Verizon

Posted on October 5, 2014 by lashaw01

by Lauren Shaw

Verizon Communications

Company Logo, click to go to website.

140 West Street

New York, NY 10007

www.verizon.com

Executives [1]

Courtesy of verizon.com

Lowell C. McAdam, Chairman & CEO

Courtesy of verizon.com

Roy H. Chestnutt, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer

Courtesy of verizon.com

James J. Gerace, Chief Communications Officer

Courtesy of verizon.com

Roger Gurnani, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer

About [2]

Courtesy of wikimedia.org

Verizon Communications is a major media conglomerate that provides broadband and other communication services to consumer, business, government, and wholesale customers. The company is known for its wireless services, providing a reliable wireless network for its 98 million customers nationwide.

: Courtesy of fool.com

Verizon FIOS is one of the company’s major departments that provides a telephone service, digital TV, and high speed Internet over a single fiber optic cable. Fios customers gain access to over 575 digital TV channels, with over 160 channels being High Definition. FiOS also offers over 18,000 movies on demand.

History [3]

Launching in 2005, Verizon FiOS was originally just available to 9,000 customers in Keller, Texas. With the addition of DVR in 2006 and High Definition in 2008, Verizon grew to eventually becoming a leading television distribution company, with around five million customers and availability in 18 million homes in 16 states, as of May 2013. Their top markets are New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Boston, with New York having 1,305,440 subscribers and Boston having 343,535 subscribers. (As of 2013)

Courtesy of creoleindc.typepad.com

Financials

On October 21, the company released their third quarter earnings report. Although more customers were added, Verizon Communications saw a decline in profit. Third quarter net income was $3,794 million, which is a drop from the $5,578 million in 2013’s third quarter. [4] More specifically, the companies Wireline segment had a total revenue of $9.576 million, which is a 0.8% decrease from last year. [6] However, FiOS video subscriber base went up 7% from last year to 5.533 million (adding a net 114,000 subscribers). In addition, broadband connections increased 1.7% from last year to 9.146 million.[5] Although the company is falling short of profit expectations, it seems as though they can detest their revenue drive to FiOS, as FiOS represented 74% of the company’s total revenue during the first quarter of 2014, and is continuing to do so. [7]

FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide

Courtesy of verizon.com

There are many changes being brought to FiOS that may explain its success for the company. Verizon has revamped its FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide for TV and mobile, improving the personalization, management abilities, and user interface for customers.[8] Customers will now receive search results and recommendations for shows and movies based on their viewing behavior. Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews and FiOS TV star ratings will also appear when customers are viewing specific content via their guide, with cast and crew biographies as well. [8] The new changes also come with a “My FiOS TV” feature that connects users to social media. [9]

Courtesy of verizon.com

Customers can see what’s being discussed about their favorite shows via Twitter.[9] These new changes are one of many incentives from the company to try and meet the demands of consumers and their reliance on media. These changes offer a comparison to one of Verizon’s competitors Comcast, and its recently upgraded mobile user interface with similar user-friendly personalization updates.[9]

TV Everywhere

Courtesy of bidnessetc.com

The company is not only updating its guide to keep up with consumer’s growing reliance on media and need for entertainment on multiple platforms. In October, the company renewed its carriage agreement with Viacom. [10] These new agreements seem to meet the demands of people’s need for ‘TV Everywhere.” Soon, Verizon customers will be able to stream Viacom programming in and out of their homes. [10] Viacom content such as music and entertainment programming will be available 24/7 on multiple platforms and will include 25 Viacom networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. [11] This agreement not only allows customers to gain access to live and on-demand content through the FiOS mobile App, but gain access to Video On-Demand content through various Viacom TV Everywhere websites and Apps as well. [11]As the industry is moving toward more content on mobile, the company is trying to keep up and avoid loosing subscribers by providing opportunities such as these to provide more TV Everywhere options.

Courtesy of digitalhollywood.com

“People want to watch TV anywhere, not just in their living rooms. Disruption in the TV marketplace is happening and Verizon wants to reach agreements with content providers like Viacom that reflect that reality and give people what they want. We are thrilled to extend our long-term distribution partnership with Viacom Media Networks, delivering some of the most recognizable and popular kids, music and entertainment programming available to our customers anytime, anywhere on a variety of platforms from TV to wireless. “-Ben Grad, Verizon’s executive director of content strategy & acquisition [12]

FiOS Quantum Gateway

In addition to consumer’s need for entertainment in a variety of platforms, consumers also want their content as fast as possible. After complaints of slow download speeds over the summer, specifically when streaming Netflix, it seems as though the company is approaching these problems with the launch of FiOS Quantum Gateway.[13] (released in November 2014)

For customers with multiple devices in their homes who frequently stream videos, the Quantum Gateway, which was released at the beginning of the month, should improve speeds and cut down download time for its subscribers. [13] This goes along with Verizon’s “speed match” campaign, which promises to match all customers upload speeds to its download speeds by the end of the year for free. [14] These new features will hopefully improve user experiences for all FiOS customers and create an advantage over its competitors, as other distribution companies are attempting to improve speeds as well.[14]

Stopping the Cord-Cutters from Cutting this Holiday Season

Courtesy of bidnessetc.com

With more and more ways to view content online, Verizon needs to promote competitive advantages to prevent the cord-cutters from actually cutting, and thus loosing customers for Verizon. Just in time for the holiday season, from now until January 17th, customers can purchase FiOS Triple Play package (high-speed internet, phone, and TV) for only $59.99 a month, and get a full year of Netflix free. [15] Not only does this provide a popular package for a much cheaper price, but includes Showtime, HBO, and free Netflix, all of which are usually the reason for cord-cutters to begin with.[16] This bold move of including competitive companies in a much cheaper package should attract millennials who would have previously been turned off to paying for an expensive cable package.[16] 2015’s first quarter earnings report will provide an answer as to whether this unique package paid off for Verizon as a whole.

