Disney (DIS), the media company behind Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear, and whose colleagues in the industry include CBS (CBS), General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal, News Corp. (NWS), Sony Corporation (SNE), Time Warner (TWX), and Viacom (VIA), reported results for Q4 and the full fiscal year on Thursday after the bell. While the bottom line came in ahead of expectations, I have to say that the release was disappointing to this shareholder.

Earnings on an adjusted basis for the quarter came in at 46 cents per share, higher than the number predicted by analysts. Unfortunately, as I go through the data, I don't think I'm too comforted by such income performance.

Disney (DIS), a media business that competes with Viacom (VIA), CBS (CBS), News Corp. (NWS), and General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal, will be talking up its fourth-quarter numbers on Thursday after the bell. Are you a shareholder? If so, are you excited? Well, don't get too excited, because we might not be getting any growth, even if the Mouse beats on the bottom line. According to Earnings.com, the call is for 40 cents per share versus the 43 cents per share made in the comparable period.

You know what, though? For the most part, I'm not so concerned with exactly how much Disney makes this quarter. I'm a shareholder, and I want to see management at least come in at the estimate, of course, but I'll be more interested in the conference call. Way more interested this time around, in fact.

When I discussed Lions Gate Entertainment's (LGF) first-quarter results, I noted the disappointing statement of cash flows. Unfortunately, the company didn't do much better in the second quarter. For the six-month period, Lions Gate used over $160 million for operations compared to the roughly $40 million used in the similar frame one year ago.

Of course, cash flow doesn't always get the most coverage. Investors tend to get more excited by a swing to profitability. On that count, Lions Gate scored admirably, earning 26 cents per diluted share versus losing 44 cents per diluted share twelve months prior. Earnings.com indicates that analysts were really underestimating the Q2 income potential here: the call was for 6 cents per share.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), the big media conglomerate that competes with Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, issued Q1 data on Wednesday after regular trading was over. Revenues declined 4%, but earnings per share went up 10% to 22 cents. According to Bloomberg, that was enough to beat analysts by four pennies.

That's pretty decent for the company, but there are a couple of spots in need of serious help. It goes without saying that the newspaper industry is having a rough time, so it's not so hard to understand why the news groups experienced a significant decline in operating income.

Cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted Q3 numbers earlier today. It seems like the company is doing well with earnings growth and cash flow, even if revenues moved up a meager 3%.

Adjusted earnings per share grew over 20% to 28 cents per share. According to our earnings preview, the market was looking for 25 cents per share. Operating cash flow increased a little under 3%, but free cash flow went up almost 20%, aided by a smaller amount of capital expenditures compared to the previous year's similar quarter. I'm sure shareholders are more than satisfied with the growth rate of the green stuff over the past three months. Comcast saw excellent expansion of free cash over the last nine months, too.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the advertising market could be ready for an upswing. Michael Morris, an analyst at UBS, is making a connection between improved sales at retail stores and a robust environment for commercials and the like. His reasoning is sound: if retail businesses are doing better, then they might want want to take advantage of new cash levels to invest in marketing initiatives aimed at bringing in traffic.

Indeed, the advertising industry has been in the dumps. Any good news is welcome. Media entities such as Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), CBS (NYSE: CBS), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, are counting on increased opportunities to sell their respective inventories at better prices.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is feeling a little heat from studios Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal. The major media companies would all like to make more money from Netflix's business model, according to BusinessWeek.

No one is really satisfied these days with the DVD industry. Growth in home video is no longer what it used to be. So content makers perceive a need to engage new strategies to offset the this lack of expansion. It would be nice if those strategies were confined to innovation in movie development and the reduction of project budgets. Instead, trying to negotiate more beneficial deals with distributors such as Netflix will probably be the focus of media execs.

Is Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) getting ready to buy General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal? Hard to say. According to our sister site DailyFinance, it looks like the rumor of this theoretical event might be just that -- a rumor, nothing more. Then again, maybe there's something to it.

It seems likely, though, that Comcast does want to clinch a deal with some big media company. Remember when Comcast wanted to buy Disney (NYSE: DIS)? Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it ends up taking NBC Universal off GE's corporate hands. But which group of shareholders would this benefit the most?

