Britons voiced anger Wednesday as a hopeless contestant described as a `dancing pig` quit a top television show, seeking to defuse a media-fuelled row which has threatened to divide the nation.

Saying they were tired of YouTubers `ripping us off,` British comedy troupe Monty Python have struck back, launching their own channel on the video-sharing site.

`For three years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube,` the surviving Monty Python members said in a message and video at youtube.com/MontyPython.

Britons voiced anger Wednesday as a hopeless contestant described as a `dancing pig` quit a top television show, seeking to defuse a media-fuelled row which has threatened to divide the nation.

LOS ANGELES, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - After a nearly two-week walkout, Hollywood scriptwriters and studio owners have agreed to begin new talks on November 26, the Writers Guild of America said late Friday.

A brief statement issued by the union announced the decision and said no further details would be forthcoming.

More than 3,000 film and television writers went on strike on November 5 seeking a bigger cut from Internet sales and downloads, on the urgings of the 12,000-member guild.

LOS ANGELES, Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) - The filming of 'Angels and Demons,' like 'The Da Vinci Code' adapted from a Dan Brown novel and starring Tom Hanks as professor Robert Langdon, has been delayed due to the screen writers' strike, Sony studios said Friday.

'With the strike nearing its third week, Columbia Pictures has postponed production of Angels and Demons,' said studio spokesman Steve Elzer, adding that the production was close to finishing.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - The son of veteran rocker Rod Stewart pleaded not guilty Thursday to assault charges stemming from an alleged attack on a couple in the Hollywood Hills earlier this year.

Sean Stewart, 27, who stars in the reality television show 'Sons of Hollywood,' received a warning from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus after arriving 25 minutes late for the hearing.

'People have to come to court on time,' Marcus told Stewart. 'I'm not waiting for defendants.'

LOS ANGELES, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Veteran comedian Joey Bishop, best known as a member of Frank Sinatra's 'Rat Pack', has died aged 89, his publicist said in a statement on Thursday.

Bishop, who started out as a stand-up comic before a successful film and television career, died at his home in Laguna, southern California, late Wednesday from multiple causes, Warren Cowan said.

BUDAPEST, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A legal battle has erupted in Hungary between the country's leading public television station Magyar Televizio (MTV) and MTV Music Television over the rights to the famous three initials.

Magyar Televizio said Thursday it was suing the global music TV channel for infringement of its trademark after MTV launched its own Hungarian-language channel in October using the same three initials.

CANNES, France, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - India is rapidly becoming one of the world's media powerhouses, making leaders of the global entertainment business attending last week's MIPCOM audiovisual trade show sit up and take notice.

'The media companies in India have readied themselves, they are now powerful and I think that they are ready to take on the world,' Paul Johnson, television director for the show's organiser Reed MIDEM, told a press conference in this southern French city.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Police carried out a series of raids across California on Friday as part of a probe into the drugs overdose death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, justice officials said.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said police swooped on the offices of doctors who prescribed drugs to the model before her sudden death in a Florida hotel room in February.

'The Department of Justice today served search warrants at various doctors' offices, billing locations and residences in Los Angeles and Orange County,' Brown told reporters.

CANNES, France, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - 'Think global, act local' has been a corporate catchphrase for years. Now it's catching on across the entertainment business as television goes head on with Internet and mobile phone newcomers to find new ways to win viewers.

Rich Ross, influential head of Disney Channel Worldwide, summed up the need for community content at the MIPCOM audiovisual trade show Friday.

'We're not just interested in exporting US content, we're also committed to producing local content,' he said at a keynote conference.

SOWETO, South Africa, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Three doors down from the old home of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, make-up artists apply the finishing touches to the presenters of Soweto TV as they prepare to host a daily debate.

'Welcome to Dlala Ngeringas (Fun Debate),' says Zuko Xabanisa as the cameras start rolling in the classroom-turned-studio in the heart of the giant township which was the crucible to the struggle against the whites-only regime.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania will this week launch a new public television channel to give more airtime to the previously marginalised minority languages of the Islamic republic, said its boss on Thursday.

'Broadcasting should start on Friday to coincide with the festivities to mark the end of (the Muslim fast of) Ramadan, with programming tailored towards popular shows and time slots allocated to national languages,' said Hamoud Ould Mhamed.

