Carrie Fisher, Carson Kressley to Star in Modern-Day 'Christmas Carol' for Hallmark Channel (Exclusive)

NY - CBS Corp. is seeing continued advertising momentum, expects digital distribution deals to provide a continuing revenue stream and wants a healthy Netflix, which has paid up for library content deals with the company, president and CEO Leslie Moonves said here Tuesday in kicking off the second day of the 39th annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on a typically bullish note.our editor recommendsCBS' Leslie Moonves on Charlie Sheen Debacle: 'S--- Happens'CBS News Retires 'Early Show' Title He also said his company wants to remain in business with the NFL, even though he didn't confirm that a new long-term NFL TV deal was close to being signed. Asked about the advertising market late in the year, Moonves said scatter ad market sales remain up in the mid-teens percentage range at CBS, even though competitors with weaker ratings are not doing as well. With the year-end approaching, "demand is picking up again," he said, and trends in the first quarter are looking "promising" with few cancellations. Summarized Moonves: "We're feeling good about advertising" - both nationally and locally. Moonves on Tuesday also once again lauded the "extremely solid" programming schedule at CBS and suggested that the broadcast business is" taking share away from cable," he said. Asked about concerns that broadcast TV may face some fallout from the availability of more content in new forms, Moonves said there was no sign that cable, the Internet or anything else has hurt ratings or financials. Asked about Netflix and its recent subscriber issues, Moonves said: "We want a healthy Netflix...We're rooting for them. We hope they continue to remain strong" and gain subs. The company has become "much more of a friend than a foe," he said. And Moonves said international growth by Netflix makes CBS "very excited" about potential upside in the likes of the U.K. and Canada. Asked about recent online content deals more broadly, which some analysts have predicted will slow down, Moonves said "the future looks extremely bright for this revenue stream to continue forever." And overall deals this year have turned out better than expected. He reiterated that hundreds of millions of dollars in deals for library content are flowing to CBS Corp. "Exclusivity we have avoided," because it is a "dirty word," he quipped. After all, the company wants to be open to whoever else gets into the digital distribution space, including Apple and Google. Other companies are "kicking the tires" for additional digital distribution deals, he said. "You have not heard the last of these deals." Moonves also reiterated on Tuesday that "primary engines" for his company are the CBS network and Showtime, which he called the "family jewels." With retransmission fees rising and syndication strong, "why would you mess with that," Moonves said. Speaking of Showtime, Moonves told the UBS conference that Homeland is "the best show on television." He added: "It's a great hit." He later told The Hollywood Reporter that he is, of course, proud of all the hit shows on his networks. Moonves told the UBS conference that Showtime continues to look for more original content, including upcoming Don Cheadle comedy House of Lies, which he accidentally called House of Cards, the name of Netflix's first push into original programming, before correcting himself right away. The CBS boss also got a question about the future of football content on the network. The NFL is reportedly close to signing an eight-year extension of TV rights deals to 2021 with broadcast partners CBS, Fox and NBC that would earn it about $3.2 billion a year, a 60 percent increase over the current contract. "I assume we'll continue to be in business with the NFL," Moonves told the UBS conference. It is "an unbelievable property" as even a bad football game outrates most programming, he said, adding that CBS is making a lot of money from the CBS. While retransmission consent fees will continue to rise from current levels, sports deals will take up "some of that money," Moonves said, but described this as "nothing to worry about." Nomura analyst Michael Nathanson said early Tuesday that 2014 could mean some headwinds from a new NFL deal for CBS. The cost for the NFL should go up since it has done "extremely well," but Moonves emphasized that the league "likes their partners to be strong" and make money. "We hope it continues for many years." Asked about his broader plans for sports coverage, Moonves said: "We really love the mix of sports programming we have...I'm not looking to expand...We're as solid as we have ever been." He pointed to the company's NFL, SEC, NCAA and golf events coverage. Moonves said CBS has no major revenue from reverse retrans deals with TV station groups yet, with 2013 starting to see financials from that revenue stream becoming more significant. His firm looks at each station group separately though, and there isn't a finite solution, he emphasized. Some struggle, so "we're not going to go after them as much," Moonves said, describing overall network-stations relationships at CBS as good. Asked about the use of cash at CBS Corp., Moonves said it could well raise its dividend next year. And while it plans no major acquisitions right now, the company will keep its eyes open for possible deals if they make financial and strategic sense, he said. Moonves started the second day of the UBS conference. Monday night, UBS had organized a cocktail reception at a bar near the conference location, the Grand Hyatt hotel in midtown Manhattan. Among those schmoozing at the reception were Aryeh Bourkoff, vice chairman, head of investment banking, Americas at UBS, Madonna manager Guy Oseary, ICM's Patti Kim, Showtime boss Matt Blank, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, Dish Network board member Carl Vogel, Time Warner CFO John Martin, Anschutz executive Daniel Benel, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown, Katherine Keating, the daughter of the former prime minister of Australia, and former Sundance Channel CEO Larry Aidem. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Topics Leslie Moonves CBS CBS Corporation