Looking Towards The Future

As 2014 comes to an end, consumers should prepare for more TV Everywhere opportunities from Verizon, as well as more user-interface and personalization changes to FiOS. [17] Verizon customers should look out for the possibility of a wireless internet pay TV service and FiOS Custom Channels, both which would be released sometime in 2015. [17]

Sources

[1] “Executive Bios” .verizon.com RT: 11/28/14

[2] “Verizon At a Glance” .verizon.com RT:11/28/14

[3] “History & Timeline” .verizon.com RT: 11/28/14

[4] “Verizon Misses on Q3 Earnings, Revenues” .zacks.com October 21, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[5] “Verizon adds 1.5 Million Customers, But Misses on Profit Expectations” .dailytech.com October 22, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[6] “Verizon Reports Strong Customer Additions” .prnewswire.com RT: 11/29/14

[7] “FiOS Drives Revenue Up, But Earnings Fall Short of Expectations” .forbes.com April 24, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[8] “Verizon Revamps FiOS TV Guide” .bidnessetc.com October 1, 2014 RT: 11/28/14

[9] “Verizon Freshens Up FiOS TV Guide” .multichannelnews.com September 30, 2014 RT: 11/28/14

[10] “Verizon FiOS and Viacom Renew Carriage Agreement” .marketwatch.com October 1, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[11] “Verizon FiOS, Viacom Strike New Carriage Deal” .broadcastingcable.com October 1, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[12] “Verizon, Viacom Strike New Carriage Deal” .multichannelnews.com October 1, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[13] “Verizon FiOS Launches Souped-Up Broadband Gateway” .multichannelnews.com October 3, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[14] “Verizon’s Pitch: Upload Speeds to Match Download” .wallstreetjournal.com August 25, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[15] “Verizon Trial: 1 Year Free Netflix to FiOS Triple Play Users” dslreports.com October 27, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[16] “Verizon FiOS Bows Cord-Cutter Plan with Netflix, HBO, Showtime” .homemediamagazine.com November 19, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

[17] “Verizon CEO Says He’s Weighing A Wireless Internet Pay TV Service” .deadline.com March 4, 2014 RT: 11/29/14

Time Warner Cable

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Dan Watson

(15)

Key Executives (13)

Robert D. Marcus
Chairman and CEO

Arthur T. Minson, Jr.
EVP and CFO

Dinesh C. Jain
COO

Ellen M. East
EVP and CCO

Contact (14)

One Time Warner Center

New York, NY 10019-8016

212-484-8000

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/residential.html

History

In 1992, American Television and Communications (ATC) and Warner Cable merged to become Time Warner Cable (1). Not long after, in 1996, they released the first cable-delivered high speed internet, called Roadrunner (1). Following this was the release of digital cable and video on demand in 1999, digital phone service in 2003, and then finally the “Triple Play” service in 2005 (1). In 2007, Time Warner Cable (TWC) went public, and two years later, in 2009, they separated themselves from their parent company, Time Warner Inc (1).

About The Company

Time Warner Cable is a cable provider that offers high speed internet, digital phone services, and cable services to over 25 states, including Texas, North Carolina, and New York State (1). The company is subscription based, meaning customers pay a certain price per month to receive the content. Cable plans range anywhere from $20 to $50 per month, internet prices range from $35 to $65 per month, and phone service range from $10 to $20 per month (2). Subscribers can also choose the three service deal, which gives you video, phone, and internet for anywhere from $110 to $130 per month (2). As of September 30, 201, the end of their 3rd quarter, TWC has a total of 15.1 million subscribers receiving one or more of their services (1). 10.8 million of them are video subscribers, 11.5 million are internet subscribers, and 4.9 million of them are phone subscribers (1). In New York, North Carolina, and Texas, TWC provides local, all-news channels (1). TWC currently employs 50,000 people all over the US, including a special program that hires military veterans in areas such as technology, construction, and marketing sales (3). In 2013, TWC CEO Glenn Britt retired. TWC announced that the company’s COO at the time, Robert D. Marcus, would proceed him. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of TWC (1).

(17)

Financials

Time Warner Cable is a publically owned company, and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TWC (1). Currently, TWC on the New York Stock Exchange is $148.54 USD (12). Because TWC is a publically owned company, it is obligated to let the public know how it is doing, in the form of quarterly reports. The latest quarterly report, the end of the third quarter, was released on September 30th, 2014 (4). In the fourth quarter alone, TWC had a revenue of $5.7 billion, which was up 3.6 percent, when compared to last year’s third quarter (4). This year to date (September 30th), the company has a total revenue of $17.1 billion, which is a 2.9% increase when compared to the same figure from last year (4). The report boasts the “best third-quarter customer relationship performance in six years” (4). Services in particular, their video service continues to provide the most money out of all the other services. Their video service provided $2.5 billion, while the internet service provided $1.6 billion, and the phone service provided $476 million (4). One notable difference is that both the revenue of the video and phone services for the third quarter went down from last year, with the video bringing in $2.6 billion, and the phone bringing in $498 million (4).

The Comcast, Time Warner Cable Merger

(16)

Back on February 13th, Comcast publicly announced that they wanted to by Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion dollars (5). Since then, both the FCC and The United States Department of Justice have been investigating and evaluating the deal to see if they will either approve, or decline the deal. On October 8th and 9th, both company’s shareholders approved of the acquisition (6). For TWC, more than 99% of votes from shareholders voted in favor of the deal, showing the support of the deal from the shareholders (6). Immediately after the announcement of the deal, there was a wave of backlash and criticism against the deal. One of the main concerns of the deal is the fact that if the deal were to go through, the ensuing company would have control of roughly 30% of the pay TV market (6). This company would have 33 million subscribers, leagues above any other cable provider (5). Because of this, people are worried that the result of this deal would have far much too control on the cable, phone, and internet markets. With such control, this company would have would have more power to raise prices (5). This would be because they would be the only cable provider in a lot of areas, and customers would have no other option than to pay whatever amount for that cable provider. Some are also worried that this deal could affect competition and innovation. The company could have so much control over the market, that it might deter newcomers from trying to enter the market (5). Because of this, there would be inherently less competition, and much less innovation, as all of the new content and technology a new company could bring to the market would be much less inclined to jump in (5).

(18)

One of the biggest issues of the deal is the possibility of net neutrality being hurt following the completion of the deal (7). Net neutrality is the idea, and law, that every source on the internet is treated equally, and has the same access as any other source (7). This applies heavily to online streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu. Their whole, or at least majority of their business is based on their ability to stream content to subscribers via the internet. With the completion of the deal, some are worried that the cable company would have so much control, that they could create internet “fast lanes”, and “slow lanes” (7). In other words, Comcast/TWC could make Netflix or Hulu pay an extra amount of money for their products to be streamed faster and in higher quality through the internet that the cable company provides its customers (7). President Barack Obama recently released a statement, saying that net neutrality is essential, and that any deal hindering that would hurt the economy (8). He also called for the FCC to create new rules regulating net neutrality (8). Both parties of the deal have since stated that the deal is still proceeding (9).

