VIDEOAGE"PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW

PROGRAMMING
Prius-driving "The Departed" star Leonardo DiCaprio is producing a new reality show with the goal of educating viewers about global warming through his production company Appian Way. The series, called E-topia, will follow a construction team, architects, environmentalists and urban planners as they take a rundown town and give it an eco-friendly makeover.
E! Online

After pledging to carry on her late father's work, eight-year-old Bindi Irwin, daughter of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, is now filming The Jungle Girl, a 26-part wildlife documentary for the Discovery Kids network. The movie tells the tale of a girl who lives in a treehouse and hangs out with wildlife. Sounds like her father would be proud.
E! Online

BUSINESS
Israel's ECI Telecom has signed a three-year deal with Atlas Telecom Romania to expand its broadband network, providing triple-play and IPTV services. ECI will provide its Hi-FOCuS 5 IP DSLAM platform to support Atlas Telecom's applications for both residential and business subscribers. The equipment will be installed in Atlas Telecom's central offices.
Globes

Cape Verdean's resident telco Cabo Verde Telecom launched IPTV in the African region earlier this month--ahead of its competitors. Cabo Verde has set up a new subsidiary, CV Multimedia, that will be offering 21 television channels, Internet and voice services to customers. The move is being viewed as preemptive since a second license was granted through international tender to Chinese-owned Cabo Verde Digital, which will offer 30 channels using DVB-T. CV Multimedia's service will be branded as Zap TV, and will include such channels as SIC Noticias, TV Record, RAI Uno and BBC World, among others.
All Africa

Viacom struck a deal to provide television and music video content to Baidu, one of the biggest and fastest-growing Internet companies in China, known to many as "Chinese Google." The joint venture is the biggest effort so far to introduce American television and entertainment content and programming to the Chinese region. Analysts in China have been quoted as saying the alliance makes sense because most Internet users in China are looking for entertainment rather than pure information.
International Herald Tribune

CONTROVERSY
A Chinese woman is suing Hong Kong star Carina Lau for false advertising, after the actress appeared in advertisements for Japanese cosmetics company SK-II, owned by Procter & Gamble. Lu Ping claims that after seeing an ad for a product that was supposed to reduce wrinkles after four weeks of use, she bought it, but after four weeks, her skin wasn't "silky" as the ad purported it would be, but rather red and inflamed. China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine found chromium and neodymium in nine SK-II products, metals that can cause skin rashes. The product was taken off of Chinese shelves in September.
Xinhua

AWARDS SHOWS
Public broadcaster CBC has picked up a slew of industry prizes at the Gemini Awards, which honor the best in Canadian television. CBC won awards for Best News Information Series, Best History Documentary Program and Best Biography Documentary Program. While it was a great night for the broadcaster, it should be noted that it didn't face any real competition from CTV News, the country's top-rated newscast, which removed itself from this year's Geminis, stating the time involved in preparing entries was simply not worth the effort.
The Globe & Mail

FILM
Just a few months after wrapping World Trade Center, director Oliver Stone is looking to tell the 9/11 tale from a different perspective--that of Osama bin Laden. The oft-controversial director has teamed up with Paramount Pictures to option Jawbreaker, a book tracing the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan that brought down the Taliban.
E! Online

Amid a maelstrom of mixed reviews for her new film, a semi-anachronistic take on the life and times of Marie Antoinette, director Sofia Coppola, has publicly declared that despite some similarities in their backgrounds, she sees nothing autobiographical in the story of the queen who would be beheaded. Like the young queen, Coppola, the daughter of Hollywood royalty, director Francis Ford Coppola, has had her share of disastrous turns (like starring in her dad's The Godfather, Part III). Here's hoping the two ladies don't share a similar fate.
The Globe & Mail

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