newsmakers

newsmakers

NBC hopes ‘America’s Got Talent’ can sink ABC’s ‘Rising Star’

NEW YORK

NBC is fighting amateur with amateur.

With rival ABC pinning much of its hopes for summer success behind the interactive new talent show “Rising Star,” which debuted Sunday, NBC made a last-minute schedule change to distract potential viewers.

NBC scheduled a special Sunday night version of “America’s Got Talent,” already established as summer’s most-popular competition, to directly compete with “Rising Star.” That move prevented the ABC show from getting off to a fast start: “America’s Got Talent” had 8.1 million viewers, and “Rising Star” had 5.2 million, according to the Nielsen Co.

The U.S.-Portugal World Cup soccer game was the most-popular program on TV in the past week, although it is not counted in the prime-time rankings because ESPN’s telecast started earlier in the evening.

Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ draft sells for $2 million

NEW YORK

A draft of one of the most-popular songs of all time, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” sold Tuesday for $2 million, which the auction house called a world record for a popular music manuscript.

The manuscript is “the only known surviving draft of the final lyrics for this transformative rock anthem,” Sotheby’s said.

Associated Press