(19)

One of the biggest oppositions to the deal happened in Lexington, Kentucky. Arguing over poor customer service, the city was unable to reach a new franchise agreement with TWC, and planed on denying the transfer of ownership, and looking for other cable providers (10). This would have proved a tough task, though, because TWC owns all of the existing cable infrastructure in the city (10). On November 20th, however, the city agreed to a 10 year franchise agreement with TWC, ending negotiations and backlash of the pending deal (11).

Sources

(1) http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/about-us/company-overview.html

History of Time Warner Cable, DR: 11/26/14

(2) http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/plans-packages/cable-internet.html#3services

Time Warner Cable, Packages and Plans, DR 11/26/14

(3) http://jobs.timewarnercable.com/content/military/

Time Warner Cable, Jobs and Military, DR 11/26/14

(4) http://ir.timewarnercable.com/files/2014%20Earnings/3Q14/aQ3-2014-TWC-Earnings-Release-FINAL_v001_a0q10j.pdf

Time Warner Cable Third Quarterly Report, DR 11/21/14

(5) http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/comcast-time-warner-agree-to-merge-in-45-billion-deal/2014/02/13/7b778d60-9469-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html

Washington Post, Comcast and TWC agree to deal, DR 11/19/14

(6) http://online.wsj.com/articles/time-warner-cable-shareholders-approve-merger-deal-with-comcast-1412869575

The Wall Street Journal, Shareholders Approve, DR 11/20/14

(7) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/opinion/why-the-fcc-should-heed-president-obama-on-internet-regulations.html?_r=0

The New York Times, Net Neutrality Concerns, DR 11/23/14

(8) http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/10/obama-internet-net-neutrality/18793429/

USA Today, Obama’s Statement on Net Neutrality, DR 11/25/14

(9) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/13/comcast-time-warner-full-steam-ahead_n_6149068.html

Huffpost, Deals moving Forward, DR 11/24/14

(10) http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/07/3468773_citys-action-could-kill-time-warner.html?rh=1

Kentucky.com, Lexington Opposes Deal, DR 11/19/14

(11) http://wuky.org/post/lexington-signs-franchise-agreement-time-warner-cable

WUKY.org, Lexington Agrees to Deal, DR 11/27/14

(12) http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=TWC.N

Reuters, TWC Stock Information, DR 11/30/14

(13) http://www.timewarnercable.com/content/twc/en/about-us/leadership/overview.html

Time Warner Cable Leadership, DR 11/28/14

Time Warner Cable Leadership Photos, DR 11/28/14

(14) http://www.timewarner.com/contact-us

Time Warner Cable Contacts, DR 11/28/14

(15) http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/File:Time_Warner_Cable_2010.png

Time Warner Cable Logo, DR 11/30/14

(16) http://g.foolcdn.com/editorial/images/144432/comcast_twc-via-comcast-release_large.png

Comcast, Time Warner Cable Image, DR 11/30/14

(17) http://static.squarespace.com/static/514c6ec7e4b0f1fab133877d/514e614fe4b0e29595febc04/514e6178e4b045db9416cc37/1364091272056/?format=1000w

TWC Triple Play Image, DR 11/30/14

(18) http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/7362006206_ea7fa6b6f8_z.jpg

Net Neutrality Under Attack Image, DR 11/30/14

(19) http://images.bidnessetc.com/img/f1e5284674fd1e360873c29337ebe2d7-president-obama-supports-net-neutrality-addresses-fcc.jpg

Obama On Net Neutrality

DirectTV

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Nicholas Sabatino

by Nick Sabatino

Photo courtesy of www.interpretllc.com [1]

Contact Information

Headquarters: 2230 E. Imperial Hwy, El Segundo, CA 90245 Phone: (310) 964-5000 [2] Facebook: DirecTV Twitter: @DirecTV

Executives

President and CEO: Michael White Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer: Patrick T. Doyle Executive Vice President and President, DirecTV Latin America: Bruce B. Churchill [3]

President and CEO, Michael White
Photo courtesy of investor.directv.com [4]

About

DirecTV was founded in 1990 and was one of the country’s first satellite-cable providers. DirecTV offers quality television with a variety of channels, including many high definition (HD) channels. There are hundreds of channels on DirecTV and the number of channels a customer receives depends on the package that the customer buys. However, not only does DirecTV provide cable, they also provide On-Demand services, HD DVR products(recording devices) called Genie [5], and “TV Everywhere” applications so that you can enjoy your television shows or movies when you want, where you want, and on what device you choose.

DirecTV’s Genie: HD DVR
Photo courtesy of www.directv.com [6]

DirecTV is a satellite-cable provider, this means that instead of just having a cable box attached to your television inside of your home, DirecTV puts a satellite dish on top of your home. Appearance is mostly the only major difference. However, DirecTV has benefits over other cable providers. DirecTV is rated #1 in overall customer satisfaction, and has been ahead of cable for the past 14 years [7].

Financials

DirecTV offers its services in the United States and in Latin America. The company currently has over 37 million subscribers in these areas, and their revenues totaled about $30 billion dollars in 2013 [8]. DirecTV is a multi-billion dollar company traded publicly on the NASDAQ with the ticker symbol DTV. Their stock currently has a volume of 899,268 and it is being traded at $87.71 per share [9]. Over the past four years DirecTV has seen a substantial increase in subscribers. With that, came an increase in their stock value. Since 2010, DirecTV’s stock has rose about 60 points and it keeps steadily going up over time. These numbers are very good for DirecTV and proves that they are becoming more successful as a company and more people are choosing their product over others.

DirecTV stock over the last four years Photo courtesy of investor.directv.com

DirecTV’s stock price over the last four years
Photo courtesy of investor.directv.com [10]

AT&T Merger

In May of 2014, DirecTV proposed a deal to AT&T to join companies and create a merger. With this merger, AT&T could improve the services that DirecTV already has. AT&T would focus on improving the Internet quality in many areas of the country that DirecTV does business [11]. With improved Internet, customers would be able to get better access to On-Demand and Pay-Per-View options that DirecTV offers. It would also better allow for the DirecTV app to be on products such as iPads and iPhones that are contracted under AT&T service, so that DirecTV can be at your fingertips wherever, and whenever you want it to be. This is the concept of “TV Everywhere.”

