HanWay taps Stead for finance role

LONDON -- Brit sales outfit HanWay Films has hired David Stead as finance director in the organization. Stead's principal focus would be to manage HanWay's development in to a finance-focused sales business in a position to eco-friendly-lighting production. The professional has labored on television biz for 18 years, most recently at Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment where he'd financial responsibility for projects including David and Victoria Beckham, Claudia Schiffer and Andy Murray. More youthful crowd had sole responsibility for your financial analysis and planning of "The The American Idol Show ShowInch and "And That Means You Think You'll Be Able To Dance." Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

TLC greenlights new fashion series

TLC has greenlit eight instances of a brand new fashion series, professional created by Stacy London of "More To Put on." The untitled series will concentrate on husband-and-wife business proprietors Lisa and Jim Dolan, who manage a plus-size clothing store, and the expertise of the clients who patronize it. Scott Shatsky will even professional produce with London and Julie Merson for Super Lengthy Play. BBC Worldwide Prods. is creating. London has co-located "More To Put on" on TLC since 2003. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

Frank Cooper dies at 99

Talent agent Frank Cooper, who discovered Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shoreline, place the first quizshow on radio and would be a pioneer in TV packaging, died of natural causes on Jan. 19, four several weeks lacking his 100th birthday, in Encino, Calif. The Sept. 11, 1943, problem of Billboard asserted that the 'forgotten man' within the "large Sinatra-Dorsey-MCA-GAC deal is Frank Cooper, who's basically the swooner's personal manager. Cooper is credited as the first guy to determine large money options in Sinatra and thrown his first theater dates which began the astonishing success story." Cooper released the Frank Cooper Affiliates Agency in 1945. Younger crowd symbolized sports icon Joe DiMaggio and acquired gigs for heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis offered "Strike It Wealthy" to CBS, thus obtaining the first quizshow around the radio grew to become an innovator in television development and packaging using the first dramatic series, "Guy Against Crime," which starred Rob Bellamy and started airing on CBS in 1949 labored carefully with Erectile dysfunction Sullivan was active in the development of "Dirty Harry" with author Dale Wasserman, put "Guy of los angeles Mancha" to the Broadway stage and symbolized author-producer Janet Polson, author Leslie Waller, in addition to Clifford Irving's books and flicks. Cooper was created in Harlem. At age 10, after losing his father, Cooper needed to seek try to help his family. He knocked on doorways at work structures until he won employment because the messenger to Frederick Schenck, among the founders of twentieth century Fox. Shortly after that, Cooper grew to become the private stenographer to William Paley. By 19 he was being employed as William Morris' secretary in the William Morris Agency soon he was a real estate agent themself. Eventually, to help his career, he gone to live in La. Cooper would be a substantial donor to organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic, the U.S. Olympic Committee and also the Jewish Federation. His contributions also assisted render the Skirball Cultural Center in La a real possibility. Cooper is made it by his wife of nearly 75 years, Sylvia, an expert artist two sons, Shaun and Martin daughter Pamela, a theatrical talent manager and Broadway producer six grandchildren and a trio of-grandchildren. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

The X Factor Runners up Astro and Chris Rene Score Record Deals

Astro, Chris Rene Despite their failure to win the $5 million recording contract, The X Factor participants John "Astro" Bradley and Chris Rene are cashing in.Both artists have inked handles Epic Records, according to separate reviews by Entertainment Weekly and MTV.The pairing isn't exactly an unpredicted one: Epic Chairman L.A. Reid was their X Factor mentor.See the relaxation of current day newsAstro, 15, handled to obtain for the final four round the singing competition, just before being told to visit home. Chris Rene, 29, was selected off rigtht after Astro.Before Astro was signed to Epic, he spoke to us about his large plans money for hard times. See the interview:

Grey's Anatomy Star Jessica Capshaw Expecting Third Baby

Jessica Capshaw Jessica Capshaw is pregnant with her third child, the Grey's Anatomy star tweeted Tuesday. "It is with profound happiness and sheer delight that @Christopher_Gav and I can say that another sweet Gavigan baby is on the way!" Grey's Anatomy star Jessica Capshaw welcomes baby girl Capshaw, the daughter of actress Kate Capshaw, and her husband, Christopher Gavigan, already have a 4-year-old son, Luke, and a 1-year-old daughter, Eva Augusta. They couple married in 2004. No word yet on whether this pregnancy will affect production on Grey's, but the series has rarely skipped a beat during the pregnancies of its other series stars, including Ellen Pompeo, Sarah Drew, Chandra Wilson, Chyler Leigh and even Capshaw during her previous pregnancy.