BEIJING, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - China has banned 2,000 television and radio ads promoting female underwear and other 'sexually suggestive' items, state press reported, amid a wave of censorship ahead of a major Communist Party gathering.

Advertisements for breast enhancements and female underwear are 'vulgar', the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said in a statement published by the official Xinhua news agency late on Wednesday.

BEIJING, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Prime time entertainment in China has become a lesson in communist purity as the nation's biggest political event in five years approaches, with models of morality replacing risque reality TV stars.

Chinese viewers are used to the media obediently playing its role in creating a 'stable and harmonious society,' but the propaganda machine has gone into overdrive ahead of the Communist Party's Congress that begins on Monday.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Actress Michelle Rodriguez was slapped with a 180-day prison sentence by a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday for probation violation in a hit-and-run case, justice officials told AFP.

The 29-year-old Texas-born star, most famous for her role in hit US television drama 'Lost,' must report to jail to begin her sentence by December 24, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said.

Rodriguez was given the jail term after it emerged she had failed to carry out community service she had been ordered to undertake last year.

CANNES , France, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - As new eco-themed programmes sprout across TV networks worldwide, media experts say the shows must entertain if they aim to help save the planet.

The need to up the entertainment-factor in shows designed to preserve the environment was highlighted at a conference during the MIPCOM audiovisual trade show taking place in this Riviera city.

Media companies 'have the potential to get people to join in,' said senior BSKyB exec Ben Stimson. 'But we need to inspire them to make the world a better place.'

LOS ANGELES, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - '24' television series star Kiefer Sutherland pleaded guilty to drunk driving Tuesday in a Los Angeles court where prosecutors asked that he be jailed for 48 days.

Sutherland, 40, was arrested September 25 west of Los Angeles for driving with an alcohol-level three times above the legal limit, court documents show.

The actor was on probation for another drunk driving violation in 2004, for which Los Angeles prosecutor Rocky Delgadillo asked the court he be sentenced to 18 days in jail, in addition to 30 days for the current charge.

CANNES, France, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Feel-good family shows where the neighbours decide who's buying the house next door, single mothers seek a soul mate, and kids take over a school for a month, will be lighting up TV screens in the next months.

Kid-power, family-based reality shows and dumbed-down game shows with big cash prizes are due to hit screens around the globe, prominent industry watcher Virginia Mouseler of The Wit said Tuesday at the annual MIPCOM audiovisual trade show.

LONDON, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - The BBC World Service is to receive an increase in British government funding, allowing it to operate a new Arabic language television service 24 hours a day, it said Tuesday.

Finance minister Alistair Darling announced the extra 70 million pounds (101 million euros, 142 million dollars) in funding during his pre-budget report to parliament.

The increase will be spread across three years, taking overall funding levels at the London-based broadcaster from 246 million pounds in 2007/8 to 271 million pounds by 2010/11.

NEW YORK, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - NBC Universal announced plans Tuesday to buy Oxygen Media, a cable television network focused on programming aimed at women, for 925 million dollars.

NBC Universal, the media-entertainment giant that is a unit of US conglomerate General Electric, said the acquisition was part of a strategy for more rapid growth.

'In just seven short years, Oxygen has become the crown jewel of independent networks,' said Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive of NBC Universal.

CANNES, France, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Plans to produce a global movie to promote world peace at a one-off event next year titled 'Pangea Day' are coming together, according to the organisers.

'Movies alone can't change the world but the people who watch them can,' Egyptian-American documentary film-maker Jehane Noujaim, who dreamt up the idea, said at the MIPCOM audiovisual trade fair taking place in this southern French city.

PARIS, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - The price of shares in French media companies surged on Tuesday after the government said it was planning a major shake-up of the broadcasting sector to promote consolidation and increase advertising.

In early deals, shares in television group M6 showed a gain of 7.29 percent to 22.51 euros, TF1 was up 7.33 percent at 20.35 euros, Vivendi unit Canal+ was 6.85 percent higher at 8.43 euros, and NRJ Group climbed 5.75 percent to 9.57 euros.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - San Francisco-based online video search service blinkx added French, German and Spanish content to its massive index on Monday to win viewers in Western Europe and wrest the spotlight from YouTube.