War Horse Star Jeremy Irvine on His Biggest of Big Breaks

Drew Barrymore. Christian Bale. Bruce the Shark. It’s an elite class of young talent that has found launching pads in the films of Steven Spielberg. And while Jeremy Irvine is a little older than those actors who preceded him, you can go ahead and add the 21-year-old to the list thanks to his breakthrough in Spielberg epic Oscar hopeful War Horse. Irvine plays Albert Narracott, whose bond with a thoroughbred named Joey persists from hard times on his family farm (his parents are played Emily Watson and Peter Mullan) through the devastating conflict of World War I. It’s not only Irvine’s biggest film role to date — it’s his only role, with at least three more to come in 2012. He spoke with Movieline over the weekend in NY, just ahead of War Horse’s world premiere. Congratulations on surviving your first foray into press-junket madness. How are you feeling? Shattered. [Laughs] No, no. I was told a lot of stuff about how difficult doing this kind of thing is, but actually it’s all new and it’s all exciting to me. Maybe a few years down the line, it’ll be a terror. But for now, it’s new and exciting. It’s great. Fantastic. Is there a question you haven’t yet been asked about War Horse that you wish you had? Or something you’ve wanted to note about the experience but haven’t had the opportunity? [Pauses] God, I don’t know. I am totally putting you on the spot. Yeah, you are. But there are a few things. I mean, yes, we were making what was essentially quite a serious piece of work, but we had such a huge amount of fun doing it. There were so many funny moments. Like what? You know — trying to wind up other cast members. Robert Emms, who plays my rival, is a very good friend. And Steven Spielberg would come in with handwritten scenes every now and again. He’d maybe write it down in the car, and we’d get it and think, “Oh, OK, great, we’re doing this.” So we tried to get Peter Mullan, who’s very established in Britain, by writing a fake scene between him and Emily Watson, who plays my mum. we wrote a fake, raunchy love scene between them and tried to get Steven Spielberg’s assistant to give it to Peter in his trailer. We thought we could convince him that he was doing a love scene where we see them kiss through the barn doors, and Joey, the horse, nudges the barn door shut, blocking our view. We thought we got him; we thought this was brilliant, you know? That night we’re in the restaurant, and we go, “So, Peter, did you get the new scene?” He says, “Boys, haven’t you heard?” We go, “No, what?” He says, “Oh, well Steven’s gone ballistic. Apparently somebody forged his signature. They’ve got security down there; they’re trying to figure out who’s done this. Shit, whoever’s done this… It’s not funny. Someone’s gonna lose their fucking job.” And we’re shitting ourselves. “No, no — Steven didn’t know! It was us! It was us!” And Peter’s like, “Of course I knew it was fucking you boys! Who the hell else was it going to be?” [Laughs] So that was cool. Earlier today in the press conference, you claimed that you had no idea how or why you got this part. All modesty aside, how or why do you think you did you get this part? It’s quite true: I have no idea. I don’t know. I think that among my friends I’m known as being a hard worker; I think if you want to be an actor, there can’t be any compromise. You have to work all day, every day. It’s not a 9-5 job. There’s always something to learn. I’ve always been of the mindset of, “What if there’s someone working harder than me?” That means I have to work even harder. For me, I went to drama school for a bit; I thought, “This is great, but I’m with the crowd here. I want to get out of that. I want to be kind of graspy. I don’t want to wait for somebody else to be in control of finding me an agent; I want to do that myself.” I didn’t want to have to wait until I got a showcase. Instead, I got my best friend as a cameraman; I went out and I filmed and made my own show reel so it looked like professional work. I went to agents and was probably a little bit cheeky and told them it was professional work, but that worked. I put thousands and thousands of hours into it. That doesn’t mean that it should pull off; a lot of actors put vast amounts of work in, and it still doesn’t pull off for them. That’s obviously a huge risk. What did that kind of spirit or initiative come from in your background? I never particularly enjoyed school, and I think I was looking for a challenge. I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. I wanted to do something different. I had a great drama teacher, and he sort of made out drama school as this incredibly difficult thing to get into: 6,000 people apply every year, and some of the schools only have 12 places. It’s a phenomenally difficult thing to get into. And that excited me — I wanted that challenge. But you didn’t finish? No, I didn’t. I was offered to go back and do three years at different places, and decided… I just didn’t want to put that in the hands of other people. I wanted to be in control. I wanted to do it myself. Would you advise other young, up-and-coming actors to do the same thing? Yeah. Yeah, I would. You’ve got to get away from the crowd. If you stay with everyone else, then you’re just going to be another one. But there’s no set way. At the end of the day, what it all comes down to is being in the right place at the right time. And, I guess, being ready to deliver when opportunity calls. Yes. And you’ve got to be right for that part. In some respects, you’ve got to be the best you can be at that time. But you can be the world’s most amazing actor, and if you’re not there at the right time, and you’re not seen by that rot casting director, then it’s not going to happen for you. Another thing you mentioned earlier was getting accustomed to actually being on camera and the way moves are made. One frustrated director told me once that filmmaking doesn’t even feel like you’re creating art at a certain point. Did it ever feel that way for you, especially coming from the stage? No, never. And I think that if it begins to feel like that, then you’re doing something extremely wrong. Your job as an actor is to keep that [alive]— it’s solely up to you. No one else can do that for you. You have to keep present and be in that moment. If you lose that, at the end of the day you’re not going to be in character and what you’re doing is not going to be real. That’s going to show; there’s nothing to hide behind. And you already have a number of things lined up for the future, right? I’ve got a film called Now is Good, with Dakota Fanning, coming out in May. I’m filming the last couple of weeks on Great Expectations at the moment. Next year I’m doing The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, which I’m beyond excited for. Who do you play in that? I play Eric Lomax — Colin Firth’s character when he’s younger. We kind of split it. It’s one of the best scripts I’ve ever read. I can’t wait. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Taylor Quick & Nicki Minaj Celebrate Billboard Women In Music Honors