New images from Mad Max: Fury Road

Upcoming Mad Max reboot Fury Road has been languishing in development hell for some time now, but finally, it's looking as though George Miller's labour of love is up and running in earnest.Having initially been scheduled to begin filming in the Australian outback in 2011, the project was delayed when adverse weather conditions ruined the dusty, desert-like conditions Miller was looking for.Not to be put off, Miller has now relocated the project to Africa, with cameras set to begin rolling in Namibia in April. Tom Hardy and Charlize are still thought to be in place as the two leads, but perhaps more excitingly, the first images of the film's vehicles have arrived online.Pleasingly, they look every bit as badass as the souped-up battle-wagons of the original movie series. We particularly like the skull effect on the front grill of the vehicle with the snow-plough attachment...Miller is still planning Mad Max: Fury Road as the first movie in a trilogy, so lets hope he can get this one in the can with no further interruptions. Otherwise he'll be six feet under before the third one ever sees the light of day...

Fox Sports and Dodgers reach settlement

Fox Sports and the Los Angeles Dodgers have settled their legal differences, enabling Fox to retain exclusive cable rights to the Dodgers for the remaining two seasons of their contract and removing the final impediment to the sale of the baseball franchise.The settlement comes 2 1/2 weeks after Fox earned a favorable ruling from a U.S. District Court, overturning a federal bankruptcy court decision that would have accelerated the sale of the Dodgers' post-2013 cable rights.''We are pleased that these matters between our two organizations have been resolved,'' Fox said in a statement. ''We were never in favor of litigation, but it was imperative that we protect our exclusive media rights. Under the terms of the settlement, Fox's media rights remain in place and we look forward to working with new ownership on future television rights discussions.''Fox will now have an exclusive window to negotiate for a rights extension with the Dodgers through Nov. 30, well past the sale of the team by Dodger owner Frank McCourt that has a stipulated April 30 deadline. ''This agreement is a significant step towards a successful sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers,'' the bankrupt baseball team said in its statement. ''It resolves all of the parties' differences relating to the telecast rights agreement with Fox. This consensual resolution of all disputes between the debtors and Fox will enable the sale of the Dodgers to proceed forward, free of any uncertainty relating to the various issues under dispute, with the continued objective of maximizing value for the debtors and their estates.''Given the extreme rise in sports rights valuations, those of the Dodgers are expected to go for $150 million to $200 million per year on average over 20 years. The new owners can lock up a deal with Fox before next winter, or they can wait things out and try to create a bidding war between Fox and Time Warner Cable. Both media companies have a pressing need for the Dodgers in the wake of Time Warner Cable nabbing the rights to the Los Angeles Lakers from Fox, effective next NBA season, to create new dedicated English- and Spanish-language cable sports networks. That being said, Tuesday's settlement might increase speculation that Time Warner Cable itself will try to purchase the Dodgers, though whether they want to burden themselves with the high cost of operating the franchise remains to be seen. Fox has said categorically it is not interested in reacquiring the Dodgers, which it sold to the McCourt family eight years ago this month.The Los Angeles Times reported that Fox has retained the right to challenge the sale of any portion of the team to Time Warner Cable, per a provision in the current Fox-Dodgers rights agreement that was designed to ward off another network creating or co-creating a rival Dodger cable channel. That could lead to another legal skirmish down the road, this one between the media giants, centered on whether Time Warner Cable's new networks fit that definition. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

