TV Eyes Concert For Live Show

If MuchMusic gets its way, SARSstock with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones will be a live TV event.

MuchMusic vice-president and general manager David Kines says negotiations are under way to broadcast the Rolling Stones concert next week.

Kines told The Sun the deal would be a collaboration between CHUM-owned MuchMoreMusic and the CBC.

The package has to be agreed on by the networks and all the bands involved in the Toronto-boosting bash.

Meanwhile, Calgary has already secured simulcast rights.

The free broadcast at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome is intended to show support for Toronto and a cattle industry suffering from the effects of mad cow disease.

These Are The New Discs For Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003

* JANE'S ADDICTION Hypersonic (Capitol/Warner)
* LOST PATROL Songs About Running Away (Burning Heart)
* MYSTIC Cuts For Luck And Scars For Freedom...Learning To Breathe (DreamWorks)

Today's New Releases

Final Destination 2 - Woman helps others on highway cheat death with premonitions. (Ali Larter, Andrew Downing, A.J. Cook)

The Life Of David Gale - An innocent professor faces the death penalty. (Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney)

Ararat - An historical film has an effect on a man working on it. (David Alpay, Arsinee Khanjian, Charles Aznavour)

Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens' tale of family feuding. (Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Nathan Lane)

Spun - A college drop-out becomes driver for crystal meth cook. (Jason Schwartzman, John Leguizamo, Mena Suvari)

Felicity: The Complete Second Season - The complete second season of the TV series Felicity. (Keri Russell, Scott Speedman, Scott Foley)

Jackson 5 Will Reunite, Jermaine Says

In an interview with the BBC's Three's Liquid News, Jermaine Jackson claimed that the original Jackson 5 will be reuniting for a tour that will include Michael Jackson. He said the brothers are working on a new album that will be released around the time of the tour. The original Jackson 5 included Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon.

Jermaine left in 1976, and was replaced by Randy, though he returned for the 1984 Victory tour. Jermaine confirmed that Michael was "absolutely on board" for both the tour and album, though he couldn't confirm any concert dates or a release date for the album. Jermaine noted that, "Michael turned into this beautiful entertainer because of the foundation of the Jackson 5."

During the interview, Jermaine also defended Michael's abilities as a parent and said the recent attacks on him were just TV "propaganda" to bring up ratings.

You may be on record industry's hit list

Online swappers are wondering whether their names are on the record industry's hit list can check online to see if they're among 871 whose identities were subpoenaed in the first step of unprecedented mass legal action to stem Net piracy.

The Recording Industry Association of America says it plans to sue the song traders next month.

The U.S. District Court's Web site (ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov) is searchable, though users must first apply for an account; confirmation comes a week later in the mail, and there are fees for documents. The Electronic Frontier Foundation may offer quicker action: The activist group hopes to soon let the public check the same information through www.eff.org.

The subpoenas, sent to Internet providers, list the screen names of Kazaa users (Bency-987 and Sk8BoyBen, to name two) along with songs the RIAA says were traded. The provider must reveal personal data and inform the subscriber. "We've received 150 subpoenas in two weeks," Verizon's Sarah Deutsch says. "This type of activity is unprecedented."

Verizon, which has put several employees in charge of doing nothing but processing the requests, has been battling the RIAA over the question of naming names. Two recent court rulings opened the door for the wave of subpoenas; Verizon is appealing.

"The privacy questions are huge," the EFF's Fred von Lohmann says. "They treat everyone as a copyright infringer, and you're assumed guilty until proven innocent."

The RIAA doesn't always get it right. This year, it accused a Penn State professor of sharing a song by the musician Usher. In reality, it was a homegrown tune about astronomy by a professor named Usher. The RIAA later apologized.

RIAA president Cary Sherman initially said he was targeting the "most egregious" swappers, but the subpoenas list only handfuls from artists such as Avril Lavigne, Kenny Chesney and Snoop Dogg.

"A subpoena need not list every song a user is making available," the RIAA's Amy Weiss says. "It may only include a representative sampling."

Verizon directs users to www.subpoenadefense.org for tips on getting a lawyer and fighting charges.

"I've been getting thousands of e-mails," says Bill Evans, who runs www.boycott-riaa.com. "The RIAA is alienating a lot of people, not just file sharers."

Kennedy Says JURASSIC PARK IV Script Done

Producer Kathleen Kennedy has announced that William Monahan has completed a script for JURASSIC PARK IV. Little is known about the plot but, Kennedy said, "Let's just say it takes place someplace else. It will not be green. We will not go back to the jungle." Kennedy said that Steven Spielberg should come on as at least a producer. She also hopes the film will hit theaters in 2005.

This Could Be Cool!

Talks allegedly accelerating over a sitcom spinoff for Matt LeBlanc's Joey Tribiani character on Friends, reports the Hollywood Reporter. Friends writers and executive producers Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan eyed to pen the pilot script.

FOUL PLAY?

Chris Martin, Coldplay's frontman, allegedly clashing with a photographer who snapped pics of the singer surfing; Martin's been ordered to appear in an Australian court to answer an allegation of malicious damage after the shutterbug's windshield was broken and tires deflated.

STORK WATCH

Russell Crowe announcing Monday that he and his new wife Danielle Spencer are expecting their first child on Australia's Channel Nine television. The baby is due in January.

CBS Touts Study Challenging Ratings 'Myth'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The CBS television network released a study on Monday challenging the widely held notion that viewers aged 18 to 49 matter the most to advertisers, and therefore to TV ratings.

The recent survey of more than 1,000 top media buyers and planners concludes that viewers aged 25 to 54 -- a demographic more favorable to CBS than 18 to 49 -- is the audience of choice for the greatest number of advertisers.

The Viacom Inc.-owned network said the findings debunked the prevailing gospel, propounded chiefly by rival network NBC and often repeated in media coverage of the industry, that the 18-49 demographic is the Holy Grail of network TV ratings.

"The current singular focus on adults 18 to 49 in the coverage of the television advertising market is resulting in a distorted view of the economics of that market," said David Poltrack, CBS executive vice president of research.

While CBS ranks as the most watched network overall, much has been made of NBC's primacy in the annual ratings battle for viewers in the 18-49 "demo."

Last season, CBS tied with ABC for third place in the 18-49 ratings derby, with Fox finishing a close second behind NBC. CBS, while much stronger in its 25-54 ratings, still finished No. 2 behind NBC in that demographic.

NBC dismissed the study, saying the nearly $3 billion it reaped from media buyers during this spring's "upfront" ad market was a more accurate gauge of advertising interest than CBS research.

"The buying community spoke and loud and clear with their checkbooks in May and June. They gave us 3 billion reasons to believe what matters most to them is adults 18-to-49," NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said.

Poltrack said NBC, owned by General Electric Co., did better in upfront sales in part because of its higher 25-54 ratings. CBS earned $2.2 billion in upfront sales.

It remains to be seen to what extent the findings will alter the marketing practices of the major networks, the way they report their ratings or how the news media covers them.

For its part, CBS said it would continue to emphasize its dominant standing among total viewers and its strategy of targeting a broad-based audience.