DealBook: Big Offer for Time Warner Cable Unsettles the Cable Industry

Charter Communications sought to upend the cable television industry on Monday, offering $37.8 billion to acquire Time Warner Cable, the country's second-largest cable operator.

If successful, Charter would take control of a leader in the lucrative business of providing cable television, high-speed Internet and phone services to millions of Americans' homes, placing itself in direct competition with Comcast, the industry leader.

But Charter, a smaller cable operator, faces several hurdles in its pursuit of Time Warner Cable. And Time Warner Cable made it clear that it was not interested in doing a deal at that price.

By offering $132.50 a share for Time Warner Cable, Charter is essentially matching the current market price. Time Warner Cable shares closed at $132.40 on Monday.

Including debt, the offer is valued at $61.3 billion. Moreover, Charter has yet to win over Time Warner Cable's management, or its shareholders.

Charter, backed by Liberty Media, owned by the billionaire John C. Malone, has been courting Time Warner Cable for months. But efforts to enter into detailed discussions about a deal have failed.

So instead of pursuing negotiations, Charter is taking its case directly to shareholders. It will begin making its case to major owners of Time Warner stock, seeking to persuade them to vote for a deal. It has not started a tender offer for Time Warner Cable shares, however.

What is more, Charter faces the possibility that Comcast, the country's largest cable operator, will make an offer of its own for Time Warner Cable. The two companies have had talks about a deal in recent months.

"Charter has just put the ball in play," said Jim Nail, analyst at Forrester Research. "I would be very surprised not to see someone else come in."

Time Warner Cable said its board had unanimously rejected the proposal, which it called "grossly inadequate."

"Charter's latest proposal is a nonstarter," Robert D. Marcus, Time Warner Cable's chief executive, said in a statement on Monday. "Not only is the nominal valuation far too low, but because a significant portion of the purchase price would be in Charter stock, the actual value delivered to TWC shareholders could be substantially lower, given the valuation, operational and significant balance sheet risks embedded in Charter's stock."

Mr. Marcus went on to say that Time Warner Cable told Charter on Dec. 27 that it was open to a deal valued at $160 per share, with $100 of that in cash and the rest in Charter stock. A deal at that price would value Time Warner Cable at $45.7 billion, about 21 percent more than Charter's current offer not including debt.

Nonetheless, Charter's bid, which has been expected for months, kicks off a potential round of consolidation in the cable television industry at a time when the cable operators are seeking to increase their bargaining power with the cable and broadcast networks such as Fox, ESPN and CBS.

Charter says it believes its offer represents a significant premium. Thomas M. Rutledge, Charter's chief executive, said that after he approached Time Warner Cable about a potential deal last June, the company's shares shot up 40 percent, largely on expectations of a deal.

"We think a lot of the premium is already in the stock," he said in an interview.

Yet even as Time Warner Cable's stock has risen, performance at the company has faltered. It has lost more than 500,000 pay television subscribers in recent quarters, and had mixed results with its Internet and telephone services.

"We think the company could be more successful," Mr. Rutledge said. Though he would not detail the projected benefits of a deal, Mr. Rutledge said that cost savings from combining sales and customer service functions, plus tax advantages, would make the deal viable.

He also took aim at Time Warner Cable's notoriously poor customer service, suggesting it was part of the reason the company has been losing business. "We don't think they need to be losing TV subscribers," Mr. Rutledge said. "Turning that around and bringing the other benefits creates value for all shareholders."

A potential deal between Charter and Time Warner Cable, which serves customers from Maine to California, could face scrutiny from antitrust regulators because it would combine two of the biggest cable operators.

The two companies do not have many overlapping markets, however, and when counting DirecTV, the satellite television operator as a competitor, "Charter and Time Warner together are still the third-largest player in the industry," Mr. Rutledge said.

Antitrust scrutiny would likely be of much greater concern for Comcast should it choose to chime in with an offer.

Should Charter go ahead with a deal with Time Warner, it would most likely need to take on substantial debt. The proposed deal is structured as a mix of $83 in cash and $49.50 in Charter stock. Charter said it had fully negotiated financing for the deal, and could quickly sign commitment letters with banks including Band of America-Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

"There is a substantial amount of debt," Mr. Rutledge said. "But we think we can borrow it and de-lever the company relatively quickly."

A combination, he argued, would benefit both Charter shareholders and Time Warner Cable shareholders, who would own about 45 percent of a newly combined company.

Charter made its offer in the form of a so-called bear hug letter addressed from Mr. Rutledge and sent to Mr. Marcus, who took over as chief executive of Time Warner Cable at the first of the year.

In the letter, Mr. Rutledge alluded to deal talks the two men and their chief financial officers had in December, and to offers made in June and October of last year. But Mr. Rutledge said there appeared to be "no genuine interest from Time Warner Cable management and board of directors to engage on this opportunity."

Instead, Mr. Rutledge, who took control of Charter in 2012, said his company would begin sounding out Time Warner Cable shareholders to gauge their interest in a deal at the offer price. Though Charter has not made a tender offer for Time Warner Cable shares, Mr. Rutledge did not rule out the possibility of making a hostile bid.

Even before Liberty Media invested in Charter last year, Mr. Rutledge said he was interested in striking a deal with Time Warner Cable.

But when Liberty, where Mr. Malone is chairman and known as the King of Cable, joined the board, discussions about how to strike a deal intensified. Along with Liberty Media's president and chief executive officer, Gregory B. Maffei, who is also on the Charter board, Mr. Malone supports further consolidation in the cable industry.

"John Malone is one of the most experienced investors in the cable industry and Greg is an experienced C.E.O.," Mr. Rutledge said. "Having them validate our point of view was a nice thing."

In recent years, broadcast and cable networks have been demanding higher fees from cable operators like Time Warner Cable and Charter for the rights to carry their programming. Spats between the two sides have led to numerous blackouts of popular content, most notably when CBS was unavailable to Time Warner Cable subscribers last year.

"Consolidation makes a huge amount of sense," said Mr. Nail. "In order for the cable operators to get some clout, they just need to get bigger, so they can have a credible threat of inflicting damage to the networks if they pull their content. It is a good moment to strike."

Goldman Sachs, LionTree Advisors and Guggenheim Securities are advising Charter. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Kirkland & Ellis are providing legal advice. Bloomberg News was the first to report the details of Charter's offer.

Morgan Stanley, Allen & Company and Citigroup are advising Time Warner Cable, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is serving as legal counsel.

A version of this article appears in print on 01/14/2014, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Big Offer Unsettles The Cable Industry .

12.07 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Carpetbagger: Live-Blogging the 2014 Golden Globes

Dave Itzkoff and Jon Caramanica live-blogged the 71st annual Golden Globes on Sunday night, with contributions from Melena Ryzik and others.

11:36 P.M. That's a Wrap

Hollywood Foreign Press Association voters spread the wealth at the Globes, anointing each of the front-runners with a little statuette or two — "American Hustle" earned the most, film-wise, with three, including best comedy. After shutting out "12 Years a Slave" in all the other categories, the voters still gave it the best drama prize.

There is no overlap between the 80-some members of the foreign press group and the 6,000-plus Oscar voters, so there's no direct link between Globes winners and eventual Oscar winners. In fact, the predictive power of the Globes seems to have waned as the Academy has monkeyed with the number of best picture nominees and other categories. But awards-watchers still pay attention; speeches, momentum and other winner behavior can help tip the scale for an Academy member who has yet to cast the ballot.

At least, that's normally the case. This year, the Oscar balloting for nominations has already closed. If anything, the wide assortment of winners suggests how difficult it will be for Academy members to narrow down their picks.

— Melena Ryzik

11:35 P.M. DiCaprio on His Investment in 'Wolf'

Leonardo DiCaprio said "Wolf of Wall Street" was one of two films he was dedicated to bringing to the screen, even if they took years. The other was "The Aviator," which Martin Scorsese also directed. But "Wolf" had a broader impact on Mr. DiCaprio.

"After the economic crash, I said this level of hedonism needs to be reflected on screen," he said.

Making it, he added, was kind of like an "adrenaline dump" for him, especially as so much of it was improvised.
"On this film we knew we weren't taking on previous American literature," he said. "Plot was kind of irrelevant" for Mr. Scorsese.

"I'm just thankful that Martin Scorsese is still this punk rock, still this vital at 71 years old," he added.

— Melena Ryzik

11:03 P.M. McConaughey's Evolution

Matthew McConaughey's catchphrase, "All right, all right, all right," are the first words he ever spoke on the big screen, in the 1993 cult comedy "Dazed and Confused." And they've served him well in the 20 years since, as he transformed from a stoner actor to a romantic comedy star to a character actor. He signed onto the part in "Dallas Buyers Club" by 2011 and held on as it went through the ups-and-downs of productions. It had been circulating Hollywood for years; at one point Brad Pitt was attached to star.

