Disney won over more fans on Wall Street with its latest quarterly performance, despite a slight drop in its earnings. Disney digested higher programming costs at its ESPN television network and dealt with a less appealing line-up of home video releases in its movie studio.
A federal appeals court has upheld a $319 million verdict over profits from the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and rejected Disney's request for a new trial. A jury decided in 2010 that Disney hid the show's profits from its creators, London-based Celador International.
Usually, the Oscars highlight the chasm between Hollywood's elite and average Americans. But, says one movie critic: "This is one of the rare years when critics and paying audiences backed the nominees." Also notable in 2011 is a youth movement in the nominees -- and the show's hosts.
The 79-year-old announced his departure -- where else -- on ABC's Live With Regis and Kelly. The Internet gasped in disbelief, judging from the reaction on Twitter. He's one of the last reminders of a kinder, gentler American pop culture.
Disney is considering lending some of the keys to its television kingdom to Yahoo for its Yahoo Connected TV. If Yahoo is successful in inking such a deal, it would bolster its Internet TV efforts and put on better footing to compete against rival products such as Google TV and Apple TV.
A conservative TV watchdog group wants consumers to consider patronizing companies that advertise on family-friendly television shows this shopping season, rather than those that buy commercials on racier programs, but price is still likely to be the biggest influence on holiday shoppers.
Time Warner Cable customers will now get ESPN3 at no extra charge, thanks to a long-negotiated deal with Disney. The agreement is part of a larger long-term deal between the companies.
The Primetime Emmy Awards Show continues to rebound with host Jimmy Fallon. The bold and new, like Glee, were rewarded, while former favorites, like Lost, were forgotten.
Prestige means a lot in Hollywood. TV companies use a show's Emmy Award to help sell commercials, and advertisers enjoy being linked with hot shows. Sometimes, an Emmy can even help a program avoid the ax.
A federal court ruled to allow a defamation case against news man John Stossel to move forward. The case neatly parallels the tribulations endured by Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod earlier this summer and could provide a strong foundation for her to pursue a defamation suit of her own against blogger Andrew Breitbart.
It's unseemly when one of the nation's biggest news outlets drops a wad of cash on one political party. But when you get down to it, News Corp.'s donation to the Republican Governors Association is no worse than business as usual.
In a major victory for TV networks, an appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission's indecency policy on Tuesday, calling it "unconstitutionally vague." The court also said the rules posed a risk to freedom of speech.
Two Marsh & McLellan executives who were convicted in an insurance industry bid-rigging case saw their convictions overturned Wednesday because the New York Attorney General's office failed to turn over 700,000 documents, including exculpatory and impeaching evidence.
More Americans are watching the World Cup soccer tournament. ESPN and ABC say that the number of viewers so far are double what they were in 2006. All this could be a sign that America is finally taking to a sport long played mostly by our kids.
ABC's Modern Family drew the ire of critics and fans with an episode featuring character Phil Dunphy desperately trying to get his hands on an iPad. The funny thing is Apple didn't pay a thing for the product placement
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accomplished just want it wanted to by expanding its Best Picture category to 10 nominees: creating space for deserving movies that would have been ignored in the past.
TV news analyst Andrew Tyndall tracks every minute of airtime spent by the three nightly network news broadcasts. So which stories garnered the most airtime on each network?
Diane Sawyer's first night as host of Disney Co.'s ABC World News Tonight was greeted by a lot of fanfare about how little fanfare greeted it. The critics seem to agree that ABC now has an "understated" and "smooth" anchor in the evening news chair.

























