Starz will face new, challenging world as public company

Pay-TV channel Starz is trying to chart a new orbit.

Early next year, its parent company, Liberty Media, plans to spin off the premium network and its sister channel Encore into a new, stand-alone, publicly traded company.

Such a move would normally be cause for celebration. But for Starz, the separation comes amid uncertainty.

Its track record producing original shows has been mixed. The market is getting increasingly crowded not only from Starz's traditional competitors, HBO and Showtime, but also from new rivals including Netflix, Amazon and Redbox. And, starting in 2017, the network will lose one of its key suppliers of movies — Walt Disney Studios — to Netflix.

"It's an interesting time for Starz," said Matthew Harrigan, a media analyst with Wunderlich Securities. "Losing those Disney movies makes life a little more difficult, and it becomes even more important for them to create successful original programming."

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Liberty Media is spinning off Starz in part to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Companies mentioned by analysts as possible suitors include Comcast Corp., parent of Universal Pictures. Other deep-pocketed prospective buyers could be News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc. HBO and Showtime probably would face anti-trust issues if either of them made a run at Starz.

The shift also raises the stakes for Starz and its chief executive, Chris Albrecht, who has been given the task of building an original programming pipeline. Albrecht, who joined Starz nearly three years ago, has the experience. As the former head of HBO, he was a key architect of that network's success by helping nurture such culture-defining hits as "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos."

Achieving those heights again, this time at Starz, has proved more elusive. Starz made a splash with its gladiator series "Spartacus," but another high-profile drama, "Boss," about a corrupt Chicago mayor played by Kelsey Grammer ("Frasier"), failed to deliver ratings to match its critical acclaim. "Boss" was canceled after two seasons. Last year's "Camelot," about a young King Arthur, started strong but then fell on its sword.

Starz, which has 20.8 million subscribers in the U.S., has spent the last few years playing catch-up. The network began developing original dramas much later than industry leaders HBO and Showtime, and also lags behind basic cable channels FX, AMC and USA Network.

At the same time, the availability of movies through other venues has increased dramatically, and film fans can just as easily get their fix by buying or renting DVDs — online or at supermarket kiosks — or through Internet streaming services. That makes the need for strong original content even greater.

Starz executives declined to comment for this story, citing the "quiet period" mandated by regulators before the public stock offering.

Hollywood movie studios have a strong incentive to protect the premium channels, which have long served as their unofficial ATMs. The channels, including HBO, Starz and Showtime, spit out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to movie studios in exchange for the first-run TV rights to recent releases. The fees — which can approach $30 million for a single blockbuster film — have helped studios turn deficits into profits for many movies.

The parent companies of HBO (Time Warner), Showtime (CBS Corp.) and Starz (Liberty Media), also have long collected hundreds of millions of dollars each year in profit from the channels in distribution fees from cable and satellite operators. According to consulting firm SNL Kagan, Starz and sister channel Encore this year will generate revenue of $1.34 billion and $414 million in cash flow, a metric similar to operating income.

Just a few years ago, Starz trailed HBO as the No. 2 movie channel in terms of distribution. But it has since been surpassed by Showtime. The CBS Corp. network has staged a string of hits including "Weeds," the serial killer drama "Dexter," the pill-popping dark comedy "Nurse Jackie" and its latest hit, the terrorist thriller "Homeland," which this fall won the Emmy for TV's best drama.

According to SNL Kagan, Showtime has 21 million subscribers and 2012 revenue of $1.6 billion. Cash flow for Showtime and its sister channels TMC and Flix should approach $690 million combined for this year. Showtime's programming expenses are slightly less because it ended its relationships with movie studios several years ago.

"Showtime has been doing something similar [to Starz] with their strategy, but they have programming that people are talking about," said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said. "The question is how does Starz stack up?"

Its shows have largely failed to attract the buzz that can drive subscriptions and ratings. "Spartacus" was Starz's most popular show, averaging more than 5 million viewers an episode during the third season when viewing on all platforms was counted. "Magic City," the channel's stylistic drama about Miami gangsters in the 1950s, averaged 3.1 million viewers an episode when it debuted this year, while "Boss" collared just 2.2 million an episode.

Starz is betting heavily on its lineup for next two years, which includes the second season of "Magic City" and the new prospects "Da Vinci's Demons," a drama about Leonardo's early days from David S. Goyer, a co-writer of the "Dark Knight Rises" film trilogy, and "Black Sails," a swashbuckling adventure from "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" filmmaker Michael Bay.

