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Les Moonves Says CBS Could Go To Cable In “A Few Days” If It Loses Aereo Suit

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday April 30, 2013 @ 4:42pm PDTTags: Aereo, Barry Diller, CBS Corp, Les Moonves, Michael Lynton

Les Moonves is out to get Aereo by any means necessary, but he “doesn’t lose sleep over it,” the CBS Corp president and CEO told the Milken Institute’s Global Conference today. “Barry Diller has done what he likes to do, disrupt things,” Moonves added. However, the CBS chief did say that if the situation couldn’t be resolved in the courts, he is more than willing to take CBS to cable. “We can do it in a few days. If we go to cable, if we are forced to, then about 10% of America will not get our signal and I don’t think they will like that,” Moonves said Tuesday. The CBS chief said that with around 2,000 subscribers in NYC, the “illegal” Aereo won’t hurt the network but that he still intends to shut them down. “We will go after them in the courts and if that doesn’t work there are other remedies. There are financial remedies; there are congressional remedies.” On Monday at the conference, IAC CEO Diller said that CBS and the other broadcasters suing Aereo want Congress to save them if their copyright infringement suits fail. Fox and Univision have also threatened to move to cable if Aereo prevails.

Related: Chase Carey Threatens To Make Fox A Pay Channel If Aereo Prevails READ MORE »

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Michael Lynton Re-Ups As CEO Of Sony Entertainment

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday April 9, 2013 @ 9:45am PDTTags: Michael Lynton, Sony Entertainment, Sony Pictures

New York and Culver City, CA (April 9, 2013) – Michael Lynton, Chief Executive Officer of Sony Entertainment, Inc. and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has renewed his contract, it was announced today by Kazuo Hirai, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation.

Lynton joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in January 2004 and, with Co-Chairman Amy Pascal, they put the studio on a path of stability and success across its lines of business. Lynton was appointed to the additional role of CEO, Sony Entertainment, Inc. in 2012, overseeing Sony’s global entertainment businesses, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Pictures.

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Sony Pictures “Absolutely Not For Sale” CEO Says: Video

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday February 12, 2013 @ 3:00pm PSTTags: Michael Lynton, Sony, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Neither is the music business, Sony Corporation of America CEO Michael Lynton told CNBC today. That won’t stop the speculation that the struggling electronics giant would take a serious look at an offer if it’s big enough. Lynton also says Sony just renewed its premium TV deal … Read More »

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It’s Official: Michael Lynton Named Sony Of America CEO; Nicole Seligman Will Be President

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 29, 2012 @ 11:40am PDTTags: Michael Lynton

Related: Michael Lynton To Run All Sony U.S. Biz: But Can He Save The Company From Itself?

Sony Michael LyntonWhile the news about Michael Lynton was already known, some Sony watchers are surprised to see the confirmation that Nicole Seligman will run the main U.S. office in NYC instead of CFO Rob Wiesenthal. He was the guy who used to accompany CEO Howard Stringer to investment banker Herb Allen’s annual mogul-fest in Sun Valley. He will now become President, International for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, reporting to the unit’s CEO Martin Bandier. Although Seligman’s kept herself behind the scenes, the former lawyer for Lt. Col. Oliver North and Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial is a formidable presence at Sony. She’s also extremely well plugged-in. (She was a bridesmaid for her Harvard classmate Carolyn Kennedy when Kennedy married Edwin Schlossberg in 1986.) One question is whether she’s too well connected: Her husband is Joel Klein — the former Justice Department antitrust chief and New York City school chancellor who joined News Corp at the beginning of 2011 and has had Rupert Murdoch’s ear on legal matters including the UK hacking and bribery scandals. Here’s today’s release: Read More »

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Michael Lynton To Run All Sony U.S. Biz: But Can He Save The Company From Itself?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday March 21, 2012 @ 11:29am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Howard Stringer, Michael Lynton, Sony