— Melena Ryzik

11:01 P.M. Looking Back on the Telecast

"This was the beautiful mess we hoped it would be," says co-host Tina Fey as the credits begin to roll. It was a messier show than I expected, even by Globes standards.
And also one in which Amy and Tina were largely neutered, I thought. They were far less barbed than last year.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were very solid, if not quite the revelations they were last year. But how many years in a row can you be a revelation?
Well Dave, we've been a revelation for, what, five years running now?
They are saying on the Internet that "12 Years a Slave" is the first film with a black director to win a Golden Globe for best picture, so that has to count for something. The wins for "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," though not beloved by Jon Caramanica, were surprises too.
It really felt like a bait and switch, right? So much huffing and puffing during the course of the show about the middle finger extended to black film this year, and then at the end, "12 Years a Slave" was rewarded after all. If in looking back on this year's awards we talk about the "breakout moment" for "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" we will have all lost.
As I try to think back on the show, that's about all I'll remember — that and Liam Neeson's deathless enunciation of the word "Gravity" — and we'll find out on Thursday if any of this has any bearing whatsoever on the Oscar nominations. (The voting for which closed on Wednesday anyway.)
Maybe the real bait-and-switch was selling us a possible night of Amy and Tina razzing Hollywood and instead serving up a stream of largely obvious winners with obvious stars.
Ah, but isn't that what awards shows always are?
You would think I would know better by now.
See you in two weeks for the Grammys, which we know will be surprising and sincere.
Really enjoying the Jennifer Lawrence press conference on E! right now, by the way. If she presents a Grammy to Macklemore, I might forgive him.

10:57 P.M. '12 Years a Slave' is Top Drama

I was wrong earlier, and very glad to be, in anticipating that "12 Years a Slave" would be completely ignored tonight.
This is a shock, given how the rest of the night played out.
Director Steve McQueen is up to accept the award for the film. "A little bit in shock," he begins. "I wasn't expecting this, please hit me with some of the names," he continues, genuinely startled. He did get Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o in there, at least.
And a very heartfelt thanks to Brad Pitt, who is the star of the "12 Years a Slave" foreign movie poster.

10:49 P.M. Matthew McConaughey is Best Actor in a Drama

A very emotional performance by McConaughey in that film, capping nearly two straight years of worthy work. But I'm guessing that brings an end to any chances for "12 Years a Slave"?
I'm really glad Matthew McConaughey ended apartheid and escaped slavery to win this award.
Of course he had to open with, "All right, all right, all right."
Just keep livin', Dave.
It's like I get older, and the Golden Globe nominees stay the same age. Yes, they do.

10:45 P.M. Cate Blanchett is Best Actress in a Drama

What the heck happened to the live feed? Was "supermodel's vagina" a code word for the F.C.C. or something?
Yeah, that was odd.
That field was nigh-impossible to call. Anyone of those nominees could have taken it, I suppose. Strange that "Blue Jasmine" would be deemed a drama when "Wolf of Wall Street" and "American Hustle" were considered comedies.
Especially because Cate Blanchett is workshopping her Laugh Factory set right now.
Likely not the last time we see her up at the microphone this awards season, Jon. Get comfortable.
Get a prescription is more like it.

10:44 P.M. Hitting the Homestretch

There's 20 minutes left and only three awards — is no one allowed to give a speech longer than 10 seconds?
Apparently, the orchestra conductor is the only person who isn't drunk there tonight.

10:41 P.M. DiCaprio's Defense of 'Wolf'

"The Wolf of Wall Street" has been notable for the voluble response from audiences as they argue about whether Martin Scorsese's film glorifies a culture of amoral Wall Street greed. Best actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio has taken pains to defend the film.

"It's very polarizing," he said recently, "but I think it's good because it's a commentary on the culture."

In Mr. DiCaprio's view, the film is a cautionary tale against consumerism and profligate spending. It just happens to present that tale in an entertaining way. But if people think it's a defense, he said, "I keep saying, they're missing the boat."

— Melena Ryzik

10:38 P.M. 'American Hustle' Is Top Comedy

Oh how I'd love to see David O. Russell give an acceptance speech at the Golden Globes — or any live-TV setting. But that's producer Charles Roven accepting on behalf of the film.
Maybe he will Skype with us tomorrow?
Ah, nothing like the reverse-angle to show the Teleprompter flashing, "Please Wrap Up."
This is an official offer to David O. Russell to Skype with Jon & Dave, a new recurring feature on nytimes.com.

10:33 P.M. Alfonso Cuarón in the Press Room

Alfonso Cuarón's win for best director for "Gravity" is perhaps surprising — and not welcome — news for David O. Russell, whose "American Hustle" had a lot of love from Golden Globes voters going into the night, and scored performance wins for Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. Mr. Russell lost both the screenplay award and the directing prize. Awards pundits will consider this as the films and filmmakers move forward on the prize circuit.

— Melena Ryzik

10:29 P.M. Amy Adams in the Press Room

In the press room, Amy Adams, a Golden Globe winner for "American Hustle," talked about how adept the director David O. Russell, whom she's now worked with twice, is at creating female characters.

"He wants to see the sort of sexual prowess of these characters but he also wants to see them at their most vulnerable and stripped down," she said. "If you give him less than your soul, he will come like the devil" after it.

— Melena Ryzik

10:29 P.M. Leonardo DiCaprio Is Best Actor in a Comedy

This is DiCaprio's first win at the Globes since "The Aviator" in 2005, I believe.
And his hair's first appearance since a guest spot on "Boardwalk Empire" a couple of season back.
A nine-time Globe nominee and a three-time Oscar nominee (to date). He thanks his fellow "comedians" Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, Oscar Isaac and Bruce Dern — a testament to the fine line between comedy and drama in this year's films. But even Leo DiCaprio gets played off at the Globes.
DiCaprio is practically in Bob Costas mode. He knows more about the other films than the HFPA voters.

10:21 P.M. 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Is Best Comedy

Actually, I choose to see the victory of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" in this category as a joke about earpieces.
Another big win for the rookie show. Andy Samberg (who's not accepting the award this time) seems even more surprised than his previous trip to the stage.
I'm all for anything that gives Andre Braugher an ounce of recognition, but this is lunacy.
What about Stephanie Beatriz's glasses, huh?
They just got a 3-picture deal. Honestly feel "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" is getting all the awards "Parks & Recreation" was snubbed for.
It's only the Golden Globes, Jon. At least they saw fit to give Amy Poehler a trophy.

10:18 P.M. Alfonso Cuarón Is Best Director

"This is for the hundreds of people that made this film possible. Because of my thick accent, they end up doing what they thought I'd said, not what I really said," says winner Alfonso Cuarón.
So we've gotten acceptance speech jokes about Brazilian waxing and herpes so far, and Michael Douglas was on good behavior.
You could see it as a joke about ear pieces, really.
Maybe you could, man. Maybe you could.

10:16 P.M. Foreign-Language Surprise

A mild surprise in the foreign-language category, with Italy's "The Great Beauty" winning out over "Blue Is the Warmest Color" from France. "Blue" had been considered a sentimental favorite of sorts, because it was ineligible for the Oscar and also because it pushes the envelope on explicit sex scenes. "The Great Beauty" is very much in the Oscar hunt, and with this win looks like an even stronger contender for the big prize.

— Larry Rohter

10:12 P.M. Woody Allen Tribute

Is there some subtext to having the Woody Allen retrospective at the same time everyone could be switching over to "Girls"?
Very interesting that Emma Stone addressed her speech directly to Woody Allen, who most assuredly is not watching this or any other awards show.
"It's safe to say that Woody Allen is an anomaly" — Diane Keaton coming perilously close to a subtweet there.
Diane Keaton, however, hails Woody Allen for creating "the voices of four decades of unforgettable female characters," including her Oscar-winning role in Annie Hall, up through Cate Blanchett's performance in "Blue Jasmine."
You can see the sweat beginning to bead on Diane Keaton, a bit.
"Rather than live on in the hearts and minds of my fellow man, I would rather live on in my apartment," Keaton quotes Allen as saying.
She's speaking about him as if he's on his deathbed — I found that uncomfortable!
Well, I still prefer it to Jodie Foster's speech from last year.
We are going to have to disagree on that, pal.

