TWX

Warner Bros. finally had enough of Sheen's antics. The producers figured that the show's star -- who was reportedly paid nearly $2 million an episode --- was no longer worth the considerable trouble he created. Still, the move is a financial risk.

It's award season in Hollywood, with the Oscars just weeks away. But stocks are forward-looking, so investors are already keying on summer blockbuster season. And a bigger-than-expected summer hit or two can indeed provide a catalyst for media and entertainment company shares.

CNN is sick of being the punching bag of the cable news world. Explaining why the network replaced the head of CNN U.S., CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton cited what he described as unfair press coverage focusing on CNN's declining ratings, while ignoring its growing profitability.

CNN president Jonathan Klein has been hard at work this year remaking the network's primetime lineup, its most important programming block. But whether or not his effort proves successful, he won't be around to find out.

Magazine publishers are at great pains these days to please Apple, whose fast-selling tablet computer, the iPad, just may be the key to their future survival. But following all the persnickety dictates handed down by Steve Jobs isn't always easy, as Sports Illustrated recently realized.

Unintentional hilarity is usually not a good thing in a corporate earnings call, but when your results are as strong as those reported Wednesday by Time Warner, you can afford to have a sense of humor.

Larry King made the announcement on Twitter that he would be ending his Larry King Live interview show this fall, after 25 years on the air -- and less than 25 minutes later, it was already the punchline of Twitter jokesters.

Microsoft plans to use its XBox Live as a means to stream movies and TV shows into people's homes. If the extremely ambitious program eventually works as planned, customers could have no need for their cable TV.

When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of American (BAC) head Brian Moynihan flew today via corporate aircraft to Washington, D.C., to testify before a Congressional panel investigating the financial crisis, their mode of transport raised some eyebrows. But the furor over corporate jets, which are often the most efficient way to transport executives, distracts from the larger issues.

Fox and Time Warner Cable have reached a deal keeping the network on the cable provider after Fox threatened to walk over a fee dispute. The deal's suddenness likely means Fox got the better end, as the cable giant risked having subscribers go elsewhere for Fox programming.