MCNBRIEFS

Disney to Buy Lucasfilm

BURBANK. Calif. — The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the producer of such iconic movie franchises as Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series, for $4.05 billion in cash and stock. As part of the deal, Disney will produce three new films in the Star Wars saga, the first slated for release in 2015.

The purchase comes on the heels of Disney’s 2009 deal for Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion and its acquisition of Pixar Animation in 2006 for $7.4 billion. It gives Disney access to some of the most iconic films of the past several decades and control of one of the top post-production and special- effects firms in the movie industry, Industrial Light & Magic.

Cablevision, Tribune Reach Retrans Accord

BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Two months after it pulled its channels from more than 3 million Cablevision Systems subscribers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and parts of the West, Tribune Broadcasting reached a retransmission consent agreement with the MSO based here on Oct. 27.

Tribune had pulled its stations — WPIX (The CW) in New York; WCCT (The CW) and WTIC (Fox) in Connecticut; WPHL Philadelphia (My Network TV) in a small part of southern New Jersey; and KWGN Denver (The CW) and WGN-TV Chicago in parts of Cablevision’s Optimum West territory — in August after the companies could not agree on financial terms.