Last year, I composed a not-so-bullish appraisal of NBC Universal's Jay Leno strategy. NBC Universal, which General Electric (NYSE: GE) has an 80% stake in, wanted to make sure that Leno's services did not wind up in the hands of a competing media entity when they handed The Tonight Show over to Conan O'Brien, so they bestowed upon him a talk program to be aired weeknights at 10 PM. It debuts tonight. I basically argued that NBC would survive without Leno, and that such an odd programming choice at 10 PM, when scripted intellectual assets are usually broadcast, might not be the optimal paradigm to engage.

Well, I still feel this is a risky move, but I do have to say that an article by Scott Collins over at the Los Angeles Times has piqued my interest in the expected economical benefit that Leno-at-10 might imply. Leno might not bring in a ton of eyeballs, but his profit margin could be acceptable given the lower capital necessary to fund his extravaganza.

Funny People, distributed by General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal Studios, was the number one film this weekend. I don't know whether or not the critics liked it but, from a financial viewpoint, it failed.

According to Boxofficemojo, People grossed $23 million as of early estimates. Cool; that's enough money to beat Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) incredibly competitive Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which came in second with $17 million. Disney's (NYSE: DIS) G-Force is also credited with roughly $17 million, and has been given third place for now (final numbers will solidify the rankings when they are made available).

Did you catch General Electric's (NYSE: GE) second-quarter earnings report on Friday? If you're a shareholder, you might be glad you didn't. I happen to be a shareholder, and I saw them. They weren't pleasant. However, it must be kept in mind that the globe is still gripped by a recession, and that an industrial giant like GE will take time to turn itself around.

Total net sales dropped 17%. Net income from continuing operations came in at 26 cents per share. That represented a horrible 47% drop on the bottom line. If you look at the individual operating segments, you'll note that revenues dropped across the board. And with the exception of the division devoted to energy infrastructure, every segment reported profit declines. Energy infrastructure actually expanded its income by 13%.

According to Boxofficemojo, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the top film at the domestic box office over the three-day weekend. I'm sure this didn't surprise Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) shareholders. The latest installment of the popular fantasy series took in about $79 million as of early estimates. However, Prince actually opened last Wednesday. If you add in monies derived from the Wednesday and Thursday showings, you've got a gross of about $159 million so far.

This compares favorably to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which opened in July 2007. Phoenix made just under $140 million during its five-day debut. I like such growth. It shows that the franchise retains a good quantity of demand.

Now, here is an interesting little spat. Michael Bay, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is upset with Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Why? Well, there's a movie coming out this week called Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It's the sequel to the big summer hit from a couple years back that brought the Transformers brand into the multiplex culture. Bay directed both projects. And he apparently has taken a tantrum, a little baby-like tantrum, over the marketing of the new film.

The Reporter article, which talks about the TMZ.com post that brought an email Bay wrote in May to the world's attention, says that Bay believes the quality of the marketing support so far on the second Transformers is way below par. He feels no buzz equity surrounding the movie. He doesn't think that an appropriate zeitgeist of support has been synthetically manufactured by the powers that be at Paramount. And he wonders if it might have to do with money: "I cannot figure if this is a cash issue with your company?" Further, he proffers: "Right now we are not an event. We are just a sequel, which is different."

I caught a very interesting post by Julia Boorstin over at CNBC.com. She discusses a movie studio that apparently wants to change the way movies are made. The company is called DF Indie Studios. Here's what it wants to do: make a dozen or so films each year on the cheap. What is cheap in Hollywood? Try $10 million or less. DF Indie Studios wants to go it alone, which means that it would rather not hook up with a Disney (NYSE: DIS) or a Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) to get distribution for its product. And Boorstin mentions that equity will be used as financing.

This movie-making model is right up my alley. I've written extensively about how Tinsel Town has gotten out of control when it comes to budgets and marketing expenses. Movies simply don't need to cost as much as they do. And projects give away way too many concessions in terms of cash-flow participation. Big stars tend to receive percentages of the gross that are too significant, in my opinion.

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.