Singapore Pay TV Fined $50,000 For TV Outage

SingNet, a Singapore pay TV service provider was fined $50,000 by the state media authority for its television outage on March 1, due to a software glitch.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) said as a nationwide subscription television service licensee, SingNet was required to comply with licence conditions on quality of service and consumer service.

In a statement Wednesday, MDA said it had found evidence of SingNet breaching its license conditions on quality of service and consumer service when its Mio TV service broke down around 6am to about 6pm on that day.

MDA said although SingNet took efforts to correct the software malfunction and resume service, the outage impacted more than 10,000 subscribers which was not insignificant and caused a lot of inconveniences.

The authority was of the view that SingNet could also have provided better consumer support and resolved consumer complaints in a timely manner.

MDA said SingNet's call handling was evidently lacking when consumers complained that they could not get through to their call centre for hours, and even on the day after the breakdown.

M.I.A.'s controversial redhead genocide music video banned from YouTube

Controversial: The video features child actor Iam Hamrick - who has defended M.I.A. - being shot at close range

Redheads are rounded up by police and forced to run across minefields

A controversial music video which features redheads being blown up as they run across a minefield has been banned by YouTube.

The promo for singer M.I.A.'s single Born Free shows ginger-haired people being rounded up by police and taken into the desert.

Then at gunpoint they are forced to cross the field covered in explosives.
The controversial video, directed by Romain Gavras - son of political film-maker Costa Gavras - also features scenes of nudity and a child being shot in the head.


Outraged: M.I.A. is unhappy her video is being censored and has redirected fans to her own website to watch it

A spokesman for the video website said: 'On YouTube the rules prohibit pornography or gratuitous violence. If the content breaks our terms then we remove it.

'And if a user repeatedly breaks the rules we disable their account.'

The footage is said to depict how minorities are treated by authoritative bodies.

And despite widespread criticism, the child shot at close range in the video - 12-year-old Ian Hamrick - has defended M.I.A, real name Maya Arulpragasam.
Speaking to TMZ.com, he said: 'The video is definitely not for kids - I haven't even seen the full video myself - but, for all the adults and people in different countries who are doing that (killing people) in real life... doing the genocides to whatever - Italians, Africans, wherever it's from, it's still genocide.'

'So it's (the video) showing violence to end violence.'

M.I.A. was outraged at the censorship of her video and has redirected fans to her own website where it is still posted.

'Kick-Ass' Sequel In Jeopardy After Weak Opening?-Comic book movie's future as a franchise is less than certain following $20 million opening weekend.

Despite the lack of an A-list star in the title role or a long-established fanbase, "Kick-Ass" seemed set to hit the #1 box-office spot over the weekend and launch the start of a new comic book movie franchise. But instead of fulfilling projections that fell in the $25-30 million range, "Kick-Ass" didn't quite cross the $20 million plateau by Sunday night, and now the green light for a sequel seems far from certain.

That's quite a turnaround from weeks and months past, when "Kick-Ass" director Matthew Vaughn and stars Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz talked of their plans for a sequel.




"We have an idea for the sequel. We have a lot of options," Vaughn told MTV News at South by Southwest in March, declining to elaborate, since the film hadn't yet come out.

Perhaps that was a wise decision on his part. While Mark Millar, who wrote the "Kick-Ass" comic, has plans to pen a sequel, it's unclear whether that comic will form the basis for a second film.

Johnson, who plays the title character, was looking forward to seeing what Millar has planned and how it might have figured into a sequel film.

"His mind is out there and elaborate, and he's got some fantastic ideas and he's got a huge fanbase," the actor said. "So, it'd be exciting to see what the second comic's going to say, because he's going to bring it out probably summertime next year."

Johnson was pulling for a sequel in which his character, a mild-mannered teen who decides to become a green-suited crime fighter, develops some abilities more in line with his alter ego's name, Kick-Ass. "It'd be great if I could learn how to fight," he said. "If he doesn't, he doesn't. I don't think the character should develop into some superhero. He's forever Dave Lizewski, this kid that's got a lot of heart and he's really sensitive. I don't think you can f--- around with the character so much."

Moretz, meanwhile, had hopes that her Hit-Girl superhero would start riding a purple Ducati outfitted with Gatling guns.

What are the chances that will happen after the first film's middling box office bow? It's not unheard of for a movie that doesn't rake in huge dollars to gain a sequel. Arriving on U.S. soil in 1980, "Mad Max" grossed just $8.6 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, but it launched Mel Gibson's career and led to two more films � the second grossing $36.2 million in 1985. A year earlier, "The Terminator" pulled in just over $4 million � good for the #1 spot but hardly huge numbers at that time � yet it went on to become a franchise. More recent examples like "Final Destination," "Resident Evil" and "The Transporter" show that a first film doesn't have to do gangbuster numbers to spawn further installments.

So what's the fate of "Kick-Ass"? We'll have to wait to see how the movie performs in the coming weeks to have a better idea of its cinematic future. Only then will we know the answer to co-star Mark Strong's stance: "I'm sure it can go on and on if they want it to."

