For the Record
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 5/18/2009 2:00:00 AM
Cablevision Says MSG’s Not For Sale
Bethpage, N.Y. — Cablevision Systems tried to dampen speculation about a possible sale of its MSG unit. The company last week said it is “not considering the sale of MSG, any of MSG’s businesses or any other Cablevision business at this time.
Earlier, Cablevision said its board was evaluating the possibility of spinning off MSG to Cablevision stockholders. That announcement “has resulted in speculation that has included the possible sale of MSG and/or other Cablevision and MSG businesses,” Cablevision said, so it wanted to clearly state it was not considering selling any assets at this time.
MSG assets include Madison Square Garden; the MSG and MSG Plus regional sports channels; cable channel Fuse and sports teams the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and New York Liberty.
MTV to Revive 'Unplugged’ Online
New York — MTV is resurrecting its Unplugged music performance franchise on the Web this summer with a series of exclusive monthly performances. Paramore and Kate Perry are among the artists that will be featured on Unplugged.mtv.com, beginning in June. Grammy winner Adele kick off the series on June 8, performing a six-song set in an intimate setting. In July, Silversun Pickups make their Unplugged debut.
MTV viewers will also see select performance clips and behind-scenes footage. MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits, MTV Jams and MTV Tr3s will air select performances and footage.
Memorable MTV Unplugged performances among the more than 100 recorded since 1989 include ones by Nirvana, Alicia Keys and Eric Clapton.
Dish Gets CMT 'Invitation’ Exclusives
Nashville — Dish Network gets exclusive first-run rights to several episodes of CMT’s country-music series Invitation Only beginning in June as per a distribution deal the two companies announced last Monday.
Six episodes of the performance series will premiere on Dish Network’s “CMT Front Row Only on Dish Network” block on channel 101, in HD and on demand. New episodes premiere the first Tuesday of each month, beginning June 2 with Darius Rucker. Dish also gets content from CMT Crossroads and the June 16 CMT Music Awards.
