'Modern Family' cast sues to void their contracts

By Matthew Belloni, The Hollywood Reporter

The cast of "Modern Family" has declared war on producer 20th Century Fox Television.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that cast members Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara have filed suit today in Los Angeles Superior Court to void their contracts. The legal theory, according to sources who have seen the lawsuit, is that their deals violate California's "7 Year Rule," which prohibits personal services contracts for longer than 7 years. This tactic is a common one for actors who seek to void contracts during renegotiations for increased compensation.

The move comes amid a salary standoff that has already delayed today's scheduled table read that would have marked the start of the fourth season of "Modern Family," one of TV's top-rated comedies. The cast, minus Ed O'Neill, who is paid more than his co-stars and is negotiating separately, has hired litigator Jeff McFarland with LA's Quinn Emanuel firm and are pressing their case in court.

Update: A source close to the negotiations tells THR that O'Neill has decided to join his castmembers as a plaintiff in the lawsuit out of solidarity. O'Neill has his own salary beef with 20th TV but he is paid on a different track and was thus not involved in the original plans to sue.?

Photos from THR: On the set of 'Modern Family'

The six adult cast members currently have contracts through the seventh season of the show. But as THR previously reported, renegotiations are common between the third and fourth seasons, when casts of hit shows typically get bigger paychecks in exchange for agreeing to continue with the show beyond the seventh season. Sources tell THR the five cast members are being offered salary increases as follows: $150,000 per episode plus a $50,000 per episode bonus for season 4; $200,000 per episode for season 5; $225,000 for season 6; and up to $325,000 for an anticipated season 9. The cast is asking for much more, including more than double the offered salary if the show goes 8 or 9 seasons, as expected.

A rep for 20th TV declined to comment.

With the exception of O?Neill ("Married? with Children"), the actors were paid in the $65,000-an-episode range for the show?s 22-episode third season, according to sources. O?Neill is believed to have made in the $105,000 range this past year.

The series is a profit center for both the studio and the network, regularly drawing 13.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. In 2011,?"Modern Family" generated $164 million in advertising revenue for ABC, up 40 percent from a year earlier, reports Kantar Media. What?s more, the multiple Emmy-winning series?has proved an "American Idol"-style launching pad for the network?s other comedies, including "Happy Endings," "Don?t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" and the upcoming alien effort "The Neighbors."

Coming out of its breakout freshman season in 2010, 20th TV inked a rich syndication deal with USA ? the NBCUniversal-owned cable network?s first major comedy acquisition ? for a license fee close to $1.5 million an episode, say sources. That?s roughly on par with the deal Turner?s TBS struck with Warner Bros. TV for repeats of "The Big Bang Theory." "Modern Family" is poised to reap many more millions from broadcast stations when the series rolls out in syndication in 2013, and foreign revenue is said to be particularly robust.

More from THR: Can anybody beat 'Modern Family' at 2012 Emmys?

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/24/12930864-modern-family-cast-sues-to-void-their-contracts?lite

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Meet Your Business Requirements with Oracle's PeopleSoft ...

Internet and Technology | Computers and Technology | * Written by Martin | Wednesday, 25 July 2012 03:16 | Word Count: 441

As your business grows, so does the need to remain competitive in the market. In order to remain competitive, you should be able to efficiently manage several aspects of your business including human resources, finance, supply chain, customer relationship, infrastructure, and enterprise performance- all at the same time. But, addressing these and other complex business requirements is not easy. It is a highly challenging task, and therefore requires the support of software applications that can simplify management of the complex needs of your business. Oracle?s PeopleSoft applications have been designed with this in mind.

Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Suite offers a wealth of applications ranging from those designed to manage customer relationships and enterprise performance to those meant for managing financial data and human capital. Its diverse functions help improve productivity through an intuitive web-based interface. Combining multiple features into one product, it gives your business the opportunity to use individual features and allows for complete personalization of ERP solution for optimum performance.

Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise offers several benefits to your business. It can dramatically improve productivity, accelerate business performance, reduce cost of ownership, and enable efficient lifecycle management. In order to help you better utilize Oracle technology and to further enhance your business capabilities, new functionalities are introduced on a continuous basis. This suite of comprehensive business and industry solutions completely transforms the way your business operates, and gives you an edge over your competitors.

While Oracle?s PeopleSoft applications can be highly beneficial to your business, you should bear in mind that you can completely leverage the capabilities of these applications only when they have been implemented well. This requires proper planning, technical know-how, and a lot of experience. So if you want the implementation or upgrade of PeopleSoft applications to be a smooth and seamless process, you should resort to the services of an Oracle technology expert. This can offer numerous benefits such as:

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These apart, by partnering with an Oracle technology expert, you can ensure that these applications are customized and personalized to meet the most complex and most specific requirements of your business. So you can make the most of Oracle PeopleSoft applications and make sure that as your business grows, so does its ability to manage its ever-growing needs.

