Posted Jul 1st 2009 4:20PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Television, General Electric (GE), Walt Disney (DIS), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), News Corp'B' (NWS), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Media World

Julia Boorstin covered an interesting topic over at
CNBC.com the other day. The Supreme Court, by electing not to review a case involving
Cablevision (NYSE:
CVC), essentially said that cable companies such as
Comcast (NASDAQ:
CMCSA) and
Time Warner Cable (NYSE:
TWC) can pursue digital video recorder (DVR) storage on cable-system servers. By doing this, a perceived barrier to entry for subscribing to DVR has been eliminated: you don't have to deal with a clunky box. Cable should theoretically see an increase in customers who adopt DVR technology if remote storage is exploited.
Well, as Boorstin rightly points out, CBS (NYSE: CBS), Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC, and News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) Fox do need to worry. These DVR technologies basically translate to a drop in the economic value of advertising. Let's face it: who watches commercials when they don't have to?
Continue reading DVR and content companies: What should the broadcasters do?
Posted Jun 29th 2009 3:30PM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Good news, Press releases, Law, Consumer experience, Scandals, Media World

Bernie Madoff was in federal court today, where he was given a 150 year sentence for charges related to his Ponzi scheme.
Reports from the courtroom state that Madoff, the mastermind behind the largest ever Ponzi scheme, showed little to no emotion today when he learned that he would be spending the rest of his life in a jail cell. Due to federal sentencing guidelines, Madoff must serve at least 80% of his sentence, so he will not be eligible for parole until 2129.
Continue reading Madoff receives a sentence of 150 years
Posted Jun 26th 2009 5:30PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Time Warner (TWX), Viacom (VIA), Media World, Film
So, earlier in the week, I discussed Michael Bay and his freak-out with Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA) over the marketing quality on his latest film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Turns out Mike had nothing to worry about.
This film is doing great. At the time of this writing, the film was estimated to have grossed over $60 million on its opening day, which was this past Wednesday. Now, I hate talking about the breaking of this record and that record. Hollywood loves to point out that Movie X achieved the highest gross for a film released on a cloudy day in late September when the moon was full and a new supernova was spotted in the constellation of Cygnus. I'd rather talk about how much profit was achieved, and how much return on capital was recorded (too bad media companies don't have to reveal such data). Nevertheless, I'll give Viacom and Fallen credit. It apparently scored the biggest Wednesday opening ever, and it should theoretically have a great weekend, assuming word of mouth is good. So far, I've only heard superlative things about this particular piece of celluloid, and I know of one person who immediately consulted her cell phone to schedule a time to see the picture with her friends when she heard how awesome it was.
Continue reading Viacom scores with 'Transformers' -- good for Time Warner's 'Potter'?
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 9:30AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Television, Media World, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) is calling on an old friend to help it bring in an audience beyond the media company's hardcore demographic. Donald Trump, who has worked storylines with WWE before (remember the battle between Trump and Vince McMahon, the one that saw McMahon lose his hair?), recently appeared on WWE's Raw television program. In fact, TVSquad.com discussed the high-profile promotion Trump's involvement received over this past weekend. TV Squad also covered the little controversy caused by Trump's "purchase" of WWE's famous asset (I honestly cannot believe that some investors actually sold the company's stock based on a storyline).
Using Trump isn't a bad idea. He's a pretty good performer, and he seems, at times, like a natural for the wrestling business. How should an investor process his involvement, however? Does it show that WWE is having a hard time developing engaging angles with its own talent roster?
Continue reading Can Donald Trump help WWE's stock?
Posted Jun 8th 2009 5:40PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), Media World
Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA), a media company that competes with entities such as The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, and Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX), held its annual shareholder meeting last week. An article from The Hollywood Reporter recounted a few tidbits from the gathering.
As you can imagine, the CEO, Philippe Dauman, was pretty happy about the company's stock performance. He pointed out that it has been strong against the broader market this year. While that might be comforting, the longer-term performance of Viacom shares has not been so rosy.
Continue reading Can Viacom create long-term value?
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 3:20PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Internet, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Time Warner (TWX), Media World
Last week it was announced that the long-anticipated separation of AOL from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is set to happen before the end of the year -- then what?
If all goes well, AOL will set its own course sustaining what's left of its internet prominence, after falling from what was once internet dominance before its merger with TWX, and the continuous contraction of its dial-up subscriptions.
AOL still attracts more than 100 million Internet users to its online content portal, which includes BloggingStocks, so the adventure will continue. And, an AD-venture it is sure to be.
The same is true for Time Warner, the world's largest media conglomerate with operations spanning film, television, cable TV, and publishing. It will have an AD-venture of its own.
Continue reading TWX to let AOL run free -- good idea!
Posted May 26th 2009 10:20AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Walt Disney (DIS), Viacom (VIA), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World
Every few months, it seems, we get an article or two that says Disney (NYSE: DIS) might be a buy. TheStreet.com issued an upgrade on the stock based on several metrics. SmartMoney believes Disney might be a great company for the summertime.
When it comes to Disney, every investor has to be careful. Take every analytical article with a grain of salt. Why? Because even though the fundamentals might be good on the company from a valuation standpoint, Disney's stock has disappointed investors many times in the past. As a long-term shareholder, I know what I'm talking about. And many other pundits have made the same observation: Disney always seems to be cheap to someone at any given time.
Continue reading Should you be trading Disney?
Posted May 14th 2009 2:00PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Press releases, Products and services, Law, Internet, Rants and raves, Scandals, Media World

