After nearly two and a half months since hackers compromised its network, it looks like Sony is close to restoring full service for users of its PlayStation network later this week. The final piece will be when the company takes the service back online in Japan. Of course, the company has been saying it will get things back online for awhile now.

According to Bloomberg, Sony has been working with the FBI to identify the LulzSec hackers who were responsible for the attack on its San Diego data centers, during which the hackers obtained account information for more than 100 Million PlayStation Network users. Reportedly, LulzSec rented and used servers from Amazon.com’s cloud service to facilitate the attack.

The attack is the second-largest online data breach in U.S. history, and will cost the company an estimated $173 Million in direct costs to repair and shore up its security. The actual cost in terms of the company’s brand and consumer confidence has yet to be measured.

Chairman Howard Stringer told shareholders last week the services will continue to be a main source of growth. Sony CEO Howard Stringer apologized after the attacks and offered a year of identity theft protection to those affected by the breach, as well as a free month of access to PSN.

With NBC and Fox already announcing their schedules for the Fall, ABC is next up. The network made its announcements this morning at its upfront presentation.

Some of the highlights include Tim Allen returning to the network to launch a new comedy block on Tuesday nights with his show Last Man Standing. In addition, ABC will launch six of its 13 new scripted series in the fall, including Charlie’s Angels, which will be the anchor show for Thursday nights.

The network also renewed modest performer Happy Endings, giving it the slot after Modern Family. New ABC series for the 2011-12 season are Apartment 23, Charlie’s Angels, Good Christian Belles, Last Man Standing, Man Up, Missing, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Revenge, The River, Scandal, Suburgatory and Work It.

America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Body of Proof, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Happy Endings, Secret Millionaire, Shark Tank and 20/20 join previously announced returning series Castle, Cougar Town, Grey’s Anatomy, The Middle, Modern Family and Private Practice.

All new fall series have received 13-episode orders, while the size of the orders for most midseason shows have not been announced. Good to see Castle coming back, especially after Monday’s amazing season finale. Of the others, we’re probably most interested in Missing (mostly because of Ashley Judd), Pan Am, Once Upon a Time and maybe Charlie’s Angeles, but mostly to see how bad it probably is.

ABC’s fall primetime schedule is as follows, followed by descriptions of all the new shows:

MONDAY

8:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”
10:00 p.m. “Castle”

TUESDAY

8:00 p.m. “Last Man Standing”
8:30 p.m. “Man Up”
9:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”
10:00 p.m. “Body of Proof”

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We don’t usually get into what people in Hollywood like to call the “executive shuffle” here at The Flickcast. In the entertainment industry, its usually much more interesting to discuss the machinations of the “creatives” instead of the people who are in charge of studios, networks and the like.

However, in the case of someone like Jeff Zucker who, it could be argued, basically destroyed any credibility NBC has as a network and pretty much offended most people with his handling of the Conan O’Brien / Jay Leno deal, the situation does warrant commentary. Fortunately, smarter and funnier people than us have already done what’s necessary.

In this new video from our friends at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Zucker is given a chance to tell his side of the story in a news conference/music video. Sadly for him, but great for us, things don’t go exactly as he planned.

Check out the video after the break.

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With the ratings for Sunday’s premiere of the Martin Scorsese Terrance Winter show Boardwalk Empire showing it to be a big hit, HBO has already reacted to the news and is giving the show another season after airing only that first episode. HBO made the decision “following resounding critical approval and high viewer numbers.”

The series starring Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt had 4.8 million viewers to become the cable network’s biggest debut since Deadwood in 2004. According to reports,the renewal decision was a combination of factors including the terrific premiere ratings, positive reviews and also the substantial upfront cost of making the series, which the network would like to see spread across as many episodes as possible.

As an immediete fan of the show after watching the first episode and knowing it only gets better from here, I’m pretty happy about the news. Besides, who wouldn’t want more Scorsese? I know I do.

Want more details on HBO’s decision? Check out the full press release after the jump. Boardwalk Empire airs Sunday nights at 9/8C on HBO.

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We’ve already had info for you on NBC, ABC and Fox regarding their new Fall schedules and now we can add CBS to the mix of networks who’ve let us know what they have in store for next Fall. The network is bringing back several of our favorite shows including The Big Bang Theory and NCIS and giving the green light to a lot of new drams and comedies.

