Lowell C. McAdam

Verizon Communications, Inc., or more commonly known as Verizon, is a holdings company that utilizes its subsidiaries to offer several different services. These include, bur are not limited to, communications, information, and entertainment products and services to consumer, businesses, and government agencies. Verizon is currently one of the top communications companies in the world, as they hold the 15 spot on the Fortune 500. They have recently become the largest 4G LTE distributor within America, as well as having the premier all-fiber broadband network. Verizon serves 150 countries worldwide, and has a reaches over 112 million people through it’s network.

Currently, Lowell C. McAdam, is currently both the CEO and chairman of the company. He was appointed CEO in 2011, and chairman in 2012. McAdam’s has been a prominent figure in wireless communications even before joining the company in 2000. Under his leadership, the company has been able to buy out Vodaphone’s 45% share of Verizon Wireless.

Although most see Verizon as simply a service provider, their subsidiaries are extensive and give them a broader reach that meets the eye. Two companies that stand alone from Verizon’s usual business ventures are AOL and The Huffington Post. AOL is a media company and news source that provides email services along with other things, and The Huffington Post is a liberal online-exclusive news source that comes out of New York City. Some other ventures of note include Verizon Fios, which is an internet, television, and phone bundle for private residences, and Verizon Business, which provides a similar service, except in this case to small businesses.

AT&T and Verizon stand atop the competition for mobile carriers, far surpassing the likes of  Sprint and T-Mobile. The race for the most subscribers has gone up and down over the years, however Verizon has recently peaked over AT&T in the number of people using their service. And, despite the fact AT&T have always created more revenue from the services than any competitor, Verizon has been slowly catching up to the competition coming in at only a little over a billion dollars below AT&T last year. Although AT&T claims a faster network, Verizon has far better coverage, as they are a better provider throughout America with less bad spots in their coverage.

Currently, one of Verizon’s largest issues has been protesting. Last week 36,000 workers walked off the job after their was a failure to reach a labor agreement. It’s currently the largest strike since Verizon workers walked off the job in 2011. Luckily for the company a lot of the employees on strike work for the landline providers as well as there Fios broadband network. This won’t have as large of an impact on the financial standing of the company, being that the largest stake of the company, Verizon Wireless, is left relatively unaffected by the issues brought on by the strike. The union on strike, the Communications Workers of America, is working to get a better contract offer for their workers, who have gone without one since August. Most of the issue the union has with Verizon lies within the characters they’re currently employing. Verizon has started outsourcing for a lot of their jobs: around 5,000 jobs have been giving to workers in second and third world countries such as Mexico, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic. These workers will work for far lower wages and are non-unionized. Verizon is also apparently asking their employees to work out of state for often months at a time. Despite the claim that Verizon is cutting costs to increase its already growing profits, most of these profits are coming from it’s wireless service, which these employees have no part in whatsoever.

This issue has factored into the race for the 2016 Democratic nomination heavily. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have voiced their support to the protestors, but both have different stakes in the situation. Verizon has been a huge supporter of the Clinton campaign. She’s received tens of thousands of dollars in support for her campaign. In May of 2013, she was payed $225,000 to give a speech, along with between $100,000 to $250,000 given to the Clinton foundation. Clinton did come with a statement in support of Verizon and the strikers reaching an agreement, but came off as ingenue and paled to the support of her rival. Sanders, on the other hand, has been continuously attacking the company in support of the strikers. He was most recently found marching alongside the strikers, and making heartfelt speeches on their behalf. In a recent speech, he called out Verizon as being “one of the largest, most profitable corporations in this country” and further attacked it on blatantly not supporting it’s workers. He promised that he would continue to stand behind the strikers throughout his campaign until a fair contract is reached by both parties involved.

As far as quarter 1 has gone for Verizon in 2016, they’ve surpassed already lofty expectations. Verizon was able to beat all four quarterly estimates of 2015, and seems to be carrying the trend into 2016. Although they only beat the Wall Street quarterly estimate by 0.5%, even exceeding expectations slightly is a huge gain. Their projections had them doing better than they had all of last year, so this is seen a victory.

One of the biggest stories of recent is Verizon’s current bidding war for the tech giant Yahoo. Among competitors to absorb Yahoo are Verizon’s rival AT&T, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and the former partner of AOL, Time Inc.. Verizon’s goal would be to merge Yahoo into AOL in a way that would be one of the largest platforms for online advertising, rivaling the likes of Facebook and even Google. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is the one administering the possibility of acquiring Yahoo, with him and Marni Walden, current Verizon Executive Vice President, operating the would be combination. Verizon is willing to even take on Yahoo’s Japanese assets, a project that has been perpetually losing money since it’s inceptions. Despite the fact that the company has had major issues as of late, Verizon sees Yahoo’s business to be worth around 8 billion dollars.

