VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW

PROGRAMMING
Well, it's official. Dan Rather has cut ties with the Eye. The news anchor, who had been with CBS for 44 years, has left the network more than a year after stepping down from his post as anchor of 60 Minutes following a scandal surrounding a faulty report on President Bush's National Guard service. As for life after CBS, Rather told The New York Times he was already entertaining an offer to host a weekly news program for the HDNet cable channel.
E! Online

BBC television institution Top of the Pops has hit rock bottom. Citing competition from the Internet and 24-hour cable music channels, the 42-year-old pop music TV show is being axed after an unsuccessful move from BBC1 to BBC2. The final show is expected to air this summer.
The Telegraph

African TV viewers are about to get a healthy dose of Hollywood. Channel 2 Group Corporation has announced plans to launch a 24-hour terrestrial broadcast movie channel, Channel 2 Movies, across Africa. The channel, which will feature Hollywood and Bollywood movies, is a joint venture with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
AME Info

With five documentaries this year, and ten more on the way, U.S. cable channel IFC is stepping up its original programming. The documentaries are complemented by three scripted shows, weekly chat series The Henry Rollins Show and independent features, which continue to be the channel's backbone.
The New York Times

BUSINESS
Final bids for U.S. Spanish-language network Univision are due today (Wednesday), but, recently the focus has shifted to the potential regulatory hurdles that the two suitors may face. At issue is whether the two groups -- one led by Grupo Televisa, Mexico's biggest media company, and another led by a group of private equity firms, including Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Haim Saban -- could, should they win the auction, face a challenge by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over foreign ownership restrictions and concentration concerns.
The New York Times

TECHNOLOGY
New Zealand is going digital. The NZ government announced that free-to-air digital television will begin beaming into the country at the beginning of next year. The move from analog to digital television will offer viewers a clearer and cleaner picture, fewer reception problems, and access to more channels. It will require TV owners to purchase a set-top box similar to that used for Sky Television, and in some areas a satellite dish.
Xinhua

After finding success with TV-on-iPods, it's no surprise that Apple is now looking to get into the movie game. For weeks, Apple has been talking with executives at all the major studios -- including Disney 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Universal Studios -- about adding movies to its popular iTunes music store. Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, has been participating in the negotiations and telling studio executives in Los Angeles that he wants to have a deal in place by the fall.
The New York Times

ADVERTISING
At a luncheon speech at the Empire Club of Canada, Leonard Asper, CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp. said that one of his top priorities heading into the new fall TV season is removing advertising caps on Canadian programming. According to Asper, the current regulations are outdated, since the Internet has shattered the old system by creating alternative places for advertisers to reach viewers.
National Post

FILM
Superman fans will have access to a super screening when the film is released next week. Superman Returns will open June 28 in standard-screen theaters, but there's a version with 20 minutes of 3-D footage that will open in more than 115 Imax theaters, making it by far the widest release in the history of the king-sized screens.
Los Angeles Times

Cars had another colossal at the U.S. box office. The animated automobile film was number one for the second weekend, grossing $31.2 million. According to studio estimates, the movie, from Disney and Pixar, beat a rush of new movies, lifting its 10-day domestic total to $114.5 million.
MSNBC

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