First Launched: December 2, 2011 5:47 PM EST Credit: Getty Images Caption Taylor Fast and Nicki Minaj attend the Ads Sixth Annual Women in Music event within the Capitale in NY City on December 2, 2011 La, Calif. -- Fresh off her three Grammy nods, Taylor Quick was honored with Billboard magazines Lady of year Award on Friday as well as the country celebrity couldnt hide her excitement. Ive been smiling for like, a few days straight cause every one of these amazing things keep happening, like the CMAs as well as the AMAs as well as the Grammy nominations now this, a lately-coiffed Taylor told Access Hollywood at Ads sixth annual Women in Music event in NY on Friday. Its crazy! One other reason for Taylors dazzling smile? Her new bangs. I obtained a haircut which i love it, she told Access. It absolutely was around the photo shoot I used to be doing and so they were enjoy, I had been thinking about doing maybe some bangs, which i mentioned, Just work, you understand, cause Ive been considering doing the work for a while as well as the change is really nice. Stylish-hop empress Nicki Minaj appeared to become honored by Billboard their Rising Star a title which hits home for your Super Bass rapper. This [recognition] can be a large deal because precisely what I really do is kind of specific towards sitting on Billboard, Nicki told Access. So, on the account of individuals to recognize me and condition that Im a rising star, it will make me happy, like Im doing something right. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Britt-Gibson: Tough men inspire hard-edged scripts

