From KCRW in Santa Monica, I'm Claude Brodesser Ackner, and this is The Business.

So you still want to do the show business, and you think that you got what it takes.

I mean, you really got a rap and be all at.

But prepare yourself for the brakes, check it out.

This week on The Business, we'll talk about Oscar's Science and Technology Awards luncheon,

and we'll ask, why do Hollywood's geeks always have to sit at the kids' table?

Plus, producer Dean Devlin is using technology to make TV faster, cheaper, stronger.

His TNT action show, leverage, is 100% digital and one of a kind.

But first, it's the Hollywood News Caravan. Stick around. It's the

business from KCRW.

The economic slump is coming to an elevator or supermarket aisle near you.

Muzak filed for bankruptcy protection last week, despite and partially because, they broadened their

service from scientifically engineered music-like sound product to satellite-delivered

playlists of modern pop tunes.

Along the way, the company managed to accumulate almost half a billion in debt, on which it's now choking to

death. It owes over $350 million to U.S. Bank, and it's also in arrears with the record companies

whose music it usually waters down. Meanwhile, Echo Star, the satellite company which sends

Musac out into the world, is rumored to be attempting to take over XM Sirius, another company in

danger of bankruptcy.

XM Sirius looks ready to flame out, and they've hired lawyers to help guide them through

Chapter 11.

Now, neither XM nor Sirius were going gangbusters anyway, and so the two players merged

...