Another opinion:

Nite all

— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) 13 Jan 14

9:57 P.M. 'Frozen,' Amy Poehler Win Globes

"Frozen" co-director Jennifer Lee gives a much deserved shout-out to the film's husband-and-wife co-composers, Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Bobby Lopez, of course, also a co-composer of the very un-Disney-musical "The Book of Mormon." Amy Poehler, meanwhile, is understandably shaken up — she's a three-time Globe nominee and six-time Emmy nominee, and has never won any of these awards before.
But apparently Bono rubbing your shoulders also rubs off some winner's luck. Also given how Bono recoiled from Diddy's hug earlier, it's good to know he's not phobic about touching other people.
He certainly allowed Amy Poehler a thorough make-out session before she got to the stage. Perhaps a reference to earlier?
Or perhaps he had no choice! She did not appear to be taking no for an answer.

9:46 P.M. Michael Douglas Is Best Actor in a TV Movie

So, the premise of this bit, Jimmy Fallon explains, is that Melissa McCarthy believes she is Matt Damon after having been hit on the head by a sandbag.
Written by Carson Daly's writing team, it seems.
Still a chance that Michael Douglas might get to make a live speech, hang in there Jon. Yes, here it comes.
Someone has their finger on the bleep button. Idris was robbed, by the way.
"The only reason you're not here is because I had more sequins," a very well behaved Douglas tells his "Behind the Candelabra" co-star Matt Damon. The real Damon, not Melissa McCarthy.
How many jokes do you think Michael Douglas workshopped to come up with one that was just on the edge of edgy but could pass for dull?

9:41 P.M. 'The Great Beauty' Is Best Foreign Language Film

ONLY SEVEN HOURS LEFT.
I count 11 categories (including the Cecil B. DeMille). This is a hugely competitive category. "The Past" is also very strong contenders in this race. Very interesting if this portends anything for the Oscar race — perhaps "The Great Beauty" is the late bloomer here.

An earlier version of this post referred to "Blue is the Warmest Color," which isn't eligible for the foreign language film Academy Award this year (France didn't submit it).

9:37 P.M. Emma Thompson Hates Heels

Emma Thompson has a vendetta against high heels. Before throwing them away onstage tonight, she doffed them at the National Board of Review gala when she accepted her award there for "Saving Mr. Banks" last week, as a "feminist statement." She also took them off as she ran down the red carpet entering the Globes.

— Melena Ryzik

9:34 P.M. Andy Samberg Wins Best TV Comedy Actor

Big win for Andy Samberg in his rookie year. I have this sneaking suspicion that Seth Meyers had his thumb on the scale for him.
I have this sneaking suspicion that Andy Samberg will not be repeating next year.
This is only a medium funny show!
It is so adorable to see Andy Samberg tongue-tied, however.
I think we all know Stephanie Beatriz is the star of that show.

9:31 P.M. Bono in the Press Room

Bono talked about one of the most impactful moments he and the Edge experienced with Nelson Mandela, the subject of the film for which they won a best song Golden Globe. On a visit to Robben Island, the normally stoic Mr. Mandela teared up — as much as he could. Because of the work he was forced to do while imprisoned there, Mr. Mandela had lost the use of his tear ducts, Bono said. So seeing him emotional was incredibly memorable. (Mandela later underwent an operation to fix his tear ducts.)

Bono also talked about Harvey Weinstein, who distributed "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," and whom he called a character based on Mr. Weinstein's early days as a music promoter. "He promoted U2 when we were 20, 21 years old," Bono said. "And success has not bought him off. He's gotten worse, not better. He fights for the things he believe in. It's brute force," but for the right projects.

— Melena Ryzik

9:27 P.M. Spike Jonze Wins Best Screenplay for 'Her'

We literally have 14 categories to go; not even the halfway point.
Dave, I will be leaving this liveblog to pursue other dreams.
I hope your daughter someday teaches you everything you know about the human experience.
Peace to my future seeds. I'm into the Chips Ahoy Candy Blasts — it's about to get real.
Emma Thompson swigging her martini at the presenter's microphone is all ye need know about the Golden Globes. The whole show in one image. Can't say I've ever seen Spike Jonze give an awards-show acceptance speech. Looking forward to it!
The YouTube Music Awards would lead me to think this will be very promising!
"Hey, wait, hold on — I just started," Jonze protests, as he's played off roughly 10 seconds into his speech.
Amy Adams's daughter >>> Spike Jonze's agent.
Laura Dern's dad >>>>>>>

9:23 P.M. Jared Leto Wins Best Supporting Actor

I just laughed at something Jim Carrey just said. It felt … weird.
Was it about how loud his tuxedo was vomiting?
(I It was a punch line about Shia LaBeouf, if you must know. A very strong category there, with equally strong expectations that Leto would win. And he did!
He's just too beautiful to look at. Is he talking?
He said something about the "full Brazilian," and I checked out. But still a great performance in the first film Leto has made in about six years.
Are we sure it's him deciding on the length of his hiatus?

9:16 P.M. Robin Wright Wins for 'House of Cards'

Well, it was worth waiting nearly an hour and a half for another comedy bit from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, a little character piece featuring Ms. Poehler Randy, as Ms. Fey's adult child from a previous relationship.
Tatiana Maslany actually plays all of these actresses playing all these characters.
Big validation for Netflix, who also had "Orange Is the New Black" star Taylor Schilling nominated in the category.
But a big loss for Twitter, who is probably sending Belieber-level darts Robin Wright's way because Kerry Washington didn't win.

9:14 P.M. Alex Ebert in the Press Room

Alex Ebert, an indie star and the frontman of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, is the latest musician to make the leap from the pop charts to films, á la Trent Reznor, a Golden Globe and Oscar winner for "The Social Network." Mr. Ebert's score for the nearly silent "All is Lost" had to do a lot of heavy lifting to move the story forward, emotionally.

"It was intensely liberating, for a songwriter, it was liberating to write a score," Mr. Ebert said in the press room, adding that he had dropped out of film school to pursue music but still wrote screenplays "all the time."

Because the movie has no dialogue, he added, "there was not really any cues," for the music. Writing the score "was like setting foot into negative space."

— Melena Ryzik

9:09 P.M. Amy Adams Wins Best Actress in a Comedy

Robert Downey Jr. having the best moment of the show so far.
What's his asking price to host for three consecutive years?
Did he bring in his own writer? Downey doesn't get out of bed for less than a three-year deal.
Quite a stunning victory for Amy Adams against some very tough competition there. She had the most memorable wardrobe in her film, that's for sure.
And accent, too.
A very dear speech about this being the 15th anniversary since she first showed up in Los Angeles, thinking she might get a commercial or something. And she fought back against being played off until she could name-check her daughter.
Do we have research on how many kids each nominee has? Might help us figure out how late this show is going to run.

9:02 P.M. Jon Voight Wins for 'Ray Donovan'

Amber Heard very thoughtful to bring her two bodyguards on stage.
Why did they cut to Rob Lowe the moment they announced Jon Voight's credit in "Midnight Cowboy"?
There is no humility while wearing an opera scarf, Mr. Voight.

8:52 P.M. Alex Ebert, U2 Win Music Awards

Sorry, still trying to figure out why Kate Beckinsale was helping Diddy and Usher present a music award. "He was on a boat with me, partying on a boat in St. Bart's," Diddy explains as Alex Ebert grabs his trophy for "ALL IS LOST."
I did not know Diddy partied with the Lumineers!
Of course Bono wins the Bono award. He showed up, didn't he?
Did Idris Elba remix this song? I only want to hear the Idris Elba remix. Adam Clayton apparently has nothing nice to say about Nelson Mandela!

8:39 P.M. Bryan Cranston, 'Breaking Bad' Win

"Oh my gosh," says winner Bryan Cranston, who I suspect is about as surprised as Taylor Swift when she wins an award.
THANK YOU TO FRANKIE MUNIZ.
No thanks to whoever dressed Paula Patton.
Thematic, though, if you're into the white flames of a meth lab.
"Breaking Bad" cast celebrates by joyously cracking each other's necks with the chains they were bound with.
Aaron Paul very rudely grabbed that statue from Paula Patton, I thought. In character? In fact, he is in character, closing out with a "Yeah, bitch!"

8:35 P.M. Teleprompter Malfunction

Darn, even the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is getting in a few good lines! Haha, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie doing the old "they gave us the wrong Teleprompter material" bit. Though in their case it didn't appear to be a bit. Still, handled it with more aplomb than Michael Bay.
The Oral History Of The Person Tasked With Printing Out All The Pre-Written Banter On Yellow Sheets Of Paper In Case They Are Needed Because Of TelePrompter Snafus.

8:33 P.M. Red Carpet Video: Cast of 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'

8:30 P.M. JLaw Being JLaw

The best supporting actress winner Jennifer Lawrence's speech effusively thanking "American Hustle" director David O. Russell (though not by name) is perhaps a make-up for her Oscar speech last year, when she won for his "Silver Linings Playbook" but didn't get a chance to mention Mr. Russell. Then again, that trip up the stairs may have understandably befuddled her.