Justin Britt-GibsonJustin Britt-Gibson is enthusiastic about tough men, the cynical, obsessive, hard-living, hair-trigger types based in the fiction from the Jesse Westlake and Mickey Spillane and films like 1971's "In France They Connection" and 1967's "Point Blank," starring Lee Marvin."I live and inhale that world," Britt-Gibson states. "That is what will get me up each morning, showing up in the secrets."The scribe put themself around the Hollywood map -- and also the 2007 Black List -- with "Grown Guy Business," that your takes '70s-style revenge film story and sets it against a gritty urban backdrop much like "Boyz within the Hood" and "Juice," two faves from his youth."My father's still around, you will find there's relationship, but my parents divorced after i was 4," Britt-Gibson states. "I figured, what can happen if my biological father discovered I had been wiped out after i was 18 years of age? I made the decision to complete my undertake the man avenging the dying from the boy he never understood."Britt-Gibson was raised not even close to the 'hood in Silver Springs, Md., together with his mother, Donna Britt, a onetime USA Today film critic and Washington Publish writer presently writing a memoir for Little, Brown and Co. stepfather Kevin Merida, national editor in the Publish and 2 siblings.A movie major at Temple U., he found L.A. in 2002 for any summer time internship at Tom Hanks' Playtone Prods., where he pored over scripts, studying their structure. Coming back after graduation, he labored like a freelance journalist, P.A.'d around the short-resided series "Pay Attention," and authored several moments for that third season of HBO's "Deadwood" included in a authors program held by series creator David Milch.Within the years since, Gibson-Britt, who's signed with Gersh, has scripted the "Lethal Weapon"-esque "Roads burning,Inch in development at Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Films, and "seventh Boy," a picture novel adaptation for Warner Bros. Younger crowd includes a blind cope with Fox 21, and he's carrying out a rewrite for Vital on "Code Title Sasha." But what he'd like above all else would be to see "Grown Guy Business" finally reach the bigscreen."Even today, it's my baby," he states.TEN SCREENWRITERS To Look At 2011:Josh Applebaum & Andrew Nemec Jay Baruchel & Jesse Chabot Justin Britt-Gibson Neil Mix Andrew Haigh Kurt Johnstad Lauryn Kahn Paula Pell Jon Spaihts John Yorkey Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

HAMMOND: Oscar Race Still Available As Early Honours Provide No Obvious Clues

National Board Of Review Names Hugo Best Film, Martin Scorsese Best Director The Artist Is NY Film Experts Best Picture Meryl Streep Best Actress, Kaira Pitt Best Actor The very first week of actual honours-giving and nominations has passed and commentators are trying to find clues. Has anything really been clarified within this year’s Oscar race? Yes. In line with the mixed bag from the NY Film Experts, National Board of Review and Gotham Honours those who win along withthe introduced nominees for Independent Spirit Honours, this season is totally, completely available. However you understood that already. The NY Experts so thought about being first and “influence” the Academy awards they advanced their voting date up two days andpre-ejaculated a listing of those who win Tuesday that appeared completely conservative and incredibly “Academy friendly.” After praising harder edged films previously, they went for any wonderful black and whitened quiet film his or her Best Picture (The Artist)and Director (Michel Hazanavicius) plusbig stars Meryl Streep (in another biopic as Margaret Thatcher this time around) and Kaira Pitt (Moneyball) both playing real-existence figures,something Academy voters have tended to favor in lots of of the recent acting those who win. It had been Streep’s fifth acting recognition in the NYFCC. The audience moved their voting up so as tobeat everybody else, specially the National Board of Review that is normally first, as well as in effect forced The new sony to exhibit them David Fincher’s TheGirl Using The Dragon Tattoo by saying yes to maneuver their voting go as far back each day (after which overlooked the film). Additionally they miscalculated Warner Bros’willingness to exhibit Stephen Daldry’s Very Loudand IncrediblyClose prior to being completely finished andready to appear by a few of the nation’s most “important” (a minimum of in their own individual minds) experts. To ensure that one wasn’t a part of their deliberations. The Broadcast Film Experts Association (I'm