Reuters - Springsteen, Ticketmaster battle escalates

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Springsteen, Ticketmaster battle escalates

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 10:32PM UTC

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen's manager has come out swinging against the Newark Star Ledger and Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller following a news report that the rocker's organization kept many of the best tickets to a recent show out of the public's hands.

The Ledger reported last week that about 2,300 total tickets for a May 21 performance at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., were held back for "friends of the band, the record label and the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, which operates the venue."

Diller was quoted in the New York Post as saying Springsteen "has been one of our most vocal critics on our ticketing policies and while he's more than entitled to his opinion, it seems minimally fair-minded to point out that in the concert that created the battle, where Ticketmaster apologized for making a technical mistake, it seems that Mr. Springsteen held back from his fans all but 108 of the 1,126 tickets closest to the stage," Diller said.

The entire fracas dates back to February 6 Springsteen on-sale chaos for the Izod show, where the Springsteen camp claimed Ticketmaster directed fans to its in-house secondary site TicketsNow in a "bait-and-switch" maneuver.

In his response, posted Monday on Springsteen's Web site, Landau says Springsteen's holds "had nothing to do at all with the breakdown of Ticketmaster's system. When fans were redirected to TicketsNow, "an undetermined but large amount of money flowed into TicketsNow (and eventually Ticketmaster) even though there were still tickets at normal prices yet to be made available on Ticketmaster. We perceived this to have been a major abuse of our fans, complained about it mightily, and added that because of behavior like this, the pending merger of the number one ticketing company and number one management company (both owned by Ticketmaster) with the number one venue owner and operator (Live Nation) might not be such a hot idea."

Landau says a public apology from Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff "which apology we promptly and graciously posted on our site" substantiates the Springsteen camp's position when coupled with the volume of complaints received by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, whom "ultimately secured a consent degree from Ticketmaster, in which they promised that some of their practices ("glitches") with regard to its sister company TicketsNow will never be repeated."

Landau calls the Ledger piece "the same article that the Star Ledger runs whenever we do a few indoor shows in New Jersey" and Diller's spin as "flatly untrue. He is merely using the time honored tradition of blowing smoke to distract attention away from Ticketmaster's already acknowledged responsibility for their "glitches" on February 6, the on-sale date of the two Izod Center shows."

Regarding holds by Thrill Hill, Springsteen's touring division, "Perhaps the first thing to be said is that when we play New Jersey, our fans know that we are usually going to do more than two indoor shows in order to ensure, among other things, that during the course of a tour, Springsteen tickets will be plentiful so as many fans as possible will have a chance to get great seats (hence the five upcoming shows at Giants Stadium.) As our fans also know, we have kept all of our tickets under $100 and do all that we can to ensure that as many as possible are sold at face value."

Landau admits to "significant holds" in New Jersey, as well as New York and Los Angeles" (which indeed is a common industry practice for major tours), saying the holds are for band members and their families, the Springsteen organization, the label, reviewers, radio stations, and charities.

Then he offers the following charge: "Unlike some Ticketmaster managed artists, no tickets are held for high dollar resale on TicketsNow, or through any other means."

Springsteen's ticketing practices have "evolved over more than 30 years of experience. Does anyone seriously imagine that any element of these practices caused Ticketmaster to redirect ticket requests to TicketsNow for the Izod Center shows? What would our incentive have been? It's not we who earned vastly larger sums when fans paid way over the face value of the tickets. It was Ticketmaster/TicketsNow."

Landau admits such public airing of Springsteen's business is uncharacteristic of the organization. "But we do get upset when we see fans being taken advantage of, as they were on February 6," he says. "So, when that stuff stops happening (and the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow problems surrounding our recent show in Washington D.C. shows that these issues are far from resolved) we will stop complaining. And when the facts cease to be misrepresented, we will stop explaining."

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)

Reuters - AT&T in deals with Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent

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AT&T in deals with Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 2:37PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc <T.N> said it extended a network equipment supply agreement with Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA> and would soon start selling a cellphone from Motorola Inc <MOT.N>.

AT&T, the second-biggest U.S. provider of mobile phone services, said on Tuesday it would start selling Motorola's Karma phone on June 28 for $79.99. The device, which has a miniature computer keyboard, is aimed at consumers looking to use their phones to send text messages or access social networks like Facebook.

The device is based on a proprietary operating system from Motorola, which is struggling to regain share in the cellphone market after years of criticism of its phone line-up.