In the press room, Ms. Lawrence was asked how she would celebrate tonight: "I need to catch up on my drinking, I think that's why I was so manic. Normally, I have time to have a glass of wine. That's not a good answer. Somebody interrupt!"

— Melena Ryzik

8:26 P.M. Elisabeth Moss Wins Supporting Actress Award

Elisabeth Moss also extremely worthy, though I'm the teeny-tiniest bit surprised Jessica Lange didn't take it. She is the anchor of "American Horror Story." (And either she or Stevie Nicks might cast a hex on me.)
Maybe the HFPA is trying to send a message to Fred Armisen?
Yikes.
Hey! Also I think it is now a rule that every winner has to reference Jennifer Lawrence.
And swear like a sailor.
Otherwise she will see to it that they never work again

8:24 P.M. 'Candelabra' Wins Best Mini-Series

Part of my heart was rooting for "American Horror Story," but "Candelabra" had this one in the bag.
Another opportunity for Michael Douglas to work blue on an award show stage? Sadly, no. He's still in his seat.
Shrewd move to have producer Jerry Weintraub accept instead.

8:23 P.M. Red Carpet Video: Jemima Kirke on 'Girls'

8:21 P.M. Red Carpet Video: Steve McQueen and Bianca Stigter

8:19 P.M. Jacqueline Bisset Wins for 'Dancing on the Edge'

Speaking of Google, I have to look up whatever it was Jacqueline Bisset just won for. I didn't prepare any Jacqueline Bisset material. [2-hour break while Jon and I go back and watch "Bullitt."] It is touching how genuinely moved she is by the honor.
Oh, maybe I should mention that I reviewed this series! Definitely the fourth best thing Chiwetel Ejiofor did this year, and that's including the rerun of "Four Brothers" I caught on cable a couple of months back.
 

8:16 P.M. Jennifer Lawrence Wins Best Supporting Actress

JLaw the first winner of the night, seems to handle the steps better than she did at the Oscars. And she uses Google! Will the wonders of J-Law never cease? "I actually did watch all the movies — not all them, but you know what I mean." And I was about to say what a pleasant, supportive show it's been so far. She definitely gave the finger to June Squibb on the way to the stage, right?

8:02 P.M. The Show Begins

This is really happening.
I can't believe they made Tamron Hall do this. Maddow was busy? Chris Hayes has an exclusive deal with J Crew.com?
The show has only just begun and we're already up to one Amy / Tina costume change (since the red carpets). Amy Poehler says hello to all the women and gay men watching at home. My wife and I don't know how to feel about that.
Have they made a single joke yet?
This is definitely a warmer-and-cuddlier opening than last year, very celebratory of the stars in the room.
If by cuddlier, you mean "written by a team of publicists,"
then yes.
Still waiting for the bite they brought last year, but it's early going.
As usual, Julia-Louis Dreyfus stealing the show with an e-cig and a brush-off to Reese Witherspoon's selfie request. And kudos to Amy for pulling off a joke about "12 Years A Slave."

7:46 P.M. Here Come the Globes

Jon, you ready to wade through some red-carpet sewage and begin this?
I need like three minutes to exploit the "Girls" promo code on Seamless.
I got that promo, too. It was very tempting. I hope they understand I can't actually watch "Girls" tonight. So we just got handed a list with 26 awards to be presented on it? Will this possibly be wrapped in time for me to go back and watch "True Detective"?
No, but the show will be over by the time Seamless finally delivers your order tonight!
I know the industry is looking at this as a possible bellwether for the Oscars, et al., but I'm just here for the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler opening. It could be 2 hours and 54 minutes of blank screen after that, I'd be fine.
And I'm here for the Mani-Cam, so that basically means I can go home in about 15 minutes, right? Certainly, the Oscars are kicking themselves that they didn't think of the Fey-Poehler tag team first.
The Globes don't threaten the Oscars for prestige rights, but with those two, they've effectively established themselves as the show that knows that how Hollywood wants to see itself.
I think we'll be seeing a very SNL-heavy show, with new "Tonight Show" and "Late Night" hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers also in the house. And it is on NBC, after all.
Watching both pre-shows, does it also shock you that the E! affair is far more professional than the official NBC stream?
Uh, E! was also responsible for this. Let's call it a draw.
#freegiulianarancic

7:28 P.M. Red Carpet Video: Kevin Spacey on 'House of Cards'

7:26 P.M. Christian Bale as the New John Belushi

Now 89, Mel Weinberg had sold his life rights several times before the David O. Russell version, a.k.a. "American Hustle," in which he's played by Christian Bale, finally came together. Right after the scandal broke in the early '80s, said Richard Suckle, a producer of the film, John Belushi was attached to star, with Louis Malle directing.

— Melena Ryzik

7:12 P.M. More on the Seating Chart

In Hollywood, you find out your studio deal is canceled when someone shows up to measure your office for new drapes — and you're not redecorating. So little things like seating arrangements matter.

If the seating plans at the Globes are any indication, Amy Pascal, co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is in good shape. She's got a prime table, right in front of the stage, with Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and company, from "American Hustle," all around her.

Ms. Pascal's boss, Michael Lynton, isn't exactly in the cheap seats. But he's one table back, next to Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass, from "Captain Phillips."

Another upfront table features Cate Blanchett, the star of Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine." Mr. Allen has already said he won't be there. So his publicist, Leslee Dart, gets a seat.

Paramount has a pair of power tables, with the studio chief Brad Grey at one, next to Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese of "The Wolf of Wall Street." Mr. Grey's boss, the Viacom chief Philippe Dauman, is a few steps back, with Alexander Payne and the "Nebraska" crowd.

But nobody seems to swing as much weight here as Harvey Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein's films have not been in front of the best picture race this year. His table, though, might take a prize for most net worth. He is flanked by the entrepreneurs Ron Burkle and Jim Dolan, and supported by the likes of Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and Meryl Streep. And they are all way, way up front.

— Michael Cieply

7:05 P.M. 'Sex Should be Awkward'

Michelle Ashford and Sarah Timberman, two of the executive producers of "Masters of Sex," which is up for best TV drama tonight, said they were not interested in the material for its pornographic possibilities. "You are talking to two of the biggest prudes in the world," Ms. Ashford said. "We knew we didn't want gratuitous sex. We weren't interested in watching it, we weren't interested in filming it. We always make sure it's about something."

Ms. Timberman chimed in: "Sex should be awkward, it should be funny and it should be human, and it should be sort of raw and avoid titillation at all costs."

That doesn't mean they don't get a lot of weird letters and comments.

"One of out of 25 conversations we have turns out to be a kind of uncomfortable one," she said.

— Melena Ryzik

7:03 P.M. Bruce Dern Plans to Wing It

Bruce Dern has been working hard on the awards circuit for "Nebraska," but at the American Film Institute luncheon on Friday he said he wasn't nervous about potentially having to give a speech at the Golden Globes should he win for best actor in a comedy. "I never write anything down," he said. "You just look out at the room and you know what to say."

— Melena Ryzik

7:00 P.M. Alfonso Cuarón is Uncomfortable

The director Alfonso Cuarón has been celebrated throughout his career, most recently for "Gravity." But that doesn't mean he finds the idea of receiving awards comfortable. "The nature of what it is, films are subdivided into categories, competitive and stuff," he said this weekend. "I'm used to seeing my peers relaxed, in festivals, and you just hang out and have fun." At ceremonies like the Golden Globes, "suddenly there's a big elephant in the room."

— Melena Ryzik

6:59 P.M. Daniel Brühl Didn't Expect to Be Here

The Spanish-born, German actor Daniel Brühl came to the Globes when he was in his early 20s as a nominee with a foreign film but hasn't been back since. Now he is a major player, as a supporting actor hopeful, playing the Formula One driver Niki Lauda in "Rush," which was also nominated for best drama.

"It's been a roller coaster this time because I can remember the wonderful premieres in Toronto and in London, and the reviews were spectacular, the reactions were so positive, but then we were forgotten a bit over the last couple months, because of the other strong films and performances," he said this weekend. "So I didn't expect anything to happen. I was really surprised when I got all these different nominations."

— Melena Ryzik

6:53 P.M. Barkhad Abdi, Red Carpet Rookie

When we got to our spot, the red carpet was sopping, and sections of the roof were being replaced. We hope it won't faze one of the surprise additions to the awards circuit, Barkhad Abdi, the Somali actor making his first feature film appearance in "Captain Phillips."