Conrad Murray's Lawyer Speaks Out-Denied Murray tried to hide destroy evidence by delaying call to 911

The attorney for Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, today aggressively contested media reports -- based on a leaked witness report -- that Murray attempted to hide evidence and delayed calling 911 as Jackson lay dying and said investigators rushed to implicate Murray in the star's death.



"It's just a bold-faced lie," Ed Chernoff said in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America" that aired today. "[The] doctor called 911 as soon as he could� Let me just say, unequivocally, he did not � he was not cleaning up any bottles� The scene was not consistent with anyone trying to clean something up."

Chernoff said Murray did not immediately call 911 because there was no house phone in the room where Jackson was and he could not leave his patient to make the call.

Murray stands accused of administering the lethal dose of a powerful sedative that killed the pop superstar. He pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in February.

Chernoff said his client isn't responsible for the star's death, and that police rushed to blame someone.

"Let's say that this extremely famous, worldwide personality like Michael Jackson was found dead under unusual circumstances such as this. And the police came out and said, 'We've investigated and we just, we can't really put the blame on anybody at this point.' What do you think would happen then?" Chernoff said. "I think there was a tremendous amount of pressure to find somebody to blame. I think that was Dr. Murray� I think, my personal opinion, a conclusion was made and the investigation was conducted in order to back it up."

When asked about Chernoff's claim that police bowed to public pressure and blamed Conrad the Los Angeles Police Department told ABC News its investigation is continuing.

Murray appeared in court Monday for a preliminary hearing in which a California judge could have stripped him of his license to practice medicine, but did not.

"Well I mean the doctor had a good day," Chernoff said. "I think that was stressing him out more than anything else, was his ability to keep going, taking care of patients..."

Murray told investigators he gave Jackson the drugs Propofol, Lidocaine, Ativan and Versed during the early hours of June 25, 2009, according to an unsealed affidavit.

He also told detectives that he left the room after he gave Jackson a final dose of Propofol, before he returned to the room to find that Jackson had stopped breathing, according to the affidavit. Jackson was pronounced dead later that day at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Chernoff did not offer an alternative chain of events, but said such a scenario doesn't equate to responsibility.

"If the prosecution's theory is that Dr. Murray injected a bunch of drugs into Michael Jackson, walked out of the room and he died as a result, that's absolutely false," he said. "Dr. Murray is not guilty of causing the death of Michael Jackson. Period."

Chernoff said Murray could not have been aware of everything Jackson was doing on his own over the months he was treating the star.

"Dr. Murray is just now learning what he was -- what he may have been doing," Chernoff said. "Dr. Murray cannot tell you what Michael Jackson was doing in the background. I reckon he had plenty of time to do things."

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Michael Jackson's sister, Janet Jackson, placed blame for her brother's death squarely on Conrad's shoulders.

"He was the one that was administrating," Janet Jackson said in November. "I think he is responsible."

After saying Murray's financial troubles could impact his case as far as the use of expert witnesses and specialists and citing the deluge of negative publicity his client's received, Chernoff said he still does not feel like the underdog in the case.

"We walk into the courtroom and people are yelling, calling him a murderer. They don't know anything about the facts," Chernoff said. "If we get a fair jury -- people in there who are not preconditioned, who do not have a preconceived notion about guilt, and Dr. Murray will walk out. Because he's not guilty."

A manslaughter conviction in California caries a potential sentence of two to four years in prison.

Outrage aside, Badu video has an artistic point-Badu strip at of JFK assassination site.

Erykah Badu in her controversial new video for Window Seat,where Badu strip at the site of JFK assassination site.


Soon after learning that she will be charged with disorderly conduct for the nude shoot of her new music video, "Window Seat" � for which she faces a fine up to $500 � Erykah Badu appeared on the "The Wanda Sykes" show on Saturday. In her first interview about the video, the singer denied that she intended the clip to dishonor the late President John F. Kennedy.


Guns 'n poses ... Erykah Badu rocking the Slash look in New York.




"My point was grossly misunderstood all over America," she said of the video, which she made at Dealey Plaza, where JFK was assassinated in 1963. "JFK is one of my heroes, one of the nation's heroes. ... John F. Kennedy was a revolutionary; he was not afraid to butt heads with America, and I was not afraid to show America my butt-naked truth."

Sykes showed her own, less successful version of the video, "Middle Seat," to an amused Badu, who also performed her single live (albeit fully clothed).

MTV News recently spoke with Coodie and Chike of Creative Control, the directors of "Window Seat," who said Badu fully understood the possible repercussions of not only filming without a proper permit, but also of the public nudity.

"We had bail money and everything," Coodie said. "I think she really wanted to get arrested and even make a bigger message."

According to the The Dallas Morning News, an official from the Dallas police department said the Grammy winner's citation is a misdemeanor that's the equivalent of a traffic ticket. Deputy Police Chief Mike Genovesi told the paper that a witness had come forward and claimed to have seen Badu strip on the street. "The witness had two small children with her and was offended," he said.

On her site, Badu recently released a second version of the video, titled "Window Seat (Reexamined)," shows the original footage in reverse. Her album, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, was released last week.