Over the past few months, the merger has been overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department over the legality of this merger. On November 20, 2014, DirecTV’s CEO, Michael White, said the deal should be approved next year. With this approved merger it is uncertain if DirecTV’s sales will go up. In a perfect market, the merger would cause an increase in the stock price of both AT&T and DirecTV. However, if one of the two company’s stock price starts to fall, being that both companies are in a merger, investors will sell their stock from the attached company and then both companies will have a decrease in stock price. This results in a loss of money for both AT&T and DirecTV [12].

AT&T and DirecTV Merger
Photo courtesy of www.accessnorthga.com [13]

International Expansion

In 2006, DirecTV gained 100% ownership of DirecTV Latin America [14]. With the expansion into new countries, DirecTV has asserted itself as more of a global brand. As of 2013, the number of subscribers that are from Latin America is about 18 million, which is an increase of about 9 million subscribers compared to the year 2010 [15]. With the success of expansion into Latin America, it is probable that DirecTV will expand into other markets as well and become even larger of a company. In the end of the day, it is all about getting your product to as many people as possible and making as much money as possible.

The DirecTV satellite dish portrayed as being on top of the Latin American countries where DirecTV is in. Photo courtesy of www.gigaom.com

DirecTV has expanded to Latin America.
Photo courtesy of www.gigaom.com [16]

Raycom Media

Back in September of 2014 there was a dispute between DirecTV and a broadcasting company called Raycom Media [17]. The dispute was over the broadcasting of Raycom Media’s channels through the means of DirecTV. The two companies did not come to a financial agreement by September 1st (the deadline) so for customers that had DirecTV they were unable to watch any Raycom Media channels for several days. Raycom Media is in 37 markets and 18 states, and they provide many different forms of television [18]. A major concern among people who had DirecTV and were in a Raycom Media market was the fact that they would not be able to watch some of the opening day NFL games on September 7th. Raycom and DirecTV made sure that this did not happen because of the potential financial loss that could have come from it. Agreements were made, and on September 7th customers were reinstated with their television channels.

Original Programming and What to Expect in the Future

Over the past few years DirecTV has entered into the world that Netflix and Hulu are also in. It’s the world of original programming, and it is the key to gaining more viewership, and in the case of DirecTV, more subscribers [19]. DirecTV’s goal is to have shows that viewers cannot get anywhere else. If this happens, then people may substitute the cable provider that they already have for DirecTV. DirecTV has their own channel called “Audience” that is only on DirecTV. On this channel is their newest show called Kingdom, and it came out in Fall of 2014. It stars Nick Jonas as a mixed martial arts fighter [20]. There is also a crime drama starring Thandie Newton called Rogue.

Click photo for Kingdom trailer courtesy of Youtube. Photo courtesy of www.directv.com

Click photo for Kingdom trailer, courtesy of www.youtube.com
Photo courtesy of www.directv.com [21]

There is even a special channel called “DogTV,” which is a channel specifically made for your dog to watch.

DogTV Trailer Photo courtesy of www.directv.com Commercial courtesy of www.youtube.com

Click photo for DogTV Commercial
Photo courtesy of www.directv.com
Commercial courtesy of www.youtube.com [22]

DirecTV also prides itself on its sports channels and packages. They have many packages, but their most popular one is the NFL Sunday Ticket. Every Fall if you are a customer that has NFL Sunday Ticket you can watch every NFL game that airs every Sunday [23]. New this Fall too is the introduction of NFL Fantasy Zone, a show which is all geared towards Fantasy Football. Expect growth in this department over the next few years.

There is also an ongoing dispute currently taking place between DirecTV and AMC. AMC is threatening to take away all of their channels (AMC, We TV, IFC, and Sundance) because they are claiming that DirecTV violated the existing deal that they had with them [24]. AMC is running campaigns during its show The Walking Dead, and DirecTV has an online petition[25]. DirecTV says that AMC is issuing a false alarm and nothing will happen. This is a developing story that needs to be kept a close eye on in the coming months.

In the near future, expect DirecTV to come up with more original content, renewal of their successful shows, expansion into new countries, and new and better deals to lure new customers to their services.

Sources

[1] DirecTV Logo. Interpret. RT: 4/30/14

[2] DirecTV Headquarters. eCorporateOffices.com. RT: 4/30/14

[3] Corporate Governance: Elected Officers. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[4] Michael White. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[5] DirecTV Genie. DirecTV.com. RT: 4/30/14

[6] DirecTV Genie. DirecTV.com. RT: 4/30/14

[7] DirecTV vs. Cable. DirecTV.com. RT: 4/30/14

[8] DirecTV 2013 Annual Report. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[9] Stock Quote and Chart. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[10] Stock Quote and Chart. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[11] “DirecTV CEO Expects Feds to OK AT&T Merger”. BostonHerald.com. RT: 4/30/14

[12] “3 Reasons DirecTV’s Stock Could Fall”. Fool.com. RT: 4/30/14

[13] “AT&T Agrees to Buy DirecTV in $45.8B Deal”. AccessNorthGa.com. RT: 4/30/14

[14] Company Profile. DirecTV.com. RT: 4/30/14

[15] DirecTV 2013 Annual Report. Investor.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[16] “DirecTV Adds Another 600,000 Latin American Users in Q1”. Gigaom.com. RT: 4/30/14

[17] “Raycom Media Restores 43 Local Stations to DirecTV Homes”. News.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[18] “Raycom Media Reaches Agreement In Principle With DirecTV”. RaycomMedia.com. RT: 4/30/14

[19] “DirecTV tries to join Netflix, Hulu With New Original Series Kingdom: Can They Compete?”. SheKnows.com. RT: 4/30/14

[20] “Stepping Into the Cage with Kingdom‘s Jonathan Tucker”. News.directv.com. RT: 4/30/14

[21] Kingdom Poster. DirecTV.com. RT: 4/30/14

[22] “DogTV Commercial – Been There Done That – Part 2”. Youtube.com. RT: 4/30/14

[23] “How DirecTV is Capitalizing On Growth of Fantasy Football”. Forbes.com. RT: 4/30/14

[24] “AMC Sounds Alarm About DirecTV Tussle During ‘Walking Dead’ Episode”. Variety.com. RT: 4/30/14

[25] “Don’t Let AMC Scare You!”. directvpromise.com. RT: 4/30/14

Cablevision

Link

by Steven Spohr

Summary

Source – Cablevision.com

Founded in 1973, Cablevision Systems Corporation is a leading telecommunications company that primarily offers television, phone, and Internet services to millions in the NY metropolitan area. Initially serving a mere 1,500 customers on Long Island, Cablevision has since expanded to offer WiFi, a leading local newspaper, and business communications solutions to its over 3 million subscribers. Former properties include Madison Square Garden and Rainbow Media Holdings. [1]

