Joint Venture

The Dodgers should not be required to reveal the conditions that govern use of the land surrounding Dodger Stadium, the team argued in a court filing Monday. Those restrictions include "sensitive non-public commercial information" that should remain sealed, the team claimed. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross is set to hear the matter Friday, as part of a hearing in which he is expected to approve the sale of the team. Frank McCourt has agreed to sell the Dodgers to Guggenheim Baseball Management for $2.15 billion, with the parties jointly owning the parking lots that circle the stadium.

Universal Music Group Inc., the largest music company in the world, is forming a joint venture to manage musicians with Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world's biggest ticketing, concerts promotions and artist management firm. The deal puts Universal's small cluster of four management companies under Live Nation's Front Line Management Group, whose 90 executives manage 250 artists, including the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney and Christina Aguilera. Under the agreement, Front Line will oversee the joint venture.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has taken back full control of its legendary film label United Artists, is booking a loss on its recent release "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and has added a top TV executive to its board of directors, the independent studio revealed in financial filings this week. Formed in 1919 by film luminaries including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, UA became part of MGM in 1981. In 2006, UA became a joint venture between MGM and Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner, who together got 30% of the company.

Dorothy Rutherford is anxiously typing at her home computer, filling in answers to an online spelling game. "I hate it when I can't get this last word," the 86-year-old retiree says as she studies the jumbled letters "nadobna. " Rutherford tries "banana," then "bandana," to no avail. She smiles broadly when the computer beeps its approval of "abandon" a few moments later. Rutherford isn't just whiling away the hours in retirement. She is on the front lines of an initiative to help elderly Americans stay in their homes as long as they can — a concept called aging in place.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.announced plans to build a studio in Shanghai in what the Glendale company billed as a landmark agreement with two state-owned Chinese media companies. The creator of the "Shrek" movies said Friday that it was forming Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group, in concert with Shanghai Alliance Investment - an investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government - to establish a family entertainment company in China.

Broadcasting giant CBS Corp. is the latest U.S. media company to enter the fast-growing Indian television market, teaming up with a company backed by one of India's wealthiest men. CBS announced Wednesday that it had structured a 50-50 joint venture with Anil Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance Broadcast Network that initially will launch three English-language channels in India. The pay television channels, expected to go on the air in October, will target India's younger and more affluent audiences, showcasing programs that CBS owns including "NCIS," " CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and its eagerly awaited remake of " Hawaii Five-0.

"Temples of Chance" by David Johnston, reviewed by Nick Tosches Nov. 15, sounds like a must research book as I prepare to write my own memoirs. When I was 17 I hung out with Texas underworld characters and shilled for for a San Antonio after-hours gambling joint. Although I never met the legendary Benny Binion, I'm willing to bet that both David and Nick missed his point when quoting "Better to have a little joint and a big bankroll than a big joint and a small bankroll." The "players" I knew were sexy guys, and rather than advising someone on real-estate size, Binion was much more likely to have been referring to their anatomy.

In the last few years China has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing movie markets, but government restrictions have limited the ability of American studios to export their films there. Now a top Hollywood finance and production company is turning that formula around with a deal to make big-budget movies in China for export around the world. Legendary Pictures, known for its role in such blockbusters as "The Dark Knight" and "The Hangover," has formed a China-based joint venture called Legendary East.

L.L. Knickerbocker Co. said it has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Arkenol Holdings L.L.C. to use Arkenol's technology to make chemicals, biomass solids and liquid fuels to sell in some Asian markets. L.L. Knickerbocker said the joint venture will acquire licenses for Arkenol's technology to convert plant materials into ethanol and other chemicals. The joint venture, which is called Arkenol Asia, will sell the chemicals in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos and India.

In the latest sign of China's rising importance in the global aviation industry, Cessna Aircraft Co. said it would develop a plan to build business jets with the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp. of China. The announcement paves the way for Cessna of Wichita, Kan., to become the first U.S. aircraft maker to manufacture business jets in China, the fastest-growing market for the multimillion-dollar planes. "We believe China represents a significant opportunity for growth," said Scott Donnelly, chief executive of Cessna's parent company, U.S. conglomerate Textron Inc., at a signing ceremony Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Looks like Oprah Winfrey has had one of her trademark "aha!" moments. Winfrey and Discovery Communications Inc., partners in the Oprah Winfrey Network, announced cutbacks and an executive restructuring at the struggling cable channel. The moves follow OWN's decision Friday to cancel its high-profile Rosie O'Donnell talk show and will result in 30 staffers being let go and executives from Discovery Communications being brought in to oversee key operations. The changes come as OWN continues to struggle to find its voice.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.announced plans to build a studio in Shanghai in what the Glendale company billed as a landmark agreement with two state-owned Chinese media companies. The creator of the "Shrek" movies said Friday that it was forming Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group, in concert with Shanghai Alliance Investment - an investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government - to establish a family entertainment company in China.

A Los Angeles film company that invested in a $500-million fund to co-finance Sony Pictures movies filed a lawsuit alleging that the fund's manager and a later investor cheated it out of at least $44 million. Aramid Entertainment Fund alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday that the Sony fund, which co-financed 18 movies since 2008, was shut down late last year in a manner that benefited both fund manager Relativity Media in West Hollywood and the investor, New York money management firm Fortress Investment Group, at Aramid's expense.

Starbucks is continuing its march toward global conquest. The latte lord aims to open 50 outlets in India by year's end. The expansion will come through a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages. Tata Starbucks Ltd., as the venture is known, hopes to capitalize on the growing thirst of many Indians for a quality cup of java. According to the Associated Press, India was home to 1,600 coffee houses last year , up from just 700 in 2007. The consulting firm Technopak Advisors expects India's $170 million cafe market to grow 30% a year, adding up to 2,700 more outlets over the next five years.

Penetrating the Chinese movie market has long presented any number of challenges to Hollywood studios, from quotas to censorship to cultural sensitivities Add raising money to the list of potential problems. Legendary East, the Chinese film venture established this summer by film finance and production company Legendary Entertainment and its chairman, budding Hollywood mogul Thomas Tull, has canceled plans to raise $220.5 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year after it was unable to find enough investors.

Best Buy Co. said Monday that it will shut down its 11 big-box stores in Britain and buy out Carphone Warehouse's interest in a joint profit-sharing agreement for $1.3 billion. The Richfield, Minn., company also said it will launch a venture with Carphone Warehouse called Global Connections that will advise retailers around the world on how to boost performance of their mobile products businesses and services, in the mold of Best Buy Mobile. Best Buy's announcement is a tacit admission that its $2.1-billion joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, first announced in 2009, has not lived up to expectations.

Walt Disney Co. says it plans to launch a broadcast version of Disney Channel in Russia next year, enabling the entertainment giant to deliver its family programming to about 40 million households in the increasingly important market. Disney will acquire a 49% stake in Seven TV network, a national TV network in Russia, enabling it to air Disney Channel programming on broadcast stations in 54 urban markets, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in rural areas. The company did not disclose financial terms.