Sony Corp Of AmericaMichael Lynton will be announced as Howard Stringer’s Sony Corp Of America successor next week. “The people who know in Culver City are very happy — and very relieved,” a source tells me about Sony Pictures Entertainment where Lynton since January 2004 has been chairman alongside Amy Pascal. Sony’s principal U.S. businesses include Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., and Sony Music Entertainment. Sony Corporation of America, based in New Michael Lynton SonyYork, NY, is the U.S. subsidiary of Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. The Japan brass would like to base Lynton full-time in NYC but he prefers to stay in Los Angeles because of his family. So that’s still a question mark. Lynton’s promotion has been expected for some time and even more so since Comcast bought NBCUniversal because the Sony exec is close professionally and personally to Brian Roberts and Steve Burke, something the hyper-ambitious Lynton let it be known throughout Hollywood and beyond. My insiders say this job promotion is because Lynton has become a favorite of Kazuo Hirai, who takes over as Sony Corp President/CEO at the start of April. Stringer will retain the chairman title. My insider says, “Hirai who’s very Americanized really likes Michael. He’s his kind of guy because Michael is all business and not flashy.” Lynton already oversees Sony’s movie and TV studio, distribution deals, global production operations, and such. He previously was CEO of AOL Europe and before that headed Pearson’s Penguin publishing company as well as served a brief stint running Disney’s Hollywood Pictures.

But Lynton has a herculean task in front of him. Here’s why: Sony’s U.S. shares have lost more than 36% of their value over the last 12 months. The company is plagued by a feeling that it’s too slow moving and out of touch with consumers, technology, and business. One of the key aspects of the Sony Corp Of America job is ensuring that the corporation’s proprietary technology doesn’t lose out to hardware advancements and content exclusivity. Sony always will be haunted by its Betamax loss to VHS which started the company on a long downward spiral. Since then, the Sony Corp Of America top exec’s marching orders have been to ensure that Sony doesn’t get left out in the cold when the hardware manufacturers and content providers agreed on an industry standard whether for CD, DVD, Blu-ray, 3D or other formats. Problem is, this has meant that even when Sony has had proprietary technology, the company has shared it rather than tried to go it alone again. The result is that the Sony Corp Of America job requires an executive capable of subtle diplomacy and industry respect, and Lynton fits that description perfectly. (On the other hand, he is not shy about his political activism for President Obama and is along with his wife one of the reelection campaign’s top bundlers. And he has used his current gig as a soapbox, most controversially scolding movie theaters for making Americans fat by selling unhealthy concession snacks.)

Combatting current trends won’t be easy. Apple, not Sony, controls tablets and music players. Amazon, not Sony, dominates e-readers. And Microsoft, not Sony, is No. 1 in game consoles while Sony angered Read More »

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UPDATE: 3rd Online Piracy Bill Surfaces As Hollywood Lobbying On Capitol Hill Escalates

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 8, 2011 @ 1:50pm PSTTags: Barry Meyer, Big Media, DGA, Google, IATSE, Jim Gianopulos, Michael Lynton, MPAA, Protect IP Act, Rupert Murdoch, SAG, Stop Online Piracy Act

MPAA Arranges Studio-Guild D.C. Lobbying

UPDATE, 1:50 PM: Movie studios took Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and California Rep. Darrell Issa to task today after they unveiled draft anti-piracy legislation that could serve … Read More »

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Andrea Wong Tapped As President Of Int’l Production At Sony Pictures TV & President International At Sony Pictures Entertainment

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday September 25, 2011 @ 11:51pm PDTTags: Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures TV, Steve Mosko
Nellie Andreeva

EAfter a year and a half away from the spotlight, Andrea Wong is rejoining the executive ranks with top international positions at Sony Pictures Entertainment. The former CEO of Lifetime, who had been rumored for virtually every high-profile TV executive job that became available in the past 18 months, has been named President of International Production for Sony Pictures Television and President of International for SPE. She will be based in London.

In her SPT position, Wong will head the studio’s international TV production business, reporting to SPT president Steve Mosko. She will oversee SPT’s 15 owned and joint venture international production companies. Wong will shepherd the development of new formats as well as the local adaptations of SPT-owned formats, primarily on the unscripted side. The studio’s library of reality formats, which was boosted by the 2008 acquisition of Dutch company 2waytraffic, includes Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Dragon’s Den and Pyramid. Additionally, SPT has been setting up local versions of its daytime talk show Dr. Oz and some of its library sitcoms, including The Nanny, Married … With Children and Everybody Loves Raymond. It was Wong’s successful tenure as head of alternative and late-night at ABC, where she developed such hit franchises as The Bachelor, Dancing With the Stars and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, that was key in landing her the SPT job, which is skewed heavily towards reality. “Andrea’s business acumen and her role in developing successful unscripted programming like Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor make her a perfect fit for SPT,” Mosko said.