Source – Optimum.com

Cablevision’s television, phone, Internet, WiFi, and business solutions all operate under the ‘Optimum’ brand name. These include (but are not limited to) –

Optimum TV – exclusive home of News 12 Networks, a series of local news channels
Optimum Voice
Optimum Online
Optimum WiFi
Optimum Lightpath – a “leading provider of integrated business communications solutions that meets the needs of larger companies” [1]

Source – www.newsday.com/

Cablevision also owns Newsday Media Group, which runs two local papers. Newsday is a Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper that has been in circulation since 1940. Over 70% of Long Island adults read Newsday, and its articles and reporting have won numerous awards and made it the top paper on Long Island. To provide the most local news possible, Newsday works closely with MSG Varsity (part of the News 12 Networks) to provide detailed coverage of local high school and college sports. amNewYork offers a quick read of city news and events. In addition to the papers, NMG owns Star Community Publishing, which producers weekly shopper publications in Long Island and Queens. It is the largest publisher of its kind in the Northeastern United States. [2]

Leadership

The Dolan family founded Cablevision and continues to lead the company today. Key personnel include [3] –

Charles Dolan – Founder and Chairman / Source – Sean Smith, The Boston College Chronicle

James Dolan – Chief Executive Officer / Source – Al Iannazzone, Newsday.com

Kristin Dolan – Chief Operating Officer / Source – Variety.com

Brian Sweeney – President / Source – POST Online Media

Gregg Seibert – Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer / Source – Business Wire

Hank Ratner – Vice Chairman / Source – The Madison Square Garden Company

Financials

A detailed map of Cablevision’s stock pricing in 2014. / Source – Yahoo! Finance

2014 has seen Cablevision’s stock (CVC) prices gradually increase throughout the year. Starting the year at $17.22/share, CVC stock stands at $20.32/share as of November 29th. February 3rd saw the year’s low of $15.85. Prices peaked in late July, mid-September, and late November. [4]

The following financial information is from Cablevision’s Third Quarter 2014 Results.

Net revenue increased 3.7% to $1.62 billion.
Cable advertising revenue grew 6.8%
Average Monthly Cable Revenue per Customer increased 5.7% to $154.50/customer/month. [5]

These figures represent a continued loss of subscribers for Cablevision across the board. Between satellite TV providers, rival phone companies, and the public’s shift to watching TV online, Cablevision’s audience is becoming fragmented. The company chose to increase its subscription rates in response to decreasing numbers, which is represented by the net revenue and AMCR/C increases. [6]

Recent News

The latter half of 2014 has been a busy one, with notable hirings, financial news, legal troubles, and more.

August 4th

August 4th saw Cablevision’s announcement that it has hired David Dibble as Chief Technology Officer, a newly-created role. Dibble is formerly of Yahoo!, and his hiring is part of Cablevision’s efforts to “become the premier connectivity provider in the market, delivering a peerless customer experience”. [7]

November 7th

A New York Times article revealed a major legal proceeding against Cablevision. The National Labor Relations Board has charged Cablevision CEO James Dolan with “illegally threatening to deny company technicians in Brooklyn a pay increase unless they voted to quit their union”. The NLRB also charged Cablevision itself with “illegally [undermining] the union’s representation of those workers by sponsoring a nonbinding poll to determine whether they wanted to leave their union”, while some workers reported they were being ‘spied on’ during the vote. Federal law states that such a vote can only be conducted by the labor board, not the company. CEO Dolan fired back, calling the NLRB “a tool of Big Labor” and questioning the validity of its findings. The case is ongoing, and Cablevision has stated it will appeal to federal courts, if necessary. [8]

CEO Dolan has plenty of reasons to be frustrated, especially with his ongoing legal troubles with the National Labor Relations Board. / Source – ESPN.com

November 11th

Cablevision teamed up with Time Warner Cable to release the first ever “New York Television Audience Insights Report”. The report sampled the 3.5 million subcribers of Cablevision and TWC in the New York area, which is half of the TV homes in the region. Its aim was to help advertising and marketing departments and companies get better value out of their advertising purchases. Some key findings include –

74% of all TV programming watched was outside of traditional TV ‘prime time’ (8-11PM).
On average, a subscriber will only watch 25 channels in a month.
a whopping 90% of all viewing comes from a mere 100 channels. [9]

These new insights will help create better statistics for TV viewership and aid advertisers in spending money more efficiently.

November 18th

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city is planning an extensive new WiFi network across the five boroughs. The project, dubbed LinkNYC, would provide not only free WiFi, but also no-cost domestic calling and video chat. The 10,000 hotspot system would replace the city’s decaying network of archaic payphones and operate completely with money generated through advertising. Projected to cost around $200 million, LinkNYC would bring in over $500 million over the next twelve years, according to city officials.

This announcement led some to think Cablevision’s Optimum WiFi network would be threatened by this new, massive competition. Cablevision officials have not only dismissed these musings, but have actively worked with New York City on a number of initiatives, possibly including LinkNYC itself. [10]

Mayor-Elect De Blasio Makes Announcement

Mayor de Blasio’s ambitious project looks to dramatically improve WiFi services within the five boroughs. / Source – PIX 11

November 22nd

The Lewisboro Ledger revealed that Cablevision has a new deal with the town of Lewisboro (Westchester County). The deal, which primarily concerns franchising fees, has a number of key improvements –

Over $270,000 in new franchising fees are expected in 2015.
Free cable would be provided to 16 municipal and school buildings, including the public library.
New offers would include a senior discount for those aged sixty-five and older.
Town Board meetings would become available for live-streaming.
The town’s parks and baseball fields will become WiFi-equipped. [11]

November 25th

Kids video-on-demand network Kabillion announced a carriage deal with Cablevision. Kabillion, which is the only independently-owned VOD network ranked in the Top 10 Kids Free On Demand list, will now reach over 50 million homes nationwide. The deal is beneficiary to Cablevision too, as Kabillion reports views exceeding 65 million in 2014. [12]

Bibliography

YouTube

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Sergio Rodriguez

This image was taken from Youtube.com [1]

YouTube Headquarters

901 Cherry Avenue

Second Floor

San Bruno, CA 94066

Phone: (650) 253-0000

Fax: (650) 253-0001

www.Youtube.com

Key Executives [2]

Ms. Susan D. Wojcicki- Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Julie Supan- Senior Director of Marketing

hunter-walk-homebrew-vc*304xx375-250-8-0

Mr. Hunter Walk- Head of Product

Mr. Kevin Donahue- Vice President of Content

Ms. Suzie Reider- Chief Marketing Officer

What is YouTube?