The company this year is spending about $692 million on programming, with four-fifths of that amount earmarked for buying products from Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to SNL Kagan, which said Starz spends less than $100 million annually creating original series.

"They still need the movies to fill their schedule, but at the same time Starz needs some unique programs to define the channel," said Deana Myers, an SNL Kagan television analyst. "It's not an easy market to get into because a lot of other networks are doing original productions."

Although Starz will continue to receive the Disney movies for three years, the eventual loss puts pressure on the company to keep Sony as a supplier beyond 2016, when the parties' current arrangement ends. The loss of Disney movies and the coming end of the Sony contract could also complicate the picture as Starz tries to attract a new owner.

Potential suitor Viacom already has a presence in the premium channel business. The parent of Paramount Pictures teamed in 2009 with two other studios, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., to launch the movie service Epix. The upstart has struggled to make distribution deals with leading cable and satellite TV systems. That could make a merger between Epix and Starz enticing. Given that Epix is not nearly as powerful as HBO and Showtime, such a deal may also be able to pass regulatory muster.

meg.james@latimes.com

joe.flint@latimes.com

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Deadly storm moves on to Northeast

A massive storm system upended post-Christmas travel plans Wednesday as it marched toward the Northeast after dumping snow and sleet on the middle of the country and producing tornadoes through the South on Christmas Day.

The storm stretched from Michigan to Florida and had been blamed for seven deaths so far.

The nation's airlines had canceled more than 1,800 flights and delayed more than 9,000 by at least 15 minutes, mostly into and out of Dallas, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Indianapolis and New York, according to the airline monitoring website Flightstats.com.

PHOTOS: Northeast braces for winter storm

Los Angeles International Airport, the nation's fifth-busiest, has been largely spared the impact of the storm, with only a handful of delays and cancellations Wednesday, to airports including New York's John F. Kennedy International and Chicago's O'Hare International.

The storm could dump 12 to 18 inches of snow from the lower Great Lakes to northern New England, the National Weather Service said.

A tornado watch had been in effect for part of the day in eastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina.

"It is a significant storm in terms of its size and its range of impacts from severe weather to winter weather," said Chris Vaccaro, spokesman for the weather service.

The storm was expected to clear most of the mid-Atlantic states Wednesday night, the service said, and northern New England could expect steady snow starting Thursday morning.

On Christmas Day alone, the weather service received 34 reports of tornadoes in eastern Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, Vaccaro said.

A twister touched down in Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday, blowing roofs off homes and knocking down trees and power lines. Several mobile homes north of the city were toppled, but no serious injuries were reported.

"Right now it's cleanup and damage assessment," said Donald Leeth, plans and operations officer with the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.

The storm caused tens of thousands of customers to lose power across Alabama, but most had it back by Wednesday.

Snow and ice hit Arkansas hard, with about 200,000 customers losing power. Gov. Mike Beebe declared a statewide disaster Wednesday. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said two counties had opened shelters for those without heat.

The department received a report that a man died when a tree fell on his house in Saline County. Two children died on Christmas when the car they were in crossed the center line of an icy Arkansas highway and struck an SUV.

In Oklahoma, two people were killed in separate crashes Tuesday.

On Christmas, the storm's winds were blamed for toppling a tree onto a pickup in Texas, killing the driver, and for knocking another tree onto a house in Louisiana, killing a man there, the Associated Press reported.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for several counties after the storm injured more than 25 people.

The New York City Office of Emergency Management issued a travel advisory for Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, citing forecasts of "snow with sleet and freezing rain." The area was also under a high wind warning, with gusts of up to 60 mph possible, Vaccaro said.

The worst of the weather should be gone by Friday, he said. "Come Friday morning, it will largely be a sunny day across the eastern third of the country."

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this report.

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Nokia Lumia 920′s fascinating Christmas sets stage for battle with BlackBerry 10

The Chinese version of Nokia’s (NOK) new flagship Windows Phone model recently debuted in Shanghai. According to pictures posted to Chinese websites, the Lumia 920T drew a big crowd… and sold out in two hours. So the debate over whether there is wide mass market demand for the model rages on.

[More from BGR: Microsoft Surface trampled at the bottom of the tablet pile this Christmas]

The very limited early supply makes it hard to gauge the demand in China. The Lumia 920 did hit Amazon China’s (AMZN) top-five list a week ago, but sold out quickly and dropped out. There are now rumors about China Mobile planning to further subsidize the Lumia 920T in January, making it effectively free on contract. This would be China Mobile’s revenge on Apple (AAPL) for its refusal to cut a sweetheart deal with the giant carrier and its 700 million subscribers.

