What do TWX and Eminem have in common? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 May 2006 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At Time Warner's annual stockholders meeting last week in Atlanta, the buzz was all about Ted Turner's Garboesque I-vant-to-be-alone speech.

What you may have missed was TWX's new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.  The report addresses Time Warner's role as good corporate citizen in a variety of areas, including diversity, journalistic integrity, child protection online, content accessibility, consumer privacy, ethics and governance, employee growth and development, public policy, the environment, supply chain management, and philanthropy.

All of that is well and good, but I want to ask: who is going to take responsibility for the Warner Bros./Matt Leblanc vehicle Joey?

[image from CBS News]

TWX is now "Socially Responsible" originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 May 2006 12:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TWX is undervalued, says CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 May 2006 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sign, sealed, delivered: AOL's bulk email fees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 May 2006 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Turner did not stand for re-election to TWX board of directors
• He didn't stay for the video montage in his honor
• He disappeared before former CNN chief Tom Johnson gave a long tribute to him

Ted Turner says goodnight to TWX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 May 2006 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Even more Al Roker Investigates
• Forensic Files increases its wonkishness tenfold
• Court TV's series Parco, P.I. will fight Magnum, P.I. (my all-time second favorite syndicated tv show) to the death

TWX buys other half of Court TV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 May 2006 15:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Poseidon box office bust for Warner Bros. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 May 2006 15:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Aim High, AIM Pages originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 May 2006 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As if $7 beers, steroid scandals, and terrible haircuts (oh, Johnny Damon, what happened?) weren't enough of a challenge for the beleagured game of baseball to overcome, now there's an even bigger threat to worry about: changes in corporate ownership.

The Atlanta Braves are up on the auction block (as they have been for quite a while), and it looks like Time Warner may finally get out of the big leagues by selling them to Colorado-based Liberty Media Corporation.

Ted Turner had long held a soft spot for the Atlanta Braves, acquiring them three decades ago. When Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, it also picked up the Braves. But rather than seeing the Braves as a perk, TWX has long viewed the Braves as an albatross around its neck.

Third baseman Chipper Jones, echoing the sentiments many Braves, is worried about the corporate switch-up pitch. "I don't know what [Liberty Media's] intentions are as far as salary structure, but the bottom line is: They're from out of town."

If TWX can sell the Braves, will it finally get back on base?

TWX tries to sell Braves, desperate to get out of slump originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 May 2006 20:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Former Latin students of the world:

Salvete! I have good news!

No, your Latin teacher didn't actually give herself a lethal paper cut on your shoddy translation of Virgil's Aeneid. And, no, your local school board didn't finally decide that Latin was, in fact, "dead enough" to give up on trying to teach it.

But it's almost as good. Earlier today, Warner Bros. movie studio, a unit of Time Warner, announced plans to remake the old Latin class stand-by Clash of the Titans. The original feature film, which follows the codpiece-wearing hero, Perseus, as he fights monsters and Medusa, to save the beautiful Princess Andromeda. Andromeda, in typical princess style, spends most of the movie chained up to a rock, waiting to be rescued by the divinely chartered hero.

Continue reading With Titanic hopes, Warner Bros. announces Clash of the Titans remake

With Titanic hopes, Warner Bros. announces Clash of the Titans remake originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 May 2006 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today, Time Warner closed at 17.40, a gain of 0.23%.

But what does a gain of 0.23% mean? Well, allow me to put that in perspective for you:

• François Truffaut's film The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cent Coups) won him the Best Director Award at Cannes in 1959. A 0.23% gain would've forced the Film Festival to praise him instead for The 400.92 Blows.
• In the Biblical story of Noah's flood, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. With a 0.23% gain, it would have rained for 40.092 days and 40.092 nights.
• Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Water would freeze at 32.0736 degrees Fahrenheit with a 0.23% gain.
• In the sport of bike racing, a racer said to be "dying a thousand deaths" when struggling to hang on to the pack.With a 0.23% gain, he would be "dying a thousand-two-point-three deaths."
• "... Baby One More Time" was the Britney Spears megahit of 1998. A 0.23% gain would have changed the hit to "... Baby One-point-zero-zero-two-three More Times."

That, finance fans, is what a 0.23% gain means.