Created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, YouTube is a media sharing website that allows for people to connect, discover, watch, and share user created original videos.[3] It allows for people to connect through commentary feedback as well as features a like and dislike system.

This is a screenshot of the website.

Users are able to search videos from a list of different categories such as YouTube Original Channels, beauty, comedy, entertainment, film, music and more. These lists continue to grow as more people sign up, create accounts and post videos.[4]

Since it’s release, the company has worked really hard to expand the amount of devices that support it through applications. The YouTube application is available on many of today’s electronics like Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and various mobile platforms like tablets.[5]

Screenshot of YouTube Application [5]

YouTube is generally a free site, but as of November 12, 2014, they introduced a new music streaming service called “YouTube Music Key.” With this service, subscribers are able to listen to music and watch videos free of ads both online and offline. People who subscribe early on will get to pay the lower price of $7.99 a month, while those who wait for the expansion of the service; which will take place in the next year, will have to pay $9.99 a month.[6]

Financials

YouTube, LLC is a subsidiary of Google, Inc. and because of this, it is difficult to get exact numbers when it comes to how much revenue the company makes. Therefore, most of the revenue about to be listed is estimated from Forbes.

According to Forbes, YouTube continues to significantly increase its revenue year after year. In 2011, the company’s revenue was $2 billion and increased 8.5 percent to $3.70 billion in 2012. In 2013, revenue increased again 11.1 percent to $5.60 billion.[7]

YouTube has over 1 billion active subscribers a day and the number continues to grow everyday, especially in other countries. The most popular YouTube channel has over 82 million subscribers.[8]

Since Google does not say how much of its profits come from, analysts estimate that YouTube is worth somewhere between $26 billion and $40 billion. Google itself is worth around $400 billion as a company.

The Company

YouTube owes its vastly huge success to the power of advertisement. Working with huge companies to provide advertisement for them to bring to the audience contributes heavily to the revenue of YouTube. Though the company splits about half of its profits with the owners of the content, they still managed to reel in about $2.8 billion this year from ad revenues; which is about a 48 percent increase from the previous year. In 2015, according to a report, the revenue will increase again to around $3.5 billion.[9]

History

The domain name YouTube.com was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees by the name of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. It was inspired by the fact that the creators were not able to locate videos of the Janet Jackson super bowl incident and the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. A beta version of the website went up in May of 2005 and six months later it officially launched thanks to a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital and from there it grew exponentially.[10]

Videos were already getting about 100,000 daily views in 2006 and because of this it caught the attention of Google and it was bought out by them for $1.65 billion in October 2006.

In 2007 after launching their Partner Program, people were able to make money based off their viral videos and in 2008; some of them started making six figure incomes. It was also around this time that Google decided to make money by rolling out ads that played on videos.

Starting in 2009, the company became mainstream to the point that the government opened up YouTube channels. Even the Vatican opened an account on the site. This is also when the company teamed up with Vivendi to create Vevo, a music video service. Organizations began to use it as well, starting with columnist Dan Savage who launched the “It Gets Better” project. The company keeps expanding.[11]

The “It Gets Better” Project

The Competition

Over the years, YouTube has grown to become the prominent video sharing website for a variety of people as well as organizations, and when one thing succeeds, others follow in its footsteps to achieve the same. As time passed, many other video sharing websites have emerged as competition for the company. Some of the competitors include Vimeo and Dailymotion. Vimeo, its closest competitor, was founded in 2004 and in 2013; it had only 400,000 paying subscribers and had a revenue of $40 million.[12] Youtube remains number 1 for video sharing.

What’s the future looking like?

Since becoming Chief Executive Officer of YouTube back in Februrary of 2014, Susan D. Wojcick has had plans of expanding the capabilities of the company to try and handle more than it can and take things to a new level. She has already made huge improvements to the way the site runs and its usability as well as contributed to the growth of the company revenue. Right Wojcick has two main focuses. The first is to improve its ability for user to communicate on a global level. The second focus is the growth of its business opportunities.[13]

Aside from the business aspect of the company’s growth, Wojcick is also trying to help the creators of the content develop, promote and grow as well. YouTube personalities are well known by the people who watch them but not to other people, especially those around the world. In order to promote these YouTube personalities, she plans on turning the website into something more that resembles television by actively developing and promoting their content so that they will be able to receive more recognition.

Google is investing more money to these stars to create more high quality programming for the site, but this time with a different approach. Before, the company tried to get outside celebrities to join and make them more like television but that failed. It then turned to the people that were already famous within the site. With this, it’ll also help the stars remain on YouTube instead of leaving elsewhere. Some of these stars include: Bethany Mota, a fashion star, Troye Sivan, a singer and YouTube personality and Michelle Phan, a make-up artist.[14]

Bethany Mota [15]

Michelle Phan [16]

Troye Sivan [17]

Sources:

[1] http://www.youtube.com

[2] http://investing.businessweek.com

[3] http://content.time.com

[4] https://www.youtube.com/channels

[5] https://www.youtube.com/yt/devices/

[6] http://www.billboard.com

[7] http://www.forbes.com

[8] http://expandedramblings.com/

[9] www.adweek.com/

[10] usatoday30.usatoday.com

[11] http://www.businessinsider.com

[12] http://www.beet.tv

[13] http://www.tubefilter.com

[14] http://recode.net

[15] http://stealherstyle.net

[16] http://www.taaz.com

[17] http://blog.blackwellphoto.com

Weinstein Company

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Samantha Koenig

[1] The Weinstein Company Logo

HISTORY

Brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein first founded Miramax Films in 1979, later selling it to Disney in 1993. In October of 2005 the brothers launched The Weinstein Company, encompassing Dimension Films, as an independent production and distribution company [2]. TWC has garnered great commercial and critical success with great Academy Award winning movies such as: The Artist, The King’s Speech, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.