Works Cited

Affiliations, Lexisnexis Corporate. Hierarchical Profile for Verizon Communications Inc. (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

“Did Verizon Beat Earnings Estimates in 1Q16?” Yahoo Finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/did-verizon-beat-earnings-estimates-134723437.html>.

“Hillary Clinton Rakes in Verizon Cash While Bernie Sanders Supports Company’s Striking Workers.” Saloncom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.salon.com/2016/04/13/hillary_clinton_rakes_in_verizon_cash_while_bernie_sanders_supports_companys_striking_workers/>.

“Lowell C. McAdam.” – CEO. N.p., 12 June 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/lowell-c-mcadam>.

This Is the Largest Strike in the United States since Verizon Workers Last Walked off the Job in 2011. “36,000 Verizon Workers Go on Strike.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/13/technology/verizon-strike/>.

“Verizon At A Glance.” Verizon at a Glance. N.p., 26 June 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/verizon-glance>.

“Verizon Communication Inc.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=VZ.N>.

“Verizon Has AOL Chief Tim Armstrong Looking into a Yahoo Acquisition.” The Verge. N.p., 08 Feb. 2016. Web. 28 Apr. 2016. <http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/8/10939526/verizon-yahoo-acquisition-aol-tim-armstrong>.

Radio One is targeted at minority audiences and was itself founded by an African American woman, who continues to own a majority stake in the company. Catherine Hughes began her career in gospel radio in Washington DC, before eventually buying her first station with the help of bank loans, her own savings, and a loan from the African American venture capital firm Syncom, which funded African American media start-ups. Hughes’ overcame constant struggles with debt, eventually hosting her morning drive show herself as the bank refused to allow her to pay a salary for someone to host the slot.

Gradually, Hughes’ venture achieved profitability and expanded, though she still had to contend with banks that insisted she programmed her stations to include white music for white audiences. Hughes was convinced that black programming was the way to profitability, and the entire history of her company vindicated her insight and self-belief.

Hughes retired in 1993 and was replaced by her son Alfred C. Liggins III, who oversaw the massive expansion of the station in the 1990s, following the relaxation of ownership rules. Ironically, Hughes had feared that relaxing ownership rules would concentrate ownership in the hands of a few large corporations: Radio One has become the largest African American owner of stations in the United States [3]

In 2012, Radio One was expected to generate revenues of $433 million dollars. When asked how she had the vision to start such a venture, Hughes pointed to her need to take care of her son. She did not want him to become another statistic as part of the loss of African American youth in our society [4].

In 2013, Radio One acquired a majority stake in Reach Media. This allowed the company to expand its black talk radio programming, designed to offer an alternative voice to white conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh. The network features the Reverend Al Sharpton and other popular African American hosts and commentators [5].

TEGNA Inc. Logo [7]

7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22107-0150
703-854-7000

Overview

Gracia C. Martore
President and CEO [3]

TEGNA Inc. is a broadcasting and digital media company founded on June 29th, 2015 as Gannett Co. Inc.’s successor. It is currently being led by CEO Gracia C. Martore who is credited for the continuous growth of the company since its split from Gannett Co. Inc. Within TEGNA, there are two divisions each with their own president: TEGNA Media and TEGNA Digital. [3]

David Lougee
President, TEGNA Media [3]

TEGNA Media is led by its President Dave Lougee.[3] This group monitors existing tv stations owned by TEGNA and searches for new possible stations to further the company’s reach in the media. TEGNA currently owns and operates 47 stations in 38 markets nationwide, some of which were acquired when Gannett Co. split and gave TEGNA Inc. ownership of those stations. Other stations were acquired afterwards under the guidance of CEO Martore. It is currently the largest independent owner of CBS and NBC affiliates and the fourth largest owner of ABC affiliates. Some of TEGNA’s stations include NBC’s KPNX, KUSA, WXIA and CBS’s WUSA. [2]

John A. Williams
President, TEGNA Digital [3]

TEGNA Digital’s president is John A. Williams. [3] This section of the company controls TEGNA’s digital assets. Their most recent addition was Sightline Media Group, an online newspaper company that distributes content pertaining to the different branches of the US Military. Other groups owned by TEGNA include a car buying and selling site named Cars.com, a marketing solutions company called G/O Digital, and Careerbuilder.com whose revenue TEGNA plans to increase by “offering software as service.” [1]

Finances

TEGNA is a publicly traded company whose stocks became available for trade on the New York Stock Exchange on June 29th, 2015. On the morning of June 29th, 2015, TEGNA shares rose 1.3% whereas its predecessor’s, Gannett Co., fell by 3.6%. [4] Several months afterwards though, TEGNA shares continued to decrease until October 2015 when the shares began to rise again. [8] Currently it is an $8.34 billion dollar company with plans to continue expanding its digital media and broadcasting content.