[More from BGR: Purported photo of new BlackBerry phone with QWERTY keyboard leaks]

Nokia may thus be close to landing the Chinese version of the role that Motorola played for Verizon (VZ) in 2010. Back then, the U.S. carrier used DROID models to flaunt the fact that it did not really need the iPhone as badly as many assumed.

China Mobile is now planning to show Apple it can turn even Windows Phones into mass-market hits in China with its marketing and subsidy machine. This could be great for Nokia — if Apple isn’t forced into a cutting a quick deal in coming months. The iPhone’s ho-hum market share performance in markets like Latin America and Asia is piling pressure on Apple right about now.

In a fascinating U.S. twist, the Lumia 920 climbed the Amazon charts again over the past week as its supply has improved. The black variant of the Lumia 920 debuted in the top-three in November, dropped out of top-40 after Amazon’s delivery time stretched to two weeks… and has now staged a comeback to No.14. This makes it the second-biggest AT&T (T) phone on Amazon right now, with only the blue version of the Galaxy S III outperforming the 920.

The Lumia 822 is fizzling badly at Verizon, but Nokia just might be gaining a toehold at AT&T even after the pre-Christmas supply drama. It is now clear that the Lumia 920 is beating its biggest Windows rival, the HTC Windows Phone 8X, convincingly at AT&T.

This sets up a very interesting rivalry when AT&T debuts the new generation of BlackBerry 10 models sometime in February or March. The battle for the third mobile ecosystem at AT&T will be effectively waged by Nokia and RIM (RIMM) this spring. The loser may well find out that it does not have strong subsidy or marketing support in 2013.

AT&T has an incentive to build up a third rival for the Apple and Android ecosystems, but it has little reason to support both minor operating systems.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Patrick Dempsey brews up coffee shop purchase

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Patrick Dempsey says he wants to rescue a coffee house chain and more than 500 jobs.

The "Grey's Anatomy" star said Wednesday he's leading a group attempting to buy Tully's Coffee. The Seattle-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

Dempsey said he's excited about the chance to help hundreds of workers and give back to Seattle.

The actor has a strong TV tie to the city: He plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy," the ABC drama set at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital.

Tully's has 47 company-run stores in Washington and California, as well as five franchised stores and 58 licensed locations in the U.S.

Any sale would have to be approved by a judge. A bankruptcy court hearing is set for Jan. 11 in Seattle.

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Q & A: Should Older Adults Be Vaccinated Against Chickenpox?

Q. Should a 65-year-old who has never had chickenpox be vaccinated against it?

A. In someone who has never had chickenpox, the vaccine would protect against a disease that is far more serious in adults than it is in children, said Dr. Mark S. Lachs, director of geriatrics for the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

After childhood chickenpox, the varicella virus is never eliminated from the body but lies dormant in nerve roots. Decades later, it may reactivate along the nerve pathway and cause the very painful rash called shingles, and later, in many cases, a persistent pain called postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN.

Therefore, for most people over 60, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the shingles vaccine. It safely reduces (but does not eliminate) the risk of both shingles and PHN in those who have had chickenpox, Dr. Lachs said.

In someone who never had chickenpox, he said, the concern is not shingles but adult chickenpox, which has “fatality rates 25 times higher than in children.”

Such a person should instead be vaccinated against a primary infection with the varicella virus, Dr. Lachs said. The vaccine differs in strength from the one for shingles and is given in two injections, a month apart.

C. CLAIBORNE RAY

Readers may submit questions by mail to Question, Science Times, The New York Times, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018, or by e-mail to question@nytimes.com.

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Junior's Deli to close at end of year because of rent dispute

Junior's Deli, which has been serving pastrami and other deli fare on L.A.'s Westside since 1959, will close at the end of the year.

Employees, some of them multi-decade veterans of the business, learned Wednesday of the comfort food haven's impending shutdown, a casualty of a rent dispute over the 11,000-square-foot space.

"It's catastrophic for me," said David Saul, who co-owns the business with his brother, John. "I'm at a loss. It's like I'm grieving a death."

The Sauls' father, Marvin, launched the delicatessen after a failed stint as a uranium miner in Utah. Junior was his nickname as a child.

Celebrities including Bruce Willis and Hank Azaria were known to patronize the restaurant. Mel Brooks purportedly wrote parts of his film comedy "History of the World Part 1" in the dining room.

Originally on Pico Boulevard, the deli was moved to its current location at 2379 Westwood Blvd. in Westood in 1967. In addition to the restaurant, the space includes a bakery and catering business.

