Worshippers in safety hats attend Notre-Dame's first mass since fire

[ad_1]

PARIS (Reuters) - A small congregation in white hard hats attended mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday, the first service since fire devastated the Gothic landmark two months ago.

The Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit leads the first mass in a side chapel two months to the day after a devastating fire engulfed the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, in Paris, France June 15, 2019. Karine Perret/Pool via REUTERS

Church leaders are keen to show life goes on at the cathedral as donations for rebuilding trickle in.

Less than 10% of the 850 million euros ($953 million) pledged by billionaires, business leaders and others has been received so far, the French government said.

The mass, which commemorates the cathedral’s consecration as a place of worship, was held in a side-chapel left undamaged by the April 15 fire, with attendance limited to about 30 people wearing protective headgear.

Priests in ceremonial garb of white robes and yellow stoles briefly parted with their hard hats during the communion.

“It is with much emotion that we are here to celebrate the consecration of the cathedral,” said Paris’s archbishop Michel Aupetit, who led the service.

“It is a message of hope and thanks to all those who were moved by what happened to this cathedral,” he added, acknowledging afterwards it was “a bit strange” to celebrate mass with a helmet.

The service was broadcast live on a religious TV channel that showed poignant images of the blue sky through the collapsed roof and the black rubble still clogging the building.

On Friday, France’s Culture Minister Franck Riester said the cathedral was still in a fragile state, especially the vault.

The blaze caused the roof and spire of the architectural masterpiece to collapse, triggering worldwide sadness.

Among those who promised to donate to the rebuilding effort were luxury goods tycoons Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault.

“There could be people who promised to donate then in the end did not,” Riester told France 2 television, without giving further details. “But more importantly, and this is normal, the donations will be paid as restoration work progresses.”

President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of five years for restoring the cathedral, though Riester was more cautious.

“The president was right to give a target, an ambition,” he said. “But obviously what matters in the end is the quality of the work. So it does not mean that work will be totally finished in exactly five years.”

($1 = 0.8923 euros)

Editing by Helen Popper and Mike Harrison

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

Worshippers in hard hats to attend Notre-Dame's first mass since fire

[ad_1]

PARIS (Reuters) - A small congregation wearing hard hats will attend mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday, the first service to be held since fire devastated the Gothic landmark two months ago.

FILE PHOTO: A picture shows bells gathered during preliminary work at the Notre-Dame Cathedral one month after it sustained major fire damage in Paris, France May 15, 2019. Philippe Lopez/Pool via REUTERS

Church leaders are keen to show life goes on at the cathedral as donations to help rebuild it trickle in. Less than 10% of the 850 million euros pledged by billionaires, business leaders and others has been received so far, the French government said.

Saturday’s mass, which commemorates the cathedral’s consecration as a place of worship, is due to be held at 1600 GMT in a side-chapel, with attendance limited to about 30 people who will wear the protective headgear for safety reasons.

“It is a nice symbol. A very small group of people will attend and one can understand why as there are still major safety issues,” Culture Minister Franck Riester told Europe 1 radio.

He told France 2 television on Friday the cathedral was still “in a fragile state, namely the vault, which has not yet been secured. It can still collapse”.

The April 15 blaze caused the roof and spire of the architectural masterpiece to collapse, triggering a worldwide outpouring of sadness as well as the multi-million-euro pledges for reconstruction work.

Among the high-profile people who promised to donate to the rebuilding effort were luxury goods tycoons Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault.

“There could be people who promised to donate then in the end did not,” Riester said, without giving further details. “But more importantly, and this is normal, the donations will be paid as restoration work progresses.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of five years for restoring the cathedral, though Riester was more cautious.

“The president was right to give a target, an ambition. But obviously what matters in the end is the quality of the work,” he said. “So it does not mean that work will be totally finished in exactly five years.”

The archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit will lead Saturday’s service, which will be broadcast live on a religious TV channel.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

Britain's BBC gets green light to enhance iPlayer

[ad_1]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s media regulator has given the BBC provisional permission to change its popular iPlayer on-demand platform from a 30-day catch-up service to one where programs are available for 12 months or longer.

Ofcom said the changes would help the BBC stay relevant in the face of changing viewing habits and deliver value to the public, which funds the broadcaster by paying an annual license fee of 154.50 pounds ($196) per household.