Playing a pirate opposite Tom Hanks (as the titular captain) in Paul Greengrass's adaptation of the true story of the raid on the Maersk Alabama, Mr. Abdi said he learned a lot from Mr. Greengrass. "He was more of a teacher to me" than a director, Mr. Abdi said this weekend. To prepare, "I did some training prior to the film, climbing and weapons and skiff and fighting," Mr. Abdi added. On the skiff, "I had to learn how to stand still. It was hard in the beginning, but it was fun. But no acting training."

The training Mr. Abdi, who lives in Minneapolis with his family, might have most liked to receive is for the red carpet. "It gets me nervous, honestly," he said of walking the press line. "I'm learning to get used to it. It's just like, people asking the same questions."

"Not you," he added quickly, learning.

— Melena Ryzik

6:46 P.M. At the Globes, Seating is Everything

As usual, the savvier publicists scurried around the still mostly empty room, planting name cards to make sure the right person will be sitting next to the right person and, not, God forbid, the wrong one. Perhaps the savviest of the bunch, Nancy Lesser of HBO, was early through the door. She soon had the HBO chief, Richard Plepler, settled near Michael Douglas and Matt Damon of "Behind the Candelabra," an HBO offering, with Lena Dunham, from the channel's "Girls," planted at the table just behind. In a slightly weird touch, perhaps meant to highlight the foreignness of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the publicists and early arrivals were serenaded by what seemed to be a gypsy string quartet, complete with Django Reinhardt-ish guitar stylings and a moody violin. Just steps away, on a smoking balcony, the music sounded more like the soundtrack of "Swingers." It was all delightfully, well, discordant.

— Michael Cieply

5:26 P.M. A More Respectable Globes This Year?

The Golden Globes like to bill themselves as the party of the year, and this year, the party may be especially diverse and lively: with new leadership and perhaps a new commitment to being taken seriously, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the awards, could be riding high.

Members asked back Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts, after their well-received turn last year, and the group's nominees from film and television did not include the usual pop-culture head-scratchers, instead celebrating respected performers like Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and indie stars like Greta Gerwig and Oscar Isaac.

The Globes are also spotlighting a host of new TV series, like "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "House of Cards," along with raucous films like "American Hustle" and "The Wolf of Wall Street." "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity" are also leaders going into the night.

Check back for live updates from the red carpet, backstage interviews and commentary, and a tally of winners during the ceremony.

— Melena Ryzik

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DealBook: Ex-SAC Trader Was Expelled From Harvard Law School

A federal jury will decide whether Mathew Martoma, the former hedge fund manager, cheated when he worked at SAC Capital Advisors, but there's no denying he cheated when he falsified his grades at Harvard Law School some 15 years ago.

In 1999, Mr. Martoma was expelled from Harvard for creating a false transcript when he applied for a clerkship with a federal judge, court papers unsealed on Thursday showed. Mr. Martoma used a computer program to change several grades from B's to A's, including one in criminal law, and then sent the forged transcript to 23 judges as part of the application process.

Then, during a Harvard disciplinary hearing to determine whether he should be expelled, Mr. Martoma tried to cover his tracks by creating a fake paper trail that included fabricated emails and a counterfeit report from a computer forensics firm that Mr. Martoma had created to help conceal his activities.

After Harvard expelled him, Mr. Martoma, who at the time was known as Ajay Mathew Thomas, legally changed his name to Mathew Martoma.

Nearly a decade after he was kicked out of Harvard, federal prosecutors contend, Mr. Martoma carried out one of the largest insider trading schemes while working at Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund. He is charged with using inside information to help SAC avoid losses and generate profits totaling $276 million by recommending the firm sell all of its holdings in two drug companies, Elan and Wyeth, in July 2008.

The disclosure of Mr. Martoma's expulsion from Harvard came as a jury of seven women and five men was seated for his trial after two days of selection. Lawyers for the prosecution and defense are expected to deliver opening statements on Friday in a Lower Manhattan federal courtroom. The trial is expected to last four weeks.

It is not clear whether the bizarre twist in the case will ever be introduced into evidence, because Mr. Martoma is unlikely to testify in his own behalf. Negative character evidence can generally be used at trial only to impeach a person's testimony or rebut a line of argument raised by the defense as a potential alibi.

The prosecution argues in court papers that Mr. Martoma's deception is relevant to show that he has the technical knowledge to alter computer files. That could be relevant, prosecutors say, if Mr. Martoma's lawyers seek to argue he never received a copy of a confidential report that discussed problems with a clinical trial for an experimental Alzheimer's drug being developed by Elan and Wyeth.

Prosecutors charge that Mr. Martoma recommended that SAC sell its shares in Elan and Wyeth after receiving the report from a key cooperating witness in the case, Dr. Sidney Gilman, and then flying to Ann Arbor, Mich., to discuss the results of the trial with him.

Mr. Martoma's lawyers at Goodwin Procter, in the run-up to the trial, have raised questions about the government's failure to find any email evidence that Dr. Gilman sent Mr. Martoma a copy of the report. Dr. Gilman, 81, who received a nonprosecution agreement from the government, is expected to testify that he sent the report to Mr. Martoma and discussed the findings both on the phone and when the two men met a few days before SAC began selling the companies' shares.

Prosecutors have conceded they have not found any email evidence to support Dr. Gilman's contention that he sent a copy of the report to Mr. Martoma. But they said Mr. Martoma's pattern of deception at Harvard is "evidence of the defendant's capacity to destroy or fabricate electronic forensic evidence."

Lou Colasuonno, a spokesman for Mr. Martoma, said: "This event of 15 years ago is entirely unrelated to, and has no bearing on, this case." He added that the prosecution, in raising the issue, was trying to "unduly influence the ongoing court proceedings."

James M. Margolin, a spokesman for Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, declined to comment.

When he was at Harvard, Mr. Martoma told the law school administrators that he had falsified his transcript as a joke and did it mainly to impress his parents.

A Harvard Law School spokeswoman said on Thursday that the university had no record of Mr. Martoma's graduating but could not comment further. She could not confirm whether he had attended or was expelled.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Mr. Martoma's lawyers had sought to keep their client's expulsion from Harvard quiet, arguing the issue had nothing to do with the charges he faces.

But Judge Paul G. Gardephe rejected that argument and in a Dec. 28 decision ordered that the court papers be unsealed. The filings remained sealed until Thursday while Mr. Martoma's lawyers appealed unsuccessfully.

It is not clear whether SAC knew about Mr. Martoma's expulsion from Harvard or the reason he changed his name when he was hired as a health care portfolio manager in 2006. An SAC spokesman, Jonathan Gasthalter, declined to comment.

Erik M. Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said SAC had to be given the benefit of doubt that it did not know about Mr. Martoma's expulsion. But he said the fact that Mr. Martoma landed a job at SAC would seem to justify the government's contention that the firm has been a "magnet for bad people who do bad things."

To date, eight people, including Mr. Martoma, have been criminally charged with insider trading while working for Mr. Cohen. Except for Mr. Martoma, all of them have either pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.

The jurors who will sit in judgment of Mr. Martoma come from the Bronx, Manhattan and Westchester and Rockland Counties. They include the chief executive of the Jones Group, the shoe and accessory company, and a New York City bus driver.

Some of the jurors have training in law and finance. One juror said she was an insurance underwriter for the American International Group, while another has a law degree and works at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Another juror is an employment and labor lawyer who said his firm's work included internal investigations for corporations related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A version of this article appears in print on 01/10/2014, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: SAC Trader Falsified His Grades At Harvard.

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DealBook: Wall Street Predicts $50 Billion Bill to Settle U.S. Mortgage Suits

Wall Street could pay nearly $50 billion to buy peace from federal authorities who are taking aim at the banks over their role in the mortgage crisis, according to interviews and a confidential analysis of the industry's potential legal exposure.

Bracing for a potential reckoning, the banks and their outside lawyers are quietly using JPMorgan Chase's record $13 billion mortgage settlement in November to do the math and determine just how much each bank might have to pay to move beyond the torrent of government mortgage litigation that has dogged them since the financial crisis. Such calculations, people briefed on the matter said, have gained particular urgency among the banks' board members.

If the settlements materialize, they could yield, according to the analysis, $15 billion in relief for consumers — a mixture of cash payments and other assistance, like reductions in the size of homeowners' loan payments. A payment of $50 billion, made up of a string of separate deals, would amount to roughly half the total annual profit of large American banks in 2012.

The JPMorgan settlement has stepped up the pressure on other banks to strike their own separate deals in the coming months, some top bank executives say. When the JPMorgan settlement was announced, the Justice Department official who took the lead in brokering the deal, Tony West, said it could offer a model for other financial institutions being investigated in their sales of troubled mortgage investments. The government made JPMorgan a test case, knowing the nation's largest bank, facing a wide swath of legal woes, was vulnerable. The $13 billion deal has left some on Wall Street worried that the cost of their own deals will now be inflated, the people said.

