MTV has confirmed to THR that a reality show about an aspiring raunchy girl band favored by the boss, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, remains in development despite the embarrassing controversy of last week -- and objections by some at the network. Gary Auerbach's production company Go Go Luckey, credited with MTV's "Laguna Beach," is taping the bisexual young women in the Electric Barbarellas on their quest for fame and fortune, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Redstone has been at the center of a media firestorm over his taped phone message demanding that reporter Peter Lauria of the Daily Beast reveal the source of his story about the octogenarian billionaire's attempts to force reluctant MTV executives to create a show for the band. In the message, Redstone offered to reward the reporter for disclosing the source, adding that Viacom management wouldn't "kill" the responsible party.

Redstone's control of Viacom remains unchallenged, but his conduct is not going unnoticed on Wall Street. Mystery persists around the disclosure that 29-year-old band member Heather Naylor sold $157,000 worth of Viacom stock in March. Since Viacom has been tight with option grants and has rules for awarding them, the revelation that Naylor possessed the stock raises questions about corporate governance. Read the whole story...

Oprah Winfrey, the 'queen' of American TV, has offered the cash-strapped Duchess of York her own prime-time chat show. Billionaire Oprah is launching her own cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network, next January on Discovery, and last week called the scandal-hit Duchess to offer her a deal.

A source close to Sarah Ferguson said last night: "Oprah made the call this week. They spoke in person and, for Sarah, the offer is a ray of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Oprah has known Sarah for some time and the Duchess went on Oprah's show to explain herself after her most recent scandal. Oprah has always been impressed by Sarah's ability to pick herself up and reinvent herself." The 50-year-old Duchess is believed to be around £2 million in debt and her staff members have all been dismissed by her ex-husband. She still lives with Prince Andrew at Royal Lodge, his official residence in Windsor. Read the whole story...

YouTube has announced that it is participating in an experiment in citizen reporting in the Bay Area. YouTube is teaming up with the local ABC station, ABC7 (KGO-TV) to launch ABC7 uReport. ABC7 will use YouTube Direct to collect its news footage from people in the region.

YouTube and ABC7 are encouraging residents of the Bay Area to submit their news videos to the producers via YouTube Direct. ABC7 will then feature the ones deemed newsworthy on TV, their uReport site, and on their YouTube channel. "Though YouTube is a global site, it's often local videos that are most relevant to your life," says YouTube News Manager Olivia Ma. "When people use camcorders and mobile phones to capture newsworthy events in their neighborhoods and upload them to YouTube, they're broadening the window into our own communities. Read the whole story...

The Senate Commerce Committee Thursday passed a spectrum-clearing bill that dealt with government users who are or will be giving up spectrum as the government looks to free it up for wireless broadband. S. 3490, the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act of 2010, which passed on a voice vote, now heads to the full Senate. It requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency that oversees federal spectrum, to provide more information to the public about its plans regarding reallocation of spectrum from federal to non-federal use.

The Obama administration has signaled its support for getting spectrum back from both federal users, like the Department of Defense, and commercial users like broadcasters, for wireless broadband. CTIA: The Wireless Association, whose members will be in line for the reclaimed spectrum, was pleased. "The Warner-Wicker legislation will make the spectrum relocation process more predictable and transparent, thereby producing a more efficient relocation process for all parties and advancing the broadband deployment goals we all share." Read the whole story...

Veteran film and Broadway actor Alfred Molina is joining the cast of "Law & Order: Los Angeles," which debuts this fall as the newest member of the NBC crime drama family. Molina will play Deputy District Attorney Morales, said Dick Wolf, creator and executive producer of the series nicknamed "LOLA" that will air 10 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesdays.

The show's premiere date - and the first name of Molina's character - have yet to be announced. "Law & Order: Los Angeles" will join "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" on NBC. The original "Law & Order" ended its run last season after 20 years to share a longevity record with "Gunsmoke." Molina's film credits include "Raiders of the Lost Ark,""Spider-Man 2" and "The Da Vinci Code." He recently starred on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning drama "Red." Read the whole story...