Wong replaces Kees Abrahams, who is stepping down as president of international production for SPT. Abrahams, former CEO of 2waytraffic, had been overseeing SPT’s international production operations since 2waytraffic’s acquisition. “Kees’ entrepreneurial spirit has been instrumental to the growth of our television production business internationally and we thank him for all of his efforts,”  Mosko said. Added Kees, “I think it is now time for me to pursue some new commercial opportunities, and I wish Sony well.” Read More »

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Ron Howard Won’t Complete Dan Brown Trilogy; Sony Now Looking For New Director

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday July 26, 2011 @ 6:57pm PDTTags: Amy Pascal, Imagine Entertainment, Michael Lynton, Ron Howard, Sony Pictures, The Da Vinci Code, The Dark Tower, The Lost Symbol, Universal Pictures

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Howard directed and produced both of Sony Pictures’ films based on Dan Brown’s bestselling novels, The Da Vinci Code (in 2006) and Angels & Demons (2009). Now I’ve learned that the Imagine Entertainment principal will not be … Read More »

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Sony’s Michael Lynton And Amy Pascal Acknowledge Hacker Breach

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday June 3, 2011 @ 7:14pm PDTTags: Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton
Mike Fleming

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman/CEO Michael Lynton and co-chairman Amy Pascal have released this statement, acknowledging the studio was hit by hackers who’ve breached their system and come away with user passwords and other data:

“The cybercrime wave that has affected Sony companies and a number of government agencies, businesses and … Read More »

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‘Easy A’ Helmer Will Gluck Makes Two-Year Sony Pictures Deal For Films And Series

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 25, 2011 @ 8:57am PDTTags: Amy Pascal, Clint Culpepper, Dana Brunetti, Emma Stone, Friends With Benefits, Justin Timberlake, Michael DeLuca, Michael Lynton, Mila Kunis, Scott Rudin, Will Gluck
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: After directing Easy A and the upcoming Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis bedroom comedy Friends With Benefits for Screen Gems, Will Gluck has made a two-year development and production deal with Sony Pictures that covers TV and film and involves Screen … Read More »

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TOLDJA! MGM Makes Distribution Deal With Sony Pictures That Includes James Bond

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 13, 2011 @ 4:05pm PDTTags: 007, Amy Pascal, Daniel Craig, David Fincher, Gary Barber, James Bond, Kevin James, MGM, Michael Lynton, Roger Birnbaum, Sony Pictures, Total Recall

Sony Pictures and MGM have finally announced the worst kept secret in Hollywood. They’ve reached an agreement that will return Sony Pictures to its role as distributor of the James Bond movies. Sony, along with studios like Warner Bros, Paramount and Fox, all engaged in talks with the reconstituted MGM on a deal that came at a hefty price. Deadline reported previously that MGM walked away with the right to be co-financier on several plum Sony films, including the David Fincher-directed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as well as others to be added to the mix, including the remake of Total Recall. The latter film might be particularly painful for Sony because sources tell us that MGM gets to distribute Total Recall in the highly valuable international TV market. This is considered a huge benefit to MGM in that it enhances the value of its international TV portfolio and robs Sony’s existing international TV partners of a title that is expected to be big overseas. Neither Sony nor MGM would comment on the horse-trading part of the deal.

Clearly, Sony wanted the Bond franchise back badly, and now Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton have brought 007 back into the fold. Deadline reported last summer that MGM was being reconstituted as a pure production play and shedding its distribution operation. That immediately put the studio’s most valuable title, 007, in play. Bidders began mobilizing before MGM made it out of bankruptcy. By January, several of the studios vying for Bond rights became increasingly frustrated by the attempts by MGM’s  new chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum to leverage 007 distribution rights to get co-financing rights to plum projects at whatever studio won the deal. This came even after MGM had offered the villain role to Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, a courtship that is still going on (Anthony Hopkins has also been rumored as a potential participant on the evil side of the Bond dossier). Sony Pictures eventually got the upper hand and moved close to a deal in early February, after Sony threw co-fi rights to Dragon Tattoo and other titles into the pot. The announcement doesn’t deal with other MGM titles, but there are expected to be more that get distributed by Sony Pictures, which separately partnered with the studio on the Kevin James-starrer The Zookeeper. That film moved over to Sony when MGM went into deep freeze because of its crushing debt burden, and Sony moved it to the heart of the summer, with a July 8 release date. While Sony was winning that deal, rival suitors like Paramount (which has a strong relationship with Barber and Birnbaum over Star Trek) bristled at MGM’s asking price, plus a relatively low 8% distribution fee on the 007 film that Sam Mendes will direct and which Sony will release November 9, 2012, with Daniel Craig reprising. Here is the official announcement: Read More »

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AMC Makes Concession To Fat Moviegoers