AT&T also said it extended an agreement for Alcatel-Lucent to supply equipment used for AT&T's U-verse television and high-speed Internet service, which is being expanded around the country.

Motorola shares were up 18 cents or 3 percent, at $6.21 in morning trade on New York Stock Exchange, where AT&T was up 12 cents at $24.27. Alcatel-Lucent U.S. shares were down a penny at $2.46.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by John Wallace)

Reuters - Sarah Jessica Parker has twins via surrogate

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Sarah Jessica Parker has twins via surrogate

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 8:17PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick had twin daughters via a surrogate mother, the couple's publicists said on Tuesday.

Parker, 44, and Broderick, 47, who already have a six-year-old son said their daughters -- named Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge -- were born on Monday in Ohio.

"The babies are doing beautifully and the entire family is over the moon," the couple said in a statement.

Parker is expected to begin shooting a sequel later this year to the movie version of the TV series "Sex and the City" along with Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis.

Broderick, star of the Broadway musical and movie "The Producers," and Parker married in 1997.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Alan Elsner)

CNN - Ed McMahon dies at 86

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Ed McMahon dies at 86

Ed McMahon, the longtime pitchman and Johnny Carson sidekick whose "Heeeeeeerre's Johnny!" became a part of the vernacular, has died.

McMahon passed away peacefully shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center, his publicist, Howard Bragman, said Tuesday

McMahon, 86, was hospitalized in February with pneumonia and other medical problems.

He had suffered a number of health problems in recent years, including a neck injury caused by a 2007 fall. In 2002, he sued various insurance companies and contractors over mold in his house and later collected a $7 million settlement.

Though he later hosted a variety of shows -- including "Star Search" and "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," McMahon's biggest fame came alongside Carson on "The Tonight Show," which Carson hosted from 1962 to 1992. The two met not long after Carson began hosting the game show "Who Do You Trust?" in 1957. iReport.com: Share your memories of Ed McMahon

"Johnny didn't look as if he was dying to see me," McMahon, who was hosting a show on a Philadelphia TV station, told People magazine in 1980 about the pair's first meeting. "He was standing with his back to the door, staring at a couple of workmen putting letters on a theater marquee. I walked over and stood beside him. Finally the two guys finished, and Johnny asked, 'What have you been doing?' I told him. He said, 'Good to meet you, Ed,' shook my hand, and I was out of the office. The whole meeting was about as exciting as watching a traffic light change."

Though McMahon was surprised to be offered the job as Carson's sidekick, the two soon proved to have a strong chemistry. Carson was, by nature, introverted and dry-witted; McMahon was the boisterous and outgoing second banana, content to give Carson straight lines or laugh uproariously at his jokes (a characteristic much-parodied by comedians).

Carson made cracks about McMahon's weight, his drinking and the men's trouble with divorce. McMahon was married three times; Carson, who died in 2005, had four wives.

McMahon was also the show's designated pitchman, a talent he honed to perfection during "Tonight's" 30-year run with Carson, even if sometimes the in-show commercial spots fell flat.

For one of the show's regular sponsors, Alpo dog food, McMahon usually extolled the virtues of the product while a dog eagerly gobbled down a bowl. But one day the show's regular dog wasn't available, and the substitute pooch wasn't very hungry.

McMahon recalled the incident in his 1998 memoir, "For Laughing Out Loud."

"Then I saw Johnny come into my little commercial area. He got down on his hands and knees and came over to me. ... I started to pet Johnny. Nice boss, I was thinking as I pet him on the head, nice boss. By this point the audience was hysterical. ... I just kept going. I was going to get my commercial done.

'The next time you're looking at the canned dog food ...' -- he rubbed his cheek against my leg -- ... reach for the can that contains real beef.' Johnny got up on his knees and started begging for more. I started petting him again ... and then he licked my hand."

McMahon also promoted Budweiser, American Family Insurance and -- during the most recent Super Bowl -- Cash4Gold.com. Entertainment Weekly named him No. 1 on its list of TV's greatest sidekicks.

Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 6, 1923. His father was a promoter, and McMahon remembered moving a lot during his childhood.

"I changed towns more often than a pickpocket," McMahon told People.

He later joined the Marines and served in World War II and Korea.