TEGNA’s stock prices from June 2015 to November 2015. [8]

TEGNA Media believes that there will continue to be a steady cash flow from its digital and broadcasting markets, especially with the upcoming 2016 presidential election. TEGNA currently owns 38 markets, some of which include Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, New Orleans and Portland. TEGNA also owns 47 different tv stations including several news stations like NBC’s 12 News, 9 News, 10 News, News Channel 5 and WF My News 2. With markets in such popular states and TEGNA’s large share of CBS and NBC affiliates, TEGNA claimed that they plan to “take full advantage of increasing political advertising spending.”[9]

Cars.com logo [11]

Furthermore, TEGNA reported that their Q3 earnings this year were stronger than ever. A big factor for this increase was because of TEGNA’s acquisition of Cars.com. Previously, TEGNA (which was Gannett at the time) had been a partial owner of Cars.com along with several other newspaper companies, until later when TEGNA negotiated a deal that allowed it to become the owner of Cars.com in exchange for getting the other newspaper companies’ interests bought out. After becoming the new owner of Cars.com, TEGNA expanded and grew the website until it had become the second most popular website to go to for selling and buying cars. TEGNA profited a net income increase of 17.6% largely because there was a 72% increase in digital revenue. [10]

TEGNA vs Dish

In October of 2015, TEGNA had a dispute with Dish Network over distribution fees during the process of renewing their contract. This resulted in a 24 hour blackout in 38 markets over 33 different states. [12] TEGNA had increased the rate of retransmission consent fees, which Dish refused to pay claiming that TEGNA was asking for “above-market rate increases” that were twice the original amount of what satellite broadcasters were currently paying. [13] TEGNA replied saying they could not accept Dish’s newly proposed contract because Dish was trying to prevent “its customers from accessing valued channels, even as customers continue to pay for that content.” [2]

Dish Network subscriber’s tweet regarding the 24 hour blackout. [6]

With the contract issue at a standstill, Dish stopped showing any stations owned and operated by TEGNA for 24 hours. This blackout angered many of Dish’s subscribers for two reasons. Firstly, the NFL games were just around the corner and many of Dish’s subscribers became angry and worried they would not be able to watch the upcoming NFL games over the weekend. [6] Secondly, Dish subscribers, like any other subscribers of a satellite broadcasting company, pay a monthly fee to gain access to certain tv stations and channels. The prospect of not being able to have that access whenever the subscriber wanted to despite paying for it made many subscribers furious. [13]

Fortunately for Dish’s NFL loving subscribers, TEGNA and Dish reached an agreement for a multiyear contract on October 11th, 2015 which several days before the NFL games started. It is believed that both TEGNA and Dish felt an urgency to quickly reach a negotiation with the pressure of viewers wanting to watch the NFL games that was coming around the corner at the time. [5]

Future

Although TEGNA Inc. appears financially safe due to its large collection of tv stations and expanding digital media outlets, TEGNA is appearing rather often in situations that don’t appeal to the public.

Dish Network’s Logo [15]

Although the decision of the 24 hour blackout was Dish’s decision, many people blame the ordeal on both TEGNA and Dish claiming the two companies inability to negotiate with each other ended up putting the subscribers in an unfavorable situation. While the number of people cutting the cord had increased since before this ordeal took place, the 24 hour blackout did give more people reason to end their subscriptions with satellite broadcasting companies. Dish in particular lost at least 134,000 subscribers. [14]

KGW’s protest against TEGNA’s reforms. [16]

Furthermore, TEGNA Inc. was also involved in a dispute with Portland NBC affiliate KGW during October 2015 over KGW’s labor forces. News reported that TEGNA wanted to fire current union members by deleting the jurisdiction clause in union contracts and to replace those workers with more cheap, non-union labors. KGW fought back. KGW’s business representative, David Twedell claimed such changes in the workforce is, “…a matter of public safety. If there are amateurs producing that content, that information is more likely to be incorrect or cause a public safety issue.” Whether the quality of the news will fall or not is debatable, but this issue has also portrayed TEGNA in a negative way to the public. [16] How much affect the public’s opinion will control TEGNA is unknown, but if TEGNA wants to continue to grow and expand, their public relations must improve.