The privately held Craigslist Internet classifieds will be changing due to the very public eye being focused on it after the much publicized murder of a masseuse by a would-be client who preyed on the unsuspecting.
The change comes as Craigslist has become the whipping boy by Attorney's General in a state near you. The change they seek is a banishment of all services advertised that are of a direct or indirect sexual nature. Instead, what has been volunteered is that
Craigslist will be dropping 'Erotic Services' ads.
The company will set up a new "adult services" section that will be closely monitored. New postings in the "adult services" category will cost $10, but once a posting is approved, customers will be eligible for re-posting at $5.
Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's CEO, said the agreement preserves a place "for legal businesses to advertise" while incorporating suggestions from law enforcement, free speech advocates and Internet law experts. He went on to say, "The record is clear that use of Craigslist classifieds is associated with far lower rates of violent crime than print classifieds, let alone rates of violent crime pertaining to American society as a whole,".
Continue reading Craigslist 'Erotic Services' ads will change
Posted May 13th 2009 9:00AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, Walt Disney (DIS), Media World, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Last week, World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) reported its Q1 results. Above all, investors interested in this business look at one thing: cash flow. Why? Take a look at WWE's dividend yield.
As of Tuesday's close, the stock was yielding almost 13%! That's high. And a high dividend yield often indicates that a dividend cut may be in the offing -- the theory being that if the yield were sustainable, then buyers would rush in, and their activities would eventually lower the yield by driving the price higher.
Well, WWE hasn't had a great time of it when it comes to cash flow. I found this out when I examined the company's third quarter. Net cash from operations, unfortunately, has been overpowered at times by the dividend obligation. In fact, according to the Q4 report (pdf file), operational cash flow for 2008 dropped significantly to roughly $36 million, and the dividend obligation was over $80 million.
And that was before capital investments. That's sort of like the Undertaker throwing Mankind off the top of a steel cage. In other words, it's not pretty, folks.
Continue reading World Wrestling Entertainment: How was the cash flow in Q1?
Posted May 8th 2009 9:30AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, General Electric (GE), Walt Disney (DIS), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World
CBS (NYSE: CBS) programmed its Q1 earnings report Thursday after the bell. If the report had been a pilot, it would have been canceled immediately.
Revenues slipped over 13% to around $3.2 billion. CBS said it lost 8 cents per share. Talk about a failure of a quarter. Last year at this time, CBS made 36 cents per share. True, the comparison was a difficult one, since a change in distribution strategy for the international placement of the CSI asset enhanced the previous year's results.
But let's not get hung up on difficult comparisons. CBS simply had a bad three months. A very bad three months indeed. Oh, and I should note that analysts thought CBS might earn 7 cents per share. That seems almost comical at this juncture.
Continue reading CBS sees sales decline and a loss in Q1
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