Though McMahon was well-rewarded by NBC -- the 1980 People article listed his salary between $600,000 and $1 million -- his divorces and some poor investments took their toll. In June 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon was $644,000 in arrears on a $4.8 million loan for a home in Beverly Hills, California, and his lender had filed a notice of default.

McMahon and his wife, Pamela, told CNN's Larry King that McMahon had gotten caught in a spate of financial problems.

"If you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that," said McMahon, who added that he hadn't worked much since the neck injury.

McMahon later struck a deal that allowed him to stay in the house.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela, and five children. A sixth child, McMahon's son Michael, died in 1995.

Reuters - Oil falls nearly 4 percent on economic outlook, dollar

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Oil falls nearly 4 percent on economic outlook, dollar

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 7:28PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $67 a barrel on Monday as the dollar firmed and concerns about the possibility of an economic rebound weighed on the market.

The World Bank said prospects for the global economy remained "unusually uncertain" as it cut 2009 growth forecasts for most economies, adding to concerns of a slower turnaround.

U.S. crude for July delivery, which expires on Monday, traded down $2.62 to settle at $66.93 a barrel. Brent crude lost $2.21 to settle at $66.98 a barrel.

"Crude and products futures fell for a second day on a bearish revision from the World Bank and on a stronger dollar," Addison Armstrong, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a research note.

The U.S. dollar gained against the euro on worries over the euro zone's economic and fiscal outlook. A stronger dollar can limit the appeal of commodities to investors.

Further weakness came as economic concerns dragged down equities. Optimism over a potential economic rebound had lifted stocks in recent months and helped push crude up from $32.40 in December.

Some support came after Nigeria's main militant group said on Sunday it had attacked three oil installations belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, widening a month-old offensive against the OPEC nation's energy industry.

Data showed implied oil demand in China, the No. 2 consumer, rose 6 percent in May over a year earlier, its fastest growth since August 2008.

Surging demand in China and other emerging economies sent oil and other commodities on a six-year rally that peaked when crude topped $147 a barrel last July.

Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards threatened to crack down on street protests in the OPEC producer after opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi called on supporters to stage more demonstrations over the disputed June 12 election.

A Reuters poll of analysts ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data forecast crude stocks in the world's top consumer fell by 1.3 million barrels last week on lower imports, while product stocks were seen rising.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly stockpile data on Tuesday, while data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration comes out on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Matthew Robinson, Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New York, Alex Lawler in London and Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Reuters - Used cars congest Indian roads as sales spike

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Used cars congest Indian roads as sales spike

Monday, Jun 15, 2009 7:18AM UTC

By Janaki Krishnan

MUMBAI (Reuters) - When Indian insurance executive K. Shankar shopped for a car, he was pleasantly surprised to discover he could buy a three-year-old SUV in near mint condition for just a bit more than a new hatchback.

"This SUV is ideal for me ... and if I can get it for the price of a much smaller new car then why not?" said Shankar.

Used car purchases are soaring in India, the world's second most populous country, as a host of global and local auto firms offer attractive trade-in deals to build customer loyalty and boost new car sales.

Many of these used vehicles are getting snapped up by people who have never owned cars before or families adding second or even third vehicles to their fleets.

With over one million cars being added to India's roads every year, experts worry the country's creaky infrastructure won't keep up with the volume of traffic, causing unbearable congestion and more traffic accidents in a country with already one of the world's worst road death tolls.

"Growth in vehicle ownership has reduced rush hour speeds to 5-10 km an hour in the central areas of major cities," the World Bank said in a recent report on India.

The number of vehicles on Indian roads has grown at an average pace of 10.2 percent annually over the last five years, it said, adding that 50 percent of roads were in a state of disrepair and only 30 percent of highways had two lanes or more.

PRE-OWNED CARS

Until recently, the used car market in India was dominated by neighbourhood dealers and roadside garage mechanics who controlled nearly 90 percent of the market, say industry experts.

But several global car makers such as Hyundai <005380.KS>, Ford <F.N> and General Motors <GM.N> have entered the market with pre-owned certified car programmes, causing used car sales to soar. India's largest vehicle maker, Tata Motors <TAMO.BO>, also entered the market earlier this year.

Local firms Maruti Suzuki <MRTI.BO> and top utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra's <MAHM.BO> were the first to spot an opportunity when they launched their pre-owned certified cars programmes more than five years ago.

The used car programmes allow customers to get new cars in exchange for their older ones at substantial discounts. These used cars are then refurbished and sold with warranties.

