BMG nears $90M deal for Sony/ATV song catalog

BMG Rights is close to a deal for Sony/ATV’s Rosetta music publishing catalog, several sources told The Post.

One executive said the music publishing firm had offered around $90 million for the rights to some 30,000 songs.

Rosetta is packed with ’80s hits from acts such as Tears for Fears, Culture Club and Devo, along with British songstress Duffy’s “Mercy.”

Sony/ATV, a joint venture of Sony Music and the estate of Michael Jackson, agreed to sell the catalog to win European Union approval for its $2.2 billion purchase of EMI’s publishing arm.

BMG Rights is backed by German media giant Bertelsmann and private-equity firm KKR.

AP

Duffy

Other bidders for the catalog included Warner Music Group and G2 Investment Group, as well as Saban Capital, Canada’s Ole and Paris indie Because Music.

A spokesman for Sony ATV couldn’t be reached.

catkinson@nypost.com

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Carnival fourth-quarter profits tumble

MIAMI (AP) – Cruise operator Carnival Corp. said Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income tumbled 57 percent, hurt by lower ticket prices and higher fuel costs.

Despite the drop, the results beat Wall Street predictions. But the Miami-based company issued a lower-than-expected profit prediction for the full year, and its shares fell 6 percent in morning trading.

Cruise line operators entered 2012 thinking they could start charging passengers more again after offering widespread discounts following the 2007-2009 recession. But just two weeks into the year, 32 people died when Carnival’s Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy. Bookings slumped even as cruise companies lowered prices.

For the quarter ended Nov. 30, Carnival earned $93 million, or 12 cents per share, down from $217 million, or 28 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Excluding one-time items, the company, which operates Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Lines, said it posted an adjusted profit of 13 cents per share.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $3.58 billion from $3.7 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 11 cents per share on $3.49 billion in revenue, according to a FactSet poll.

Carnival’s revenue yields, which measure the amount a cruise company makes from its passengers after removing expenses, fell 4.5 percent, but were better than the 5 to 6 percent drop the company projected in September. In addition, fuel prices rose 5.4 percent to $716 per metric ton, but weren’t as high as the $739 per metric ton the company expected.

Those factors helped offset an increase in operating costs, resulting in the better-than-expected quarterly results, the company said.

For the full year, Carnival earned $1.3 billion, or $1.67 per share, down from $1.91 billion, or $2.42 per share, in the previous fiscal year. Revenue fell to $15.38 billion from $15.79 billion.

Carnival said that over the past six weeks, booking volumes for the first three quarters of this year were about the same as they were at the same time last year, with slightly lower prices. But overall advance bookings for 2013 continue to trail levels a year ago at slightly lower prices, the company said.

Carnival said it currently expects full year 2013 net revenue yields, excluding the effects of currency exchange rates, to rise between 1 and 2 percent. The yields are expected to decline 2 to 3 percent in the first quarter, but then improve sequentially during the rest of the year as ticket prices and occupancy for the North American brands and Costa recover.

Taking those expectations into account, Carnival projected an adjusted 2013 profit of $2.20 to $2.40 per share. Analysts had expected $2.47 per share.

The company also projected a fiscal first-quarter profit of 3 to 7 cents per share, while analysts expect a profit of 5 cents per share.

Carnival shares fell $2.15, or 6 percent, to $36.91 in morning trading.

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New poll: Many Florida voters say they wouldn’t re-elect Scott as governor

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott continues to suffer from poor approval ratings despite an improving economy and lowering unemployment, and a majority of voters say they wouldn’t vote to re-elect him, a new poll shows.

The poll found, among other things, that many voters are crediting the Obama administration with an improving economy, rather than Scott.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Florida voters disapprove by 45-36 percent of the job Scott is doing, and 52 percent said he doesn’t deserve a second term, compared to just 30 percent who told pollsters Scott should be re-elected.

The poll also found that 55 percent of voters — including 53 percent of Republicans — say they’d like another Republican to challenge Scott for the GOP nomination in 2014.

Republican voters do give Scott a positive 63-19 percent job approval rating, however, and GOP voters say by a 55-26 percent margin that he deserves a second term.

