Fuse will televise parts of Bonnaroo

May 20, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK — Music fans who can’t trek to Tennessee for the Bonnaroo Music Arts festival still have a chance to see the action: Fuse TV is televising parts of the three-day extravaganza, its first national TV exposure. Acts ranging from Kanye West to Metallica to Pearl Jam are slated to perform at Bonnaroo, the yearly event that is held on a farm in Manchester, TN. The event will also feature comedians including Chris Rock and Janeane Garofalo.

Fuse plans to televise six hours of programming from the festival, ranging from performances to interviews with the artists. The network will also broadcast live from the event.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Fuse as our broadcast partner,” said Jonathan Mayers, Bonnaroo Co-founder, Superfly Productions, said in a statement Monday. “We understand that not everyone can make the long trip to Tennessee, so the fact that we can now bring the Bonnaroo experience into millions of homes is amazing.” Bonnaroo, now in its seventh year, attracts about 80,000 to the 700-acre farm where the event takes place. Other acts performing this year include Jack Johnson, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Actors union is pessimistic on deal

LOS ANGELES — The smaller of two actors unions in contract talks with Hollywood producers says a deal may not be quick or easy. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said in an e-mail to its members Monday that challenging issues remain. It also says it has delivered a strong message to producers on the issue of Internet clips.

Both the federation and the larger Screen Actors Guild have said they want to protect actors’ right to consent to use of their work in video clips online. The producers say getting consent from every actor for online clips is cumbersome and has offered to pay a fixed fee for their use.

Ex-Showtime exec to head new channel

LOS ANGELES — A new pay TV channel being set up by Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate has hired former Showtime executive Mark Greenberg to become its new chief executive. Plans for the channel were announced last month after the studios could not reach a deal to continue to supply their movies to Showtime, the pay TV channel that belongs to CBS Corp. Greenberg, whose hiring was announced Monday, spent 25 years in the cable business, including seven years at Time Warner Inc.’s HBO.

The channel and video-on-demand service is to launch by late 2009 with original shows and movies from Viacom Inc.’s Paramount and Paramount Vantage units, MGM, United Artists, and Lionsgate.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Joe Cocker is 64. Singer-actress Cher is 62. Actor Dean Butler (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 52. Guitarist Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s is 50. Actor Bronson Pinchot is 49. Singer Susan Cowsill of The Cowsills is 49. Actor John Billingsley (“Enterprise”) is 48. Actor Tony Goldwyn is 48. Singer Nick Heyward of Haircut 100 is 47. TV personality Ted Allen (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) is 43. Actress Mindy Cohn (“Facts of Life”) is 42. Guitarist Tom Gorman of Belly is 42. Rapper Busta Rhymes is 36. Actor Matt Czuchry (“Gilmore Girls”) is 31.