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The first phase of the Apples and Oranges Arts THEatre Accelerator culminates in a live Shark-Tank-style pitch session where participants present their shows to theatre and tech industry veterans including BroadwayWorld.com's Robert Diamond, Broadway Producer Deborah Taylor Barerra, Investor and Producer Frank Kavanaugh, and Senior Executive and Private Investor Jonathan Ledden.

From 1987 to 1990, Debbie Gibson was the teen pop princess. With 9 top 40 hits, 2 multiplatinum albums and constant video rotation on MTV, she was on top.

As the pop stardom inevitably cooled, Gibson found a home on Broadway. She made forays into reality TV and kept writing and recording music independently. She also worked with children in summer music camps.

Gibson drew on this experience to star in Summer of Dreams, a TV movie that will premiere on the Hallmark Channel on Aug. 27.

In the film, Gibson plays Debbie Taylor, a former pop star who moves to suburban Ohio to teach music...

From 1987 to 1990, Debbie Gibson was the teen pop princess. With 9 top 40 hits, 2 multiplatinum albums and constant video rotation on MTV, she was on top. As the pop stardom inevitably cooled, Gibson found a home on Broadway. She made forays into reality TV and kept writing and recording music independently. She also worked with children in summer music camps. Gibson drew on this experience to star in Summer of Dreams, a TV movie that will premiere on the Hallmark Channel on Aug. 27. In the film, Gibson plays Debbie Taylor, a former pop star who moves to suburban Ohio to teach music...

Reg Traviss has been cleared of two counts of rape at Southwark Crown Court. The former boyfriend of late singer Amy Winehouse was acquitted of raping a 27-year-old woman while she was sleeping at his London flat in the early hours of last New Year's Eve. Traviss, 35, maintained that the pair had consensual sex after an evening out together. He admitted that they returned to his address equally drunk, but told the court they parted with a "big cuddle and a kiss" the following morning. The film director closed his eyes and bowed his head upon hearing the verdict, before thanking Judge Deborah Taylor and hugging his family and friends, Sky News reports. After the trial, Traviss was adamant the complaint should have been shot down after CCTV footage appeared to contradict his accuser's version of events. The woman told investigating officers she (more)...

Polish national Grzegorz Matlok has been ordered by Southwark Crown Court in London to be detained indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital as he posed a serious risk to the 'Celebration’ hitmaker after he broke into her home in the British capital in March, and she admits she was left worried by his actions.

In a statement read in court, Madonna said: “I do not know the defendant, I’ve not had any form of relationship with the defendant nor have I had any form of contact by phone or by email, or by any other way, with the defendant.

“In particular, I’ve never given the defendant permission to enter the premises or any of my other premises. “It is extremely unsettling to know that, despite the extensive security I have, he has been able to break into two of my residential properties.”

Grzegorz – who last year broke into Madonna...

London — A judge has ordered a stalker who twice broke into Madonna's homes to indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital.

Grzegorz Matlok was charged with burglary in March after breaking into the singer's London mansion while she was in the United States.

Prosecutors said the 30-year-old had previously been deported to Poland after breaking into Madonna's rural home in southern England, but returned to Britain. When arrested, he told police Madonna had given him permission to stay at her house.

The details of Matlok's break-ins thrilled tabloid readers. While in Madonna's country manse, he allegedly dressed up in the clothes of her ex-husband Guy Ritchie, according to The Telegraph. He broke into two neighbors' homes also and was only caught when a neighbor spotted him in his home, the newspaper said.

He allegedly snaked his way up a rope and smashed his way into her London townhouse this year,...

Grezgorz Matlok, who returned to break into her London home after being deported to Poland, 'poses serious risk to singer'

A Polish man who twice broke into properties owned by Madonna was ordered to be detained indefinitely by a judge at Soutwark crown court after doctors said he posed a serious risk to the singer.

Grezgorz Matlok, 30, who was said to believe he was in an intimate relationship with Madonna and being sent special messages by her, was deported to Poland for mental health treatment last year after breaking into the Wiltshire home she shared with the film director Guy Ritchie, trying on his clothes and stealing food; but he returned to Britain by coach last March and broke into her London home.

The court was told Matlok used a rope to climb onto the balcony of a building next to her Georgian townhouse and then broke into her bedroom and rifled through her bedclothes,...