a member)and also the La Film Experts amongst others will have the ability to see Dragon Tattoo beginning Friday. Neither has transformed its voting agendas (about ten days out)to be able to move to fast and can have the ability to see everything before hitting the scales around the year’s best.Thatseems such as the right coursefor experts groups rather oftrying to pressure the hands of filmmakers to be able to pursue their very own delusionalquixoticquest for influence. Really the nation's Board of Review which named their those who win earlier today was dealing with that problem as NYFCC. This mysterious film “society” normally will get special therapy from galleries and marketers because of its pole position within the honours race but despite the fact that theytoo wereable to determine Dragon Tattoo (which arrived on the ten best list and also got a breakthrough award because of its “girl” Rooney Mara) additionally they skipped on ExtremelyLoud that has not began screening yet because of a good publish-production schedule. The NBR’sintriguingchoice ofHugo for the best picture and finest director for Martin Scorsese does, such as the top options from the NYFCC, appear toindicate a small-trend toward lighter fare, along with a tip from the hat towards the roots from the movie industry. This might be reflecting the occasions along with a yearning for any break from reality and to the type offeel-good picturesthe industry regularly created in the past tough occasions. The NBR also gave poor George Clooney some respite following a week by which he was snubbed even while a best actor nominee within the Spirit Honours despite his filmThe Descendants winning several key nods. He was alsodouble-dissed by NYFCCwith no mentionof Descendants or his writing, pointing, creating and acting effortThe Ides of March that have been both blanked for the reason that contest. But things got substantially better todaywhenhe tookthe NBR’s for Descendants (that also got best modified script and supporting actress for Shailene Woodley) and both his movies arrived squarely around the NBR’s ten best list, while uncle Kaira Pitt’s Moneyball was probably the most plainly absent films onthat selection. NBR also made your day of theirbest actress choiceTilda Swinton who had been also overlooked earlier within the week at NYFCC on her very demanding but acclaimed submit We Have To Discuss Kevin. She also lost at Cannes in which the film first showed (she wasn’t qualified for Spirits or Gothams) which means this recognition is most likely cause of rejoicing within the Oscilloscope camping and at the minimum hasthrown her a little of the existence preserver moving forward within this year’s incredibly crowded actress race where Streep, The Assistance’s Viola Davis and My Week With Marilyn’s Michelle Williams are thought front-runners. A different one of individuals top actress challengers, Albert Nobbs’ Glenn Close hasn't were built with a great week. She was overlooked by NBR and NYFCC and left off a listing of Spirit Award best lead actress nominees even while her supporting player Jesse McTeer was reccognized. This past year allof the criticsgroups marched in lockstep for that Social Networking developing a tidal wave of support for that movie and front- runner status before the industry itself began to weigh in in the PGA, DGA and SAG honours (amongst others) for his or her choice, The King’s Speech, which in turn marched in triumphall the best way to the Academy awards. It had been a vintage situation of disconnect between experts and those who really result in the movies despite the fact that Social Networking did have the ability to win three Academy awards and would be a Best Picture nominee. This season it's apparent already there might not be one movie that may build that type of consensus, the type which began the very best Pictureascent of Slumdog Millioniaire in 2008 and also the Hurt Locker last year. Although thesesorts of early honours from groups are nice look great in newspaper and television advertisements they might nothave a great deal of affect on the Academy except to strengthen the rapturous response The Artist and Hugo have previously received at early tests for people. It’s my prediction we will have other experts groups (you will find plenty of them)distributing the wealth andattempting to transmit a note to Academy voters who demonstrated this past year they still will have a mind that belongs to them andnot necessarilyfall in linefor the agenda of experts attempting to influence the end result of the Oscar race where theydon’t possess a election.