Costly rights fees move sports goal line

People have traditionally been able to "ooh" and "aah" at big-money sports contracts and TV rights deals with cool detachment, as if the salaries paid star point guards or fees extended to football owners were bits of gee-whiz accounting, otherwise divorced from reality.Moving forward, though, consumers and a mostly docile sports media contemplating those mind-boggling figures will have to start to realize the shit is going to start hitting the fans -- and even more so, the non-fans.For all the talk about "American Idol" or myriad award shows building toward the Oscars, one commodity dominates the TV calendar in January and early February like no other: football. And with a flurry of new TV contracts enriching the National Football League to the tune of roughly $5 billion annually once they kick in -- a staggering increase of more than 60% over existing agreements -- well, somebody's going to have to pay the freight on all this.Broadcast networks will no longer be content to view sports as loss leaders -- the kind of must-have commodity they're willing to take a financial bath on to maintain circulation. They're going to want to offset their investment, either through sweetened retransmission fees from cable and satellite operators or altered agreements with affiliated stations.Meanwhile, cable channels and systems -- especially ESPN, but also entities like Fox and Time Warner Cable -- have rolled the dice on sports as the best hedge against the worst possibilities of a digital future. While the prospect of people dumping cable, or "cord-cutting," has perhaps been overstated, championship games and playoffs represent the kind of live events people will absolutely demand, and potentially pay through the nose to get. (Full disclosure: I'm a part-time contributor to Foxsports.com.)The push-comes-to-shove element hinges on the simple fact that TV isn't a landscape of unlimited resources. If networks shell out huge amounts of money for something, they're going to try getting it back somewhere, somehow. To quote the old song, something's gotta give.So who'll feel the pinch? The aforementioned affiliates, and almost certainly smaller cable networks, which will get squeezed in future contract negotiations with system operators trying to offset higher fees to sports-carrying channels.And, of course, consumers.The prospect of rising cable bills has simultaneously renewed talk of establishing pay tiers and a la carte pricing -- both of which would require fans to ante up directly for the sports they crave -- probably more fair, on the face of it, than forcing said super-fan's grandma to shell out $5 a month for the privilege of getting an ESPN service she doesn't watch.Of course, at least ESPN provides year-round service, which is more than can be said for something like NFL network, which still demands steep monthly fees -- more than 70 per sub per month, per SNL Kagan -- even when the league is essentially dormant more than half the year. And now college conferences and individual universities such as Texas U. are capitalizing on the insatiable appetite for sports by creating their own dedicated channels, further slicing away at the pie.Theoretically, more choices for consumers are a good thing. But enterprises like ESPN are all about leverage. Having rights to the NFL, NBA or MLB actually creates more of that in dealing with distributors, advertisers and consumers.Moreover, if some form of a la carte pricing does come to pass (or punt or kick), premium sports channels will only exacerbate the have/have-not divide that already exists between those who can afford arena luxury boxes and a majority resigned to watching their local heroes on TV (or the computer or hand-held device).Highlighting this point, a reader recently wrote the Los Angeles Times lamenting the migration of all but a handful of college bowl games to cable.After losing his job, he said, "I had to cut back on a lot of things -- one was cable TV," which now means he "can't even watch the Rose Bowl thanks to ESPN and the almighty dollar."The leagues, universities and networks would no doubt clear their throats and feign sympathy when presented such cases. But the harsh reality is a marked shift from free TV toward a world favoring those who can afford to pay in order to watch others play. Because despite the prevailing image of sports as our shared sandbox, entering the new digital playground comes at a price. Contact Brian Lowry at brian.lowry@variety.com

Keck's Exclusives: Homeland Hottie Towards The Mentalist

Morena Baccarin With Homeland on hiatus after finishing its greatly effective first season, star Morena Baccarin costs nothing revisit her previous gig. No, she's not hopping back round the V spaceship, but rather acquiring her derailed relationship while using Mentalist's Simon Baker. Inside an episode shooting how you can air later this winter, Morena reprises her role as professional matchmaker/disadvantage artist Erica Flynn. When last we'd Erica, Simon's Patrick Jane had put her in jail. Now she's back round the loose! While her character may have revenge on her behalf account mind, Morena only has passion for Simon, who, she states, "really twinkles." Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Watercooler: They are Kidding About Arrange It, Right?

Ben Koldyke, Amaury Nolasco Without having something nice to express, watch Arrange It. This mess provides you with every reason to express something mean. Hell, even our very own Matt Roush has declared it "an immediate early candidate for Worst Show of 2012" and he's among the best men in the industry! Clearly inspired by Early Man's dumber cousin, this Bosom Pals abomination a good unemployed sales-tool named Lee and the stereotypically Latino friend who don drag to land employment having a female-heavy pharmaceutical drugs company continues to be charged with being offensive towards the transgender community. Why hold on there? Between your prostate exams-as-rape jokes, the requisite misogynistic body fat friend who discusses getting used like a sex slave "once the women dominate,Inch and also the mix-dressing montage set towards the Black Eyed Peas (yes, it's that bad), this factor is offensive to everybody having a pulse, regardless of how they dress. Really, it is a hate crime against comedy. Even worse, Arrange It wastes the luminous glory that's Lost's Rebecca Mader. Here saddled using the role from the savvy office bitch who's clearly not savvy enough to see her giant new colleagues' hairpieces, Adam's apples and guy hands, Mader's thrown away abilities glare from the sub-sophomoric writing, the dollar-store production values as well as an unrepentant insufficient humor - regardless of the toughest working laugh track ever. Here's wishing the show will come across a fast but deserved demise so Mader is going to be liberated to Work her wiles somewhere more useful. Have you watch Arrange It? Are you currently OK? Do you want us to call someone for you personally? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine today!

Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Joins Twitter

First Published: January 2, 2012 12:53 PM EST Credit: AFP LONDON, U.K. -- Caption Rupert Murdoch poses on the red carpet during the opening ceremony of the Shanghai International Film Festival in Shanghai on June 11, 2011Yes, it really is Rupert Murdoch and not an impostor on Twitter. A man using the media moguls name started tweeting over the New Years holiday, and a spokeswoman at his News International company confirmed Monday the account which has the handle rupertmurdoch is genuine. The embattled chief of the sprawling News Corp. media conglomerate says on Twitter that his resolutions for 2012 are to try to maintain humility and to diet. The 80-year-old added that he wants to stay curious. He also sounds bored with his holiday: Back to work tomorrow, he says. Enough idling! Murdoch may face questioning later this year from the Leveson Inquiry, which is investigating criminal wrongdoing at Murdochs British newspapers, including the now-closed News of the World tabloid. Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.