Frank Underwood has taught Kevin Spacey a thing or two about the power of negotiation.
The Post can reveal exclusively that Spacey is getting a big salary bump to continue playing the power hungry pol, Frank Underwood, in Netflix “House of Cards” season three.
Sources tell On The Money that Spacey is getting a pay rise from around $5 million to $9 million to continue his role. Sources say Robin Wright isn’t far behind.
The show, produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Sony, is credited with pushing up Netflix shares 2 percent since the new season debuted on Valentine’s Day.
Too much power
The Comcast-Time Warner Cable acquisition has several Hollywood chiefs concerned about a concentration of power.
They point out that Comcast is a company that already owns a giant movie studio, a broadcast network and potentially New York and LA cable systems, not to mention a lock on 40 percent of all broadband traffic.
Streams dry
ABC and the Academy said it will live stream the Oscars. Great! But only if you subscribe to Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Charter Communications and a handful of other services and live in one of the eight markets, which seems like a weird kind of first.
So the NYC bankers who wanted to see if “Wolf of Wall Street” wins, there’s no webcast.
The move is related to ABC’s push to get operators to see the value of its WatchABC app.
Hats off
Pharrell Williams can make anything look hip, even a tall hat that should belong to a Canadian Mountie.
The hat that he wore at the Grammys is for sale on eBay — at last count, there was a bid of $15,000 on it.
If you’re interested in buying the Vivienne Westwood topper you might have to fight Sony/ATV chief Martin Bandier for it.
Bandier told On the Money he’s willing to dig deep to add it to his collection of famous hat.
He also owns a bowler hat that once belonged to Winston Churchill and is inscribed with the letters W.C.
The money from the sale will go to Williams’ charity, From One Hand to Another.
Williams is performing the Oscar-nominated song “Happy” from the Universal movie, “Despicable Me 2” at the Oscars Sunday night.
Hospitality
Ari Emanuel and stylish wife Sarah hosted their annual Oscar party at his home, rain or no rain.
The event is a big draw for Hollywood’s business executives wishing to rub shoulders with IMG models.
Universal’s new man in town, Jeff Shell, showed up as did colleague Ron Meyer. DreamWorks Jeffrey Katzenberg mingled with 21st Century Fox chief Jim Gianopulos who kept his scarf on all night.
But Oprah Winfrey — even without an Oscar — was the most popular guest of the night. The newly slimmed cable channel owner politely received every strangers’ well wishes as she ate from a buffet of Southern style dishes.
Shell’s game
Movie executives love to review each other, but reviewing the newest person in town usually elicit’s the cattiest comments.
Not so with NBCUniversal’s new guy in charge, Jeff Shell.
Shell has curried favor with most of the folks he’s met so far in Tinseltown. Why? Because the former NBCU international chief has been smart enough to admit he doesn’t know anything.
Shell has not stood still, however. He gave his studio boss, Donna Langley, a new contract.
No typo
Talk about a black market!
The lawsuit between BlackBerry and Ryan Seacrest’s Typo keyboard for iPhone has made the sought-after device difficult to find on store shelves, but some Tinseltown talent agents love the device so much they’re willing to spring triple the price on eBay. Typos retail at $99.
Typo plug into the bottom of an iPhone .
BlackBerry filed a suit claiming Typo is “a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard.”
Typo will be defending itself vigorously, according to reports.