About the only good news to come out of Wednesday's negotiating session between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was that they had agreed to continue their talks today (Thursday). According to several published reports citing unnamed insiders, the two sides remain far apart and have presented few, if any, significant compromises. "Still," commented the Hollywood Reporter in an article about the talks, "the simple fact that negotiations will continue is surely a sign for some optimism." And the New York Times raised the possibility that writers might "return to work without a contract if a resolution is not reached soon." Meanwhile, Carson Daly resumed production of his late-night Last Call on NBC. Responding to condemnation by the WGA, Daly issued a statement saying, "As a non-WGA member I feel I have supported my four Guild writers and their strike by suspending production for a month. ... While I continue to support their cause, I can't, in all good conscience, stand by and let that happen to the vast majority of my loyal staff and crew."

Woody Allen has canceled plans to film his next movie in Spain after controversy arose over funding that the film was expected to receive from the city of Barcelona and regional authorities. The funding reportedly amounted to 10 percent of the film's budget. Britain's Guardian newspaper reported today (Thursday) that local filmmakers had complained that Allen was receiving special treatment, including the kind of financial backing from the local governments that would never have been granted to them. But Jaume Roures, president of Mediapro, the production company backing the film, which stars Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, told the Guardian that there was nothing unusual about the funding.

The Catholic League, the country's largest Catholic lay organization, is stepping up its campaign to discourage families from seeing The Golden Compass when it opens on Dec. 5. The League is receiving indirect help from the author of the book on which the movie is based, Philip Pullman. In an interview with CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth, Pullman said, "Religion is at its best when it is furthest away from power. ... As soon as it gets its hands on power, it's no good." But, appearing on CBS's The Early Show, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League said that the movie "teaches atheism to kids. Phillip Pullman is very open about this. The movie is basically innocuous, but parents may want to say to their kids, 'You know what? A great Christmas present would be to buy his Dark Trilogy, the name of the three books.' Now you've introduced your kids to atheism. I don't think most parents want to do that."

Blockbuster is in talks with cell-phone manufacturers to adapt their products so that they can receive full-length movies via Blockbuster's Movielink service. Speaking to the Reuters Media Summit in New York Wednesday, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said that in order to keep up with current movie fare he often downloads movies from Movielink onto a memory card that he then plugs into his Blackberry. But that allows him to watch only in "bite-sized pieces," he said. "The challenge is how do I make this convenient for everybody?"

In Europe, Blu-ray appears to be winning the competition against HD DVD handily, the Blu-Ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee boasted on Wednesday. It cited figures from Media Control GfK International that show Blu-ray discs accounting for 73 percent of high-definition discs sold in Europe and HD DVD lagging behind with just 27 percent. The Blu-ray group said the best selling titles were 300, Spider-Man 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

For the first time in three years, the Golden Globes ceremonies will return to Sunday night. After presumably being scared off by the overwhelming popularity of ABC's Desperate Housewives on that night, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions, who are responsible for the NBC awards telecast, now say they can effectively compete with the Sunday night soap. Co-executive producer Barry Adelman announced that the next telecast will take place in Beverly Hills on January 13. "We want the show to get the best possible platform and be seen and enjoyed by the widest audience possible," he told Daily Variety. Asked whether the ceremonies will take place if the writers' strike continues through that date, Adelman said, "We'll be exploring all our options [in January] if that happens. ... We have our fingers crossed."

In what may well turn out to be the highest-rated Christmas TV special ever, ABC's animated Shrek the Halls drew a whopping 21.06 million viewers Wednesday night and led into a repeat of How the Grinch Stole Christmas that retained 18.74 million. The Shrek special registered an 11.0 rating and a 17 share, while Grinch landed a 9.4/17. However, the network's ratings collapsed after those two half-hour specials, which aired in the 8:00 p.m. hour, and CBS wound up winning the night with strong ratings for Criminal Minds at 9:00 p.m. and CSI: NY at 10:00 p.m. The night marked the official end of the November sweeps. CBS is expected to retain its crown as the network with the largest overall audience during the month, while ABC is expected to win among adults 18-49.