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 5, 2011 @ 10:10am PDTTags: AMC, Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Theaters
Mike Fleming

Last year at ShoWest, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton appealed to theater owners to introduce healthy foods at concession stands to combat obesity in kid moviegoers. This morning, Lynton lauded AMC for listening. Other chains are helping out by making fattening snacks, popcorn and soda so expensive it’s prohibitive … Read More »

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Sony About To Recapture James Bond #23; UPDATE: MGM Leverages 007 For Deal On Sony’s ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 7, 2011 @ 9:30pm PSTTags: Amy Pascal, Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig, Fox, Freida Pinto, Gary Barber, James Bond, Javier Bardem, MGM, Michael Lynton, Michael Wilson, Paramount, Roger Birnbaum, Sam Mendes, Sony Pictures, Spyglass, Warner Bros

2ND UPDATE:  The new MGM brass, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum managed to leverage the James Bond #23 film for a piece of Sony’s in-the-works big movie based on the Stieg Larsson bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which has already been shooting in Sweden under director David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara. Deadline has learned that Sony Pictures bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton agreed to give MGM a co-financing deal for the big title and possibly other films already shooting, too, to help the reconstituted studio generate quick cash flow. This allows MGM to have revenue which it hasn’t had in a long time, so the books look better, and more funds for production could be forthcoming. (That’s exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built their Spyglass Entertainment in the first place: by investing in films it didn’t make, like the recently rebooted Star Trek.)

UPDATE: We’re told Paramount dropped out of the Bond bidding when MGM insisted on bringing the distribution fee under 8% and when MGM got “grabby” in wanting a piece of a Paramount established franchise that studio didn’t want to give up.

EXCLUSIVE 5 PM: Deadline hears that Sony Pictures is close to landing distribution rights to MGM’s James Bond franchise again, and specifically for the next untitled Bond #23, even though several studios are still very much in the hunt. Sony Pictures chiefs Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton distributed both Daniel Craig 007 pics, Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace, and now have moved into first position to recapture 007. That’s because Sony is agreeing to allow MGM’s new leadership to leverage the next Bond pic, and indeed the Bond franchise, to create more cash flow for the reconstituted studio post-bankruptcy. The new brass, Spyglass Entertainment co-owners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum who are now the Co-Chairmen andCEOs of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, are finishing negotiations to co-finance a number of films with Sony. Deadline has learned that Pascal and Lynton have already found a title on the Sony slate for MGM to co-finance. That’s exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built Spyglass in the first place: by investing in films it didn’t make, such as The Sixth Sense and the recently rebooted Star Trek.

There’s no doubt this is a shrewd move by MGM, but Deadline also learned it wasn’t sitting well with the majors. Top execs at Sony and Fox and Paramount and Warner Bros were increasingly frustrated with the way that the Spyglass duo were playing one studio off another — “and enjoying it,” in the words of one exec involved. Sony at the time even described its strategy to win Bond #23 as ”pleading”. Now it looks like that worked along with agreeing to much of MGM’s negotiating terms.

Even though MGM holds sway on where Bond #23 lands, a 007 return to the Sony fold would please EON partners Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. Amy Pascal in particular has developed a strong personal and professional relationship with Broccoli when they were making the transition from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig. Broccoli  and Wilson found Craig among a list of possible 007s, and the choice wasn’t popular at first. But Pascal supported Craig. Also Sony has a reputation for spending big to market Bond: for Casino Royale, Sony spent a humongous sum worldwide to introduce the new Bond. MGM was supposed to distribute the 23rd Bond film itself, until the studio was pushed into bankruptcy. Read More »

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Sony’s Columbia Pictures Ups Biz President

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday November 30, 2010 @ 10:57pm PSTTags: Amy Pascal, Andrew Gumpert, Doug Belgrad Columbia Pictures, Michael Lynton, Movies, Sony Pictures

Culver City, CA – November 30, 2010 – Andrew Gumpert has been promoted to President, Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations for Columbia Pictures, it was announced today by Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Amy

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TOLDJA! Raimo Is New Sony Animation Prez

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday November 11, 2010 @ 12:40pm PSTTags: Amy Pascal, Bob Osher, Michael Lynton, Michelle Raimo, Michelle Raimo-Kouyate, Movie Deals, Movies, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Michelle Raimo

EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Raimo Named New President of Sony Pictures Animation

(Culver City, November 11, 2010) — Michelle Raimo-Kouyate has been named president of production for Sony Pictures Animation, it was announced today by Bob Osher, President of Digital Productions for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

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