A woman from Essex has eaten nothing but crisps for the last 10 years. Hotel chambermaid Debbie Taylor has only eaten beef-flavoured Monster Munch for the past two years, and only ate Walkers crisps for the eight years before that. “I know it must seem strange but it works for me,” she told The Mirror. “When I have tried to eat something else my body isn’t used to it and I simply can’t eat or, if I do, it makes me sick. “It’s not hurting anyone else and my heart hasn’t stopped yet, so until it causes me serious problems I’ll happily go on eating my favourite crisps.” The 30-year-old, who has a boyfriend named Gerald and (more)...

The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Mass Street Productions and Ryan J. Davis have welcomed Bay Bridge Productions, Chris Bensinger, and Deborah Taylor to the Street Lights team of producers. Street Lights is a contemporary musical drama by Joe Drymala featuring a groundbreaking score that uses modern hip hop, R&B, and pop to tell a story in the musical language of today's youth, while creating a bridge to earlier generations by incorporating samples of old civil rights anthems within the modern songs and beats.

New York - The Federal Communications Commission finally made things official late Friday evening.

As expected, the agency approved in a 3-2 vote Sirius Satellite Radio's acquisition of Xm Satellite Radio when Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, who had delayed her vote to secure certain concessions, gave the deal her thumbs-up.

The merging companies had a few days earlier agreed to pay a combined $19.7 million in fines to settle past FCC rule violations.

The deal approval ends a long regulatory review that started after Sirius and Xm first announced their merger plans in Feb. 2007.

The Justice Department signed off on the combination in March.

"I think it's going to be, in the end, a good thing for consumers and be in the public interest," FCC chairman Kevin Martin told the Associated Press in confirming the final vote Friday night. "Consumers will enjoy a variety of programming at reduced prices and more diversified programming choices."

The companies didn't immediately comment on the regulatory approval.

Seventeen months and a slew of concessions later, the FCC is poised to officially grant permission for the only two U.S. satellite radio operators to merge.

On Wednesday, insiders confirmed that FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joined fellow Democrat Michael Copps in voting against allowing Sirius and Xm to join forces, giving commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate the fifth and deciding vote.

Now Tate is ready to join fellow Republicans chairman Kevin Martin and commissioner Robert McDowell in voting in favor of the merger because Xm and Sirius have agreed to certain conditions. Her vote, expected Thursday or Friday, will break the 2-2 tie.

The concessions that Tate was pushing are for Xm and Sirius to pay a fine for past indiscretions that involve radio receivers that exceeded FCC power limits. She also was disturbed that Xm and Sirius still have not produced a radio that works with both services, even though they have promised to do so.

The deal reportedly will also include a three-year price freeze and two dozen channels dedicated to noncommercial programming.

The Department of Justice determined four months ago that the merger wouldn't harm consumers and approved the deal.

The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents the traditional radio industry, was quick to denounce any deal involving merger approval as anti-competitive and suggested that the fight is not over.

"We're not convinced the final chapter has been written," Nab executive vp Dennis Wharton said.

He also called merger approval a "sweetheart deal for Wall Street speculators" and said that Xm and Sirius, in their 11 years of existence, "have had more luck flaunting the FCC's own rules than creating a successful business model."

Adelstein, who was the most vocal FCC opponent this week -- assuming the role that Copps had played earlier -- said he was pushing for a six-year price freeze and for more noncommercial channels than Xm and Sirius have agreed to create.

"Instead, it appears they're going to get a monopoly with window dressing," he said Wednesday. "We missed a great opportunity to reach a bipartisan agreement that would have benefited the American people."

Shares of both companies spiked on the news that a deal was imminent, with Sirius up 13% to $2.68 and Xm up 10% to $10.04.

Sirius and Xm have been lobbying hard for merger approval, and their case has been bolstered by the huge losses they have been racking up. Xm said this week that it lost $120 million in just its second quarter despite having 9.7 million subscribers paying up to $12.95 per month for the service.

With losses like that, Xm or Sirius might have gone bankrupt without the benefits of a merger, two primary ones being:

1. With a combined 18.3 million subscribers, the medium becomes a more powerful advertising platform. While Xm and Sirius are known for their commercial-free music channel, they sell ads on their sports, news, talk and comedy channels, including Howard Stern's channels on Sirius.

