The leaders of the Screen Actors Guild on Tuesday sent an email message to members expressing strong reservations about the contract signed last week by the Screen Directors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. President Alan Rosenberg and Executive Director Doug Allen wrote, "Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the 'solution' for the entertainment industry. We believe that assessment is premature." The two acknowledged that they had only seen a press release containing information about the deal between the directors and studios and not the contract itself, but nevertheless warned, "Because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors." Their message immediately drew fire from Directors Guild President Michael Apted, who charged, in effect, that the SAG leaders were jumping the gun by commenting on a deal before they learned its full details. Apted asked why they felt it necessary to comment on it at this time. "They are not in negotiations and have not scheduled any," Apted told Daily Variety. "Their letter has one purpose and one purpose only: to interfere with the informal talks currently under way between the WGA and the studios. Simply put, their assumptions and arguments are specious. The DGA deal is a great deal for our members."

Apple has begun receiving numerous complaints that movies that were recently made available for rent on its iTunes store can not be viewed on iPods that were purchased before September 2007. Many complained that Apple posted no notice of the limitation when the movie rentals became available and that they did not learn of the restriction until after they had rented a movie. Apple did not immediately respond to the complaints.

Apparently reassured by statements from Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks that they have no plans to follow the lead of Warner Bros. in abandoning Toshiba's HD DVD high-definition video system, sales of HD DVD players rebounded during the week ended Jan. 19. As reported by the Video Business website, HD DVD players accounted for 33 percent of all high-definition units sold during the week, up from just 7 percent a week earlier. However, the same week saw price cuts of $100-$200 dollars for the HD DVD players, which may have contributed to the rise in sales. Nevertheless, tech research firm Gartner predicted that Toshiba's price cutting "may prolong HD DVD's life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format." Paramount and Universal account for only 30 percent of all HD movies sold.

The operator of the Utah-based Flix Club, which, as part of the Clean Flix chain, drew fire from major studios for removing scenes depicting sex and violence from home videos, has been arrested in Orem, Utah on charges of having sex with underaged girls. According to Orem police, Daniel Thompson also told the girls that his business was actually a cover for a pornography studio and asked them to participate in making a porn movie. The police report also said that they uncovered a "large quantity" of pornography at Thompson's business. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Thompson told the arresting officers that he was unaware that the girls were not of legal age and that the porn movies were for his "personal use." Thompson previously operated the Clean Flix franchise in Orem but shut it down last month after giving away 400 sanitized versions of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The studios, he said at the time, had told him that "if I don't shut down, they would break me."

The government of Pakistan is considering lifting a 40-year-old ban on showing movies from India in theaters. The Indian senate's Standing Committee on Culture said that Indian movies ought to be shown in the country so long as they do not harm "our religious and cultural norms and values." Pakistan is mostly Muslim; India, Hindu. A statement released by the committee on Tuesday took note of the fact that Indian movies are already being viewed on DVDs and on cable stations, "necessitating a reappraisal to deal with the issue rationally." It proposed that the ban be lifted for one year "after which the arrangements can be reviewed."

Fox had no NFL playoffs to buoy its ratings last week, but it did have American Idol, and even though the talent contest's ratings were somewhat off from what they were a year ago, they still looked better than anything else in sight, as Tuesday and Wednesday's telecasts finished first and second for the week among overall viewers and those 18-49. A rerun of Fox's House also crushed the competition on Tuesday night. Overall, Fox averaged a 6.9 rating and an 11 share for the week. CBS followed with a 6.1/10. NBC came in third with a 5.1/8, while ABC trailed with a 4.4/7.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 16.2/24; 2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 15.1/23; 3. Moment of Truth, Fox, 12.9/19; 4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 9.5/15; 5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 8.6/13; 5. Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Russell Girl, CBS, 8.6/13; 7. Deal or No Deal, (Monday), NBC, 8.5/13; 7. Deal or No Deal (Wednesday), NBC, 8.5/13; 7. House, Fox, 8.5/13; 10. Law and Order: SVU, NBC, 8.4/14.

American Idol remained far ahead of its rivals last night (Tuesday), with its fifth audition episode posting a 15.7 rating and a 24 share. Almost as impressive were the huge ratings of House, which climbed to a 12.9/19 coming out of Idol.That's a huge 52-percent increase from the previous week.

Aided by a strong public relations campaign, Minutemen, a two-hour Disney Channel movie about students who travel in a time machine a few minutes back into the recent past, drew 6.5 million viewers Friday. During the same hour, corporate sibling ABC attracted just 3.87 million viewers. The strong showing gave Disney Channel a win in primetime among cable channels and also in total day. According to Nielsen figures, 2.9 million of those who tuned in to Minutemen were 6-9 years old. The TV movie co-starred 19-year-old Steven R. McQueen, grandson of the legendary movie actor.

ABC has been caught in a tug of war over a forthcoming premiere episode of the legal drama Eli Stone, which deals with a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company claiming that a vaccine was responsible for a boy's autism. On Monday, the program was denounced by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which warned that it could cause many parents to refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated against life-threatening disease. It asked ABC to withdraw the show. In its response, the network said that it would not do so but would air a disclaimer at the beginning of the show stating that the story was fictional. On Tuesday, an organization called SafeMinds, composed mostly of researchers and parents who claim that their children were diagnosed with autism or other disorders after receiving vaccines that used thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound, as a preservative, asked that ABC resist the AAP's request to remove the episode. The group applauded ABC for resisting the AAP's demands and said that the program "is a needed addition to continued discourse on this important subject for our children's health."

Legendary TV producer-director Dwight Hemion, who held the record for the most Emmy nominations, 47, and who won 17 times, died Monday of kidney failure at age 81, a source said. Hemion also won the Directors Guild of America's top TV award five times. Among the most memorable specials that he produced and directed were: My Name Is Barbra (1965), Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965), Peter Pan (1976), Baryshnikov on Broadway, (1980), and Barbra Streisand: The Concert (1994).

Attorneys for Barry Diller's IAC have gone to court to block John Malone's Liberty Media from taking over the company and ousting him and those loyal to him from the IAC board of directors. In a filing in Delaware chancery court, the attorneys accused Malone and Liberty of going "off the deep end." They called Malone's accusations against Diller "preposterous" and added, "the contention that Liberty is now in control of [IAC] is inexplicable." Diller issued a separate statement saying that Liberty's actions amounted to "a desperate sideshow designed to exert pressure on the board and management of IAC as they attempt to responsibly act in the best interest of their stockholders. All it demonstrates is that Liberty will stop at nothing to advance their own interests at the expense of the other stockholders. Needless to say, IAC will not be daunted." New York Post business columnist Peter Lauria quoted an unnamed source today (Wednesday) as saying that Diller's "name calling has got Malone smiling ... because it means he's accomplished his objective of putting Diller on the defensive."

Bob Schieffer, who replaced Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News in 2005 -- and improved the newscast's ratings -- and has hosted Face the Nation since 1991, said Tuesday that he plans to retire next January. "I think that's probably going to be it," Schieffer told today's (Wednesday) New York Times. "Inauguration Day 2009, I think I'm probably going to wind it up then," he said.

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace, who turns 90 on May 9, underwent triple-bypass heart surgery in New York Friday. "Mike is recovering nicely and has taken his first steps after undergoing heart bypass surgery late last week," a CBS News spokesman said Tuesday. "His doctors say it was a great success."