Some of the changes include a move for Survivor to Wednesday, CSI: Miami is now on Sundays and CSI: New York is now on Fridays. Plus, The Big Bang Theory now kicks off the Thursday night shows followed by newcomer $#! My Dad Says, the original CSI and then The Mentalist.

Some new shows include the updated Hawaii Five-O on Mondays, which could be cool, as well as The Defenders on Wednesdays. We will also be getting a Criminal Minds spin-off, which will start midseason.

Check out the networks full schedule after the jump.

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Like NBC and Fox yesterday, today ABC joins the group in announcing its schedule for the Fall. The network has kept several shows including V, Castle, Modern Family, Cougar Town and more plus has made room for seven new shows.

These new shows include superhero comedy No Ordinary Family, Detroit 187, The Whole Truth, Body of Proof, My Generation and Better Together. On Sundays, the network expects to use Desperate Housewives to launch Shonda Rhimes’ new medical drama Off the Map in midseason, just as they did with Grey’s Anatomy.

Also waiting until midseason are comedies Mr. Sunshine starring Matthew Perry and Happy Endings, as well as recently renewed returning drama V. It’s too bad we have to wait until November for more V but at least it made it back, which is a good thing.

Below is ABC’s fall schedule:

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Today, as is customary in the network television world, NBC announced its new Fall schedule at the network upfronts. Of the shows announced several of them are returning from last year, with the notable exception of Parks and Recreation, which is being held until midseason. Also, as you may already know, Heroes will not be back, having been canceled by the network.

Here’s all the info you need to know on the new schedule. Plus, we’ve got previews of a bunch of new shows making their debut in the fall including the J.J. Abrams drama Undercovers, The Event, Chase and Outsourced.

Much of NBC’s new fare will wait until midseason. including the new series The Cape, Friends With Benefits, Perfect Couples, Harry’s Law and The Paul Reiser Show, all of which will premiere later in the season. Overall, the network has added a five new comedies, seven new dramas and one new reality show.

Check out the full schedule along with the previews after the jump.

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If you’ve never been to Austin, TX during South by Southwest (SXSW), let me assure you AT&T’s network pretty much sucks during the fest. Sure, it has something to do with the sheer number of users concentrated all in one place but still, that doesn’t make it any better. So, to prevent a repeat of last years’s problems (To put it mildly) AT&T is going overboard to ensure a similar wireless network debacle doesn’t happen again this year.

To avoid a second such disaster, AT&T is pulling out all the stops (Well, most of them anyway) and bringing in a lot of additional equipment for the SXSW conference including:

• Bringing in three temporary cell sites that are positioned in areas expected to see high traffic.

• Installing a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at the Austin Convention Center. The DAS is comprised of 50 antenna nodes that provide the equivalent coverage of eight cell sites.

• Improving the cell sites in the surrounding area by utilizing 30MHz of spectrum for 3G instead of the standard 10MHz and upgrading the system to include the 850MHz band and HSPA.

• Improving the backhaul by beefing up the fiber optic connections that serve the eight cell sites of the DAS and the three temporary sites.

These all seems like great steps in the right direction for the company but still, you have to wonder if it will be enough. Even with AT&T’s recent victory in a PC World survey of network performance, many of us who use the network every day haven’t really seen much of a difference. It still kinda sucks.

When you’ve got thousands of power users with iPhones all in one square mile and all trying to use the network at the same time, will it be able to handle the load or will it fail once again? I guess we’ll find out next week. Any bets?

According to Variety, this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, which runs from July 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center, will see an ever greater TV and network presence then in years past. Networks and studios plan to showcase even more shows than ever at the con, making it more and more into an invaluable promotional tool where Hollywood can publicize new shows to the 126,000 fans who head there each year.

Positive reaction to early footage seen in San Diego can generate strong buzz across the Internets that could make or break a show well before its debut. And now that we have Twitter, the buzz can build almost immediately.

Here’s what some of the studios and networks will be bringing to San Diego this year:

* Warner Bros. is bringing 11 shows, the most ever for the company. These include new shows Eastwick, Human Target, Past Life, V and The Vampire Diaries, as well as returning series Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Smallville, Supernatural and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

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