Sources

[1] Colman, Price. “Martore Martore Boosts Tegna With Focus,.” TV News Check. N.p., 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[2] Spangler, Todd. “Dish’s Latest Blackout: Satcaster Loses TV Stations in 38 Markets in Fight With Tegna.” Variety. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[3] “Digital Marketing Services | Content Marketing : TEGNA.” TEGNA. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[4] Yu, Roger. “TEGNA, Gannett Go Separate Ways as Print Spin off Is Completed.” USA Today. Gannett, 29 June 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[5] Littleton, Cynthia. “Dish Network, Tegna Reach Deal Ending Blackout in 38 Markets.” Variety. N.p., 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[6] Zara, Christopher. “Dish Network Blackout: Viewers Fume As Tegna-Owned NBC, CBS Stations Go Dark.” International Business Times. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[7]”TEGNA.” Logopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[8] “TGNA.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[9] “TEGNA Expects to Begin Trading on June 29, Offers Guidance (GCI).” Street Insider. N.p., 22 June 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[10] Hebbard, D.B. “TEGNA Reports Strong Earnings Thanks to Digital.” TEGNA Reports Strong Earnings Thanks to Digital. N.p., 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[11] “New and Used Cars For Sale, Reviews, News, Service | Cars.com.” Cars.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[12] Flint, Joe. “Dish, Tegna Reach New Distribution Agreement.” WSJ. N.p., 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[13]  “Tegna, Dish Network Spar over Contract Fees.” AZ Central. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[14] Ramachandran, Shalini, and Chelsey Dulaney. “Dish Continues to Lose Users, Though Profit Doubles.” WSJ. N.p., 11 May 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[15] DISH Official Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[16] Eck, Kevin. “Is TEGNA Playing Hardball With KGW Unions?” TV Spy. N.p., 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

NBC Universal Television

30 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY, 10112

http://www.nbcuni.com/

(image courtesy of wallstcheatsheet.com)

History

The National Broadcasting Company began broadcasting cable television in 1939. The television company operating under the same name until a groundbreaking merger with Vivendy Universal in 2003. Vivendi, suffered a major financial blow due to aggressive over-expansion and in turn sold 80% of the company to NBC to become NBCU. The merger gave Universal’s biggest television and entertainment assets, such as Universal Studios, production and distribution units, five theme parks, and cable television channels over to NBC. On May 12th, 2004, the companies were officially combined and renamed NBC Universal Television. While Universal is still based out of Studio City in Los Angeles, NBCU is run from 30 Rock in New York City. [1]

Financials

Comcast, NBCUniversal’s encompassing corporation boasted a mildly successful  first quarter on the market, boasting a $0.38 rise over the last six months however the last three months have been rough for Comcast, as the price per share dropped from $53.74 to $49.53. While these figures are representative of the Comcast Corporation as a whole, NBCUniversal’s splashing first quarter accounts for a large part of the company’s share price. [2]

Executives

President and CEO- NBCU: Stephen B. Burke

(image courtesy of comcast.com)

Burke oversees all assets of the NBCUniversal company, including the television stations, motion picture company, and theme parks. Burke was immediately appointed CEO after Comcast and NBC Universal’s merger in 2011. [3]

Executive Vice President, Content Distribution, NBCU: Matt Bond

(image courtesy of comcast.com)

Bond is in charge of steering the strategic direction of all NBC programming, as well as overseeing the NBCUniversal cable channels as well as the owned and operated programming. Bond is another member of the NBCU executive team who received a bump from the Comcast executive board during the 2011 merger.[4]

Executive Vice President, NBCU: Cesar Conde

(image courtesy of comcast.com)

Conde controls all of NBCUniversal’s international programming, content, and distribution. Conde joined the NBCU team in October 2013 after serving as the president of Univision for four years. Conde’s astounding international success at Univision make him a unique and well-rounded addition to the NBCU team. [5]

EVP and Chief Financial Officer, NBCU: Stuart J. Epstien

(courtesy of comcast.com)

Epstien oversees all financial planning and is an integral part of NBCU’s business strategy planning. Epstein joined NBCU after working 27 years at Morgan Stanley. [6]

A Big 2014 so far for NBCUniversal

NBCUniversals’ perennial powerhouse primetime programming continued to be staples in the company’s programming that continue to establish the face of the company, however the last few months brought a lot of change and excitement to the company. NBCUniversal was in charge of broadcasting the Winter Olympics from Sochi and shifted the face of late night television. [7]