The government is facing pressure of its own to make the banks pay for their role in the housing crisis, zeroing in on whether the banks duped investors into buying mortgages in the heady days before the financial downturn.

The analysis, which lawyers prepared for one of the financial institutions and which was reviewed by The New York Times, indicates that Bank of America could ultimately settle for $11.7 billion in penalties, with an additional $5 billion in relief to homeowners.

Morgan Stanley's combined tally, the analysis shows, could be around $3 billion, with roughly a third going to consumer relief, while Goldman Sachs's total could come to roughly $3.4 billion. For the Royal Bank of Scotland, the total price could be around $10 billion, which might prompt an outcry in Britain, where the government owns a majority stake in the bank. Citigroup could pay roughly $1 billion, the analysis shows. The potential penalties for other banks are under $1 billion, the analysis shows.

Some of the 16 banks under scrutiny could decide against striking deals altogether, while others could try to negotiate a lower settlement number. The lawsuits and investigations against the banks vary, which could affect their ultimate outcomes. Anticipating the potential pain, banks have also set aside large reserves to absorb the litigation costs.

The projected payments are based on analysis by lawyers sorting through the mortgage morass to get a firmer grasp on what it could cost to resolve years of investigations. The banks declined to comment.

Resolution would be greeted with resigned relief on Wall Street. The banks are facing investigations from government authorities including state attorneys general and federal prosecutors. The legal barrage has been generating mounting frustration among some top executives. The bankers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say the government has taken an arbitrary, one-size-fits-all approach that could force them to pay more than their fair share.

At the same time, a popular antibank sentiment makes it even harder for Wall Street to win court battles against federal authorities, the people said. Some critics of Wall Street — they point to the foreclosure-dotted neighborhoods, languishing property values in areas hard-hit by the housing crisis and other signs of wreckage lingering across the country — argue that even the large payouts from banks fall short. The scarce number of criminal actions filed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, with few top executives in the government's cross hairs, also fueled public frustration.

To arrive at the potential payouts for each of the 16 banks, the analysis examined JPMorgan's settlement payments as a percentage of the total amount of residential mortgage securities issued by the bank from 2005 to 2008, or those at the center of the government's lawsuits. Of the $13 billion, for example, $4 billion went to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, amounting to 11 percent of the mortgage securities at issue. That percentage was then used to determine how much the agency could get from the other banks.

The litigation is centered on the banks' mortgage machines, which churned out billions of dollars in securities from 2005 to 2008 that later imploded. Looking to go after mortgage fraud aggressively, President Obama formed a mortgage task force to investigate wrongdoing. The unit has already brought cases against some banks, accusing them of keeping investors in the dark about flawed mortgage securities. Adding to the legal fray, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration have also sued some banks to recoup losses that the regulators shouldered after taking over lenders that failed under a glut of bad mortgages.

The lawsuits that could yield the heftiest settlements are from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the housing finance twins Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency sued 17 financial firms in 2011, accusing them of selling shoddy mortgage securities to the housing giants. While some have settled, like Deutsche Bank, which struck a $1.9 billion deal in December, 10 firms remain locked in the costly litigation. The Royal Bank of Scotland, the analysis shows, would have to pay an estimated $5.4 billion.

As part of its settlement, JPMorgan paid the F.D.I.C., for example, roughly $515 million, or 0.11 percent of the total residential mortgage-based securities that JPMorgan or the flailing firms that it took over — Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual — sold from 2005 to 2008. Under that formula, the analysis shows, Morgan Stanley's exposure would come to more than $108 million, and Goldman Sachs could face roughly a $136 million payout.

Bank of America could face the highest tally, according to the analysis, in part because of its acquisition of the troubled subprime lender Countrywide Financial. According to the analysis, the bank, or the firms it acquired, sold roughly $637 billion in residential mortgage securities from 2005 to 2008. Using the JPMorgan settlement as a guide, that could leave Bank of America with a $713 million bill to the F.D.I.C. alone. Settling with the housing financing agency, the analysis shows, could be expensive, coming in at about $6.7 billion.

While the potential settlements could be painful for banks, they also would enable them to close a troubled chapter.

"Yes, $50 billion is a big number," Gerard Cassidy, a bank analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said. "But it is manageable for the 16 banks, and the industry wants to put this behind them."

A version of this article appears in print on 01/10/2014, on page A1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Wall Street Predicts $50 Billion Bill to Settle U.S. Mortgage Suits .

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Cuomo, Joined by Biden, Details Disaster Plans

Joined by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the governor announced more than 1,000 projects that he said would make New York better prepared for future storms. They include rebuilding tidal wetlands and upgrading the electrical grid.

"Extreme weather is the new reality, like it or not," Mr. Cuomo said. "And we have to deal with it."

Listing project after project, Mr. Cuomo said the state would also repair or replace more than 100 bridges that were vulnerable to flooding; create what he said would be the nation's first undergraduate college dedicated to emergency preparedness, homeland security and cybersecurity; and recruit 100,000 volunteers to join a newly created Citizen First Responder Corps. (Participants would receive, among other things, safety goggles, duct tape and six food bars.)

The governor also promised significant steps to bolster New York City's mass transit systems. He said the state would embark upon "the most fundamental redesign to the subway system since it was created," spending $5 billion to fortify transit infrastructure like subway tunnels, and bus and rail yards.

Mr. Cuomo also announced a new weather detection system that he said would be the most sophisticated in the country. The state will spend about $19 million to build 125 interconnected weather stations that would provide real-time data on air, wind, soil and radiation conditions, allowing the state to anticipate storms and flooding better.

Mr. Biden traveled to Albany to cheer on Mr. Cuomo. The event was highly scripted, beginning with a video showing hurricane footage set to dramatic, thumping music. Reporters were sternly warned not to try to pose any questions to Mr. Biden or Mr. Cuomo, both of whom are possible Democratic presidential candidates in 2016.

In the governor's ceremonial office, the vice president listened patiently as Mr. Cuomo delivered a 25-minute presentation about the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the steps his administration was taking to prepare for future storms.

When it was his turn to speak, Mr. Biden praised New York as a model for other states, and urged greater public investment in infrastructure.

"You've got a governor who understands why the Empire State became known as the Empire State, and apparently is determined to keep it the Empire State," Mr. Biden, clutching Mr. Cuomo's right forearm, said.

"That's exactly right," the governor, smiling and nodding, replied.

Mr. Biden looked out at the audience.

"No, I'm serious! I'm serious!" he said. "I wish everybody could see this presentation."

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Arctic Blast Proves Unwelcome Novelty, Especially Across South

ATLANTA — The fountains turned into crystal still-lifes in Savannah, Ga. Ducks walked forlornly on iced-over swimming holes in southern Arkansas. School bus doors froze open in Beaufort, S.C. And pipes froze all over as Southerners, who are not born or made for temperatures in the Minnesota digits, had to consider things they typically take for granted.

"You've got to be careful when you move a mandolin outside into the freezing air, because it's a shock and can crack the wood," said Mike Slusser, known as Mandolin Mike, standing on a frigid Nashville sidewalk and playing Bill Monroe and Jimmie Rodgers tunes for an audience consisting largely of a barely disturbed tip box. "This is the coldest I've ever played in."

In Lexington, Ky., a clerk at the Sunset Motel called the local police on Monday afternoon to report that a guest was seeking assistance. The guest, as it happened, had recently escaped from state prison, but apparently was not expecting it to be like this on the outside.

"He was in bad shape," said Sherelle Roberts, a public information officer for the Lexington Division of Police, who added that the man was treated and handed over to the state police. "It is unusually cold. You don't have to have a meteorology degree to be able to speak to that."

While continuing to leave a lethal chill over the Midwest, the polar vortex took the jet stream for a turn in the South on Monday and Tuesday, bringing freezing temperatures as far south as Florida and arctic misery to a part of the country that is accustomed to shorts at Christmas and sent into a general panic by a slight snow dusting.

Record low temperatures were measured in the Mississippi Delta, and the wind chill temperature fell below minus 40 degrees in places in North Carolina and Virginia.

"We're not used to this," said Tammy Levins, who works at Buford Plumbing in Jackson, Miss., and was busily fielding calls from customers who had always assumed that pipes did not need any special preparation to keep working.

As people sought relief at their thermostats, the power grid showed signs of strain more common to sweltering summer days. A South Carolina utility opted for rolling blackouts to manage demand, and the Tennessee Valley Authority said that customers at one point on Tuesday morning sought more than 32,000 megawatts of electricity, the second-highest winter demand on record for the provider. Texas set a record for wintertime consumption.