For auto firms, the exchange programmes are a way of building brand loyalty. For new car owners they are an opportunity to buy bigger cars at entry-level prices.

"We will be able to ensure customer loyalty and it will also reflect in the sale of new cars," said General Motors India's Vice President P. Balendran.

Most used car buyers are first-time owners or those buying additional cars for their spouses or their children, said Hormazd Sorabjee, auto expert and editor of Autocar India magazine.

According to industry estimates, in the last fiscal year ending March 2009, new passenger vehicle sales were about 1.5 million units while sales of used cars were about 1 million.

"If you look at the mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe, used car sales are in multiples of new car sales ... and that is the sort of trend we are seeing replicated in India," said Jayesh Jagasia, founder of VeriCAR, a company that inspects used cars for customers.

The growth in used cars might make life more convenient for many Indians, but it has the potential to grind life down to a halt in major cities where road infrastructure is not keeping up with the ballooning volume of traffic.

Car accidents are also a major concern. India's road toll is one of the worst in the world with around 100,000 people getting killed in road accidents in 2007 alone.

As business grows, an industry for used cars has also sprung up such as web sites advising customers on good car deals and rating used vehicles.

The financial crisis, in which India's growth has slowed to 6.7 percent in the fiscal year ended March from 9 percent a year earlier, has also been behind the growth in used car sales.

"Interest in used cars has increased over the last one year or more because of uncertainty prevalent in the market and unavailability of loans," said Umang Kumar, co-founder of Gaadi.com, a search website for used and new cars.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal and Megan Goldin)

Reuters - Goldman free of government but Buffett looms large

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Goldman free of government but Buffett looms large

Friday, Jun 19, 2009 12:45PM UTC

By Steve Eder

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Now that Goldman Sachs <GS.N> has settled its $10 billion (six billion pounds) debt with the U.S. taxpayer, investors are wondering about the Wall Street firm's other looming presence -- Warren Buffett.

Last September, shortly after Lehman Brothers <LEHMQ.PK> went bankrupt, but before the U.S. Treasury unveiled plans to bail out the banking industry, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway <BRKa.N><BRKb.N> invested $5 billion in Goldman and acquired preferred shares and warrants to buy common stock.

Goldman, which received $10 billion from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, repaid that money on Wednesday. But Buffett's presence is large, not just because of his huge investment, but also given his reputation for integrity and as one of the world's savviest investors.

So what will Buffett, the second wealthiest man in the United States, according to Forbes magazine, do?

"Basically not much," said Vahan Janjigian, author of the book 'Even Buffett Isn't Perfect.'

"He has a history of making fairly large investments in these kinds of companies and sitting back and letting the management team run the company."

Janjigian expects Buffett to sit tight as Berkshire collects $500 million of annual dividends on the preferred shares and earns paper profits on accompanying warrants to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 per share for up to five years.

Goldman closed on Thursday at $143.09, meaning Berkshire would earn more than $1 billion in profits if it cashed the common stock warrants now. That is in addition to the 10 percent preferred stock dividend, which is twice the 5 percent rate the government was getting from the TARP investment.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment and Buffett did not return a message left with his assistant seeking comment.

Despite what Goldman gave up, the Buffett deal was critical at the time, said Marshall Sonanshine, the chairman and managing partner of Sonanshine Partners.

"It was sensible when it was done, but tragic it had to be done the way it was done," said Sonanshine. "The last four months of 2008 were such an extraordinary time of fear and financial collapse one cannot realistically ask: 'Should we have? Might we have? Could we have?' The point is Goldman is a very strong franchise."

INVESTMENT PROSPECTS WERE DIM

Buffett's investment didn't always look so promising.

In November, two months after he made his move, Goldman common shares were as low as $47.44. Some doubted the wisdom of Buffett's investment and began to question his stewardship of Berkshire itself.

But Buffett stuck with Goldman through all the ups and downs -- even after his trusted investment banker, Byron Trott, announced planned to strike out on his own.

Bill Bergman, an equity analyst with Morningstar <MORN.O> in Chicago, recalled an October newspaper column in which Buffett said he planned to buy stock in U.S. companies.

"No one is noticing now that the market is above where it was when he wrote the article," Bergman said.

Bergman initially expected Goldman to be a safe and strong investment for Berkshire.

"That is what it looks like increasingly," he added.