The Winter Games

(courtesy of Forbes.com)

NBCUniversal has a contract that allows them exclusive rights to the olympic games for the heavy price of $1 Billion per games. The steep price to the rights puts pressure on the network to generate millions of viewers and millions of dollars of ad revenue. While the numbers for the Sochi games were not at impressive as the Vancouver winter games in 2010 or the 2012 London games (this was expected as summer olympics are more popular that the winter games), the Sochi olympics were a success for NBCUniversal and all of its subsidiaries. The Sochi olympics averaged 21.4 million viewers over the 17 nights of the games, slightly down from the 24.4 generated from the (mostly live broadcasted) Vancouver olympics, but also a 6 percent increase from the Turin Winter Games in 2006. The NBC primetime broadcast won every night of the Olympics compared to 14 of 17 during the Vancouver Olympics and eight of 17 in Turin.[8]

The games also provided a perfect opportunity for NBC to internally advertise for the debut of their all new Late Night programming, as Jimmy Fallon took over The Tonight Show on February 17th and Seth Meyers took over Late Night on February 24th. [7]

All New Late-Night

(courtesy of the hollywood reporter)

Late Night television is experiencing an overhaul in 2014 and NBC’s two premiere programs are no exception. In a response to ABC moving Jimmy Kimmel Live up from 12:00am to 11:30pm, NBC appointed Jimmy Fallon to take over for Jay Leno adding a younger face to compete with Kimmel and the older (soon to be replaced by Stephen Colbert) David Letterman in the 11:30 slot. The premiere of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon saw a massive 3.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 11.31 million viewers. [9] After a stellar opening week that featured Will Smith and U2 as guests, Fallon remained the king of the 11:30 time slot until the night of April 3rd, when Letterman scored the highest rating the night of his retirement announcement. Fallon has by far the most diverse skill set of all the late night hosts and the variety of entertainment the program brings keeps him atop the ratings charts.

(courtesy of www.popmatters.com)

On May 12th, 2103, NBC announced that Seth Meyers would take over Late Night for Jimmy Fallon once he moved up to the Tonight Show. [12]. Late Night with Seth Meyers premiered on February 24th following the conclusion of the olympics. Just like Jimmy Fallon’s first show in 2008, the premiere got great ratings but only mild reviews.  Amy Poehler and Joe Biden were the guests on the talk show’s premiere. Fred Armisen, Meyers’ long time friend and cowriter and cast-mate on Saturday Night Live leads “The 8G Band”, Meyer’s house band. Seth Meyer’s first night as host of “Late Night” drew 3.4 million viewers, the most for a Monday show in nine years. [12] The show has since smoothed out and dominated late night ratings along with The Tonight Show.

The Voice

(courtesy of www.nashvillegab.com)

The Voice has emerged as NBCUniversals’s premiere reality program over the last three years, since its debut in 2011. NBC has dominated primetime ratings on Tuesday nights among the big four networks since it’s air. The Voice, a singing competition that features a star studded judging panel has been a perennial success for NBC network. [11]

What’s Ahead for NBCUniversal

The company had an extremely busy first half of 2014 and no major events or changes look to be in store for the rest of the year. With the exception of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and PGA Tour Golf, NBC will shift its focus towards the Superbowl in 2015 and to 2016 when they are once again in charge of broadcasting the summer olympics from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[1] Comcast and GE Complete Transaction to form NBCUniversal (RT 4/20/14)

[2] Google Finance- COMCAST (RT 4/20/14)

[3] Comcast- Stephen Burke Bio (RT 4/20/14)

[4]NBCUni Bio, Matt Bond (RT 4/20/14)

[5] NBCUni Bio, Cesar Conde (RT 4/20/14)

[6] NBCUni Bio, Stuart J. Epstien (RT 4/20/14)

[7]NBCU Reveals Its 2013-2014 Schedule (RT 4/19/14)

[8]NBC Releases Winter Olympics Ratings Data (RT 4/19/14)

[9] Jimmy Fallon’s Debut as ‘Tonight Show’ Host Draws 11.3 Million Viewers (RT 4/21/14)

[11]NBC’s ‘The Voice’ Was Tuesday’s Number One Show in Adults 18-49 by a 38 Percent Margin (RT 4/19/14)

[12] Seth Meyers Named Host of NBC’s ‘Late Night’, Lorne Michaels to Exec Produce (RT 4/19/14)