News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch has called A Good Year, 20th Century Fox's newest release starring Russell Crowe, "a flop" and has forecast that it will result in a $20-million loss for the studio. On the other hand, he told a shareholders' meeting in Adelaide, Australia today (Wednesday), he expected The Devil Wears Prada, which cost $17 million to produce, to return a profit of more than $100 million. "You've got to take the rough with the smooth," Murdoch told the investors, pointing out that the film business is "a bit of a lottery." On another topic, Murdoch said that News Corp is close to buying back Liberty Media's 18-percent stake in News Corp for one or more assets, probably including News Corp's 38-percent stake in DirecTV. He said that if the deal is successfully concluded, the company will probably drop its "poison pill" defense against a possible outside takeover.

In the latest embarrassment to strike Sony Corp., the company acknowledged today (Wednesday) that many games designed for the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles are not compatible with PlayStation 3. News of the problem follows the rash of bad publicity over production delays involving the device, consumer hesitancy over the company's Blu-ray high-definition DVD devices, and especially a recall of laptop batteries that the company had manufactured. Sony had been hoping that the hugely hyped Casino Royale, due out this weekend, would produce revenue to offset the earlier ordeals. Sony managers were in London Tuesday to demonstrate how they planned to integrate the marketing of their products with the new film. Later in the day they attended the premiere of the movie at the Odeon Leicester Square theater -- along with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Former 007 Roger Moore has made a plea for a buyer to come forth to save the 80-year-old Elstree Film Studios. The historic studios, where Alfred Hitchcock directed some of his more famous mysteries and where the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films were produced, were purchased by Hertsmere Borough Council in 1996 when no other buyer turned up. Today's (Wednesday) Guardian newspaper quoted Moore as saying, "Hertsmere Council extended it a lifeline when it needed it most, and invested heavily. Now that they are seeking to pass on the ownership, I hope that an equally passionate and caring owner can be found; and help take the studio into one of the most exciting periods of film and new media production." A spokesman for the Hertsmere Council said that it was selling the property because it needs a serious injection of cash to modernize it and keep it going.

Six airlines have agreed to provide connections for iPods that will allow users to watch their movies and other videos on seat-back screens during flights without draining their batteries, Apple Computer said Tuesday. The airlines are United, Continental, Delta, Air France, Emirates, and KLM. Apple said it is also in negotiations with other airlines. Presumably the service, due to begin in mid-2007, will be free.

The producers of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan face yet another lawsuit, this one from the tiny Romanian village of Glod, which acted as a stand-in for a Kazakh village in the opening scenes of the hit movie. "We thought they came here to help us -- not mock us," one resident told the Associated Press. Others accused the film's producers of paying them just $3.30 to $5.50 per day. The wire service said that residents of Glod would be meeting with a public ombudsman today (Wednesday) to map out their legal strategy against the producers. One local leader remarked, "These people are poor and they were tricked by people more intelligent than us." However, studio spokesman Gregg Brilliant told A.P. that locals were actually paid twice the going rate in Romania for extras, donated $5,000 to the town, paid a location fee and bought it computers, school and office supplies.

ABC's Dancing With the Stars pulled gigantic ratings Tuesday night, averaging a 17.7 rating and a 26 share between 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Monday night for the final performance episode of the season. In what some TV critics regarded as a manufactured outcome, the Dancing With the Stars judges scored each of the dances perfectly, effectively creating a tie and leaving it up to the viewers to decide the winner. Some writers suggested it was all a ploy to avoid the controversy that developed during the first season when judges gave higher scores to Kelly Monaco than they did to John O'Hurley, who had been favored to win. Meanwhile, the debut of Show Me the Money, hosted by William Shatner, was clearly a disappointment as the game show, which followed Dancing, lost half of its lead-in's audience as it continued to lose audience in each half hour of the program. At 9:30 pm., it posted a 10.6/15; at 10:00 p.m., a 9.3/14; and at 10:30 a dismal 6.9/12.

Like some of its characters, Desperate Housewives appears to be benefiting from the misfortunes of others -- the "others" in this case being CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS and Grey's Anatomy on ABC, last year's two top scripted shows, which have cut into each other's ratings by airing opposite one another this season on Thursday nights. Housewives has also seen a rating fall-off, largely due to competition from NFL football on NBC, but when all the smoke cleared last week, it was solidly in place in as the top scripted entertainment show with a 13.9 rating and a 20 share, its best numbers of the season, beaten only by the penultimate episode of Dancing With the Stars (14.1/20). Each of the networks had something to boast about as Nielsen Research released its latest ratings. CBS could claim that most viewers overall; ABC could claim the most in the adults 18-49 demographic category, the group most courted by advertisers; NBC could claim honors as the most-improved network and for mounting the biggest new hit of the season, Heroes; and Fox could claim continued strength for its drama House and also for the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons.Among the nightly newscasts, NBC Nightly News came out well ahead during election week with 9.8 million viewers; ABC's World News with Charles Gibson placed second with 8.8 million viewers; while the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric remained in third place with 7.7 million. It was the first time this season that the CBS newscast produced fewer viewers than it did a year ago when it was hosted by Bob Schieffer.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. Dancing With the Stars, ABC, 14.1/20; 2. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 13.9/20; 3. Dancing With the Stars Results, ABC, 13.7/21; 4. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 13.5/20; 5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 12.6/19; 6. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 12.4/19; 7. Dancing With the Stars Recap (Tuesday), ABC, 11.6/17; 8. Criminal Minds, CBS, 11.1/17; 9. CSI: NY, CBS, 10.9/18; 10. 60 Minutes, CBS, 10.8/17.

After numerous delays while it attempted to find cable outlets in the U.S., the English-language version of al-Jazeera is launching today -- without a single cable or satellite system in America carrying it. It will, however, be available on the Internet at aljazeera/english.net and on cable systems worldwide reaching 80 million households. Dave Marash, the former ABC Nightline correspondent who now heads the Washington bureau of al-Jazeera English (AJE), told today's Washington Post that the difficulties encountered by the Qatar-owned cable network stem from its frequent interviews with Arab militants. He commented: "Do they broadcast hate speech? Yes, they do. Is it put in context and is it discussed as hate speech? Yes, it is. Hate speech is part of the dialogue of the Middle East. To censor or to exclude it would be to lose all credibility" among al-Jazeera's viewers. Meanwhile, NBC anchor Brian Williams expressed consternation over the growing fascination with the YouTube website. As for those bloody videos posted by troops in Iraq, any of which would rival any footage aired by al-Jazeera, Williams said, "I shot video [in Iraq] I would never dream of putting on the air. ... I think about them when I go to sleep at night."

The $2 million that was paid to a Palestinian terrorist group to secure the release to Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig was used to purchase weapons for the group, the conservative website WorldNetDaily (WND) claimed Tuesday, citing a senior leader of one of the suspected terrorist groups. WND quoted its source as saying that the weapons would be utilized "to hit the Zionists" and that it would encourage like-minded groups to carry out further kidnappings of Americans.

In what is shaping up to be another bizarre milestone in the murder case involving O.J. Simpson, Fox announced Tuesday that it plans to air a two-part interview with Simpson on November 27 and 29 (within the November sweeps) in which, according to the Fox news release, he "will tell how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible for the crimes." The news release quoted Fox reality chief Mike Darnell as saying, "This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen. It's the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century." The person interviewing Simpson has not been identified. The interview is scheduled to air days before Fox's corporate sibling, Harper Collins, publishes Simpson's If I Did It, Here's How It Happened on November 30.