July 11 (Reuters) – DirecTV said its customers were
left without Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 14 other
channels on Wednesday after Viacom Inc demanded that
its networks be dropped from DirectTV’s lineup in a dispute over
fees.

DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider with nearly
20 million subscribers, said its executives had approached
Viacom with a new proposal and a request to continue
broadcasting the channels as talks proceeded, but received no
response.

LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Reuters) – The new “Spider-Man” climbed
to the top of movie box office charts with weekend sales of $65
million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, a smashing debut for
the reinvented franchise about a web-slinging superhero.

“The Amazing Spider-Man,” starring Andrew Garfield in the
role played by Tobey Maguire in three earlier installments,
started strong with $7.5 million in midnight sales on Tuesday
and remained so through the U.S. Independence Day holiday and
the weekend. The 3D film has so far snared $140 million during
its domestic run, distributor Sony Pictures said.

By Liana B. Baker and Lisa Richwine

(Reuters) – A fresh sense of dealmaking excitement should permeate Idaho’s mountain air next week when media and technology moguls descend on remote Sun Valley for their annual conference, which in recent years has been as sleepy as the town for which it is named.

The latest moves made by News Corp, Vivendi and Liberty Media signal a shifting landscape of opportunities for snatching up assets as media companies navigate new entertainment platforms, a soft economy, turmoil in Europe, and the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A movie reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise snared $7.5 million in its web at U.S. and Canadian theaters from screenings just after midnight on Tuesday, distributor Sony Pictures said.

The opening for “The Amazing Spider-Man” starring Andrew Garfield as the swinging superhero matched the midnight sales for Sony’s last movie in the franchise, “Spider-Man 3″, in 2007. About $1.4 million of the new film’s opening sales came from showings on giant Imax screens, Sony said.

LOS ANGELES, July 3 (Reuters) – A movie reboot of the
“Spider-Man” franchise snared $7.5 million in its web at U.S.
and Canadian theaters from screenings just after midnight on
Tuesday, distributor Sony Pictures said.

The opening for “The Amazing Spider-Man” starring Andrew
Garfield as the swinging superhero matched the midnight sales
for Sony’s last movie in the franchise, “Spider-Man 3″, in 2007.
About $1.4 million of the new film’s opening sales came from
showings on giant Imax screens, Sony said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedy “Ted,” starring a foul-mouthed teddy bear, won the battle at movie box offices over the weekend, taking in a surprising $54.1 million (34.4 million pounds) in the United States and Canada and beating Channing Tatum’s steamy role as a male stripper in “Magic Mike.”

“Ted,” the first feature film directed by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and MacFarlane as the voice of the teddy bear who comes to life for his owner and swears, smokes pot and makes lewd jokes.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedy “Ted,” starring a foul-mouthed teddy bear, won the battle at movie box offices over the weekend, taking in a surprising $54.1 million in the United States and Canada and beating Channing Tatum’s steamy role as a male stripper in “Magic Mike.”

“Ted,” the first feature film directed by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and MacFarlane as the voice of the teddy bear who comes to life for his owner and swears, smokes pot and makes lewd jokes.

June 29 (Reuters) – NBC plans to premiere 16 new shows in
prime time starting this fall, by far the biggest crop of
launches for any network for the next TV season and one of the
biggest new slates in recent years.

The large number of new shows is a function of the network’s
status as the ratings cellar-dweller among the big four
broadcast networks – the others are CBS, News Corp’s
Fox, and Walt Disney Co’s ABC. But the amount
of new shows also has the potential to overwhelm viewers.

LOS ANGELES, June 18 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp
introduced its own line of tablet computers on Monday at a
much-hyped press event in Los Angeles, marking a major strategic
shift for the software giant as it struggles to compete with
Apple Inc and re-invent its aging Windows franchise.

The new tablet line, named Surface, includes a consumer
device aimed directly at the Apple iPad, and another, larger
machine designed to run the full suite of Windows software. Both
include a keyboard that doubles as a cover for the device, and
both will be powered by the new Windows 8 operating system.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp unveiled a tablet called Surface on Monday, in a move to rival Apple Inc’s massively successful iPad.

The world’s largest software maker is on track to launch its touch-friendly Windows 8 operating system this autumn and wants to make a big impact with its own device to kickstart demand.