“Obviously, the governor has almost two years to go until the election and anything is possible, but he faces a herculean task in changing public opinion to his favor,” said Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown.

Scott, who has struggled with negative approval ratings since being elected in 2010, plans to seek re-election next year. The only declared candidate challenging him is Democratic former state Sen. Nan Rich. Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who is now a Democrat, is considering a run, and Democrat Alex Sink, who narrowly lost to Scott in 2010, is thought to be mulling a rematch.

Crist, who was governor as a Republican from 2007 to 2011 and lost a bid as an independent in 2010 for the U.S. Senate, has a 47 percent favorable rating and 33 percent unfavorable mark among all voters, according to the Quinnipiac poll. His favorability among Democrats is 65 percent and among independents is 48 percent, but only 28 percent of Republicans have a favorable view of Crist, compared to 56 percent who have an unfavorable view.

Crist on Wednesday said he has no timetable for deciding whether to run for governor. Of Scott’s poor rating he said, “I would attribute the downturn to this voting issue,” meaning the election law Scott signed that is still controversial.

Asked what factors he would use to decide, he said: “I love my state and my heart bleeds for the people of Florida right now. I think we can do better with education in our state, with the environment in our state. …”

Sink overall is viewed favorably by just 27 percent of voters and unfavorably by 14 percent, but 57 percent of respondents didn’t have an opinion.

Among four other possible Democratic challengers the poll asked about — Rich, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and South Florida businessman and former lawmaker Jack Seiler — none has a favorability score of more than 17 percent and the overwhelming number of respondents said they didn’t know enough about them to have an opinion.

The only other Republican the pollsters tested was Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, thought by many to be a likely candidate for governor in the future. But 80 percent of voters don’t have an opinion currently about Putnam, a longtime former Congressman and former state legislator.

Respondents said they dislike Scott’s policies by 52 percent to 32 percent, though nearly half of voters say they’re at least somewhat satisfied with the way things are going in Florida — the highest so far during Scott’s term. The poll didn’t ask specifically what policies voters don’t like.

Scott has staked his success on creating jobs, and has been able to boast about a falling unemployment rate for several months. Florida’s jobless rate fell in October to 8.5 percent, its lowest level since December 2008, and non-farm employment has grown for more than 27 straight months. When Scott got elected, unemployment in the state was at 12 percent, so he has made good to some degree on his main promise of getting people back to work.

Pollsters found, however, that many voters are crediting the Obama administration with the improving economy. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said the president deserves “a lot” of the credit for the improving economy, to just 16 percent who think Scott deserves “a lot” of the credit. Similarly, though, those voters who believe the economy is getting worse, overwhelmingly blame Obama rather than Scott.

The poll also found a 52-30 percent approval rating for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, and a 51-31 percent approval rating for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat. The Legislature, generically, is seen negatively by 44 percent of respondents with just 35 percent approving of lawmakers on the whole.

The poll included 1,261 registered voters and was taken Dec. 11-17. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

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Tina Fey Amy Poehler Golden Globes Commercial Second

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are back with their second Golden Globes promo and for the second time, it's funnier than most comedies Hollywood released all year.

VIDEO - Fey & Poehler Auction Off Friendship

In it, they make several promises as to what the evening will be: splendid, wondrous, clever, drunken and that's just the red carpet!

The Golden Globes will air January 13 at 8 p.m. on NBC.

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'Golden Eagle Snatches Kid' video probably a fake

A video of a purported golden eagle swooping from the skies of Montreal to snatch a toddler off the ground flew its way across the internet this morning, instantly becoming a viral sensation.

But on closer review, the video, which has over one million views on YouTube already, is full of clues that might lead you to believe it is a fake.

The eagle-eyed viewers should notice the first clue in within seconds of the 1 minute video when the right wing of the bird appears to get cut in half only for it to reappear fully feathered an instant later.

YouTube

The eagle's wing appears to have been clipped.

If that's not enough to convince you, skip ahead to the eleventh second of the video as the bird is half way through it's dive bomb attack.

At first you can see pedestrians and trees on the ground with shadows to the left of their bodies, but the bird's shadow is conspiciously absent only for it to appear as if by magic a moment later.

YouTube

The purported eagle is above the man's right shoulder, but has no corresponding shadow on the ground.