Each year from 1971 on, Marvin Saul hammered out a rental agreement with Beverly Hills-based landlord Four Corners Investments. But just over a year ago he died at 82.

Negotiations this year between Four Corners and the sons broke down over a proposed rise in the rent, David Saul said. "They want a number that we can't give, and they're not willing to bend," he said.

Managers at the real estate firm could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The eatery has also seen a slump in business in recent years.

In the early 2000s, Junior's was pulling in more than $7 million a year in revenue, Saul said. Sales slumped 20% over the last three years and food costs surged — the Saul brothers were paying nearly $4 for a pound of corned beef, up from $1.15 a pound 10 years ago.

"Customers don't want to pay $13 for a sandwich," Saul said. "For a lot of people in today's economic times, that's a hard thing to stomach. They'd rather go to a Subway or something."

From a high of 150 employees a decade ago, the workforce at Junior's deflated to 95.

Junior's will close within the week, Saul said. But he hopes to eventually reopen the deli somewhere else with a "more 21st century" vibe.

"The allure of delis has been tarnished over the years," he said. "People won't recognize what they had until they've lost it."

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com

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Lakers snap Christmas Day streak with win over Knicks

Lakers 100, Knicks 94 (final)

The Lakers closed out the New York Knicks on Christmas Day to win their fifth in a row, avenging a Dec. 13 loss in New York, the low point of the season during a four-game losing streak. 

The Lakers haven't dropped a game since.

With the Lakers up by three points, Pau Gasol found a lane to the basket from the high post and flushed down a dunk to seal the victory with 11.6 seconds left.  Steve Nash, in his second game back from a leg injury, scored 16 points and dished 11 assists.

The Lakers shot 48.1% from the field but it was their defense that was instrumental in the victory, holding New York to only 16 points in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks shot 42.7% from the field despite 34 from Carmelo Anthony (13-23 shooting), who exploded in the third quarter to give the Knicks a nine-point lead.  The Lakers never led by more than five points.

Kobe Bryant also scored 34 points on 14-for-24 shooting.  Metta World Peace fouled out after scoring 20.  For the second consecutive game, Pau Gasol had six assists.

Knicks center Tyson Chandler also fouled out, finishing with six points and nine rebounds.  J.R. Smith helped carry the offensive load for New York with 25 points.

The Lakers will play on Wednesday night against the Nuggets in Denver.

Knicks 78, Lakers 77 (end of third quarter)

The Lakers survived a 17-point quarter from Carmelo Anthony to close to within one point after three quarters.

Falling behind by as many as nine points after halftime, the Lakers had a chance to go up by a point but Kobe Bryant missed a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds left in the quarter.

Anthony climbed to 27 points for the game on 11-for-20 shooting while his Knicks shot 43.8% through three.  J.R. Smith contributed 20 points off the bench.

The Lakers were led by Bryant's 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting, while getting 18 points from Metta World Peace and 14 from Steve Nash.

Some of New York's lead was earned from behind the three-point line with eight makes in 22 tries.  The Lakers shot 48.3% from the field but only five of 18 (27.8%) from three-point range.

World Peace started the second half in place of Darius Morris but Anthony had the hot hand.

Lakers 51, Knicks 49 (halftime)

For the second consecutive quarter, the Lakers closed well against the Knicks. After New York's reserves had helped push the Knicks to a six-point advantage, the Lakers rallied to take a two-point lead at halftime.

Carmelo Anthony and Metta World Peace battled through a very physical period, challenging each other in the post. Anthony finished the half with 10 points while World Peace had a game-high 16 points after coming off the Lakers' bench.

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Boston Cop Rescues Drowning Woman

A Boston police officer is being hailed a hero after he jumped into the frigid cold water to rescue a drowning woman.

Cell phone video showed police officer Edward Norton plunging into Fort Point channel Friday afternoon during a torrential downpour to rescue the unidentified woman who’d reportedly fallen in by accident.

Norton, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time, says he didn’t think twice about jumping in.

“It just kind of happened. I saw here there. Someone had to do it,” Norton told ABC News. “As I was in the air, I was thinking I don’t know what’s under the water.”

Once in the water, Norton’s bullet-proof vest weighed him down, making the rescue more complicated than he anticipated. Onlookers did their part by tossing in a life preserver, which helped keep the frantic woman afloat.

“She kept saying stuff like, ‘I can’t hold on.’ So, I told her, ‘Hold on. Help is coming,’” Norton said. The officer remained with the woman in the water until firefighters arrived on the scene and pulled them both out of the water to safety.

Both were taken to local hospitals and checked for hypothermia, but were released with a clean bill of health.

