Stones Defend DVD Sales at Best Buy
NEW YORK (AP) — Mick Jagger is defending the Rolling Stones' decision to sell their new DVD box set "Four Flicks" through Best Buy and no other music retailers.
"This is not like not allowing them to sell some Blockbuster movie, which is going to sell 2 million DVDs in first week, you know, a 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' or something like that," Jagger told The Associated Press on Thursday.
"I think that this is like really small potatoes compared to that," he said.
Best Buy, which operates nearly 700 stores in the United States and Canada, won't say how much it paid for exclusive selling rights. Industry sources estimated Best Buy's deal easily runs into the millions of dollars given the retailer's plans to conduct a multichannel marketing campaign that will include in-store signage, national TV advertising, newspaper circulars, direct mail and the company's Web site.
George Whalin, a California retail consultant, has said Best Buy's deal with the Rolling Stones gives the nation's largest retailer of consumer electronics "an edge over everyone else who sells music" because of the Stones' popularity.
Three big music chains in Canada announced they were pulling some of the band's merchandise and music off shelves in protest after learning of the deal.
"I feel bad for the stores that aren't going to have the product, but they have lots of other products, to be honest, and music videos don't sell anything like movie DVDs," Jagger said.
But the band had the fans in mind all along when it made the decision, he said.
The Best Buy partnership will allow them to buy the DVD set for about $30 instead of $60, he said.
The set documents three of the band's concerts from its 2002-03 "Live Licks" tour and features more than five hours of music, including some material never recorded before. Concerts featured are from Olympia Theatre in Paris, Madison Square Garden in New York and Twickenham Stadium in London. The DVD package also includes two documentaries on the band.
Given the Stones' history with previous albums, the "Four Flicks" DVD set seems likely to sell at least 1 million copies in North America.
The Stones' "Forty Licks" two-CD set sold about 4 million copies in the United States, according to figures from the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Four Flicks" will be released Nov. 11.
Italian Tenor Franco Bonisolli Dies at 65
Franco Bonisolli, an Italian tenor who performed with the Vienna State Opera for decades, has died, the opera house said Thursday. He was 65.
Bonisolli died during the night, opera spokeswoman Margarete Arnold said. She didn't identify the cause of death or say where he died.
Bonisolli made his opera debut as Ruggero in Puccini's "La Rondine" at the renowned festival in Spoleto, Italy, in 1962, later singing the part of the Prince in "L'Amour des Trois Oranges."
His debut with the Vienna State Opera came in 1968, and he eventually performed with top opera houses worldwide, including the New York Metropolitan Opera , where he first sang in 1970.
He sang a total of 25 performances at the Met over the next two decades as Count Almaviva in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," "Faust," the Duke in "Rigoletto," Cavaradossi in "Tosca," Alfredo in "La Traviata" and Manrico in "Il Trovatore."
He performed at the Vienna opera house for the last time in 2000 as Manrico in "Il Trovatore," the Vienna opera house said.
Bonisolli was born May 25, 1938 in the northern Italian city of Rovereto.
Comedian Dennis Miller to Host CNBC Talk Show
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Dennis Miller, a regular on "Saturday Night Live" over a decade ago, will return to the NBC fold to host a prime-time cable talk show starting next year.
Miller, who won five Emmy Awards for his weekly series "Dennis Miller Live," will also serve as executive producer for the hour-long show set to debut in January on CNBC, the cable business channel, both sides said in a statement issued on Thursday.
"With all that's going on in the world today, it's nice to have a nightly platform to air my opinions. I'm happy to be back in the NBC family," said Miller.
Miller, who supported Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action star's successful bid for governorship of California earlier this month, has been seen as a potential rising star in the state Republican party.
"Having Dennis Miller return to the NBC family is one of the most exciting things to happen to us in years," said Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment. "His wit, uncanny takes on life and fearlessness have made him a popular figure -- and this is the next logical step in his brilliant career."
Miller was a member of the commentary team for ABC's "NFL Monday Night Football" during a stint that ended last year. He is also a frequent guest on politically oriented talk shows.
NBC is a unit of General Electric Co. while ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co.