YouTube

A moment later and a shadow for the eagle appears on the ground.

The final clue comes from the fact that the video is the first to be uploaded by user MrNuclearCat, a bad sign in the world of YouTube, and that Montreal is one of the digital effects capitals of the world.

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Stone-crab season suffers in the Keys

Despite rocketing prices for stone-crab claws, many Florida Keys commercial fishermen have nearly given up on the season only 2 months old.

"We may see record prices but also record pain," said Gary Graves, general manager of Keys Fisheries in Marathon. "Prices don't mean anything if you can't catch anything."

Harvests since shortly after the season opening Oct. 15 have been "as bad as I can remember during my 45 years in the business," Graves said. "It's just bleak."

Keys Fisheries, one of the state's leading wholesalers for stone crabs, has laid off half of its production staff, maybe 20 people, Graves said.

"We hate to do it to our people but we're probably not finished," he said. "Right now, a big day for us is 1,000 pounds [of claws]. It should be around 15,000 pounds. We're doing nothing."

Keys Fisheries has raised its dockside prices paid to fishermen several times to encourage fishermen to keep their traps in the water.

Graves said it costs a fisherman about $1,200 in fuel, labor and other expenses to make a day's trip. The fish house's current prices are $9 per pound for medium-size claws and $17 per pound for the coveted jumbos.

"Our wholesale sales prices are higher than that and retail is through the roof," Graves said. "But we can't fill the orders we have."

A Marathon community group recently canceled the organization's annual stone crab feast for members because no claws were to be found.

The season runs until May 15.

Last season, Monroe County produced about 1.1 million pounds of legal-size claws, accounting for a large portion of Florida's total 2.67 million-pound harvest worth an estimated $23.6 million to the commercial fleet.

About 1,000 people statewide are licensed to fish traps for stone crabs. Only the claws are kept. Historically, stone-crab harvests have topped three million pounds of claws.

"The last two years were good and the recruitment looked normal," Graves said. "The first round of trap pulling was fine but it went downhill from there — like falling off a cliff."

Fishermen and researchers are baffled.

"Blame it on global warming, blame it on BP [Deepwater Horizon oil spill], blame it on Mother Nature," Graves said. "Everybody's got an idea but nobody can say why. It's probably a combination of a bunch of things."

News reports from stone-crab fleets farther up the Florida Gulf Coast suggest an octopus population explosion. Crabs are a favorite food of octopus, which are smart enough to get into traps.

"We've seen more octopus in the 6- to 8-pound range, which is abnormal," Graves said. State experts have suggested warm winters may have triggered the octopus boom.

"Things could turn around," Graves said, "but realistically the chances of it happening this season are slim."

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WWII vet to receive French Legion of Honor

Hal Lobree was an 18-year-old radio operator with the U.S. Army’s 106th Infantry Division, less than three weeks into his deployment to war-ravaged Europe, when Adolf Hitler launched a surprise blitzkrieg that would later be known as the Battle of the Bulge.

From his post in a farmhouse cellar in the town of St. Vith, Belgium, Lobree frantically connected calls from the front to the various commanding officers. Each was more desperate, as the Germans encircled and cut off U.S. forces.

“They’re on top of us!”

“We’re outmanned!”

“I can see them coming!”

As the radio calls ceased and casualties began to mount — it turned into the bloodiest battle U.S. forces experienced during World War II, with 19,000 American dead — Lobree and three others from his regimen fell back into the woods. They hid there until they were rescued by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer truck.

Lobree would spend the rest of the war with another Army outfit, the 28th Infantry Division, attached to Gen. George Patton’s Third Army, as it chased the Germans through northern France and into eastern Germany. Lobree never again saw any of the 106th Infantry guys who had trained with him in Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and then fought in the Ardennes, the dense forest and mountain region that extends through Belgium, Luxembourg and France.

“What saved my life was one thing – I was a switchboard operator,” he recalls with a rueful shake of the head.

Now, almost seven decades after those frigid, snowy December days in 1943, Lobree will be presented with the French Legion of Honor on Wednesday at a ceremony in Surfside, along with a handful of other South Florida World War II veterans. It’s not the only honor the 1943 graduate of Miami Beach High has received for his service during the war. He was also awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Achievement in Ground Operations Against the Enemy in 1948.

