Sopranos star James Gandolfini dies in Italy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - James Gandolfini, the burly actor best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the groundbreaking cable TV series "The Sopranos," died on Wednesday vacationing in Italy. He was 51. Gandolfini, whose role as Tony Soprano made him a household name while transforming the HBO network and ushering in a new era of drama on American television, had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Can we get real here for a minute? And by get real, I mean real as in reality, as in reality-TV shows that, let's face it, have no chance of walking the Emmy red carpet until it starts snowing in Dante's neighborhood.

By Katharina Urban-Oberberg LONDON (Reuters) - He may now be a doting dad marketing a range of jams and jellies, but Steve Carell's Gru character in the sequel to the animated supervillain children's comedy "Despicable Me" still longs for a little bit of the old criminal fun. Gru's redemption, in the form of his love for adopted daughters Margo, Agnes and Edith, hasn't spoiled his taste for gadgetry and plotting in "Despicable Me 2", due out next month, U.S. comedy actor Carell told Reuters Television on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's telecom regulator said on Wednesday that it would launch an investigation into satellite TV firm BSkyB over the wholesale supply of its sports channels after a complaint by Sky's increasingly bitter rival BT. Ofcom said the probe would center on BT's claims that the terms on which Sky offered its sports channels, Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, to BT's YouView platform amounted to an abuse of Sky's market dominance.