Sky Italia wins fight with ratings agency

ROME -- Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia paybox has won vindication in a landmark ruling by Italy's anti-trust authority, which has slapped a whopping $2.3 million fine on the country's ratings compiler Auditel, claiming it favored generalist rivals Mediaset and RAI, slanting the playing field in Italy. Italy's new competition watchdog, installed after the recent fall of former premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, who controls Mediaset, has claimed Sky Italia the victor in a protracted dispute with Auditel, pointing out several anti-competitive practices. These include a systematic refusal to release daily ratings for single channels, aggregated according to each platform (such as digital, satellite and web), and also a refusal to provide data for smaller digital channels, such as News Corp.'s free DTT station, called Cielo. These practices have "strongly limited growth potential for broadcasters looking to erode ratings of generalist channels by diversifying their programming, based on audience behavior," Sky Italia said in a statement. Furthermore Auditel, which is Italy's single ratings compiler "guaranteed an advantage to its main shareholders (RAI and Mediaset)." Earlier this week, previous to the favorable ruling, Sky called for an overhaul of Italy's ratings system, pointing to Auditel's monopoly position and the key data it provides making it all the more necessary for its to fulfil its role "in line with international best practice, with absolute transparency and non-discrimination." Auditel defended the correctness of its practices and announced it will file an appeal. Contact Nick Vivarelli at nvivarelli@gmail.com

'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Rio P Janeiro Premiere Live: Watch Tom Cruise and Company Storm South usa (VIDEO)

Your mission -- if you choose to just accept it -- is always to watch the Brazilian premiere of 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' at 4 p.m. EST the next at Moviefone. Available for your festivities: Tom Cruise, the cast and crew of 'MI4' and Tiesto, a Nederlander DJ who certainly are undertaking a remix in the 'Mission: Impossible' theme song. Fans can also be treated with a brand new clips as well as the dulcet tones of thousands of screaming Rio P Janeiro people entertaining on Mr. Cruise. Watch the premiere below beginning at 4 p.m. EST. 'Ghost Protocol' involves IMAX theaters on Friday it screens across the country from a couple of days. [Photo: Vital] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

SAG Awards TV: 'Modern Family' Leads Nominations, 'Homeland' Snubbed

The first teaser for The Dictator starts out with clips of some of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among other leaders, talking about the tyrant who must be stopped.our editor recommendsMegan Fox Joins Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' (Exclusive)Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' (First Look) That tyrant, General Aladeen, is played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who puts on the garb and a serious beard to portray an evil ruler of a fictional third-world country who is exiled to the U.S. The film is clearly a thinly veiled satire of the infamous and often strange behavior of certain leaders, including the late Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi. FIRST LOOK PHOTO: Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' The film, which is also directed by Cohen, is inspired by the novel Zabibah and The King by Saddam Hussein. What else does the trailer show? A terrorist joke about the Empire State Building by John C. Reilly. A run-by-shooting on a track field. And sex with Megan Fox. In one of the funniest snippets, Fox is paid for sex with a handful of gems. PHOTOS: Sacha Baron Cohan and other Golden Globes Most Memorable Moments "What's this? A ruby? Is that a joke? What am I, a Kardashian?" she says. "No of course not, you're much less hairy," responds Cohen's character. The film, co-written by Cohen, is currently set for a May 11, 2012, release. Kim Kardashian Megan Fox Sacha Baron Cohen The Dictator John C Reilly

Angelina Jolie Accused of Pilfering Blood and Honey

A Croatian author has filed a lawsuit suit accusing Angelina Jolie of lifting parts of his 2007 novel for her writing-directing effort In the Land of Blood and Honey, basically arguing that the female protagonist in both works is subject to “being raped continuously by soldiers and officers” before becoming “a servant at the camp headquarters, a duty assumed by very few of the captives.” Having seen Blood and Honey, I can tell you this isn’t even an especially accurate description of the film or the context of the woman’s servitude, but hey. No such thing as bad publicity, etc. etc. [Radar]

Hulu, The brand new the new sony strike 'Community' syndie deal

Hulu has acquired exclusive rights to all or any three seasons of 'Community.'Hulu has struck a deal using the new the new sony Pictures Television to produce the three seasons of "Community" exclusively towards the subscription service. Pact could make Hulu Along with the home for next-day utilization of current episodes within the third season effective immediately, additionally to where you can both previous seasons. Financial the offer were not revealed. The sale can be a surprise development for your fighting NBC comedy, which recently had its placed on the primetime schedule dropped for your midseason. 5 most recently broadcast cases of "Community" are actually around the free Hulu site right before the sale along with other primetime NBC series. The sitcom is actually popular round the service, where comedies like "Family Guy" have extended been the finest audience driver. The "Community" purchase signifies the continuing growth and development of subscription VOD generally new arena inside the distribution marketplace, where rivals including Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon . com . com Prime you will need to invest exclusive right as a means of distinguishing companies largely awash in commoditized content. This isn't Hulu Plus' first digital distribution deal. The service paid out Debmar-Mercury for exclusive rights for the entire run in the Fox series "Hell's Kitchen" in June. A notable difference using this deal is always that while "Kitchen" had limited distribution value becoming an unscripted production, "Community" influences scripted half-hour mold that could fetch lots of money from local stations or cable systems inside the traditional aftermarket, in which the new the new sony retains freedom to promote the series. However, the ratings struggles "Community" has experienced since its beginning may very well make its conventional distribution purchase challenging. An infusion of dollars now may help The brand new the new sony shoulder the cost from the show. Hulu could finish off an advertising and marketing platform for your series, where audiences who missed on earlier episodes could become popular whatever they missed and be incentivized to consider new episodes on NBC. Netflix has showed up its share of digital distribution exclusives including AMC series "Mad Males" and "The Walking Dead." Hulu has furthermore looked overseas for exclusive TV rights, getting upset up British series in June including "Misfits," "Whites" and "The Booth within the Finish." Contact Andrew Wallenstein at andrew.wallenstein@variety.com

Alice Eve Joins 'Star Trek 2,' Particulars Emerge On Del Toro Character

A completely new report from Variety claims that J.J. Abrams has added Alice Eve for the choice for "The Exorcist 2." In line with the article, Eve may have a personality not used to the "Star WarsInch cannon, rather one fans understand from either the first series or perhaps the films. Eve apparently outshine Teresa Palmer and Hayley Atwell to participate the sci-fi follow-up, that's scheduled to begin shooting early next season. While Eve's deal has not been formally inked, the jury remains on whether Benicio del Toro will join the cast since the villain. Word showed up in this area captured that Abrams wanted del Toro to battle the role, but particulars round the character have ongoing to become entirely mysterious. Now, the number report offers the first potential word round the character del Toro could eventually play. This content cites someone close to production, who claims the villain might be someone familiar to longtime fans in the series. This only fuels early speculation the villain could be either Kahn within the original film's follow-up or possibly a Klingon. Another new detail to depart Variety will be a brief mention of the another character being cast the insider describes as "another villain, someone who's older too as with really a supporting character to del Toro." The particulars, while scant, open a whole lot of possible speculation. Many of the Abrams-typical secrecy has ornamented this project from every position, though production finally beginning to improve, the quantity of secrets and the way very they're protected will ultimately skyrocket. Who would you like to see Alice Eve play in "The Exorcist 2"? Inform us inside the comments below and also on Twitter!