The Democratic party on Wednesday canceled a planned debate that was to be carried by CBS and moderated by Katie Couric, citing the possibility that CBS News writers would picket the proceedings, or as it put it, "the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute." CBS issued a statement saying that it had asked the Writers Guild of America East to exempt the debate; the WGA issued its own statement saying that the issue "could have been avoided entirely if CBS would simply sit down and negotiate a fair contract." The debate would have boosted the public profile of Couric, who has been criticized for lacking journalistic toughness in her interviews dealing with politics and politicians. "Katie is disappointed because she really was up for doing it," CBS News senior vice president Paul Friedman told the Washington Post, "but there will be other opportunities."

Following several reports of personality clashes between members of the staff of CBS's The Early Show and its new executive producer Shelley Ross, Ross seemed to be attempting squelch speculation Wednesday that she may have been responsible for the decision of co-anchor Hannah Storm to leave the morning program. In a statement, Ross said, "Hannah is a rare talent with an extraordinary range and skill set. For my part, I hope Hannah and I continue to work and innovate together as we relaunch the many movable parts of the morning." The show is due to receive a significant makeover on January 7 when it does away with an arrangement with local affiliates that allows them to provide much of the content for the first hour of the show if they wish to do so.

Former NBC News correspondent Ashleigh Banfield says that her career as a network journalist collapsed after she delivered a speech at Kansas State University following 9/11 urging her colleagues "not to wave the banner and cover warfare in a jingoistic way." In an interview with the TVNewser blog, Banfield, who now reports for CourtTV, said that the speech "didn't sit well with my employers at NBC -- who are no longer there. I think they overacted. I was banished. I sat in the outfield for a long time." After receiving many plaudits for her work covering the 9/11 attacks in New York, she added, she was exiled to "the warehouse while my contract petered out."

Appearing to remove the last remaining barrier to the sale of Tribune Co. to an investment group led by real-estate mogul Sam Zell for $8.2 billion, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Wednesday proposed an exemption under which Tribune would be allowed to continue its ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in some markets for up to two years. The commission is expected to approve his proposal quickly so that the transaction can be completed by the end of the year. However, Martin's proposal quickly ran into opposition from the two Democratic members of the FCC and from some public interest groups that oppose Martin's efforts to overturn cross-ownership regulations altogether. Andy Schwartzman, director of the Media Access Project, told Advertising Age: "My initial reaction is not positive. Count me troubled." And Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union said in an interview with today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times: "It's one thing to be given a reasonable time to dispose of properties at a fair market price. Two years goes far beyond that." Tribune Co. stock rose 10 percent to $30 on the news but remained significantly below the $34 buyout price. The Times, a Tribune-owned newspaper, observed that the gap indicates "that some investors are doubtful the deal will close."

Religious broadcasters have renewed their opposition to efforts by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to require cable TV providers to offer programming on an "a la carte" basis. In a statement, the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition (FFBC), which lobbies on behalf of religious broadcasters, praised commission members who balked at efforts by Martin to strengthen the ability of the FCC to regulate cable TV under a controversial rule that would kick in when cable TV is available to 70 percent of U.S. households and when 70 percent of those households have subscribed to cable systems. Martin's changes, the FFBC said, "would have had a devastating effect on religious broadcasters." It quoted Colby May, director of the American Center for Law and Justice's Washington office as saying, "A per-channel charge would dramatically limit, if not kill, the availability of religious-based programming on cable."

Beginning next year, fans of Comedy Central's South Park will be able to watch any episode of the animated series at any time -- free -- by accessing it online at SouthParkStudios.com, MTV Networks announced Wednesday. The company said it was not concerned about cannibalizing the audience for the show itself. Speaking at the Reuters Media Summit in New York, MTV Networks Chairman and CEO Judy McGrath said, "One does not diminish the other by any stretch of the imagination. That is kind of our hat trick." She indicated that other MTV Networks shows may also go online. Already eight years of Daily Show videos, 13,000 in all, are available. "The Daily Show was the first out of the gate and it's been a big success and it's a nice little model for us to follow," Mika Salmi, MTV Networks president of global digital media, told Reuters.