During a presentation last week to the FCC (see video embedded below), Paramount COO, Frederick Huntsberry, stated that Internet movie piracy has advanced from “geek to sleek.” To anyone who has/knows a teenager in the US, there is nothing particularly shocking technology-wise in the video. However, if you are not familiar with how easy…
While Comcast has finally risen out of the mid-teens (beginning to catch-up to its broader media peers, stock performance-wise), we sense investors remain concerned with the company’s capital allocation strategy. Investors are clearly more concerned about the risk of Comcast making a large acquisition in the next 12 months than they are Time Warner Cable,…
Warner Music Continues to Right Size Biz, with Digital/Physical Mix Moving Closer to Crossover Point
A recent article in Variety (Click here) indicates that Warner has laid off 30-40 people at its Rhino Records subsidiary. While the amount only represents about 1% of Warner Music’s approximately 3,800 workforce (as cited in its 2008 10K), the company’s ability to eliminate pockets of costs (even after multiple years of cost-cutting) increases our…
UPDATE: New 7 for 4 promotion is now live. Click here for details. With Disney’s current free dining promo booking window set to expire on Sept 26th (Click here for our 7/24/09 blog post on the most recent extension of the free dining promo), our travel industry sources now expect Disney to reinstate its 7 nights…
Cablevision’s MSG division earlier today launched MSG Varsity (channel 14), MSGVi (interactive/VOD channel 614), and the MSG Varsity website (www.msgvarsity.com). The MSG Varsity cable network and VOD/interactive channel is only available to Cablevision subscribers and the MSG Varsity website requires you to be a Cablevision broadband (Optimum Online) subscriber for access. Marketing pitch is “On…
What if you could access virtually all the music you ever wanted to listen to, wherever you are (be it at home, underground on a subway without wireless access, or simply walking down the street), organize your music however you wanted to, share an infinite number of playlists back/forth with all other users via email…
Shorting media stocks over the past several months has felt a bit like being run over by a train repeatedly (think Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day). Regardless of secular challenges/concerns, excitement over a cyclical recovery has driven multiples dramatically higher across the media sector equities. Click here for full report
We attended the Digiday:Social conference in NYC yesterday to listen to a panel called “Entertainment Marketing Goes Social”, which included MTV management. The panel discussion was fascinating, especially in light of the blog post we posted earlier this week, entitled: “Is Any Big Media CEO Capable of Adapting to the Social Media Tidal Wave? Must…
A year ago, Italy (meaning Sky Italia) was one of the key growth drivers of News Corp.’s earnings, with Sky Italia’s fiscal (June) 2008 operating earnings reaching $419 mm with strong growth every year since FY2004, when it lost $277 mm. The story began to change in 2009 as the Italian economy was hit hard…
Over the past two months that we have been hyper-focused on Redbox and its impact on the movie industry (click here for our recent blog posts), investors have been asking what happens when movies studios try to make life difficult for Redbox? In essence, the question becomes when studios such as Universal (and soon Fox…
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