2. Though they haven't struck any big-ticket deals in about two years, they'll not again need to bid against each other for top content, like $500 million for Stern, $650 million for Major League Baseball on Xm, $107.5 million for Nascar on Sirius, $220 million for the NFL on Sirius and $55 million for Oprah Winfrey on Xm.

The Xm-Sirius score has changed at the FCC. It's Yes 2, No 1.

Regarding the satellite radio merger, Democrat Michael Copps has added his negative vote to the two positive ones registered by commissioner Robert McDowell and chairman Kevin Martin, both Republicans.

Now, Xm and Sirius are considering just how far to go with concessions in order to sway the two remaining commissioners.

The companies have already agreed to freezing subscriber rates for three years and giving some two dozen channels over for minority and public broadcasting, but that apparently has not been enough to encourage the remaining two commissioners -- Democrat Jonathan Adelstein and Republican Deborah Taylor Tate -- to make a decision.

The commissioners can revoke their electronic votes and change their minds as the situation unfolds and, in fact, their votes thus far are not even a matter of public record.

The matter is not on the agenda for the next FCC meeting scheduled Aug. 1, but it doesn't need to be in order for the FCC members to finally approve or knock down the Xm-Sirius merger. As of Tuesday, the FCC has been officially considering the matter for 409 days.

The Justice Department has already given its Ok.

The latest wrangling at the FCC coincided with Xm's release of second-quarter financial data. The company added 322,000 subscribers for a total of 9.7 million while losing $119.6 million, down from a loss of $175.7 million in the same quarter last year.

The hefty losses, of course, are a primary reason Xm and Sirius are hoping to merge, so that synergies can help them rein in costs and increase revenue. Xm said Tuesday its revenue rose 15% to $318 million.

Shares of the satellite radio companies plunged briefly after FCC chairman Kevin Martin said more concessions from Sirius and Xm might be needed before their merger plan is approved.

By the end of trading Friday, though, investors factored in the bullish news that Martin and another commissioner already are convinced that the FCC should not block the merger, meaning the satellite radio firms are one vote away from approval.

According to published reports, that vote belongs to commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, a Republican. Besides Martin, Robert McDowell, another Republican, has voiced his support for the deal.

On the other side, Democrat Michael Copps has been out front with his objections while Jonathan Adelstein, another Democrat, hasn't said much but is expected to align with Copps.

Martin has said he's satisfied with the pledges from Sirius and Xm to institute a three-year price freeze and open two dozen channels for minority and public programming, among other concessions, but three votes are needed for merger approval.

"Other commissioners have concerns and they want conditions," Martin said.

After having each traded down more than 5% on Friday, Sirius ended the day flat and Xm off 3%.

While the Department of Justice has signed off on the merger without conditions, the FCC has officially been considering the issue for 398 days as of Friday, according to its Web site.

Washington -- A group of state attorneys general made a last-ditch effort this week to convince the FCC's wild-card to oppose Sirius Radio's proposed merger with Xm.

The AGs told FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate in a phone call July 1 that the combination would deal a "stacked deck" to consumers despite voluntary conditions the companies have agreed to that they contend would ameliorate anti-competitive concerns.

Their focus on Tate comes as FCC chairman Kevin Martin told reporters late last month that he would support the merger and was hoping that his colleagues would go along with it. While it is unclear exactly where the votes line, the commission's two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, have been skeptical about the deal. Republican commissioner Robert McDowell has been more accommodating.

While the state AGs have expressed their concerns before, the phone call from the top law-enforcement officers in a baker's dozen states -- including Tate's home state of Tennessee -- come as the panel is expected to make a decision on the deal.

In a letter to Tate made public late Monday detailing their conference call, the AGs noted that while many think the deal is a bad idea, the commission should approval the deal only of it includes a condition that would sets aside at least 20% of the frequencies the combined companies would use for a third party.

"A lease of spectrum and facilities could produce competitive benefits akin to an outright divestiture and, most importantly, could do so quickly in the absence of a full-fledged new entrant able to launch its own competing system," the AGs wrote.

The Justice Department approved the merger in March, saying a monopoly satellite radio provider would not harm consumers because there are other alternatives.

Several lawmakers, including Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., chairman of the Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, balked at the Justice Department's decision and urged the FCC to reject the merger.

The most vocal critic of the merger has been the National Association of Broadcasters, which said having just one satellite radio company would hamper competition.