Tens of thousands of people, from the Mid-Atlantic down to Mobile, Ala., spent parts of a frigid night without power, with power failures affecting more than 27,000 customers in Alabama alone.

In the Northeastern corridor, demand for heat pushed the price of natural gas to 10 or 12 times normal, and electricity prices followed. In some places, oil became cheaper than natural gas, reversing the pattern of the past few decades.

Representatives of governments and charities drove the streets of major cities and offered rides, food and housing. In Atlanta, officials used the Old Adamsville Recreation Center as an emergency facility, and homeless shelters in Chicago were reporting records.

Schools around the country closed, or delayed their openings, or in some cases opened to find the heating systems fail and then sent the children home.

The authorities have blamed weather conditions for more than 20 deaths across the country in recent days, including seven in both Illinois and Michigan.

The Midwest remained pitilessly cold, with temperatures stubbornly holding below zero. At O'Hare International Airport, more than 1,000 flights Tuesday were canceled because of extreme cold and winter conditions.

And more than 500 passengers spent Monday night stuck aboard three Amtrak trains in Illinois that were blocked by snow.

William Thomas, 22, was one of them, having boarded in Kansas City, Mo., on Monday morning. He had nearly arrived in Chicago when the engine slowed. Then stopped. And did not start moving again all night.

"Next thing we knew, we were just stuck," he said, adding that the irritated, bored and mostly sleepless passengers were given a meal of beef stew and mashed potatoes as they waited. They were finally taken to Chicago by bus. "You can't really do anything when Mother Nature steps in."

Southerners generally showed a similar resignation. Unlike tornadoes or hurricanes, the day's weather, while unpleasant, was not terribly complicated.

"Maybe if you're watching a lot of TV, it looks like this apocalypse coming," said Michael Edson, who was getting on his bicycle for a chilly mile-and-a-half ride home from the East Falls Church Metro station in Northern Virginia. "But it's just — " he searched for the precise word, "— cold."

Most seemed to choose to spend the days inside, passing up the few outdoor serendipities of cold weather.

Steve Earnest, a security officer for Rumbling Bald Resort in Lake Lure, N.C., reported a water main break at the resort that left the road covered with a sheet of black ice. "It created an instant skating rink in the road," he said. "But no one seems to be taking advantage of it."

Tuesday was beginning to warm up in many places, and by the end of the week, said David Cox, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Miss., the temperature in some areas is expected to return to the 60s, which in much of the South is considered civilized winter weather. Still, a forecast is no respite for present misery.

"This is the worst," said Erica Almond, 37, a lifelong Atlanta resident who stood among a handful of people who had waited up to a half-hour at a shuttle stop near the Georgia State Capitol. "I don't think I've ever been this cold."

Thirteen hundred miles north in Jackman, Me., a small town near the Canadian border, Ray Lebesque, the owner of Bishop's Store, stood in rebuke to all the fretting below the Mason-Dixon line. "You're looking at 1 degree out right now, that's not terribly cold," Mr. Lebesque said. Still, he acknowledged, with a degree of Yankee disapproval, that the strong winter elsewhere in the state seemed to be discouraging tourism in his region.

"People don't come to this tourist town unless everything's perfect," he said.

Alan Blinder reported from Atlanta, and Campbell Robertson from New Orleans. Reporting was contributed by Matthew L. Wald from Washington, Steven Yaccino from Chicago, Jess Bidgood from Boston, Bruce Dobie from Nashville, John Peragine from Asheville, N.C., and Ken Maguire in Falls Church, Va.

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Judge Blocks Part of N.Y.U.’s Plan for Four Towers in Greenwich Village

The judge, Donna M. Mills, of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, ruled that the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had wrongfully agreed to turn over three public parks to the university to enable construction without first obtaining approval from the State Legislature.

Still, the university insisted that the ruling would permit it to move forward with its largest building, a one-million-square-foot academic tower that would be erected on the site of the university's gym. The opponents, however, argued that Justice Mills's ruling should stop the project dead in its tracks.

While both sides claimed victory, only one thing was certain: The battle over the expansion will continue.

"It's a new day in New York City," said Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, a plaintiff in the lawsuit whose district includes the university campus.

"Sometimes communities can win," Ms. Glick added. "The project was too big for the neighborhood in which it was located and not essential to the future of N.Y.U."

The university issued a statement on Tuesday evening saying that the "complex ruling is a very positive one for N.Y.U.," since the judge threw out five of the six claims made by opponents of the project.

John Beckman, a spokesman for the university, said the ruling would also allow it to proceed with the first — and biggest — of the four buildings planned for the expansion. Known as the Zipper Building, the first tower could be as tall as 26 stories.

Construction could begin within 18 months, N.Y.U. officials said.

It was unclear whether the university would appeal the ruling.

"Once we have a chance to thoroughly review the decision with our planning team," Mr. Beckman said, "and determine the precise impact of the ruling on our ability to implement other elements of the plan, we will work with the city to determine our next legal steps."

But Randy M. Mastro, a partner at Gibson Dunn who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the opposition, said it was "delusional" for anyone to argue that one portion of what had been a comprehensive project could move forward alone.

"Any such piecemeal approach would constitute a new project materially different from that previously approved by the city and requiring its own separate environmental review and approval process," Mr. Mastro said. "So N.Y.U. has to go back to Square 1. Its massive project is now dead."

The City Council approved the expansion plan by a vote of 44 to 1 in July 2012, despite widespread opposition from the N.Y.U. faculty, preservationists, community groups and Assemblywoman Glick.

N.Y.U., which has 50,000 students and 17,500 employees, has struggled to keep pace with its rapid growth over the past two decades. The university's president, John Sexton, is seeking to add 1.9 million square feet of classrooms, dormitories and office space to a 12-acre parcel where two university apartment complexes now stand, south of Washington Square Park.

But many local residents, including faculty members, loathed the idea of introducing more high-rise towers to the neighborhood, along with the noise and disruption that would come with 20 years of construction.

The expansion plan was one of several reasons the faculty at several of the university's schools approved votes of "no confidence" in Mr. Sexton over the past year.

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DealBook: JPMorgan and U.S. Settle in Madoff Criminal Case

Updated, 9:37 p.m. | Two men who occupy coveted roles in Manhattan's power elite, one the city's top federal prosecutor and the other its top banker, sat down in early November to discuss a case that was weighing on them both.

Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, and Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, gathered in Lower Manhattan as Mr. Bharara's prosecutors were considering criminal charges against Mr. Dimon's bank for turning a blind eye to the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard L. Madoff. Mr. Dimon and his lawyers outlined the bank's defense in the hopes of securing a lesser civil case, according to people briefed on the meeting.

But at the cordial meeting in Mr. Bharara's windowless conference room lined with law books, the prosecutors would not budge. Mr. Bharara — flanked by his own lieutenants, including Richard B. Zabel and Lorin L. Reisner — made it clear that he thought the wrongdoing was significant enough to warrant a criminal case.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bharara announced the culmination of that case, imposing a $1.7 billion penalty stemming from two felony violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, a federal law that requires banks to alert authorities to suspicious activity. The prosecutors, calling the amount a record for violating that 1970 federal law, will direct the money to Mr. Madoff's victims.

The outcome of the case and the tenor of the settlement talks underscore the significant leverage prosecutors wield when negotiating with Wall Street's biggest firms. Even though JPMorgan had defeated a similar private lawsuit just months earlier, bank executives were unwilling to gamble against the government.

Within weeks of meeting Mr. Bharara and recognizing their limited bargaining power, JPMorgan's lawyers accepted the $1.7 billion penalty, the people briefed on the meeting said, which was within the range that prosecutors initially proposed. The bank also agreed to pay $350 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, accepting the agency's only offer, one of the people said.

It could have been worse for the bank. At one point, prosecutors were weighing whether to demand that the bank plead guilty to a criminal charge, a move that senior executives feared could have devastating ripple effects. Rather than extracting a guilty plea, prosecutors struck a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement, suspending an indictment for two years as long as JPMorgan overhauls its controls against money-laundering.

Still, the size of the fine and the rarity of a deferred-prosecution agreement — such deals are scarcely used against giant American banks and are typically employed only when misconduct is extreme — reflect the magnitude of the accusations.

Having served as Mr. Madoff's primary bank for more than two decades, JPMorgan had a unique window into his scheme. In a document outlining the bank's wrongdoing, prosecutors argued that "the Madoff Ponzi scheme was conducted almost exclusively" through various accounts held at JPMorgan.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Bharara drew a direct line between Mr. Madoff's fraud and JPMorgan's failings, citing the bank for "repeatedly" ignoring warning signs.

"In part because of that failure, for decades Bernie Madoff was able to launder billions of dollars in Ponzi proceeds," Mr. Bharara said.

George Venizelos, a senior F.B.I. official, added that "JPMorgan failed to carry out its legal obligations while Bernard Madoff built his massive house of cards."

In a statement on Tuesday, a JPMorgan spokesman noted that the bank had poured significant resources into bolstering its controls, but acknowledged that it "could have done a better job pulling together various pieces of information and concerns about Madoff from different parts of the bank over time."

The spokesman, Joseph Evangelisti, also defended the bank's employees, saying, "We do not believe that any JPMorgan Chase employee knowingly assisted Madoff's Ponzi scheme." He added that "Madoff's scheme was an unprecedented and widespread fraud that deceived thousands, including us, and caused many people to suffer substantial losses."

The charges against JPMorgan, the result of an F.B.I. investigation that spanned several years, are emblematic of a broader problem among giant global banks: ignoring the warning signs of fraud. The case comes a year after HSBC, the large British bank, paid a $1.9 billion fine for enabling Mexican drug cartels to launder cash through its branches.

The case punctuated a sweeping investigation into the movement of tainted money through the American financial system, a crackdown that ensnared other large British banks like Standard Chartered and Barclays. Each of the banks received a deferred-prosecution agreement.

For JPMorgan, the Madoff case is the bank's latest steep payout to the government. In November, JPMorgan paid a record $13 billion to the Justice Department and other authorities over its sale of questionable mortgage securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis. All told, after paying these settlements, JPMorgan will have paid out some $20 billion to resolve government investigations over the last 12 months.

The payouts, which all but entirely resolve JPMorgan's Madoff problems, represent a mixed outcome for the bank. While the big-dollar sums are an embarrassment to a bank that once wielded greater influence in Washington, the settlements also allow JPMorgan to put the cases behind it. As JPMorgan continues to report robust profits, the cases are a distraction that the bank is aiming to resolve in rapid succession.

Yet the comptroller's office also noted on Tuesday that its investigation remained open. In a statement, it declared: "We will continue our oversight efforts and take further action as warranted."

And critics of Wall Street are unsatisfied, noting that Mr. Bharara's office opted to defer prosecution and did not charge any JPMorgan employees with wrongdoing.

"Banks do not commit crimes; bankers do," said Dennis M. Kelleher, the head of Better Markets, an advocacy group.

In taking aim at JPMorgan, prosecutors reached back two decades to show how the bank ignored warning signs about Mr. Madoff. When one arm of the bank considered a business deal with Mr. Madoff's firm in 1998, an employee remarked that the financier's returns were "possibly too good to be true," and that there were "too many red flags" to proceed. While those concerns were enough the scuttle the deal, they were never shared with compliance officers or regulators.

"The bank connected the dots when it mattered to its own profit, but was not so diligent otherwise when it came to its legal obligations," Mr. Bharara said at the news conference.

Another bank, identified in the statement of facts only as "Madoff Bank 2," did cut off ties to Mr. Madoff in 1996 and brought its concerns to authorities. Although the bank, which people briefed on the matter identified as Bankers Trust, now owned by Deutsche Bank, told prosecutors that JPMorgan "was notified" of the concerns, JPMorgan continued to work closely with Mr. Madoff.

After that, JPMorgan's ties to Mr. Madoff expanded, even as skepticism mounted. In 2007, when JPMorgan was pursuing derivatives deals linked to Mr. Madoff's so-called feeder-fund investors, the hedge funds that invested their clients' money with him, one executive remarked that he had heard about a "well-known cloud over the head of Madoff and that his returns are speculated to be part of a Ponzi scheme."

JPMorgan's private bank also issued internal warnings about Mr. Madoff when considering an investment on behalf of its clients. The unit, prosecutors say, balked when Mr. Madoff refused to meet as part of the bank's due diligence efforts.

On two occasions, in 2007 and 2008, JPMorgan's own computer system also raised red flags about Mr. Madoff, according to prosecutors. But both times, JPMorgan employees "closed the alerts."

It was not until October 2008 that JPMorgan alerted authorities — in Britain — to concerns that his firm's investment returns were "so consistently and significantly ahead of its peers" that the results "appear too good to be true." But JPMorgan never provided a similar warning to authorities in Washington, a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

On the day of Mr. Madoff's arrest in December 2008, a JPMorgan employee wrote to a colleague: "Can't say I'm surprised, can you?" The colleague replied: "No."

A version of this article appears in print on 01/08/2014, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: JPMorgan Is Penalized $2 Billion Over Madoff .

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Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief

Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank: "I want to elect the next president."

Brian Ach/Associated Press Images for The Hollywood Reporter

Roger Ailes, left, chairman of the Fox News Channel, and Bill O'Reilly, one of Fox's stars, in 2012.

Nephi Niven

Gabriel Sherman, a New York magazine contributing editor, says he interviewed 614 people for his book.

In the corporate thicket of News Corporation, according to a new book, Mr. Ailes dared to battle with Lachlan Murdoch, a son of Rupert Murdoch, the chairman, openly gloating when the younger Mr. Murdoch eventually left his post at the company and even commandeering his chair.

At Fox News, the book says, Mr. Ailes was disdainful of even his most bankable on-air talent, privately calling Bill O'Reilly "a book salesman with a TV show" and Brian Kilmeade, a peppy Fox host, "a soccer coach from Long Island."

Those episodes are described in "The Loudest Voice in the Room" by Gabriel Sherman, a 560-page biography of Mr. Ailes being published on Jan. 21 by Random House.

The book aims to be an exhaustive look at Mr. Ailes's life and his monumental career, particularly as chairman of Fox News Channel. Under his stewardship, the network, known best for its conservative opinion shows in prime time, dominates the cable news competition, frequently posting ratings better than those for its main rivals, MSNBC and CNN, combined. It has also become the most profitable division of 21st Century Fox, its parent, with annual earnings that have been estimated at $1 billion.

The book describes in detail Mr. Ailes's professional ambition, his desire to influence American politics through a conservative prism, and his status as a visionary who possessed an intuitive understanding of the power of television to shape public opinion. Before entering the corporate world, Mr. Ailes was a political consultant, and Mr. Sherman's book credits him with being a pioneer in using television during election campaigns.

In the months before publication, the book has drawn sharp criticism from a chorus of people connected to Fox News, including employees and contributors who have taken to Twitter to attack Mr. Sherman.

Mr. Ailes, in what some viewed as an attempt to pre-empt Mr. Sherman's book, cooperated with another biography, "Roger Ailes: Off Camera" by Zev Chafets, which was published last year by Sentinel, a conservative imprint at Penguin.

In his book, Mr. Sherman, a contributing editor at New York magazine, follows Mr. Ailes, 73, from his boyhood in Ohio to his perch as one of the most powerful figures in the history of television.

Despite being unsatisfied with many of the Republican candidates for president in 2012, Mr. Ailes endeavored to promote Mitt Romney on Fox News programs, the book says. Before the Wisconsin congressman Paul D. Ryan was chosen as Mr. Romney's running mate, Mr. Ailes advised Mr. Ryan that his television skills needed work and recommended a speech coach.

At the beginning of the general election, a four-minute video criticizing President Obama's policies was broadcast on "Fox and Friends," provoking outrage from the left and prompting the network to say publicly that Mr. Ailes had no involvement in its creation. In "The Loudest Voice in the Room," Mr. Sherman writes that the video "was Ailes's brainchild."

The New York Times obtained a copy of the book in advance of its publication.

Mr. Sherman said in the source notes that he interviewed 614 people who knew or worked with Mr. Ailes for the book, which took more than three years to report and write. More than 100 pages are devoted to source notes and bibliography.

Former employees cited in the book talked of Mr. Ailes's volatile temper and domineering behavior. In one anecdote, a television producer, Randi Harrison, told Mr. Sherman that while negotiating her salary with Mr. Ailes at NBC in the 1980s, he offered her an additional $100 each week "if you agree to have sex with me whenever I want."

A Fox News spokeswoman said in a statement on Tuesday: "These charges are false. While we have not read the book, the only reality here is that Gabe was not provided any direct access to Roger Ailes and the book was never fact-checked with Fox News."

The book also describes an explosive episode dating back to 1995, when Mr. Ailes was a high-ranking executive at NBC and locked in a power struggle with another executive, David Zaslav.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 7, 2014

An earlier version of this article misstated the parent company of the Fox News Channel. It is 21st Century Fox, not News Corporation. Also, the name of David Zaslav was misspelled in one instance. It is Zaslav, not Zazlav.

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