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PST: Will Gareth Bale draw FIFA's ire?

Nobody should be compelled to participate in the Olympics. I think we can all agree with this, right? I?ll confess, it?s a strange scenario ? a person having the talent to compete in the games but electing not to do so. But if somebody doesn?t want to do it, why make them? It sounds like a recipe for some pretty crappy performances.

Sepp Blatter doesn?t care about that, part of the reason he?s threatening to ban Gareth Bale from Tottenham?s preseason preparations. Bale was selected by Stuart Pearce for Team GB but pulled out with injury. Last night, Bale scored in Los Angeles against the Galaxy, a strangely high level of proficiency for somebody too hurt to participate in the Olympics. To Blatter, it looks like Bale?s shunning a callup to a FIFA-sanctioned event; hence, his ire. According to Blatter, if the English FA wants to make a big deal out of it (and formally complain), Bale could be banned.

Which is ridiculous. This isn?t Luka Modric ? a contracted player ? walking out of camp. This is voluntary, international duty. We want players to take that seriously, but that?s just because we like international soccer. Not-so-deep down, we know there?s no obligation, so when we get the rare Paul Scholes or Brad Friedel who says it?s not worth his time, we moan and move on. We don?t start thumbing through FIFA statutes looking for a cat o? nine tails to punish them.

Then there?s the whole Team GB issue. Wales isn?t playing in the Olympics. Team GB is, so you can excuse Bale if he doesn?t want to roll the dice on his season (and, if he really was slightly injured, World Cup qualifying for the actual Wales national team) for a team that doesn?t really exist ?

Outside this strange thing we call men?s Olympic soccer. Blatter threatening to ban Bale doesn?t make the thing any less surreal.

Source: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/25/today-in-meaningless-conflict-gareth-bale-could-draw-fifas-ire/related

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N. Korea TV 'confirms leader Kim is married'

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's new young leader, Kim Jong-un, is married, state media said on Wednesday, putting an end to speculation over the relationship with a woman seen at his side during a recent gala. The announcement, which fits a trend the upbeat Kim appears to have taken to break out of the dour management style??

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-lady-likely-n-korea-leaders-wife-korea-112513319.html

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US legacy in Afghanistan: What 11 years of war has accomplished

The lives of four Afghans provide a lens on how America's longest conflict has changed a nation ? and the divisions and dangers that persist.

By Scott Baldauf,?Staff writer / June 10, 2012

Young Afghans peer out from a popular overlook at Kabul. This is the cover story in the June 11 edition of The Christian Science MonitorWeekly.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

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It has become the longest war in US history ? nearly 11 years. It has consumed $57 billion in American development aid. The US military has spent more than $517 billion trying to subdue and secure one of the most invaded countries in human history. What, in the end, has the United States achieved after all this time and treasury spent in Afghanistan?

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It's a valid question to ask, especially in an election year. And it's a question that many Afghans themselves are asking in earnest, as the US considers withdrawing troops by 2014.

Answering this question is tricky. US military spokesmen point to the dismantling of Al Qaeda and the buildup of an Afghan National Army increasingly capable of protecting the country from its internal and external enemies. Aid donors point to increased political freedoms, improved economic opportunities, thousands of newly built girls' schools, and rising survival rates for newborn infants and their mothers.

Add all this up, though, and the whole is a bit less than the sum of its parts. Security is faltering, as support for insurgent groups like the Taliban grows in rural areas. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civil servants have received world-class training from the West, but corruption within government remains a huge problem. Women and girls have far more access to education, health care, and political rights than during Taliban times, but those rights could be diminished if the Taliban enter a coalition government with President Hamid Karzai.

Americans have become increasingly weary of the war. A Monitor/TIPP poll conducted in May found that 63 percent of Americans oppose a newly signed security pact that would keep many US soldiers in Afghanistan after the majority of combat troops are withdrawn in 2014. Many Afghans, including insurgents interviewed for this story, say that a swift pullout will lead to the collapse of the Afghan government, the breakup of the national army, and the spark of a new civil war. Still, the past decade hasn't been a waste, many Afghans say. At least it has created a window of relative peace in which Afghans can create institutions that are worth defending.

Success ? defined by both the Americans and the Afghans as a stable, sustainable, and effective government ? will largely depend on what happens in the next two years. If Americans correct past mistakes and build on achievements, they still have a chance to leave behind a country that can survive on its own. If past mistakes are repeated, the withdrawal could be a messy one indeed ? and may prove an ignoble ending to one of the costlier ventures in modern American history.

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