours a month, up from 2.5 hours in 2008, according to a Nielsen Co. report released Monday.

What are they doing? A look at the top five sites visited by these media multi-taskers gives some clues: Google, Yahoo, Facebook, MSN or Microsoft Bing, YouTube.

“You have people looking up stuff while they watch TV,” said Gary Holmes, a Nielsen spokesman. “People are also doing a lot of social networking. People like to watch TV together. With Facebook as the No. 3 site, it suggests that people are chatting and sharing observations as they watch. You see it all the time with sporting events too.”

-- Alex Pham It’s Sondheim Theatre now

So what did Stephen Sondheim get Monday on his 80th birthday?

A Broadway theater renamed for the composer of “Company,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd” and other memorable shows.

Henry Miller’s Theatre on West 43rd Street will now be known as the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

The announcement was made by longtime Sondheim collaborators James Lapine and John Weidman at the conclusion of a gala performance at Studio 54 of “Sondheim on Sondheim,” a celebration of the man’s work in the musical theater.

-- associated press Siegel to lead Getty trustees

Business executive Mark S. Siegel has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Siegel, who will assume his new post July 1, will succeed Louise H. Bryson, who has served as chair since 2006.

Siegel, who joined the board in 2005, is founder and president of ReMY Investors and Consultants. Previously, he worked as an entertainment and investment executive and practiced law in the entertainment and media industries.

Siegel is a collector of contemporary and 19th century paintings and manuscripts.

-- Karen Wada Ruling favors Miller’s widow

The widow of country music legend Roger Miller has won a protracted legal battle over the rights to some of his biggest hits, including “King of the Road.”

A federal judge ruled last week that Mary Miller and Roger Miller Music Inc., not Sony/ATV Publishing, own the copyrights to the songs the artist published in 1964. Those also include “Dang Me,” “Chug-A-Lug and “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.”

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes also said in a written order Thursday that the widow and the company are entitled to about $900,000 for royalties they should have received.

Miller died from cancer in 1992 at age 56.

-- associated press Aiding return of O’Donnell

Former daytime talk-show star Rosie O’Donnell is looking to make a comeback and has tapped two former Warner Bros. syndication executives to lead her effort.

Dick Robertson, the former head of syndication of Warner Bros. Television, and Scott Carlin, who worked with Robertson there for years, have sealed a deal to distribute O’Donnell’s new talk show, which will probably premiere in fall 2011. Robertson and Carlin worked closely with O’Donnell on her first talk show, which ran from 1996 to 2002.

Although Oprah Winfrey’s departure in 2011 will leave a hole in the talk-show marketplace, O’Donnell will still face challenges, as her outspoken style may be polarizing to some TV stations.

-- Joe Flint A welcome for Villazón

He came, he mugged, he juggled, he blew a kiss to the audience. And yes, he sang -- as an adoring audience welcomed Rolando Villazón back to the opera stage Monday night in Vienna.

The Mexican-born tenor, who underwent surgery after being diagnosed with a cyst on his vocal cords last year, performed in Donizetti’s comedy “The Elixir of Love” and received a five-minute ovation for his Act 2 aria, “Una furtiva lagrima.”

The final curtain calls -- filmed by television crews -- lasted more than 20 minutes as the 38-year-old Villazón and his cast mates were repeatedly called back.

-- associated press