News Round-up: Fish, Sharmas, Moonves, AT&T

Soap Dish: Fish comes out to his folks on ONE LIFE TO LIVE
Fish comes out to his parents Friday on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, and it's not pretty.

"There's all this talk about him coming out, but the bigger issue for George and Barbara Fish becomes that his girlfriend is black," says Scott Evans, who plays police officer Oliver Fish.

While they are digesting the fact that she's not white, they find a book about how to tell your parents you're gay.

"His dad sits on it and says, 'Oh, I get it. Cristian is gay.' Cristian says, 'Excuse me?' He covers for Fish, but [Fish's] dad goes on about how it's blasphemous and he is living a life of sin. Finally, Fish says, 'Shut up! It's not Cristian's book, it's mine.' "

Evans' own experience coming out couldn't have been more different than Fish's.

"My mother says she knew from birth," he says, laughing. "She says she gave birth to me and said, 'Oh, yay - I got a gay one!'"

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ms. Hinsey's column did not appear in the print edition of the New York Daily News on Friday, only online.

Asian family The Sharmas join ITV's EMMERDALE
An Asian family have joined ITV's 'Emmerdale' soap. Ambitious siblings Jai, Nikhil and Priya Sharma appeared this week, to run the new confectionary factory. Eldest brother Jai will be played by East is East star Chris Bisson, Nikhil will be played by Torchwood heartthrob Rik Makarem and their stunning younger sister Priya will be played by HOLLYOAKS: IN THE CITY actress Effie Woods.

CBS' Moonves Defends Broadcast Model
Speaking Sept. 10 at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch media conference, CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves said, "People say network TV is cyclical; we've won eight of the last nine years. I really believe if you put on good shows they will come."

New AT&T venture looks like Hulu 2
Telephone company AT&T, parent of TV provider U-Verse, launched an online destination Thursday that looks a lot like Hulu. In fact, Hulu -- the joint venture of Disney, Fox and NBC Universal -- provides much of the content to the new venture, dubbed AT&T Entertainment. CBS Interactive and dozens more also provide content. The site, at www.entertainment.att.net, features ad-supported movies and TV shows from ABC, CBS, NBC, Bravo, Oxygen, Syfy, the CW, USA Network and others. Soaps included are ANOTHER WORLD, AS THE WORLD TURNS and GUIDING LIGHT.

Will GE Find a New Partner For NBC to Replace Vivendi?
The guessing game has begun for how NBC Universal’s ownership structure could change depending on what Vivendi does in November with its 20% stake, says B&C. Sources told B&C that GE is already talking to the market about possible scenarios, but no decision has been made.