Blinkx founder and chief executive Suranga Chandratillake described the move as a step in the global expansion of the world's largest video search engine and part of natural Internet evolution that could turn YouTube into an outdated trail blazer.

TEHRAN, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - A love story set against the backdrop of the Holocaust is a familiar film theme, but its appearance in an Iranian television series has captivated audiences in the Islamic republic.

The epic 30-part drama, from a country whose president has called for the destruction of Israel and openly questioned the Holocaust, tells the story of a Jewish woman who is saved from the death camps by an Iranian.

CANNES, France, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Cyber playgrounds for digitally-savvy kids look set to be the cool new space after global broadcasting giant, the BBC, unveiled its children's online virtual world at the MIPCOM audiovisual trade show taking place in southern France.

Children 'don't want passive viewing experiences any more,' Marc Goodchild, who heads the BBC's Children's Interactive and On-Demand, told a MIPCOM conference. 'They want to recreate their playground experiences at home.'

CANNES, France, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Cyber playgrounds for digitally-savvy kids look set to be the cool new space after global broadcasting giant, the BBC, unveiled its children's online virtual world at the MIPCOM audiovisual trade show taking place in southern France.

Children 'don't want passive viewing experiences any more,' Marc Goodchild, who heads the BBC's Children's Interactive and On-Demand, told a MIPCOM conference. 'They want to recreate their playground experiences at home.'

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - South Korean soap operas are winning global audiences and have become major rivals to Latin America's racier telenovelas, participants at an industry conference held in Spain said.

Jordanian television distributor Media Marketing and Production started buying the rights to air South Korean serials in the Arab world last year since they cause less headaches with censors, its manager Firas Al-Homoud said.

LONDON, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - A BBC television executive resigned Friday over a documentary which wrongly implied Queen Elizabeth II stormed out of a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz after a row over her crown.

Peter Fincham, who was controller of the main BBC1 channel, stepped down after an independent inquiry released Friday criticised 'misjudgements, poor practice and ineffective systems' at Britain's public broadcaster.

Stephen Lambert, head of production company RDF, which made the documentary, also resigned.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - The producers of 'Desperate Housewives' apologized to the Philippines government Wednesday for questioning the training of Philippine doctors in the season premiere of the ABC television series.

'The producers of 'Desperate Housewives' and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere,' they said in a statement.

'There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines,' they said.

CANNES, France, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - It's never been better for television fans worldwide. As TV explodes onto a host of new screens the race is on to find more great programmes to capture an increasingly savvy audience.

And with thousands of TV content buyers due to attend this year's 23rd influential MIPCOM audiovisual trade show kicking off Monday, there should be something new for the world's couch potatoes.

'I believe this is the most exciting time for the content and creative industries,' said Paul Johnson, television director for the show's organisers Reed MIDEM.

MADRID, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Oscar-winning US actress Gwyneth Paltrow will tour around Spain as part of a new reality television show to air in the US that aims to highlight the nation's culture and sights, the producers said.

She will be joined by chef and television personality Mario Batali, New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman and Spanish TV actress Claudia Bassols, production firm Frappe Inc. said Tuesday.

'Journeying throughout Spain, it's an 'anything goes' experience spiked with all the hazards any male-female car trip can offer,' it said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Kiefer Sutherland, who portrays the ultimate terrorist-fighting agent Jack Bauer in the hit television series '24,' faces possible prison after he was formally charged Friday with drunk driving.

Sutherland, 40, risks a year and a half in jail for two charges for driving while intoxicated, according to the office of the Los Angeles city attorney.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Paris Hilton has vowed to keep her post-prison promise of devoting time to worthy causes and will demonstrate her commitment with a trip to Rwanda later this year.

The celebrity socialite told the E! Online website on Wednesday that she is aiming to visit the war-torn central African nation in November after completing work on her latest film.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Actor Kiefer Sutherland was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in Los Angeles early Tuesday, police confirmed.

Sutherland, best known as terrorist-fighting special agent Jack Bauer in hit TV show '24,' was taken into custody after being stopped in West Hollywood at around 1:10 am (0800 GMT), a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman said.

Reports said Sutherland was stopped after making an illegal U-turn.