| M&E News: Feb 08- Feb 22 2013 |
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| Last Updated - 07-Mar-2013 |
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| North America |
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| 1.Dish Profit Drops, Highlighting Aim to Diversify (WSJ) |
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| Feb 21 2013: Dish Network Corp. reported a 33% drop in fourth-quarter net income, as subscriber growth slowed and programming expenses rose, highlighting why the satellite-TV operator is looking to diversify into wireless broadband. |
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| 2. Nevada becomes first state to allow online gambling (cnet) |
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| Feb 21 2013: Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed an online gambling bill today that legalizes Internet gaming, according to the Associated Press. Nevada is first in the nation to forge into the online gambling world. |
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| 3. More Cash for Covers (WSJ) |
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| Feb 15 2013: VivendiSA's Universal Music Publishing Group has struck deals with Maker Studios Inc. and Fullscreen Inc., two of the biggest multichannel networks—a new breed of digital entertainment companies that distribute, promote and sometimes produce videos specifically made for Google Inc.'s YouTube. Under terms of the deals, Universal will get an undisclosed percentage of revenue from ads that run alongside cover videos of the publisher's songs on YouTube. |
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| 4. CBS Corp. Profit Rises; Ad Sales Pick Up (WSJ) |
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| Feb 14 2013: CBS Corp.'s net income rose 6% in the fourth quarter as the media company generated higher advertising revenue despite a weak start to the fall television season. |
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| 5. DirecTV Profit Rises on Latin America Growth (WSJ) |
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| Feb 14 2013: DirecTV's fourth-quarter profit grew 31% as the satellite-TV operator benefited from strong growth in its Latin America arm and a USD111 million pretax gain related to the sale of an ownership stake in a TV channel. |
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| Meanwhile, DirecTV's US subscriber growth slowed to 103,000 new additions in the quarter, compared with 125,000 the year earlier. DirecTV's total US subscriber additions for last year were down 70%, to 199,000 from 662,000 the year earlier. While the overall pay-TV market has shown little growth in the past year or two, DirecTV attributed its subscriber slowdown primarily to a strategic shift it undertook last year to focus on retaining existing customers and acquiring only "high quality" subscribers who are willing to take additional services and more likely to stick around. That meant DirecTV put less emphasis on attracting other subscribers with promotional discounts. |
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| 6. Time Explores Magazine Sale (WSJ) |
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| Feb 13 2013: Time Warner Inc. is in talks to divest most of its Time Inc. magazine group in a deal with Meredith Corp. potentially ending its long reign as the biggest US magazine publisher. Under the proposal being discussed, Time Warner would retain its flagship newsweekly Time, along with Sports Illustrated and Fortune. But the rest of its magazines, including People, InStyle and Real Simple, would end up combined with Meredith's titles, which include Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, whose readers are mainly women. |
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| 7. Comcast to buy GE's stake in NBC for USD16.7 billion (cnet) |
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| Feb 12 2013: Comcast Corp. is going to buy General Electric’s entire remaining stake in NBCUniversal for USD16.7 billion, the cable giant has announced. |
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| NBCUniversal will also buy its facilities at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza and CNBC's headquarters in New Jersey for USD1.4 billion. The deal is expected to go through by the end of March 2013. |
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| Comcast already owns 51%of NBCUniversal since its purchase of the majority stake from GE went through in 2011. Comcast is the largest cable provider in the US. |
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| 8. HBO Go subscribers can stream over AirPlay (cnet) |
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| Feb 12 2013: HBO will now allow HBO Go subscribers to stream programing from their Apple mobile devices to their TVs over AirPlay. |
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| 9. Mayer: Yahoo's future is personalization for content, ads (cnet) |
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| Feb 12 2013: The future of Yahoo will be providing personalized user experiences both on mobile and the desktop, according to the company's chief executive officer, Marissa Mayer. |
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| Speaking at the 2013 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference this morning, Mayer offered another glimpse into the search company's evolving mobile strategy, which will include some consolidation for the existing product portfolio. |
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| 10. Dish declares the death of commercials -- in a commercial (cnet) |
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| Feb 11 2013: Dish is taking its digital video recorder, the Hopper, national, and it's doing it with an ad that declares the death of TV advertisements. |
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| The campaign is just the latest salvo in a fight between Dish and the major broadcast networks, including CBS, the parent company of CNET. Dish and the broadcasters are tussling over the legality of the Hopper's automated ad-skipping technology, which the networks believe threaten a business model heavily dependent upon commercials for revenue. |