In what Lobree calls “a happy coincidence,” one of his sons, Shawn Lobree, a senior captain with the U.S. Navy, will receive an honor of his own. Within hours of the French Legion ceremony, on the deck of the U.S.S Peleliu somewhere in the Arabian Sea, the younger Lobree will be installed as Commodore of the Third Amphibious Squadron of the U.S. Navy, in charge of a fleet of ships.

“As that 18-year-old in the army 69 years ago, I would’ve never figured on something like this happening.”

The elder Lobree says he’s “very pleased, very proud” of his son’s 26-year Naval career. But he’s not surprised. Shawn, like his older brother H.Baird and his twin brother Shawl, were champion sailors in their youth, winning multiple Florida state titles and national championships.

Lobree loves talking about his children’s feats and only reluctantly talks about his own. The French Legion award prompted him to dig out photos and other memorabilia.

“See that?” he says, pointing to a black scrapbook. “It was gathering dust until all this happened.” In it are photos, magazine and newspaper clippings, calendars and ticket stubs that chronicle a long, eventful life.

After the war, Lobree attended the University of Texas on the G.I. bill and graduated to a job in the oil industry as a petroleum geologist in Indiana. There he married and had four children before moving back to his hometown 42 years ago.

Two of those children remain in Miami — daughter Fleur, a Miami-Dade County Court judge, and son H. Baird, a professional management and information technology consultant — and will attend the Dec. 19 ceremony. In February, Fleur Lobree will be elevated to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit by Gov. Rick Scott.

Jeannine, his wife of 51 years, died in July. “She would’ve loved seeing all this,” he says.

And though he appreciates the war honors, he also admits that dredging up the memories can be painful. “War changes you,” he says. “You’re never the same again.”

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Kristen Stewart I Apologize To Everyone For Making Them So Angry

Getting noticed in Hollywood is the toughest task facing every fledgling actor and every A-lister will tell you countless stories about the times they almost quit the business. Kristen Stewart did just that during a new interview with Newsweek, recounting the make or break audition that ultimately put her on the path to stardom.

RELATED - Kristen Auctions Gown Off For Charity

After being discovered during a school play, Stewart and her mother (Jules Mann-Stewart) drove from audition to audition with no luck. "I decided a year after not getting any commercials, 'F*ck it. I won't make my mom drive around Los Angeles anymore,'" Stewart says.

"I also got so nervous for every single audition. I was just dying. I had one appointment left and my mom said, 'Have a little integrity and go to your last one.' And it was The Safety of Objects. If I hadn't gotten that, I would have been done."

PHOTOS - Kristen & Rob's Style Showdown

One wonders if Stewart wished her cinematic journey ended all those years ago, as her high profile status led to one of the most memorable celebrity scandals of 2012. "It's not a terrible thing if you're either loved or hated," she says now, 5-months removed from the situation. "But honestly, I don't care 'cause it doesn't keep me from doing my sh*t. And I apologize to everyone for making them so angry. It was not my intention."

In the end, Stewart says she learned a lot from that experience -- particularly not to let the public dictate decisions made in her personal life. "It's a little annoying having to be so compartmentalized," she says. "I go from box to box to box. But I'm going out a lot more now. I was starting to get closed off and self-conscious, and I'm trudging forth into the world more often."

RELATED - Anatomy of K. Stew's Style

With Bella Swan and all those heartbreak headlines behind her, Stewart is endlessly excited about what the future holds. "The only relief when it comes to Twilight is that the story is done. I start every project to finish the motherfu*ker, and to extend that [mentality] over a five-year period adapting all of these treasured moments over four books, it was constantly worrying. But as long as people's perspective of me doesn't keep me from doing what I want to do, it doesn't matter."

For more from Kristen Stewart's Newsweek interview, click here!

PHOTOS - Kristen Stewart and Other Stars' First Nude Scenes

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Merry Christmas, America-Haters?

