When NBC Universal and News Corp. hatched plans for a competitor to YouTube, the cynics were laughing already. continue reading...
This article was first published on TechCrunch. continue reading...
I like Jason Kilar a lot. He’s done an amazing job at Hulu. We are big fans of Hulu and as a content provider, a partner to boot… but when I read some of the things he says and try to reconcile it all with his overlords’ feelings on paid content vs. free, ad-supported content, I wonder, is he on borrowed time? continue reading...
Hulu and Demand Media both filed for an IPO. Demand files a week ago, Hulu today. Both companies are content plays. However, the similarities end there.
The real question is: which is the better investment? continue reading...
A couple of decades ago, John Hendricks offered Comcast serious equity in the new Discovery channel. The cable operator said no—and has spent much of the past few years trying to make up for the failure to recognize how important a stake in content would be to distributors. “Comcast would have been a very different company today had we done that 20 years ago,” Brian Roberts told interviewer Peter Chernin (yes, you read that right) during an event designed to “introduce” the would-be entertainment mogul to Hollywood. continue reading...
The NY Times has a piece on the NBC debacle and the declining fortunes of network television: continue reading...
If you like M&A, great article from NY Times on how Comcast courted and convinced GE to sell NBC.
Comcast had also undertaken an internal review to consider where the company could grow by acquisition. It considered buying another cable company, a mobile phone company or even Facebook. At one point, it considered acquiring Viacom, which owns several cable networks but is unencumbered by a broadcast network, but Sumner M. Redstone, the controlling shareholder in Viacom, was not interested in selling. continue reading...
Hulu’s growing pains are emblematic of old media’s challenges and symptomatic of its pedigree. continue reading...
A couple of years ago I asked “how much is NBC worth?”
Bear in mind, this was before the media market meltdown… before online began to eat away at TV’s might… but nonetheless, my valuation pegged NBC at $32 billion. continue reading...
While 2008 finished off with companies doing their best to cling on to anything to avoid from being sucked into the maelstrom, I think - despite the continued stock market meltdown - that many companies are seeing some stabilization in their core business. In other words: yes, 2008 Q4 saw a rapid evaporation of booked business, but 2009 is not looking as dire as some expected.
Online Remains a Beacon of Growth continue reading...
