Hollywood, D.C.

  • Radio Fight: Loophole or Performance Tax?

    For 70 years, musicians and record companies have done everything they can to get AM and FM radio stations to play their songs. Now, they want radio stations to pay them for it. In the opening salvo of what could be a contentious fight in Congress, the music industry this week introduced a bill to…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Bill Thomas: I’ve Got No Beef with Dan Glickman

    Bill Thomas, the former and formidable chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee when Republicans ran Congress, called tonight to say that, despite Washington speculation, he has no beef with Motion Picture Assn. of America President Dan Glickman. Sen. Max Baucus said on the Senate floor the other night that moviemakers were robbed of…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • House Makes It Official: Digital TV Deadline Delayed

    Read my story here.

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Still Looking for the President’s E-Mail Address?

    Fascination about President Obama’s heavily-encrypted mobile device – so guarded that he has yet to show it in public – keeps growing. As we reported here the other day, the president only got to keep his Blackberry-like device by agreeing to limit the number of his pen-pals. At the posh Alfalfa Club dinner last weekend,…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Did anti-Glickman Vendetta Torpedo Tax Break for Hollywood?

    Speculation in Washington is that Hollywood got axed last night on a $246 million tax break because of a long-simmering feud. It all started in 2004, Bill Thomas, former Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and congressman from Bakersfield, exempted moviemakers from a bill that allowed other industries to write off 50%…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Obama Stimulus Package to Include Tax Break for Movies

    Thinking of investing in a big-budget Hollywood movie but afraid to take the financial risk? Well the Obama administration’s $900 billion stimulus package could include a tax break for you. According to a list put out by House Republican leaders tonight, the massive – and growing – bill includes a $246 million tax break for…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Obama’s top secret new mobile device

    President Obama made it official over the weekend — access to his e-mail address is limited to a very small circle. As the New York Times reported yesterday, getting President Obama's e-mail address is the new status symbol in Washington. So small is the circle of insiders who get to trade e-mails with POTUS (like…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Al Gore takes Google underwater

    Ever since the contested presidential election in Florida in 2000 — when hanging chads and Supreme Court intervention kept him from victory — former Vice President Al Gore has been a political rock star in Democratic circles.  When Barack Obama conferred with Gore during the presidential transition last fall, political rumors flew that the former…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • At FCC, waiting for Genachowski

    For weeks now, word was that President Obama plans to nominate Julius Genachowski, a Harvard chum and a major player in the tech world, to chair the morale-challenged Federal Communication Commission. What's taking so long? Politics, as usual. For starters, vetting by the FBI can take time. For another, the White House wants to pair…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Symantec CEO for Commerce Sec?

    Starbucks. Target. Best Buy. IBM. Boeing. As premier brand-name American corporations continue slashing jobs across the sectors, President Obama met this morning with some of the nation’s top CEOs to discuss the ailing U.S. economy. And, as befits a tech-savvy commander in chief, quite a few of the chiefs invited to the White House have…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Darth Vader has left the Observatory

    For those who think that Dick Cheney might not really be gone — suspecting that somehow the Darth Vader of American politics might be hiding in some closet in an undisclosed location ready to infect the bureaucracy with poisonous legal memos — now comes proof that we really have moved on. It seems Google Maps…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Did Barbra Streisand’s email change Arlen Specter’s mind on Obama’s Attorney General pick?

    Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced today that he was removing his hold on the nomination of Eric Holder Jr. to be attorney general. Funny, Specter had his change of heart just after Barbra Streisand got involved in rallying fans to Holder's side. In an email to…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Inauguration Media Wars: Web vs. TV

    The New York Times reported last week that Barack Obama’s inauguration set new records for online video viewing. CNN alone, said the paper, provided more than 21.3 million streams – far ahead of the 5.3 million provided on Election Day. Broadcasters, eager not to be forgotten, responded today. In a letter to the editor, Dennis…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • California ponied up for Obama; Washington still all tingly over celeb-filled Inauguration

    Is it really true that Hollywood is in the tank for Barack Obama?  Apparently. Figures released by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics show that California led the nation in contributions to the president’s inaugural celebration. Halle Berry. Steven Spielberg. Sharon Stone. Jamie Foxx. The list goes on — Hollywood ponied up. Even more impressive, California’s…

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    Johanna Neuman

  • Positive Forecast for the Book Industry

    Amid gloomy forecasts about the industry’s future – and speculation about whether it is doomed to the same fate as one-seemed-to-fall-everyday newspapers – comes good news from the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA recently reported a survey that found American adults are reading more literature than before. “At a time of immense cultural…

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    Johanna Neuman