By Marinel Cruz
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Kris Aquino says all’s well now between her and cager husband James Yap.

“We attended marriage counseling sessions,” Kris told entertainment writers on Monday during a gathering for White Flower, a brand of liniment she endorses. “There are things you just understand better about each other when a third party explains them to you.”

Kris added that she and James also consulted a priest, believing that a relationship is stronger “if it has a spiritual center.”

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TO ALL “CSI” fans who have been rooting all these years for romance to blossom between Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle, check out this video from CBS.

Let’s just hope “CSI” won’t become a soap opera, heh

By Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK–NBC Universal announced plans Tuesday to buy Oxygen Media, a cable television network focused on programming aimed at women, for $925 million.

NBC Universal, the media-entertainment giant that is a unit of US conglomerate General Electric, said the acquisition was part of a strategy for more rapid growth.

“In just seven short years, Oxygen has become the crown jewel of independent networks,” said Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive of NBC Universal.

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By Agence France-Presse

CANNES, France–Love it or loathe it, television channels designed for babies, some still too young to talk, are catching on around the globe.

America’s BabyFirst TV and Israeli-based BabyTV, round-the-clock channels dedicated to infants and toddlers under three, are proving increasingly popular with advertisement-free content produced with the help of child psychologists.

“It’s the educational television tool that parents have been waiting for,” Sharon Rechter, who co-founded BabyFirst, told Agence France-Presse at the MIPCOM global audiovisual trade show taking place in this southern French town.

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By Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia–Seven years after shooting the first season of “Survivor” in Borneo, US television mogul Mark Burnett is returning to Asia in an alliance to develop and distribute new reality TV series and game shows, officials said Wednesday.

Burnett’s Los Angeles-based production firm and Asian leisure group Genting International plan to invest up to US$20 million in a joint venture that will “rewrite the answer to, ‘What’s there to watch on television?’ in Asia,” both sides said in a statement.

A new company, Mark Burnett Productions Asia, will take root on Singapore’s Sentosa island, where Genting plans to open a casino resort that will include a Universal Studios theme park, a giant oceanarium and film production facilities by 2010, the companies said.

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