As for the people calling Norton a hero, he says, not really because it’s all in a day’s work.

“I feel like I did what I would expect to do for one of my loved ones. My wife, my daughter, anyone,” Norton said.

While everyone made it out of the water safely with no injuries, there was one casualty so to speak. Norton says his wedding band slipped off when he hit the water and hero or not, his wife is none too pleased.

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Jessica Simpson's Christmas gift: She's pregnant

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Simpson's daughter has the news all spelled out: "Big Sis."

Simpson on Tuesday tweeted a photo of her baby daughter Maxwell playing in the sand, the words "Big Sis" spelled out.

The 32-year-old old singer and personality has been rumored to be expecting again. The tweet appears to confirm the rumors.

"Merry Christmas from my family to yours" is the picture's caption. Simpson used a tweet on Halloween in 2011 to announce she was pregnant with Maxwell. She is engaged to Eric Johnson and gave birth to Maxwell in May.

One possible complication regarding her pregnancy: She is a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

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Vaulting into car history at the Petersen museum

Chris Brown's voice is giddy as the elevator in the Petersen Automotive Museum begins its descent to the basement. He is as excited as his visitors, but before the doors open he strikes a tone of caution.

"No touching, no photos and watch your step," he says. "Old cars are like little dogs: They tend to leave puddles."

The group chuckles nervously and follows him down a corridor lit by dim fluorescent lights into an enormous cavern filled with hundreds of neatly parked cars.

PHOTOS: Stepping down in time | The Petersen Automotive Museum vault

Brown, 38, is the museum's marketing director, but today he's exchanged suit and tie for a black racing jacket with "Petersen Museum" emblazoned in red letters on the back. Like an impresario, he faces his visitors and gestures out over the showroom, a place that has a nearly legendary status among automotive insiders around the world, a place known as the vault.

Taking up a city block on Wilshire Boulevard's Museum Row, the Petersen has drawn visitors since 1994. Its collection is considered one of the finest in the country, with detailed dioramas and presentations that provide historic and cultural context.

The vault — once restricted to high-ranking museum personnel and visiting VIPs, but now open to the public through Jan. 6 — is far different than the galleries upstairs. Inside, in a space the size of a football field, are 150 cars parked as if in a city lot. There are no special displays with manikins, velvet ropes and faux boulevards.

Many of the cars have been displayed at other times in the museum, but to see them in such simple circumstance is a chance to appreciate the swoop of a fender, the rake of a radiator grille or the grain of a leather interior.

"When you see a car upstairs," said Jay Leno, who visited the vault before its opening, "it's all polished up and roped off and everything. For a car guy like me, I prefer to walk up to a car and see it without all the pomp and circumstance."

Brown begins the hourlong tour following a clockwise pattern. To his right is a black 1952 Ferrari Barchetta once owned by Henry Ford. Behind him is the burgundy 1953 Cadillac coupe that Prince Aly Khan gave to Rita Hayworth. Herbie the Love Bug is against a far wall.

The tour group huddles in close so as not to miss a word. Stopping before a black Lincoln with undulating front fenders that hang over brilliant whitewalled tires, Brown raises a hand for dramatic effect.

"It was the first armored car ever commissioned for White House service," Brown says, his voice bouncing off the concrete walls.

Ordered the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 1942 Lincoln was built with steel plating nearly a quarter-inch thick and has windows made up of nine panes of laminated glass.

Craig Parry, visiting from Morganville, Kan., is impressed. He is with his wife, Terri, and their son David. They hadn't intended to visit the vault but thought it would be an opportunity to see history. Crossing his arms, he looks out over the collection.

"I've never seen or heard of many of the cars they have here," Parry said. "We got lucky."

At a time when museums across the country are struggling to boost attendance, Petersen officials know the value of their collection and are eager to capitalize on any aspect of it that might increase the visitor count.

Terry Karges came up with the idea of marketing the vault (tours cost $25 on top of the museum's $12 admission fee). He is the executive director of the Petersen, and when he was hired in August he realized that he had a challenge. There was a time when Petersen officials hoped to draw 400,000 visitors a year. At best, the museum has succeeded in drawing half that number. Karges believes the problem has been underexposure.

"The Petersen is largely considered to be the crown jewel of automotive museums," he said. "You just stand back and say, 'There's so much more we can do to attract people.'"

Automobile museums are a hard sell.

"All museums have to get creative to bring in those crowds — whether that's a new exhibit, or opening the vault, whatever," said Jackie L. Frady, executive director of the National Automobile Museum in Reno and president of the National Assn. of Automobile Museums.

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