Of particular interest is one piece of content that was highlighted in an article at the Los Angeles Times website. Disney is making a significant bet on an upcoming cartoon called The Princess and the Frog. It won't be a flashy 3-D production. Instead, it's animated in a 2-D environment.

Continue reading Disney promotes its content with new convention

Disney promotes its content with new convention originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.

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.

Continue reading New studio's business plan should be a lesson to media conglomerates

New studio's business plan should be a lesson to media conglomerates originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's all over the news. Media conglomerate Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube have entered into a deal for the former to supply content to the latter. Not for free, of course. There will be an ad-revenue-sharing model in place. The transaction calls for short-form content at first. This will be derived from ABC and ESPN properties. I assume that, if the short-form stuff works, then long-form stuff will follow pretty soon.

According to Julia Boorstin at CNBC, Disney will have full authority over the ad sales. That's good for shareholders of Disney. But YouTube wins a lot here, too. Google paid quite a bit of money to acquire the platform, and so far, monetization of the user-generated model has not been going smoothly.

YouTube needs to sign deals like these to legitimize its presence. It doesn't want to be known simply as the Cyberland of Copyright Infringement, a wicked, evil digital kingdom where content is stolen, used, and abused. That's how Viacom (NYSE: VIA) sees the site. It has engaged litigation against the company.

Continue reading YouTube traps the Mouse -- who benefits the most?

YouTube traps the Mouse -- who benefits the most? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just when it looks like it's safe to buy Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), something comes along to ruin the party. In this case, it's Carl Icahn.

Well, that's not exactly fair. Lions Gate has been ruining its own party to some degree. I remember taking a look at the studio's Q3 numbers and finding that the movie business is indeed risky. Lions Gate is more of a pure play on Hollywood than say Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), or Sony (NYSE: SNE) are. Because of that, the exposure to a bad slate of projects hurts it more than a company that also owns a theme park and/or a major television network. Poor Lions Gate reported a loss in Q3, and cash was used for operations. Not a good situation.

Continue reading Lions Gate just can't get a break

Lions Gate just can't get a break originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.