TWX closing bell report -- what do the numbers mean? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As my blogs suggest, I expect VIP treatment -- a spot behind the velvet rope, a complimentary bottle of Cristal, a second bottle for my entourage, and someone to hold my parasol.

It turns out, however, that I need to start expecting VoIP treatment.

That's right, finance fans, VoIP is short for "voice over internet protocol." It's the way internet users are starting to make calls. By using a phone connected to a high-speed internet line, they can connect anywhere and talk to anyone.

Time Warner has been in this market for a while, but it's trying to increase the market share. Skype (owned by eBay) announced today that it had reached 100 million users. Additionally, Vonage Holdings Corp., may offer up to 31.25 million shares priced at $16 to $18 each in an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Citing industry analysts, Vonage estimates the market for Internet phone service in North America may get as high as 15.3 million consumers by the close of 2007.

15.3 million consumers?! Getting VoIP treatment?!

Well, did any of those 15.3 million consumers get invites to the afterparty I'm going to tonight?

I didn't think so.

VoIP Treatment: Time Warner and Vonage assess internet calling market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

That's right, yesterday, the Board of Directors of Time Warner declared that owners of Common Stock will receive $0.05 a share, in cash, on June 15, 2006.

Huzzah!

So, the big question is, how many shares of stock would I have to own (which I don't---I don't own any TWX) in order to take advantage of the following Warner entertainment options:

Continue reading Divvied up: TWX announces quarterly dividend

Divvied up: TWX announces quarterly dividend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TNT's is about to drop yet another original drama series on us. It's called Saved, and AOL products will be integrated into the actual show.

Saved will air Mondays at 10 p.m. starting June 12. The series launches with a commercial-free premiere episode, sponsored by Quizno's and Dodge.

"Our integration with both Saved and [the TNT series] The Closer -- an established hit -- allows us to tap into new audiences and broaden our reach in a unique way," says Richard Taylor, senior vice president of brand marketing for AOL. "We can showcase the value of AOL within the actual storyline, making it relevant to the characters' lives."

According to the press release, Saved focuses on a young, hip, directionless slacker named Wyatt Cole. Cole -- played by Tom Everett Scott (Boiler Room, That Thing You Do) -- kicks around Portland, Oregon, trying to figure out what to do with his life and struggling to live in the shadow of his high-achieving parents.

The hook? He's a paramedic.

The catchphrase? "By saving other people's lives, he will be able to save his own."

I can only imagine how this one is going to work...

SCENE: Burnside Bridge, Downtown Portland. Single-car auto accident. Cole is applying a tourniquet.

Cole: "I can't deal with all these pressures. They've been with me ever since childhood. I mean if only they'd placed PARENTAL CONTROLS on their expectations of me --"

Auto accident victim [suddenly coming back to consciousness]: "You mean like the PARENTAL CONTROLS on AOL?!"

AOL hopes 'Saved' will be a 'Closer' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So Time Warner opened this morning at 16.93, and this afternoon it closed at 17.36, a 2.78 % gain.

2.78%. That was the change today. Not bad. Not good.

What does 2.78% gain mean, really?

Well, let's think about what a 2.78 % gain would have meant at certain moments in history.

• 1066 was the year of the Norman Conquest of England. A 2.78% gain would have meant the Normans invaded in June of 1095.
• In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittberg Cathedral. A 2.78% gain would have resulted in 97.6 Theses nailed to the door of the Wittberg Cathedral.
• Abraham Lincoln began the Gettysburg Address with the famous words, "Four score and seven years ago." (This is apparently how you say the number 87 if you are a president in the nineteenth century.) A 2.78% gain would have forced him to begin the Gettysburg Address, "Four score and 7.19 years ago."
• In 1988, the Scottish band The Proclaimers had an enormous hit with the single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". A 2.78% gain would have forced The Proclaimers to re-name that song "I'm Gonna Be (513.9 Miles)".
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, and Morgan Freeman all starred in the 1995 thriller Seven. A 2.78% gain would have forced the movie to be called Seven-Point-One-Nine.

  That, dear readers, is what a gain of 2.78% means.

What does 2.78 % mean? TWX closing bell report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Other news from the Milken Conference: AOL Chairman and Chief Exec Jonathan Miller let the cat out of the bag that AOL is considering an online model that makes content -- such as television reruns from Time Warner sister company Warner Bros. -- available for an extended period to let the audience accumulate.