KEY EXECUTIVES

[3] Bob Weinstein Co-Chairman (right) and Harvey Weinstein Co-Chairman (left)

FINANCIAL

The Weinstein Company is an independently held company and is currently ranked 8^th in studio market share with 2% [4]. To date, from their 8 movies released this fall grossing $37.3 million, down from 2013’s $40.2 million [5], however 2014 gross is expected to increase greatly over the holidays with St. Vincent and The Imitation Game Oscar buzz [6][7]. In addition, The Weinstein Company’s joint venture with Netflix, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” could bring great financial success in 2015 [8].

NETFLIX VENTURE

[9] Netflix Logo

[12] “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)

Early this fall, The Weinstein Company expanded their existing deal with Netflix, which gave Netflix first post-theatrical release venue rights for many of their films, to include films that will premiere on Netflix at the same time as the theatrical release [10]. The first film slated, and already under production, is the sequel to 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which grossed nearly $214 million to its $17 million budget, and won 4 Academy Awards. The sequel is to be called, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend” [11].

The movie will premiere on Netflix the same day as in IMAX theaters, shaking up the long-established business models of studios and theater companies. The “hope [is] it will get plenty of play in China, where Netflix is not available” [13].

“The moviegoing experience is evolving quickly and profoundly, and Netflix is unquestionably at the forefront of that movement,” Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said. “We are tremendously excited to be continuing our great relationship with Netflix and bringing to fans all over the world the latest chapter in this amazing and intriguing story.” [14]

[15] In “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role as Yu Shu Lien.

The plan is drawing strong criticism from Regal and AMC cinemas, both claiming this deal will disrupt their business models, which are built on giving theater-goers “first dibs” on big-pictures [14]. In response to The Weinstein Company’s deal with Netflix, Regal has said it will “not participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to 3 inches wide on a smartphone” [14].

IN THEATERS FALL 2014

[16] “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them” tells the story of tragedy and relationships from two subjective points of view.

“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them”

Following the loss of their child, once happily married Connor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain), find themselves akin to strangers trying to recapture the life and love they once knew. Writer/Director Ned Benson explores their complicated relationship through two subjective points of view [17].

The film combines “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him” and “Her” versions, which originally debuted at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, from the 3 hour 17 minute back to back showing, to a 2 hour combined perspective [18].

[19] “Tracks” tells the incredible story of a young woman’s journey across the Australian desert.

“Tracks”

“Tracks” tells the remarkable true story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a woman who leaves life in the city to journey on her own across 2,000 miles of Australian desert, her only company her dog and four unpredictable camels. Along the way she meets Rick Smolan (Adam Driver), a National Geographic photographer who decides to document her journey [20].

The movie was released in theaters September 29, 2014, though originally premiered in 2013 at the Venice Film Festival.

2015 ACADEMY AWARD CONTENDERS

“St. Vincent”

Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray) is a drunken war vet who likes living alone in his worn down home in Brooklyn. Not a loner though, he regularly hits the bar, track and “boffs” a pregnant Russian hooker, Daka (Naomi Watts). In a classic story of redemption, McKenna finds himself babysitter to his new neighbor, Maggie’s (Melissa McCarthy), 12-year old son, who helps reform him from his hard ways [21].

“St. Vincent” Trailer [22]

The film premiered at the TIFF this year to immediate high praise and talk of a possible Oscar wild card nod to Murray [21]. St. Vincent, released October 10, 2014, is expected to pick up steam at the box office as award season closes in and news of this great ensemble cast spreads [21].

“The Imitation Game”

The film opens with Alan Turing’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) 1952 arrest for “gross indecency” for homosexual behavior, at the time very much illegal in Britain. It then jumps back to 1939 and Turing, a mathematician and cryptanalyst, becomes part of a top-secret group that creates the first computer and cracks the Nazi Enigma code, effectively leading to the end of World War II. Surprisingly a part of this group, was a woman, Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), who becomes very close to Turing, eventually becoming engaged to him [23].

“The Imitation Game” Trailer [24]

The film made a big splash in Canada at TIFF earlier this year, and quickly became a front-runner for Academy Award nominations. Likely to be nominated in many categories, Cumberbatch is a seemingly easy nomination for leading actor [25].

In its opening weekend, “The Imitation Game” opened November 28, 2014 in just four theaters, two in LA and two in New York, yet grossed a total of $479,352, averaging $119,838 per theater [26]. The only limited 4-theater release to ever gross more in its opening weekend was “The Grand Budapest Hotel” earlier this year, averaging $202,792 per theater [27].

COMING SOON

[28] “Paddington” the beloved children’s books about a bear come to life in this live-action adaptation.

“Paddington”

Coming January 16, 2015, “Paddington,” produced by David Heyman (Harry Potter), brings to life the countless books written by Michael Bond since 1958. The film tells the story of the young Peruvian bear’s (voiced by Ben Whishaw) search for a home in the city, where he quickly realizes city life is not all he had imagined – until he meets the Brown family. All is well until he catches the eye of a museum owner, Millicent (Nicole Kidman) [29].

[30] “Big Eyes” tells the story of artist Margaret Keane and husband Walter, who took credit for her paintings.

“Big Eyes”

Tim Burton‘s “Big Eyes,” set in the 1950s, recounts like a storybook the tale of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and Walter Keane (Cristoph Waltz), the “ogre-like” man who held her “captive.” [31]. The title refers to the unique painting style of Margaret, who’s husband took credit for his wife’s work, and became the face of an art empire [32]. The film follows the couple through the 1960s and the ensuing legal battle between Margaret and Walter [32].

An interesting departure for Burton, he takes seemingly straightforward story, and injects his style and mystery, creating a complicated back and forth, narrated by a third person. The film should draw big for Weinstein’s “arthouse” crowd with its Christmas Day release [31].

