Memorial News: All updates and info will be posted here (no discussions)

[Dorothy_Marie]

Hey everyone,
With the memorial just days away I thought having a seperate thread (sticky) about news of the memorial will help everyone keep up to date without having to wade through tons of threads. This will be the thread for all news updates but no discussions.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTcKtLDWzEzIkt_YSoFKPUHKTVagD998EAU00

Television networks planning Jackson coverage


2 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to join other networks that will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service live this week.
NBC joins ABC, CNN, MSNBC and E! Entertainment in offering the ceremony live. It's set for 10 a.m. PDT at Los Angeles' Staples Center.
NBC had initially planned only a one-hour prime-time special on Tuesday night, but said Sunday it would also cover the event live. It was not immediately clear who would anchor.
Charles Gibson will anchor coverage for ABC, which is setting aside its typical daytime programming.
CBS anchor Katie Couric will be at the Staples Center, although the network had not yet said whether it was offering live coverage of the memorial.
CNN has seen its ratings soar with the Jackson story, and it will show the memorial on the main network and HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN International will air the ceremony to the rest of the world. Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Don Lemon are the anchors for CNN coverage. Robin Meade, A.J. Hammer and Jane Velez-Mitchell will anchor at HLN. CNN en Espanol also will cover it.
Chris Jansing will anchor live coverage of the memorial on MSNBC. Shepard Smith will anchor live coverage of the ceremony on Fox News, with Megyn Kelly anchoring coverage of the event on the Fox network.
E! Entertainment and TV Guide will cover the ceremony on their television networks and Web sites.




http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/us/06jackson.html?ref=global-home


Jackson Memorial Tickets to Be Awarded Sunday

Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Fans waited to sign a poster that memorialized Michael Jackson outside the Staples




By DERRICK HENRY
Published: July 5, 2009
Organizers of Michael Jackson’s memorial in Los Angeles began informing registrants on Sunday if they had been awarded one of the 8,750 pairs of free tickets to the Tuesday memorial.
Interest in tickets quickly intensified last Friday after Mr. Jackson’s family and business representatives announced a memorial at the downtown Staples Center but imposed a lottery for fans to get the 17,500 free tickets reserved for them in the arena and an adjacent theater.
The Web site to register for the lottery for the tickets received 500 million hits within the first hour last week. Over the weekend, 1.6 million people registered online for tickets.
Each person whose name is drawn will receive two tickets and was notified by e-mail after 11 a.m. Pacific time (2 p.m. Eastern) Sunday with instructions on where to go on Monday to pick up their tickets, organizers said. The tickets include a wristband, part of an effort to prevent people from trying to sell the tickets.
The Staples Center has a capacity of nearly 20,000 for sporting events. The organizers said 11,000 fans would be admitted to the arena, with the remainder reserved for Mr. Jackson’s family, friends, guests and the news media. At the Nokia theater next door, 6,500 fans will be let in.
Also Sunday, NBC executives decided to join other networks that will televise the memorial service live, The Associated Press reported. The network had initially planned only a one-hour prime-time special on Tuesday night. ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and E! Entertainment also planned to offer the ceremony live.
Katie Couric, the anchor for “CBS Evening News,” will be at the Staples Center, although the network had not yet said whether it was offering live coverage of the memorial.
Organizers said the memorial will not be shown on the giant video screens in the Staples Center plaza, to keep the crowd levels under control, but arrangements have been made for a worldwide TV broadcast and live feed on the Internet.
Organizers and city officials have urged residents to watch the memorial from home but many fans have signaled that they intend to show up anyway.
Los Angeles police officials, bracing for tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, have not given an estimate of what it may cost to control the event, whose lineup and other details have not been announced. The city is struggling to close a recession-fueled $530 million deficit in its operating budget.
Jan Perry, a city councilwoman who is serving as acting mayor while Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa is away on vacation through next week, said that the city considered the memorial an “extraordinary event” and would tap into a fund set aside for such occurrences. She also publicly urged private donors to help.
The Los Angeles Lakers and AEG Live, the company that owns the arena, covered the nearly $1 million in city costs for a parade honoring the team’s championship last month.
Councilman Dennis P. Zine has said that the City Council would discuss asking AEG, which had promoted a series of concerts Mr. Jackson planned to give this summer, to reimburse the city’s costs.
Plans for Mr. Jackson’s burial, expected to be private, have not been disclosed, and it was unclear if the police would help secure it as well.



http://www.businesswire.com/portal/...d=news_view&newsId=20090705005023&newsLang=en

TV Guide Network to Telecast Michael Jackson Memorial Service Live and Commercial Free on Tuesday, July 7

Continuous, Up-To-The-Minute News Coverage of the Service Will Be Available Online at TVGuide.com, www.Twitter.com/TVGuide and www.Facebook.com/TVGuide


LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Continuing its up-close, behind-the-scenes coverage of Michael Jackson, TV Guide Network announced today that it will provide live and commercial free coverage of the pop icon’s memorial service on Tuesday, July 7 starting at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT. TV Guide Network’s “Hollywood 411” host Chris Harrison will be live at Staples Center before, during and after the service to bring fans comprehensive and timely coverage.
TVGuide.com will continue its breaking news updates on Michael Jackson, as well as coverage of the memorial service at its site. Fans can also follow updates at www.Twitter.com/TVGuide and www.Facebook.com/TVGuide.
About TV Guide Network
TV Guide Network reaches 82 million homes and is a premier television entertainment network for viewers seeking the latest information on the best programs, hottest stars and latest trends in entertainment. Headquartered in the heart of Hollywood, the network combines original programming with comprehensive program listings information - all of which deliver on viewers' need for an entertaining and easy guide to what's on TV.
About TVGuide.com
Attracting more than 19 million unique visitors per month, TVGuide.com is a one-stop entertainment destination for online television, news, community and TV listings. TVGuide.com’s Online Video Guide allows users to watch virtually any and every available full-length TV episode from all the major broadcast and cable television networks. TVGuide.com is ranked #1 by comScore’s “TV and Entertainment” category for attracting the “most engaged” users who average five visits per month, 13 minutes per visit and 18 page views per person. In addition, TVGuide.com is attracting a young and affluent fan base – 50 percent are under 35 years old and 29 percent earns a household income of more than $100k a year.
TV Guide Network, TVGuide.com and the TV Guide brand are part of a joint venture owned by Lionsgate and One Equity Partners, the private equity firm of JPMorgan Chase.

 

[Dorothy_Marie]

http://itn.co.uk/f72c2faae7b2e12fff61b7b99dc72124.html

Tight security for Michael Jackson memorial

Police in Los Angeles have warned fans without tickets to stay away from Michael Jackson's public memorial service on Tuesday.

The life and music of the King of Pop, who died of sudden cadiac arrest last Thursday, is to be celebrated at the Staples Center, a basketball arena in downtown LA.

More than half a million fans from around the world applied for the 17,500 free tickets to the service.

Assistant Police Chief, Jim McDonnell, said: "Anybody who does not hold proper credentials, tickets to get in to the event, will not be allowed inside that zone.

"So for those who are in town or those who live here who are thinking about coming out and maybe getting a shot to get in, that won't happen."

A wide area around the venue will be blocked off for the event. A local radio station reported that more than 1,400 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department alone have been asked to volunteer for duty on Monday and Tuesday.

The LAPD, which has about 9,000 officers in total, declined to comment on the report or to reveal a staffing number.

A Jackson family spokesman also declined to provide details of the memorial service, but said there would not be a funeral procession and Jackson's body would not be at the memorial.

Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed, but security has been beefed up at the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills mortuary, where his body is believed to be held.

 

[Dorothy_Marie]

http://www.popeater.com/music/article/michael-jackson-funeral-plans/553369

More Details:
>> Of the tickets, 11,000 will be for fans to enter the services in the Staples Center, while 6,500 are for a simulcast in the Nokia Theater next door.
>> Wristbands and tickets will then be distributed at an off-site location, and not at the venue.
>> No tickets will be sold, and there will be no outside broadcast at or around the Staples Center.
>> A worldwide video feed from the services which will be available to every network and on the Internet for free.
>> There will also be no funeral procession despite previous reports of one.
Details of what will actually happen during the service -- performances, appearances, events, etc. -- have yet to be announced.
An official at the memorial press conference said that the Los Angeles Police Department has funds baked into their budget each year to pay overtime for extraordinary events, which this is considered.
The Jackson family had initially hoped to hold the memorial at the Neverland Ranch, but that fell through. There had also been talk of burying the singer at his old home.
Billionaire Thomas Barrack, who owns Neverland in a joint venture with Jackson, sought an exemption to bury the singer at the ranch. But the person says it's a complicated process and it couldn't be done for a burial this week.

 

[Dorothy_Marie]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...-saying-city-should-weight-legal-options.html

Councilman says AEG should pay for Michael Jackson memorial, city should weigh legal options

4:08 PM | July 6, 2009
Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine this afternoon called on Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owner of Staples Center, to cover the full cost of Tuesday’s Michael Jackson memorial in downtown Los Angeles.
“AEG has made this decision” to hold the memorial at its stadium, Zine said. “I don’t fault their decision. I’m just saying that it should be at their expense, not the taxpayers'.”
Zine argued that AEG, as Jackson’s concert promoter, should not add to the financial woes of the city, which has been trying to eliminate a $530-million shortfall.
“They were going to do the tour. They’re talking about marketing the rehearsal. AEG is going to, one way or another, make a lot of money,” he said.
An AEG spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zine, who represents part of the west San Fernando Valley, said he has asked City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to find out whether the city can take legal action to recoup its costs, which could top $2 million once police, paramedics, traffic officers and other city employees are factored in.
A Trutanich spokesman would not discuss what steps the city attorney plans to take, saying only that Trutanich and his staff are “researching all options available to the city for reimbursement for any costs involved with the event.”




http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/07/mj_memorial_participants_annou.php



MJ Memorial Participants Announced


Posted by ExtraTV Staff on July 6, 2009 1:20 PM

Getty Images



Michael Jackson's family announced the star-studded lineup that will help the world say goodbye to the King of Pop.
Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Magic Johnson, Martin Luther King III, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, Usher and Stevie Wonder will be among celebrities participating in Michael's memorial at the Staples Center tomorrow.
The family will reportedly hold a private memorial for Michael tomorrow morning.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hWrdczvDAagMzz4g9zgjvUIumEkgD9996SBO1

Movie theaters to show Jackson memorial service


5 hours ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Only a small number of fans will be able to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service. But others may be able to watch it in movie theaters all over the country.
Cinedigm (SIN'-uh-dym) Digital Cinema Network says it is carrying the Los Angeles memorial service on its live digital network to theaters nationwide. The company can broadcast the service to up to 80 theaters in 31 states.
According to spokeswoman Nandita (nan-DEE'-tuh) Ray, Cinedigm is still working out which theaters will carry the Jackson memorial service on Tuesday.
Locations and details will be updated on the company's Web site, http://www.cinedigm.com.
Admission will be free based on space availability.