After a year-and-a-half search, Technicolor has finally found a buyer for its Grass Valley Broadcast & Professional businesses: Francisco Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm specializing in technology companies. Francisco Partner has made a "binding offer" for the TV equipment company, according to the parties. The deal includes all of the Grass Valley businesses, except transmission and headend. Terms were not disclosed. "We are excited about this opportunity as Grass Valley's market leadership is clearly evident," David Golob, partner at Francisco Partners, stated. With nearly $5 billion of capital under management, Francisco Partners is one of the …

The Oprah Winfrey Network is producing original documentaries with Hollywood stars Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker and Goldie Hawn, network executives say. OWN added it is working on two-hour films with Gabriel Byrne and Mariel Hemingway. Documentary topics the stars will explore during their collaboration with OWN include redemption in the U.S. prison system, the quest for happiness, homelessness, and depression and suicide. The films will be presented as part of OWN's monthly documentary film club, along with the original acquisitions "Life 2.0" and "Sons of Perdition."

The federal government settled charges against Spanish-language media firm Univision Communications Inc. over allegations that some of its radio stations or employees secretly accepted payment to play some songs more frequently. The $1 million settlement was announced by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission, which has rules that bar broadcasters from taking undisclosed payments in return for airing radio or TV programming, a practice known as payola. Univision Radio agreed to limit the size of gifts, concert tickets or other payments that Univision stations and employees can receive and to regularly train employees about payola restrictions.

With a massive global audience and top brands relying on the platform to connect with their customers, Facebook boasts ad relationships with 83 of the top 100 advertisers. "Somewhere midway between 5 million to 500 million, we became far more relevant to marketers," said Mike Murphy, vice president, global sales. Facebook designed its ad products around how people use the site. Ad units act like other content, with voting, "likes" and other features, allowing brands to act less like intruders. "They've become more social over time," said Murphy. "It's our hope they get more and more social." Last …

DVR penetration approaching 40%, according to Nielsen -- and with more than 50% of ads skipped in DVR playback mode -- some network executives acknowledge that they're on-air promo efforts aren't as effective as they once were. Is it time for the broadcast networks to start promoting their offerings on one another's air? asks The Hollywood Reporter. Five years ago, the idea of the broadcast networks promoting their shows on rivals' air would have been unthinkable. But now, at least one veteran TV audience analyst, Steve Sternberg, says the networks need to do it to remain …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …