In past surveys we have evaluated Sprint’s inability to answer its customer care calls in less than 30 seconds and the impact this had on customer churn. A few months ago we discussed these results with CEO, Gary Forsee. He noted that the response times might have been impacted by the company’s efforts to improve…
While our BUY rating on DISCA is premised on the rapid growth prospects we foresee for Discovery Communications Inc. (currently 2/3 owned by DISCA), we believe the collapsing of DISCA’s holding company structure could accelerate the realization of our target price. Following a consolidation of Newhouse’s 1/3 stake into DISCA, DISCA would finally be able…
With Vonage’s monthly churn up to 2.4% in Q1 2007 compared to 2.1% in Q1 2006, and with the buildup of negative publicity over the past year since its IPO (Verizon lawsuit overhanging the company now), Vonage is now trying a new price plan. The newest innovation is a 12-month prepaid plans that enable subscribers…
Back in early April 2007, Disney reached a new long-term distribution deal with Time Warner Cable for all of its cable networks (including distribution of more HD networks, Video-on-Demand, and Start Over). It now appears that a fringe benefit for Time Warner Cable subscribers is that ESPN HD is shifting from a premium HD tier…
In April, TIM Participacoes market share of monthly net subscriber additions dropped unexpectedly to 17% from its prior run rate of over 40%. (click here for April data) We believe this was largely a result of a cleanup of the pre-paid customer base that had not charged up their phones in the prior 90 days.…
America Movil set guidance for 2010 of $33 billion in revenue and $15 billion of EBITDA, at its investor meeting in Mexico City. We believe that guidance is far too conservative as we are forecasting those figures for 2009. It’s certainly nice to have management be conservative in guidance, particularly when the consensus estimate seems…
While National Cinemedia (NCMI) has quickly become the leading cinema advertising company over the past couple of years, it is set to become a dominant force after Loews shifts from Screenvision to NCMI in June 2008. After the Loews shift, NCMI will have firm control (72% of screens) of the top 10 markets in the…
Various media outlets (including Variety) are reporting that Viacom has sold its Russian MTV and VH1 cable networks to Prof-Media for $360 million. MTV and VH1 in Russia were joint-ventures, with Viacom owning about 53%, Russian Partners (private equity) owned 42% and the remaining 5% owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Given…
Nickelodeon has just announced at a press conference that Marriott and Miller Brands will build 20 Nick-themed hotels by 2020 throughout the world. Viacom is simply licensing its brands and characters – it has no investment in the hotels/resorts whatsoever (no cap/ex or operating expenses). First Nick-themed hotel is being built on 18 acres in…
Industry News After an unusually good week for CDs two weeks ago (week ended 5/20/2007) driven by the highly anticipated Linkin Park album, industry numbers are right back to where they have been tracking most of the year (meaning 20%-plus y/y declines) for the week ended 5/27/2007. For the week ended 5/27/2007: Physical CDs were…
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