Daily Marauder

MISC

After nearly a year and a half of regulatory debate, the Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio merger was finally approved. Sirius XM says the new company will embrace an “a la carte” programming strategy, (Kevin Martin’s long enduring dream for the cable industry), allowing consumers to mix and match which channels they like instead of forcing them to pay for shows they’re not interested in. The company will be based in New York with Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin serving as CEO and XM Chairman Gary Parsons taking the role of Chairman. (Cynopsis 7/30)

MISC

All indications are that Warner Bros.‘ latest Batman feature The Dark Knight, opening in midnight shows at 12:01 tonight in on 2,500+ screens, will pull off the opening of the summer. (Cynopsis 7/17)

• It’s opening on 9,200 screens overall - a record for Warner Bros.
• In terms of presale tickets, it’s outselling the top 10 movies of all time on MovieTickets.com with more than 500 performances already sold out
• The Dark Knight currently accounts for 90% of all ticket sales on Fandango.com
• Many IMAX theaters are staying open 24-hours on Friday and Saturday to meet demand

Heck, it may even give the third Spider Man installment a run for its money. Spidey 3 grossed $59 million on its opening Friday and $151 million in its first three days on an estimated 10,000 screens. (Keep in mind Spiderman opened in May against slim competition. The Dark Knight has Mamma Mia and Space Chimps to contend with this weekend.)

MISC

Blockbuster officially withdrew its offer to buy ailing Circuit City for $1-$1.3 billion. The video chain had talked about using Circuit City stores as a distribution point for both digital content and devices. (Cynopsis 7/3)

MISC

Viacom’s Paramount Pictures may benefit from a split with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks film studio, says JPMorgan Chase. Paramount may improve profit by making lower-budget films under the Nickelodeon and MTV labels, the strategy of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. (Iwantmedia 6/23, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agUyhWkMHbjo 6/20)