When TNT was preparing its annual special “Christmas in Washington” with the president of the United States, you’d think the last star musician they would consider to join the official caroling would be Psy, the South Korean rapper. What on Earth is Christmasy about this man’s invisible-horse-riding dance to his dorky disco-rap hit “Gangnam Style”? It’s not exactly the natural flip-side to “O Holy Night.” But TNT couldn’t resist this year’s YouTube sensation.

This inane publicity stunt backfired when the website Mediaite reported on Dec. 7 that Psy (real name: Park Jae-sang) had participated in a 2002 protest in which he crushed a model of an American tank with a microphone stand. But that’s nothing compared to the footage of a 2004 performance after a Korean missionary was slaughtered by Islamists in Iraq. These lyrics cannot be misunderstood.

“Kill those f—-ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives … Kill those f—-ing Yankees who ordered them to torture … Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers … Kill them all slowly and painfully.”

This isn’t just anti-American. It’s anti-human.

Guess where this story first surfaced in the American media? CNN, from the same corporate family tree as TNT. It was posted back on Oct. 6 on CNN’s iReport, an open-source online news feature that allows users to submit stories for CNN consideration.

The Korean one-hit wonder put out the usual abject careerist apology, but he weirdly said, “I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted.” Those darn lyrics and those darn people who misinterpret lyrics about killing Yankees’ mothers. It is like Barack Obama expressing regret for the awful things said about Susan Rice, ignoring the awful things said by Susan Rice.

Psy is now a millionaire. As Jim Treacher wrote at the Daily Caller: “So far he’s made over $ 8 million from the song, about $ 3 million of it from the people he once wanted to kill.” Brad Schaeffer at Big Hollywood noted his own father fought for South Korea’s independence in the Korean War: “Had it not been for ‘f——-g Yankees’ like my Dad, this now-wealthy South Korean wouldn’t be ‘Oppan Gangnam Style’ so much as ‘Starving Pyongyang Style.’” (Gangnam is a posh district in the South Korean capital of Seoul.)

Despite the controversy, neither the Obama White House nor the TNT brass felt it was necessary to send Psy packing before the Dec. 9 taping. On Saturday, ABC reporter Muhammad Lila merely repeated, “the White House says the concert will go on and that President Obama will attend, saying that they have no control over who performs at that concert.”

What moral cowardice. On Monday morning, another pliant publicist, NBC correspondent Peter Alexander, calmly relayed that the White House did take control on the Psy front — on its own “We The People” website, where the people may post petitions to the president for their fellow citizens to sign. A petition asking Obama to dump Psy from the Christmas concert was itself dumped. Alexander explained: “But that petition was removed because the rules say the petitions only apply to federal actions. And, of course, the President had no say over who the private charity chose to invite.”

This is double baloney. The White House hasn’t removed silly “federal action” petitions like the one asking to “Nationalize the Twinkie Industry,” or one to “Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.” They removed one that they didn’t want people to sign.

As for Obama having “no say over” who appeared on the TNT show, the president could easily declare he wasn’t going to share a stage with this America-hater. Or he could have obviously placed one phone call to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes (an Obama donor), and expressed the dismay of the President of the United States.

Instead, the Obamas came and honored Psy. Yes, the president honored a man who despised America enough to want its citizens slaughtered.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting and Cable magazine observed, “At the end of the taping, when the First Family customarily shakes hands and talks briefly with the performers, the First Lady gave Psy a hug, followed by a handshake from the President, who engaged Psy in a short, animated discussion — at one point Psy appeared to rock back with laughter — and patted the singer on the shoulder.”

I never thought I’d ever view a Christmas special featuring a hideous hater of America celebrated by the President of the United States.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

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Paula Broadwell online stalking probe dropped

The Justice Department is dropping its investigation into whether David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, stalked a romantic rival online.

Broadwell's lawyer, Robert Muse, gave The Associated Press a letter from U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill that says no federal charges will be brought in Florida related to "alleged acts of cyberstalking."

A retired general, Petraeus resigned as CIA director in November after acknowledging the extramarital affair, which was exposed after Broadwell emailed Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, allegedly warning Kelley to stay away from Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

AP

Gen. Davis Petraeus, left, with mistress and co-author Paula Broadwell.

Kelley reported the emails to the FBI, triggering an investigation that led the FBI to Kelley's emails to the married Allen, who is now under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

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