Tribune Media Services

Tribune Unit Buys Newspaper Entertainment Network: The Tribune Media Services unit of Chicago-based Tribune Co. said the purchase will help it expand its advertising networks in print and other media. The price was not disclosed. Los Angeles-based Newspaper Entertainment Inc. sells advertising in newspapers' TV guides to broadcast networks, cable channels, syndicators and producers.

Warren Beatty has scored a legal victory in his fight with Tribune Co. over the television and movie rights to square-jawed comic-strip crime stopper Dick Tracy. Both sides had requested summary judgments in the long-running dispute in U.S. District Court. Judge Dean D. Pregerson of the Central District of California on Thursday granted Beatty's motion and rejected Tribune Co.'s request. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other media properties. Beatty, who acquired rights to the character from Tribune Co.'s Tribune Media Services in 1985 and made the 1990 movie "Dick Tracy," starring himself and Madonna, filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles in 2008 after Tribune Media Services said those rights had reverted back to it. "At the present time we are reviewing the judge's opinion and evaluating our options," a Tribune Co. spokesman said in response to the ruling.

Warren Beatty has scored a legal victory in his fight with Tribune Co. over the television and movie rights to square-jawed comic-strip crime stopper Dick Tracy. Both sides had requested summary judgments in the long-running dispute in U.S. District Court. Judge Dean D. Pregerson of the Central District of California on Thursday granted Beatty's motion and rejected Tribune Co.'s request. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other media properties. Beatty, who acquired rights to the character from Tribune Co.'s Tribune Media Services in 1985 and made the 1990 movie "Dick Tracy," starring himself and Madonna, filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles in 2008 after Tribune Media Services said those rights had reverted back to it. "At the present time we are reviewing the judge's opinion and evaluating our options," a Tribune Co. spokesman said in response to the ruling.

When your partner opens 1NT (or 2NT), a raise to 4NT is exactly that: a raise that invites slam, just as a raise of 1NT to 2NT would invite game. You need a different bid to ask about partner's aces, and the Gerber Convention does the job: A response of four clubs is ace-asking. Today's South wants to play at slam unless two aces are missing. North's 4NT response to Gerber promises three aces (careful; the responses aren't the same as the responses to Blackwood), and South tries six hearts.

When your partner opens 1NT (or 2NT), a raise to 4NT is exactly that: a raise that invites slam, just as a raise of 1NT to 2NT would invite game. You need a different bid to ask about partner's aces, and the Gerber Convention does the job: A response of four clubs is ace-asking. Today's South wants to play at slam unless two aces are missing. North's 4NT response to Gerber promises three aces (careful; the responses aren't the same as the responses to Blackwood), and South tries six hearts.

Tribune Media Services Inc., a unit of Orlando, Fla.-based Tribune Co., paid about $5 million for the privately held national marketing and services company that sells "bold face" advertising for insertion into newspaper television listings. Aubrey Ison, chairman of National TV Log, said that the company, which had sales of about $9 million in 1984, will remain in Pasadena, and no layoffs are planned.

No crook gets the better of Dick Tracy, but someone has stolen valuable original panels of the famous syndicated cartoon strip from the Museum of Cartoon Art. A number of Tracy panels were willed to the museum by the creator of the jut-jawed champion of law and order, Chester Gould, who died in 1985.

IN Tim Rutten's article on former Fox News Channel producer Charlie Reina's memo about alleged conservative bias at that network ("Miles From 'Fair and Balanced,' " Nov. 1), I am identified as a "conservative religious commentator." I'm not sure what that means since my syndicated column (in 557 newspapers and distributed by Tribune Media Services, which is hardly a "religious" organization) mostly deals with secular subjects others write about. So does my "After Hours" show on Fox, which includes liberals, Democrats, pagans and, occasionally, a "religious" person.

Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, an international investment bank based in Los Angeles, has appointed Louis Chen as chief information officer. He will be responsible for overseeing all projects related to Houlihan Lokey's Information Technology Group, as well as for providing technical support and recommendations from a practitioner's point of view to the firm's technology financial staff.

Wayne and Judy desired to install a TV satellite receive-only antenna in their back yard. They applied with the city for a permit that was denied because their antenna would exceed the ordinance's 10-foot height limit. Instead of reducing the height of their planned antenna, Wayne and Judy sued the city to challenge the ordinance. They argued regulations of the Federal Communications Commission preempt the field and their constitutional rights of free speech are infringed by this ordinance.

Tribune Unit Buys Newspaper Entertainment Network: The Tribune Media Services unit of Chicago-based Tribune Co. said the purchase will help it expand its advertising networks in print and other media. The price was not disclosed. Los Angeles-based Newspaper Entertainment Inc. sells advertising in newspapers' TV guides to broadcast networks, cable channels, syndicators and producers.

"The Home Buyer's Inspection Guide" by Warren Boroson and Ken Austin (John Wiley & Sons, New York: 1993, 219 pages, $17.95.) The trend is for most home buyers to make their purchase offers contingent upon a satisfactory professional inspection of the residence. However, as this new book explains, there is more to inspecting a home than just hiring a professional inspector and reading his or her report.