While you may think of Warner Bros. as that benign force that brought us ER, Friends, and The O.C., don't forget that we also owe Warner Bros. for such made-for-TV movies as Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!  and Terror in the Mall, as well as the sitcom Full House.

As for prospects of looking deep into my computer monitor and seeing Bob Saget reprise his Full House role as cherubic widower Danny Tanner -- something I thought I'd left, along with my "Members Only" jackets and Thriller cassette, safely in the 1980's -- well, Minesweeper is looking better and better...

AOL to show reruns? Mary-Kate and Ashley to be known as "the AOLsen Twins"? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Bros., the television-and-movies subsidiary of Time Warner, is stepping up efforts to cash in on the big-money, low-budget industry of Reality -- reality television, that is. The company intends to launch a TV production unit, called Warner Horizon Television, to produce even lower budget reality television programs.

And how does Warner Horizon Television plan to lower the cost of the already pathetically cheap reality television shows?

Well, according to Peter Roth, President of Warner Bros. Television, the studio will limit taping days, shooting locations and "talent" pay. This new production model will reduce costs to about $500,000 less per episode than what a "traditional" (read: watchable) TV show costs per episode.

If you're interested, Warner Horizon, I have a couple of ideas for some very low-budget reality shows:

Continue reading Reality Bites Warner Bros.

Reality Bites Warner Bros. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Big Three come together to discuss the global balance of power. The Yalta Conference?

No, the Milken Institute's 9th Annual Global Conference. Yesterday in Beverly Hills, media men from News Corp, AOL, and Walt Disney came together to powwow.

But you could certainly be forgiven for confusing the two. That's why I'm offering you, dear readers, a quick primer to keep these things straight:

The Yalta Conference vs. The Milken Institute: Which is Doper?

Players:

Yalta Conference: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, USA; Joseph Stalin, USSR; Winston Churchill, United Kingdom

Milken Institute: Jonathan Miller, AOL Chairman and Chief Executive; Robert Iger, Walt Disney Chief Executive; Peter Chernin, News Corp President and COO

Advantage: Yalta Conference

Location:

Yalta Conference: Yalta, a city in Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea, 1945

Milken Institute: Beverly Hills, home of swimming pools, movie stars, and nip-and-tuck procedures

Advantage: Milken Institute

Continue reading New world (wide web) order: AOL, News Corp, Disney summit

New world (wide web) order: AOL, News Corp, Disney summit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Forget about taxi drivers, muggers, Christo installations, and/or Matt Lauer. There's a new reason to avoid New York: Broadway's newest vampire musical.

"Lestat" -- which has been uniformly savaged by the Washington Post, the New York Times and even the mighty Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey -- was supposed to be Warner Brothers' challenge to Disney's many successes in the Broadway musicals ("The Lion King," "Tarzan," "Aida" and others). 

Coming in on the heels of two other failed vampire musicals -- "Dance of the Vampires" (2002) and "Dracula, the Musical" (2004) -- "Lestat" is based on Anne Rice's vampire novels, and it boasts otherworldly powers that would make the undead blush: a reported bankroll of up to $12 million and songwriting by Elton John.

Unfortunately, neither deep pockets nor the powerhouse behind "Crocodile Rock" could help. Ben Brantley, in the New York Times, called it a "musical sleeping pill" ... and his review was charitable by comparison. 

"I vant to suck your blood" is a line for old-school vampires. "I vant to suck the life out of this production" is apparently how the new generation of vampires rolls.

Warner Brothers' vampire musical a bloody mess originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Apr 2006 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At the closing bell, Time Warner was down slightly from its opening price.

The stock opened today at 16.90 and closed at 16.89, which yielded an overall -0.01 net change, which equates to a -0.06% change.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? A net change of -0.01?

You know, that figure sort of reminds me of high school wrestlers. You know the ones I'm talking about -- those creepy guys who spent the entirety of history class spitting into a Snapple bottle to "cut weight" before the match.

So, at the end of the day, I'll say to you, Time Warner, what I always said to those wrestlers: Quit with the spitting because you're grossing me out. No one notices a -0.06% change, anyway!

Time Warner: down at the bell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.