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?

DVR and content companies: What should the broadcasters do? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Time Warner Cable (TWC) CEO sees even slower growth

Time Warner Cable (TWC) CEO sees even slower growth originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Cable companies working to curb free online TV

Cable companies working to curb free online TV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Cable's one-penny promotion backfires originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner

Continue reading Earnings Preview: Can Time Warner (TWX) show strong earnings in Q4?

Earnings Preview: Can Time Warner (TWX) show strong earnings in Q4? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Associated Press reports that BloggingStocks' parent, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), beat Wall Street expectations by a penny a share. But its profit was still down -- 26% thanks to declining subscriber fees at AOL and lower advertising revenues at magazines like Time and Sports Illustrated.

But after adjusting for one-time gains, Wall Street was expecting Time Warner to make 23 cents a share and it actually earned a penny more. In addition, revenues rose 5% to $11.6 billion, 1.2% more than expected.

The bad news is that AOL's subscription revenue fell 29% which drove a 36% decline in operating income. As I posted, the 2006 change in strategy to emphasize advertising over subscriptions has not been able to make up for $2 billion in lost revenue. Advertising revenue rose a mere 2% to $530 million -- not enough to make up the difference.

What does the future hold? Time Warner is selling the 84% of its cable operations that it still owns to shareholders later in 2008. Cable's revenues grew 7% on "increases in cable, Internet phone and video-on-demand fees." And it is trying to sell the dial-up portion of AOL to Earthlink (NASDAQ: ELNK).

Continue reading Time Warner beats expectations, but stock falls as investors wonder where growth will come from

Time Warner beats expectations, but stock falls as investors wonder where growth will come from originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Time Warner Cable testing tiered and metered internet access

Time Warner Cable testing tiered and metered internet access originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) declared a one-time dividend of $10.9 billion to its stockholders, payable just prior to separation of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC); TWX will receive $9.25 billion of Time Warner Cable's dividend.

TWX overall option implied volatility of 29 is below its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risk.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update; Time Warner volatility low into cable separation & dividend originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 May 2008 08:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that an alliance of cable, Internet and chip titans will announce plans to invest $3.2B in a company that will deliver Web access for laptops and cellphones using WiMax. The venture, valued at over $12B, includes Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) and will be backed by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG).
• According to people familiar with the matter, Robert Verrone, one of the most zealous commercial real-estate lenders during the industry's boom, will leave Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) within the next week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• Bloomberg reported that the Department of Justice is probing whether UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) helped clients evade American taxes. In an e-mailed statement, the firm said one senior bank employee was "briefly detained" by authorities.
• Bloomberg also reported that Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy. Officials said that after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from police and fire fighters, the city does not have enough money to pay its bills.
• According to a rumor, TechCrunch reported that the Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors yesterday authorized Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, rather than CEO Jerry Yang, to call Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer about re-starting negotiations.

Newspaper wap-up: Tech firms to invest in wireless originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 May 2008 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

An inside peak at Time Warner Cable earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After hitting a one-year high of $29.41 in July, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.11 in January. This morning, CMCSA opened at $20.07. So far today the stock has hit a low of $19.30 and a high of $20.14. As of 12:15, CMCSA is trading at $19.59, down 0.95 (-4.6%). The chart for CMCSA looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in 4 months as long as CMCSA is below $22.50 at July expiration. Comcast would have to rise by more than 15% before we would start to lose money.

Continue reading Comcast (CMCSA) falls on WiMax deal

Comcast (CMCSA) falls on WiMax deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carl Icahn's ICAHN CAPITAL, LP has released its total holdings for the period ending December 31, 2007. What is most interesting is that, despite the many other positions, Mr. Icahn still has a sizable stake in both Time Warner stocks -- the parent company and the cable subsidiary.