It said the changes would pose challenges for other public service broadcasters’ video-on-demand services, and would therefore need to be subject to conditions to mitigate against risks to fair competition.

The BBC launched iPlayer in 2007, offering programs for seven days after broadcast. The viewing window was extended to 30 days in 2014.

Ofcom said it was inviting other views before publishing a final decision by August.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Stephen Addison

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

More U.S. millennials subscribe to video games than traditional pay TV: survey

[ad_1]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More American millennials now subscribe to a video game service than to a traditional paid television service, according to a survey on Monday, as consumers favor new forms of entertainment that are shifting the broader media landscape.

FILE PHOTO: A woman plays a game on her cell phone while lying on the grass in Madrid, Spain, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Juan Medina

About 53% of people born between 1983 and 1996 now pay for gaming services, versus 51% who pay for television, according to a survey from the accounting and professional services firm Deloitte.

That is compared with Deloitte’s survey last year, in which paid subscriptions among millennials were 44% for video games and 52% for television.

Paid television through cable, satellite or fiber - for instance Comcast Corp’s Xfinity, Dish Network Corp or AT&T Inc’s U-verse TV - has been challenged by changing viewer habits, particularly the rise of direct-to-consumer streaming services.

At the same time, video games and e-sports have soared in popularity, giving rise to an industry of competitive professional and amateur games watched in person and online by fans, alongside more casual gaming on mobile phones.

Players can subscribe to games like World of Warcraft from Activision Blizzard Inc. Riot Games Inc, a unit of Tencent Holdings Ltd , is working on a streaming mobile version of its hit League of Legends desktop game.

Electronic Arts Inc offers subscriptions to its games - which include FIFA 18, Madden NFL 19, The Sims 4, Star Wars Battlefront II and more - for Microsoft Corp’s Xbox and Sony Corp’s PlayStation.

In March, Alphabet Inc’s Google unveiled Stadia, its new browser-based video game streaming service to launch this year through its cloud technology.

The same month, Apple Inc also introduced a new digital video game subscription service called Apple Arcade.

Kevin Westcott, who leads Deloitte’s U.S. telecom, media and entertainment practice, said increased game consumption comes as more people fill their spare time playing on mobile devices instead of reading and other activities.

Gaming can provide social ties and communities of fans and players.

“Gaming companies have also been developing more compelling content and interaction with their consumers,” Westcott said in an email.

Deloitte’s 13th annual digital media trends survey was fielded by an independent research firm from December 2018 to February 2019 online among 2,003 U.S. consumers.

(The story removes typographical error in paragraph 3.)

Reporting by Hilary Russ; Additional reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

Without pop culture contenders, Tony awards audience slumps to all-time low

[ad_1]

FILE PHOTO: 73rd Annual Tony Awards - Photo Room - New York, U.S., 09/06/2019 - The "Hadestown" cast and crew pose backstage with their Best Musical award. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The television audience for Broadway theater’s Tony awards slumped to an all-time low in the absence of pop culture juggernauts like “Harry Potter” and “Hamilton.”

Nielsen data on Monday showed that just 5.5 million Americans watched Sunday’s ceremony broadcast on CBS from New York, down 20 percent from 2018 when “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” took home six Tonys and rocker Bruce Springsteen won a special award for his sold-out one man show.

It was the first time the television audience for the annual awards show that celebrates the best of theater fell below 6 million.

Sunday’s TV audience also marked a sharp drop from 2017 when viewership reached a 15-year high, fueled by the success of rap musical “Hamilton.”

In Sunday’s ceremony, “Hadestown,” about a young couple’s dark trek to the underworld, took home a leading eight awards, including best new musical. The award show was hosted by late-night talk show host James Corden.

Other winners included best play “The Ferryman,” set around the sectarian struggles in 1980s Northern Ireland, and Bryan Cranston, who played the unhinged TV anchor in the stage version of the 1976 film “Network.”

The new low in the television audience marked a sharp contrast with box office receipts on Broadway, which hit a record $1.8 billion this past season.

Ticket sales for “Hadestown” increased by more than 1,300% on Sunday thanks to the Tony exposure, online booking platform TodayTix.com said.

Sunday’s show took place against stiff competition from the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup on rival NBC, which drew 6.1 million viewers, and the much anticipated season 2 premiere on HBO of female-dominated drama “Big Little Lies” starring Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. Audience data for “Big Little Lies” was not available on Monday.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link