And making the deal even sweeter, Goldman's top executives are publicly committed to protecting Buffett's investment.

In a regulatory filing in October, a group of Goldman executives, including Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, agreed not to sell more than 10 percent of their common shares in Goldman until October 2011, or until Berkshire redeems the $5 billion in preferred stock it purchased last year.

Gary Townsend, the president and chief executive of Hill- Townsend Capital LLC, said it was obvious Buffett will stick with Goldman over the long haul.

"Buffett tends to be a long-term holder," Townsend added. "I don't see him quickly leaving."

And with a deal like that, why should he?

(Reporting by Steve Eder; editing by Andre Grenon)

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Obama signs law giving FDA authority to regulate tobacco

Expressing a hope that America's teens will not be hooked as he was, President Obama just signed into law a bill granting the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new authority to regulate tobacco.

The president, shown here at the signing ceremony with lawmakers and teens representing the generation they're all trying to save, said he's trying to reduce the estimated 1,000 teenagers a day who become smokers.

"I was one of these teenagers. And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time," said Obama, who has been public about his own struggles to quit smoking.

The bill represents "the strongest action the federal government has ever taken to reduce tobacco use," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Obama said the focus is on stopping sales pitches to children.

"The kids today don't just start smoking for no reason. They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting," the presient said.

The law Obama signed aims to end that. By this fall, it will take flavored cigarettes off the market. By January, it will require tobacco manufacturers and importers to give the FDA about ingredients in their products to their products; by next April, tobacco companies will be banned from putting their logos on sporting, athletic or entertainment events or on clothing and other promotional items. By next July, the terms "light," "low" or "mild" may no longer be used to market tobacco products. By 2011, all tobacco products must carry larger and stronger warning labels.

As USA TODAY's Wendy Koch outlined in a story earlier this month, Obama's signature culminates a better-than decade-long effort by members of Congress to give the FDA regulatory power over tobacco,a product that played such an important part in the early U.S. economy that some of the pillars on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol are topped with marble facsimiles of the Golden Leaf.

The Campign for Tobacco-Free Kids says more than 1,000 organizations, including public health and faith groups, joined to support the bill, which passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate.

A bipartisan delegation of House and Senate members who helped shepherd the bill through Congress was on hand for the White House signing ceremony. Absent was the bill's chief author, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy, who remains in Massachusetts undergoing cancer treatment, issued a statement hailing passage of the "long overdue" bill and suggesting it's a promising sign for the president's efforts to overhaul the health care system.

Decade after decade, Big Tobacco has seduced millions of teenagers into lifetimes of addiction and premature death. Enactment of this legislation will finally put a stop to that. It is truly a life-saving act, and a welcome demonstration that this Congress is capable of enacting major health reform.

(Posted by Kathy Kiely)

Reuters - Dutch muggers caught on Google street view camera

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Dutch muggers caught on Google street view camera

Friday, Jun 19, 2009 5:14PM UTC

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google's online photo map service, police said.

The pair stole the 14-year-old boy's mobile phone and 165 euros ($230) in cash last September.

"The picture was taken just a moment before the crime," a police spokesman said.

In March, the victim recognized himself and the two robbers while surfing Google Maps, which has a "Street View" feature allowing users to see images of buildings. The images are usually taken by a camera mounted on a car.

After an investigation by the police, one of the 24-year-old twins confessed to robbing the boy.

($1=.7183 Euro)

(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde)

Reuters - Ericsson signs LTE patent deals

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Ericsson signs LTE patent deals

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 2:8PM UTC

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has signed its first license agreements for LTE technology patents, allowing other companies to use the technology, an Ericsson official said on Monday.

Gustav Brismark, vice president of patent strategies at Ericsson, told Reuters the firm already had more than 80 similar patent agreements in place for earlier mobile network technologies, such as GSM and WCDMA.

"The first agreements including LTE have been signed, and over time more or less all these agreements will be renegotiated to include LTE, but that will not be done in a day," he said.

LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is a new high-speed mobile network technology, intended to boost capacity in wireless networks to cope with increasing data traffic.

Ericsson invests heavily in research and development. Licensing agreements for patents is one way of capitalizing on these investments.

"We see that we are keeping our leading position as we go from GSM to WCDMA to LTE. That is important to be able to continue the strategy of having license revenues as one part of what Ericsson makes money from," Brismark said.

(Reporting by Sven Nordenstam; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)