Showbiz Sandbox 257: Debating President Obama’s Position On Net Neutrality

November 10, 2014

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President Obama finally weighed in on the battle over net neutrality calling for the FCC to reclassify broadband providers as utilities under Title II of Telecommunications Act. This inflamed the war between those who believe such a move is mandatory and others who fear bureaucratic regulation will have the unintended consequence of throttling future development and investment in technology. We do our best to debate both sides of a very contentious issue.

Leaking copyrighted content online however, is an issue everyone can agrees is bad. Marvel Entertainment showed how to handle just such a scenario with aplomb when a leaked copy of the trailer for their highly anticipated sequel to “Avengers” hit the Internet before its official release. We’ll fill you in on Marvel’s immediate and exemplary response.

While we’re on the subject of responses, there’s no question how Taylor Swift’s new album was received by her fans. They gobbled up more than 1.2 million copies during its first week on sale. That’s more than the next 106 albums on the weekly sales chart combined.

Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news stories including Lemony Snicket on Netflix, Matt Damon returns to Jason Bourne and Pixar gears up for another “Toy Story”.

Can ‘Interstellar,’ ‘Big Hero 6′ Stick Around for the Long Haul?
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/interstellar-big-hero-6-box-office-analysis-1201351892/

Global Box Office: Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ Rockets to $80M Overseas
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/global-box-office-christopher-nolans-746620

Nicolas Cage’s ‘Outcast’ Gets China Relaunch, eOne as U.S. Distributor
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/nicolas-cages-outcast-gets-china-relaunch-eone-as-u-s-distributor-exclusive-1201347000/

Google Ordered to Help Marvel Hunt for ‘Avengers’ Trailer Leaker
http://mashable.com/2014/11/06/disney-google-avengers-leaker/

Marvel Seeks to Subpoena Google Over ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Leak
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/marvel-seeks-subpoena-google-avengers-747024

‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ Title Revealed
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-episode-vii-title-747060

AFM: ‘Dear White People’ Breaks Urban Curse to Sell Globally
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afm-dear-white-people-breaks-747664

Obama Asks F.C.C. to Adopt Tough Net Neutrality Rules
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/technology/obama-net-neutrality-fcc.html

President Obama Urges FCC to Implement Stronger Net Neutrality Rules
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/11/10/president-obama-urges-fcc-implement-stronger-net-neutrality-rules

Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 4′ Set to Play in Theaters in 2017
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/john-lasseter-to-direct-toy-story-4-out-in-2017-1201349848/

Pixar Sequels Draw Bigger Role in Company’s Future
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/toy-story-the-incredibles-cars-pixar-future-sequel-plans-1201350707/

Sherlock Holmes Belongs To Us All: Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-sherlock-holmes-belongs-to-us-all-20141103-story.html

Netflix Adapting Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ Into TV Show
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/netflix-adapting-lemony-snickets-a-746666

Pianist Asks The Washington Post to Remove a Concert Review
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/31/pianist-asks-the-washington-post-to-remove-a-concert-review-under-the-e-u-s-right-to-be-forgotten-ruling/

Author of Bin Laden Book Sues Ex-Attorneys
http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/f0a9595071e444c8b73a5b0509111a4d/author-bin-laden-book-sues-ex-attorneys

20 Animated Movies to Vie for Oscar
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/20-animated-movies-to-vie-for-oscar-1201347645/

Phil Rudd, AC/DC Drummer, Charged With Trying to Hire Hit Man
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/acdc-drummer-charged-with-trying-to-hire-hitman/?_r=0

AC/DC Drummer Phil Rudd No Longer Facing Murder-For-Hire Charge
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-acdc-phil-rudd-charge-dropped-20141106-story.html

Matt Damon Says He’s Returning to ‘Bourne’ for 2016
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/matt-damon-says-hes-returning-747670

Aereo Laying Off Most of Its Employees, Closing Boston Office
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-aereo-layoffs-20141106-story.html

Sales of Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ Intensify Streaming Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/arts/music/sales-of-taylor-swifts-1989-intensify-streaming-debate.html

Taylor Swift Responsible for 22% of Album Sales Last Week
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/taylor-swift-responsible-for-22-of-album-sales-last-week/?_r=1

Body of Missing Fox Exec Gavin Smith Found
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/body-missing-fox-exec-gavin-746990

Comments

2 Responses to “Showbiz Sandbox 257: Debating President Obama’s Position On Net Neutrality”

  1. André Ribeiro on November 15th, 2014 6:30 pm
     

    Hello, greetings from Denmark! I was wondering if you had considered having some music breaks on the show. There’s a lot of talk, and I thought that some short music intermissions between the different sections in the show might be a good idea.

     
  2. J. Sperling Reich on November 16th, 2014 10:50 am
     

    Thanks for listening… and the feedback André. Funny you should ask about music bumpers. We’ve been discussing this very format; breaking the show into clear segments separated by short music clips. One thought was to use new and noteworthy releases as the music.

    On another, yet somewhat related note, what are your thoughts on the stories we cover? Are they “international” enough? We keep trying to broaden the discussion beyond North American topics. Unfortunately, the whole net-neutrality issue keeps coming up.