Oprah Winfrey got top billing from Forbes even though she's not the top earner in the bunch. That title goes to "Star Wars" whiz George Lucas, whose "Revenge of the Sith" helped him score an empire-size $290 million last year. The "Star Wars" director locked in fourth place in the Forbes list, not too bad considering he was nowhere last year.

Three-fourths of Americans say they would just as soon watch a movie at home, an AP-AOL poll found. With people more inclined to think movies are getting worse, it's no wonder Hollywood is having problems filling theaters. Hollywood is in the midst of its longest box-office slump in 20 years, and 2005 is shaping up as the worst year for movie attendance in nearly a decade, if theater business continues at the same lackluster rate.

The New York Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the state's ban on cameras in the courtroom, concluding the ban does not violate the public's constitutional right to access or the media's freedom to cover court cases.

The Starbucks signs are covered by bright, canary yellow fabric and plastic. So are the placards outside a soup restaurant, a jewelry shop, a bank and all other businesses on a stretch of a popular Vienna shopping street. The coverings are part of a two-week art project dubbed "Delete!" ? created by artists Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf to spark public debate about just how much advertising society can take.

Time Warner today denied published reports it may combine its Internet service America Online with its cable operations and offer the units as one separate company for initial public offering later this year.

Carolyn Bivens is leaving Interpublic Group's Initiative, where she has spent four years as president and chief operation officer, to become the first female commissioner in the 55-year history of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, the LPGA said.

Universal Pictures and PublicAffairs have agreed to pay close to $1 million to buy the film and book rights to the life story of W. Mark Felt, people involved in the deal said yesterday.

Comcast Corp. officials say an imminent alliance with a telephone partner is designed to allow the cable giant to pursue a wireless strategy that will be central to a broader long-term effort to transport its branded video, high-speed and telephony services outside of the home.

These days your local newsstand isn't the only one selling The New York Times, The Washington Post or USA Today. Investors have also been unloading the biggest names in the newspaper business, driving down shares of the group by about 10 percent this year amid worries about harsh circulation and advertising declines in the age of new media.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has broken industry ranks to become the first drug maker to voluntarily abandon direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads during a product's first year and will also limit the times of day when it advertises drugs on TV.