Will a Bunch of Earnest Actors Make You Want to See War Horse?

The actors in War Horse whinny for Oscar cred in the new promotional spot for the Spielberg epic. Though the elegance of the Broadway play’s amazing horse puppetry has been shamefully replaced by real horses, we’re supposed to believe the cinematic adaptation is just as poignant. Sigh. Let’s hear them out. BRAVERY. HUMANITY. LOYALTY. HORSEYNESS. It doesn’t take a failed beat poet to tell you that the recitation of buzzwords like “LOYALTY” and “HUMANITY” is just pretentious and meaningless. So, bad job there, War Horse trailer. Otherwise, I admit there’s a smoothness to this trailer that makes the movie appealing. As of right now, I’m not rooting for any other movie to unseat it as the Best Picture frontrunner — not even The Artist, and that has a magical animal too, in Uggie. Here’s hoping War Horse is more than a live-action Lisa Frank folder with Appaloosas and rainbows on it. So far I’m seeing a nicely laminated display of cute equines. Please do some inspiring E.T. shit, horsies!

What Fox's Lawsuit With Frank McCourt Method for the Dodgers along with other Teams (Analysis)

Jonathan Alcom/Bloomberg via Getty Images Presuming no further delays with no last-second discoveries in mediation periods, a federal personal bankruptcy judge holds a vital hearing on December 7 that can help see whether the La Dodgers can proceed using its intend to auction future media privileges prior to a team purchase. The brilliant in-fighting and legal maneuvers which have put among baseball's most historic franchises into this type of mess continues to be well recorded, and something might question whether anything such as this could ever happen again.our editor recommendsFrank McCourt and Dodgers' Fox Feud Hearing PostponedWhy Hollywood Should Purchase the Dodgers Regrettably, Major league baseball commissionerBud Seligwon't need to give any clues at in a few days's hearing. On Wednesday, U.S. Personal bankruptcy JudgeKevin Grossdenied a motion from Fox to possess Selig and Dodgers ownerFrank McCourttestify in the hearing. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Greatest Fantasy Football Fans Consequently, the 2 won't need to personally explain the different choices which have brought towards the suggested auction, which Fox argues is basically designed to benefit McCourt. Additionally, it implies that as in regards to a third of Major league baseball teams arein breach from the league's debt services rules, putting them hazardously near to similar bankruptcy, Selig won't need to face tough questions regarding whether he thinks the suggested auction is incorporated in the welfare from the team, as well as the rest of the teams concentrating on the same TV contract situations. The Dodgers mess is unquestionably unique in certain regards, stemming from the untidy divorce between your McCourts that left the dog owner in dire financial shape. Frank McCourt place the team in personal bankruptcy, a move seen by many people lawyers and insidersas an effort to avoid Mlb from working out its privileges to consider within the team. Included in the personal bankruptcy plan, McCourt searched for approval to promote their future telecast privileges, among various measures, in an effort to repay creditors. The program met strong opposition fromFox, whose cable funnel Prime Ticket holds current TV privileges and it has a unique settling window on the future deal. It had been also initially opposed by Major league baseball, which feared that McCourt wasn't lengthy for his position as who owns they. STORY: Frank McCourt and Dodgers' Fox Feud Hearing Postponed Then, about last month, Major league baseball and McCourt found a contract to market they to a different owner. Later on, the program to auction future media privileges was considered as improving they's value starting a franchise purchase. But will it? Fox is presently suing they for breaking its telecast agreement. Included in its arguments why a personal bankruptcy judge shouldn't allow McCourt to proceed by having an action on future media privileges, Fox states when a court eventually rules in the favor, they could be responsible for substantial damages. The liability could impact they's purchase cost. In a nutshell, Fox thinks that both personal bankruptcy process and also the auction are just getting used for the advantage of McCourt's short-term goals. When the franchise desires to enhance its value, Fox states that putting the parking lots up available will be a more sensible choice. And Major league baseball's position about this? The league has become standing back around the matter with Major league baseball lawyer Glenn Kurtz saying his client won't have a position around the purchase motion. This seems be considered a vary from the league's old stance and movement in McCourt's favor. In June, the Dodgersstruck a brand new 14-year cope with FSN Prime Ticket only to be blocked through the commissioner. Now, the league isseemingly pleased to move McCourt from its fold as rapidly as you possibly can, even when it potentially means permitting a financially battling team to mortgage its future. STORY: Dodgers Proprietors Frank and Jamie McCourt Achieve Divorce Settlement The truth that Selig won't testify in a few days enables Major league baseball to find a way with a few neutrality here, however it results in some mystery by what's going to take place if your situation such as this arises again. At this time, the Dodgers aren't the only real team in terrible financial shape. The NY Mets will also be going through troubles thanks mainly to team owner Fred Wilpon protecting legal cases triggered through the Bernie Madoff ponzi plan scandal. As well as in June, the La Occasions reported that seven other teams -- the Orioles, Cubs, Tigers, Marlins, Phillies, Rangers, and Excellent -- were in breach from the Major league baseball debt service rules. Which was prior to the Major league baseball made its debt service rule even harder included in the lately discussed new collective negotiating agreement between proprietors and gamers. Included in the pact, teams are actually only permitted 8 x debt leverage on EBITDA rather than 10 x EBITDA underneath the old rules. The withering allowance of debt has moved a minumum of one more team, the Houston Astros, not in debt compliance. ANALYSIS: Why Hollywood Should Purchase the Dodgers The modified rule appears to become a measure simply to avoid another mess such as the Dodgers situation, although Selig is stretching credibility bydenying it. However the change signals Major league baseball expects to part of sooner and use with additional control when teams don't get their financial functions so as. Set up league expects to obtain more involved with team TV privileges deals for that larger interest from the baseball league is unclear. Towards the bitter disappointment of Fox, among Major league baseball's most powerful traditional partners, there won't be any immediate solutions in the league on that problem in a few days. That's the cost for eliminating McCourt. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Hollywood's Greatest Fantasy Football Fans Frank McCourt Bud Selig Sports