The Smithsonian Takes Lunch: Creative Artists Agency...

The Smithsonian Takes Lunch: Creative Artists Agency has signed the Smithsonian Institution as a client, apparently the first government institution and the only museum to be represented by a Hollywood agency. The institution is hoping to expand its audience by making its resources available for movie, television and multimedia projects. “This represents an opportunity for our clients to bring these resources in storytelling form to a global public,” said Bruce Vinokour, the CAA agent who presented the idea to the Smithsonian a year ago. CAA says the move does not signal any revival of the corporate arm that was dissolved last year, after the co-founders left the agency.

BSkyB Shares Fall: British Sky Broadcasting Group shares closed down 6.2% after News Corp. confirmed plans to raise $1 billion by selling preferred shares convertible into some of its BSkyB holding or cash. News Corp. owns 40% of the U.K. satellite TV broadcaster. Issuing preferred convertible shares is a favored News Corp. technique to raise funds cheaply, analysts said. “News Corp. did this with the Pearson shares it owned in the early 1990s--it’s a way of using someone else’s assets as a guarantee to reduce your own funding costs. It gives them long-term funding at well below the treasury bond index,” said Anthony de Larrinaga, media analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co.