As of December 31, 2007, Mr. Icahn lists the following positions:

• Time Warner Cable, Inc. (NYSE: TWC) 4,711,128 shares or roughly $130,027,000
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) 12,933,159 shares or roughly $213,526,000
• Full Holdings

This is much less than his prior investments in Time Warner Inc. and it is not a big enough stake to give him a great deal of influence behind the scenes at the company. But combined, these investments still represent some $333 million dollars. That's serious money.

As of 12:15 p.m. today, TWX is at $16.44, down 14 cents today and still battling back from a 52-week low of $14.64 reached on Jan. 23.

Carl Icahn still holding Time Warner (TWX) stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• UBS assumed coverage of The DIRECTV Group Inc (NASDAQ: DTV) and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) with Buy ratings and Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) and DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) with Neutral ratings.
• Suntrust is positive on FPIC Insurance Group Inc's (NASDAQ: FPIC) valuation and book value growth. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $50 target.

• Morgan Stanley started Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (NYSE: CDL) with an Equal Weight rating.
• UBS initiated Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ: ARAY) with a Neutral rating and $11.50 target.
• Credit Suisse reinstated Ternium SA (NYSE: TX) with a Buy rating.

Analyst initiations: Cable and Satellite Pay TV industry and FPIC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Battling Baidu.com Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU) in China with little success, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is working with a Chinese company to offer free licensed music downloads, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new service is expected to be launched in several weeks.

• BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE: BHP) raised its bid for mining company Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RTP) to more than GBP70B. Meanwhile, the UK Times reported that Rio's new Chinese shareholder was preparing a counter bid for Rio.
• The Washington Post reported that Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeffrey Bewkes is expected to announce a plan today to sell or spin off Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC). Bewkes also is likely to signal plans to break up AOL in the coming year.

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc's (NYSE: BRK.A) Warren Buffett told Fox Business that he has no plans to bail out Ambac Financial Group Inc (NYSE: ABK) and MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI).

Newspaper wrap-up: Time Warner likely to sell or spin off Time Warner Cable originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner, Comcast will pass on wireless spectrum auction originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

BigBand Networks making inroads in China originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) has posted earnings. Revenues for the third quarter rose 25% ($792 million) over the third quarter of 2006 to $4.0 billion, and earnings were listed as $0.25 on basic and diluted earnings. First Call shows estimates at $0.27 EPS and $4.06 billion revenues.

The stock is up at the open. As of 9:45 am, it is at $27.88, a gain of 33 cents or 1.2%.

The company still reports on an OIBDA basis: Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization ("OIBDA") climbed 28% and operating income grew 24% over Q3 2006; OIBDA rose 12% and operating income grew 14% over Pro Forma Q3 2006.

This was a record quarterly net gain of 275,000 Digital Phone Subscribers that fueled the largest ever quarterly net increase of 220,000 Triple Play Subscribers. If you want to break it down by net additions, this is a total of revenue generating units having reached 522,000 net additions in the quarter.

Subscription revenues increased 25% ($749 million) to $3.8 billion; video revenues grew 21% ($440 million) to $2.5 billion, reflecting continued penetration of digital video services and video price increases; High-speed data revenues rose 26% ($197 million) to $942 million; Advertising revenues increased 24% ($43 million) to $221 million.

Unfortunately, these numbers are all skewed due to a large Kansas City pool of customers being transferred in the quarter.

Time Warner Cable (TWC) earnings: Record numbers of phone subscribers, video revenue up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Time Warner (TWX) earnings meet expectations

Time Warner (TWX) earnings meet expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) closed at $18.10.

Soleil Securities says: "We now believe that the CEO role at TWX will change hands before year-end 2007." Soleil believes there is an upside potential to the share price in the event of a Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) spin-off, a publishing segment sale and a spin-off and sale or IPO of AOL.

TWX is expected to announce EPS on 11/7.

TWX November option implied volatility of 31 is above its 26-week average of 25 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update 10-30-07: Time Warner volatility elevated originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Cable near 52-week low on telecoms' resurgence originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.