Siriusly: Fox wants
Howard Stern for 'Idol'
Other shorts: Brangelina sues over bogus breakup story
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 9, 2010
Siriusly: Fox wants Howard Stern for 'Idol'
Howard Stern says yes, he is indeed being wooed by "American Idol" producers, in language that he'd have to tone down if he does make the jump to broadcast television. "There’s not a better job on the planet than judging that f*^%ing karaoke contest," Stern told his Sirius XM Radio listeners yesterday, confirming a report last week from the New York Post's Page Six that "Idol" wants him to replace the departing Simon Cowell. Stern said he's considering the gig but would have to get paid a lot of money "because I already make a ton of dough," a rumored $100 million per year, equal to what "Idol" producers reportedly offered Cowell to stay on. Producers need to replace Cowell's acid tongue, and there's no arguing that Stern can be just as biting, if more raunchy than acerbic. His contract with Sirius XM expires at year's end. Still, there's certainly the question of whether Stern could rein in his bawdy humor after four years of saying whatever the %#^@ he wants on satellite, or Fox would face the wrath of the Federal Communications Commission. When he moved to satellite, Stern hailed it as a new frontier for comedy and pledged he would not return to the strictures of broadcast airwaves again.
Brangelina sues Brits over bogus breakup story
Usually press-shy couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a big show of cuddling up in front of reporters at Sunday's Super Bowl in Miami, apparently aiming to lay to rest rumors of their split. The next day they made an even stronger move to quell those whispers: They're suing the News of the World, the paper that fueled literally hundreds of Brangelina breakup stories on the web and in print over the past few weeks by alleging in a Jan. 24 story that the two had called it quits. A lawyer for Jolie and Pitt called the story "false and intrusive." The case is being pursued in the High Court in London after the weekly tabloid refused the couple's demand to print a retraction. The story claimed that the two, who are not married but have been together six years and have six children, were meeting with a divorce lawyer to divvy up their estate and reach a custody agreement. The lawyer says he's never even met the couple.
ANA study: TV ad budgets will stay flat in 2010
If advertisers had their way, the TV advertising landscape would look a lot different. TV ad budgets are expected to remain flat this year, according to a survey from the Association of National advertisers and Forrester Research, and one reason is advertisers feel the medium could use some improvement. The study of more than 100 advertisers found that 62 percent think TV ads are less effective than they were two years ago, and 69 percent would prefer fewer ads per commercial pod. Almost all respondents said they think the TV industry needs new audience metrics and 82 percent would be interested in ratings for individual commercials. Advertisers want their TV ads to be more targeted, but they don’t necessarily want to pay for it; 78 percent said they’d like the ability to target consumers more precisely, but just 59 percent said they’d pay a premium for it. Overall, according to the survey, the percentage of ad budgets devoted to TV has slipped. Respondents reported using 41 percent of their media budgets on TV last year, down from 58 percent in 2008.
On Valentine's Day, 1 in 5 choose pet over people
For most, Valentine’s Day is about sparkling wine and flowers, but there are also a good number of folks who’d just as soon snuggle up with Sparkles the cat. Twenty-one percent of adults would rather spend Valentine’s Day with their pet than their spouse, according to a poll by Reuters/Ipsos, which surveyed 24,000 people across 23 countries. The poll found this attitude most common in Turkey, where 49 percent said they’d choose their pet over their spouse, followed by India (41 percent), Japan (30 percent), China (29 percent) and, yes, the U.S. (27 percent). On the flip side, just 10 percent of people in France said their pet would be a more appealing date than their spouse on Feb. 14, the lowest of any country. Overall, younger people were more likely to choose their pets over their human spouses; 25 percent of those under age 35 said they’d do so, compared to 18 percent of 35-54s and 14 percent of the 55-plus crowd. Also, 24 percent of those with lower incomes preferred their pet to their spouse, versus 20 percent of those with middle or higher incomes.
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