The news will be dominated today by the tragedy in a theater in Aurora CO. A lone gunman took the lives of 12 people and injured scores other during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. I will leave reporting of that tragedy to others better equipped to cover the story. My hope is news organizations will report facts and not fantasy or politically slanted coverage.
Meanwhile there is some news on the media front that finds resolution in two major disoputes between content providers and content distributors.
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Viacom and Direct TV have finally settled a carriage dispoute that resulted in the removal of all 17 Viacom networks from the satellite providers.
Viacom networks include MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon among its offerings to cable and satellite providers. The agreement according to Direct TV restores all 17 networks to subscribers "immediately."
Direct TV will now havee the option of offering the Epix premium movie channel. This was a major sticking point in the negotiations. Direct TV claims Viacom placed a large price on the channel. Viacom continues to claim Epix was an option oifferd to the satellite provider.
In a statement Viacom said it was "extremely pleased" that its networks were once again available to Direct TV subscribers. In other statements Direct TV continues to criticize Viacom calling Viacom's actions "unnecessary" and "ill-advised."
In a related matter, there are no further negotiations planned for a carriage dispute between Dish Network and AMC Networks. More in Multimedia News
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The ten day blackout of Hearst Television station on Time Warner Cable (TWC) systems is over.
The two parties have reach a retransmission consent agreement that will restore Hearst stations to TWC systems.
In a statement, Hearst Television said it regretted the "inconvenience" to viewers and advertisers.
Taking a page from Direct TV's playbook, TWC says the blackout was "unnecessary."
From Broadcasting & Cable
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On the political side, Democrats are weighing ending the "payroll tax holiday". The tax cut reduced the social security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. Democrats are syaing this should end along with the Bush-era tax cuts.
The combination of ending these tax cuts will cost taxpayers millions and move the country to an even deeper recession.
Members of Congress should remember that there is not a tax (revenue) problem, there is a spending problem caused by members of Congress and the current administration.
From The Hill
That's it for now.
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