Media mogul Sumner Redstone appears to be sticking with his decision to not sell more shares in Viacom and CBS. Here’s the Financial Times:

Media mogul Sumner Redstone has reached agreement with his daughter, Shari, to put some of National Amusement’s 1,500 cinemas on the block rather than the entire division, as part of debt-restructuring discussions to avoid selling more shares of Viacom and CBS, according to people familiar with the matter.

If lenders agree, the plan would clear the way to sell a part of the US group and 19 theatres in the UK. A prospectus is not expected to be released until early January, one person familiar with the discussions said.

It was not immediately clear how much the proposed partial sale would fetch. The entire chain is valued at $500m to $700m by analysts and at about $1billion by Mr Redstone.

This comes after National Amusements sold its stake in video game company Midway for $100,000 and a big tax writeoff.

As you’ve read here before, Redstone is trying to restructure about $1.6 billion in debt. Half of that, as the FT notes, is due December 19 (only 15 more shopping days until debt day!). Redstone is in this position after he blew a debt covenant that was tied to Viacom’s and CBS’s market value. Both stocks took a dive, which forced Redstone into selling $233 million in non-voting shares of both companies, the FT reported.

Meanwhile, we asked Regal Entertainment CEO Mike Campbell if he would be interested in buying National Amusements’ theater chain If Redstone does put it on the block. Cambell said their domestic theaters would be a good fit — but noted that the credit crunch could hinder financing.

Keep an eye on:

Our Reuters Media Summit: We’re heading into the last day, but have a look at our interviews with Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin, Microsoft videogame executive Shane Kim, Professional Golfers Association Commissioner Tim Finchem and more. We’ve been running Summit blog entries here on Mediafile, but they’re all in one convenient place at the Summit Notebook site too.

You can’t have too much Michael Wolff. Here’s Wolff in a video interview with me.,

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned earlier this year after patronizing a prostitute, is entering the journalism world with a column at Slate.com, the online magazine owned by The Washington Post Co. Reported by Reuters, but broken by the New York Observer’s John Koblin.

(Photo: Reuters)

People who talk and text on cell phones are still the number one source of movie theater complaints tracked by Regal Entertainment Group, Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Campbell told the Reuters Media Summit on Wednesday.

Campbell made news at a the 2006 Reuters summit by disclosing that Regal, the largest U.S. theater chain, had armed patrons in a few test theaters with gizmos that summon ushers to deal with problems ranging from rowdy audiences to a freezing auditoriums. Back then, Campbell reported that some patrons were “getting into physical battles in the theaters” over cell phones and that the chain had “had people assaulted with bats, knives and guns” over their electronic umbilical cords.

The program worked so well that Regal has now expanded it to 100 of its highest volume locations, and cell phone talkers and texters seem to be getting the message, Campbell said.

“We have noticed — at least our perception over the last couple of years is — we don’t seem to be having quite as many issues there,” Campbell said. “I think the message that we are trying to get out to customers, both subtle and not so subtle, is beginning to have some impact.”

Regal has used data from the expanded program to track whether a particular disturbance “is mostly a… one-off situation or is there a pattern across the country,” Campbell said.

Still, the most common problems are “cell phone related – texting…and cell phone usage,” Campbell said. “In general, the number one complaint… continues to be some kind of customer disruption.”

(Photo: Director/actor Woody Allen uses his phone, but not in the movie theater. Reuters)

• Step right up and take your best shot. Think you’ve got a digital music player that can compete with Apple’s iPod? Bring it. Go ahead. Others have. Look what happened to them.

Think Microsoft’s Zune or Sandisk’s Sansa.

But one of these days somebody, somewhere is going to come up with a device that trumps the iPod. It’s only a matter of time. The question is, who will that be?

Well, one contender might just be News Corp. Its MySpace could eventually be interested in developing a player to go along with the big music venture it recently launched, it seems.

“It’s possible,” MySpace co-founder and Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said at a conference in San Francisco when asked if the company would ever develop a player, Reuters reports. He added, however, that there are no immediate plans to make or sell such a device.

The advantage MySpace might have over others that have tried is its MySpace Music site. Launched in September with major music labels such as Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, the site lets users access a range of new music services, including streaming, music and ringtone downloads, videos, ticketing and merchandising.

If successful, MySpace Music could be a perfect launching pad for a digital device. Think of how iTunes and the iPod currently go hand in hand.

What’s more, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch is always looking for a new mountain to climb — just ask the Bancroft family.

Keep an eye on:

• Several big advertising agencies have been reducing staff this year — and now the layoffs are coming even more quickly (NY Times)
• Time and Newsweek say the special election issues are selling out at newstands in major metropolitan markets (NY Post)
• Regal Entertainment Group, the largest operator of movie theaters, has seen its stock cut in half over the last year, and it could have further to fall (MarketWatch.com)
• HBO has closed a seven-figure deal for U.S. rights to an untitled Barack Obama documentary. (Hollywood Reporter)

(Photo: Reuters)