SOURCES

[1] The Weinstein Company Logo, Deadline.com, RT: 11/29/14

[2] “About The Weinstein Company”, Weinsteinco.com, RT: 11/29/14

[3] Weinstein Brothers Picture, screencraft.org, RT: 11/29/14

[4] Studio Gross Ranking, boxofficemojo.com/studio, RT: 11/29/14

[5] Weinstein Year by Year Financial, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[6] St. Vincent Oscar Buzz, rollingstone.com, RT: 11/29/14

[7] The Imitation Game Oscar Buzz, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[8] Netflix Deal Shakeup, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[9] Netflix Logo, designcrowd.com, RT: 11/29/14

[10] Netflix and Weinstein Into Future, blogs.indiewire.com, RT: 11/29/14

[11] Netflix Move Into Movies, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[12] “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Poster, blogspot.com, RT: 11/29/14

[13] LATimes Netflix Weinstein Deal, latimes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[14] Theaters Under Threat, washingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

[15] Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien, bellenews.com, RT: 11/29/14

[16] “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them”, imdb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[17] Review Eleanor Rigby, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[18] Eleanor Rigby Versions, washingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

[19] “Tracks” Poster, impawards.com, RT: 11/29/14

[20] Review “Tracks”, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[21] “St. Vincent” Review, rollingstone.com, RT: 11/29/14

[22] “St. Vincent” Trailer, youtube.com, RT: 11/29/14

[23] “The Imitation Game” Review, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[24] “The Imitation Game” Trailer, youtube.com, RT: 11/29/14

[25] Oscar Hopefuls, thewrap.com, RT: 11/29/14

[26] Opening Weekend Box Office “Imitation”, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[27] Opening Weekend Box Office “Budapest”, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[28] “Paddington” Poster, impawards.com, RT: 11/29/14

[29] “Paddington” Review, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[30] “Big Eyes” Poster, yahoonews.com, RT: 11/29/14

[31] “Big Eyes” Review, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[32] “Big Eyes” Behind the Movie, huffingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

Warner Bros. Pictures

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Carly Kaplin

Warner Bros. Studios [a]

Contact Information:

Address: 3400 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91522

Phone: (818) 972-8687

http://www.warnerbros.com/

Company Executives:

Kevin Tsujihara: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. [b]

Richard J. Fox: Executive Vice President, International, Warner Bros. Entertainment [c]

Thomas Gewecke: Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Warner Bros. Entertainment [d]

Dee Dee Myers: Executive Vice Present, Worldwide Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Warner Bros. Entertainment [e]

Company Overview:

Warner Brother’s is an entertainment company involved in the creation, production, distribution and marketing of many different forms of entertainment. The company specializes in feature films and television. Since they were founded, Warner Brother’s has produced nearly 6,500 feature films and 3,000 television shows. Warner Brother’s Studios is a subsidiary of Time Warner and within itself has several subsidiaries. [1]

Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner [f]

Company History:

Warner Brother’s was founded on April 4th, 1923 by Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner. The studio released the world’s first “talkie” movie on October 6th, 1927. Before this time, the world had never seen a movie with sound. This was a groundbreaking moment in the film industry. The studio won their first Oscar for best picture in 1937 for a film biography on the life of Émile Zola. In 1955, Warner Brothers started working in television creating the drama series, Cheyenne. [2]

Financials:

Warner Brother’s Studios is one of the global leaders in film production. However, the studio was negatively impacted by a low summer box office. Luckily, video-on-demand revenue contributed and raised revenue 3% to $2.8 billion. The studio made its highest box office numbers ever with the Harry Potter movies and The Dark Knight trilogy. The Dark Knight earned the studio over $530,000,000 domestic, and over $1 billion including international sales in 2008. In 2013, Warner Brothers television programs grossed almost $1.5 billion internationally. In the same year, the international box office for films generated revenue of over $5 billion for the fifth year in a row Warner Brothers made over $4 billion in the worldwide box office. Warner Brothers currently stands at third place in the 2014 studio market share of the box office with 14.3%, behind 20th Century Fox with 17.2% and Buenavista with 16.1%. Warner Brothers has released the most movies this year out of the three top studios, making it’s position at number 3 not ideal. [3] [4]

By the end of this year, Warner Brothers will have released a total of 21 feature films. The highest grossing movie of the year for the studio was The Lego Movie, generating a total domestic revenue of $257 million and $210 million internationally, making it a total of $468 million. [5] [6]

Warner Brother’s movies by release date in 2014 [g]

MV5BNjE5MzYwMzYxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTk4MTk0OQ@@._V1_SY1006_CR25,0,630,1006_AL_

Gravity [h]

Recent History

In early 2014, Warner Brother’s films won 10 Academy Awards, the most of any other studio. 7 of these awards were taken by Gravity, two for The Great Gatsby and one for Her. Gravity took home the oscar for best director for Alfonso Cuarón, visual effects, cinematography, film editing, original score, sound editing and sound mixing. [7]

What’s Happening Now?

Warner Brother’s Studios has recently announced that they will be cutting 1,000 jobs from a total of around 8,000 companywide in an attempt to decrease costs since the low box office and television results this year. After 10 years at number one in the domestic box office, it is currently at number 3. Some divisions of the company are expected to be impacted more by these layoffs than others. The finance and information technology will be cut down more than film and television production groups. [8]

The Judge [i]

Warner Brother’s recently released The Judge on October 10th, 2014. The Judge made only $45.5 million in the domestic box office, which is not the success the studio would have hoped for the movie with a $50 million production budget. It did bring in $29 million international, bringing the total gross up to $74.5 million. The movie opened at number 5 its opening weekend, competing with the new releases of Dracula Untold and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which opened at 2, and 3 respectively. [9]

Annabelle [j]

Annabelle, the prequel to last year’s The Conjuring, was the studio’s highest grossing movie this season. With a domestic total of $84 million but was widely popular overseas with an international total of over $186 million, it took the number one place in the international box office its opening weekend. The production budget was only $6.5 million so Annabelle was a huge success for Warner Brothers. Annabelle was released on October 3rd, opening at the number two spot in the box office, just barely beaten out by $400,000 by the highly anticipated Gone Girl. [10]

Horrible Bosses 2 [k]

Horrible Bosses 2 is the studio’s next movie to hit theaters, opening on November 26th, 2014. The first Horrible Bosses movie, released in July of 2011 made $60 million during its opening weekend. The budget was $35 million, meaning the movie made back almost twice its budget in the first weekend. This sequel is definitely one that didn’t do as well as the first movie. This past weekend was opening weekend for Horrible Bosses 2 and opening at the number 5 spot, they made a mere $15 million domestically. Having opened on a Wednesday, they did generate some more money before the “weekend” bringing the domestic total to $23 million. But this opening weekend was a tough one in terms of competition. Horrible Bosses was competing with the second weekend of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 which brought in the majority of audiences for this Thanksgiving weekend. Warner Brothers expected Horrible Bosses 2 to make around $35 million opening weekend, but the production budget was relatively low, at $42 million. Warner Brothers executives are hopeful that Horrible Bosses 2 will perform better next weekend as the excitement of The Hunger Games slows down as it enters its third week. [11] [12] [13]

Excitement continues to grow for fans of The Hobbit series as the trilogy comes to an end this year with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It will be released on December 17th, 2014 by Warner Brothers. The most talked about aspect of the movie so far is the 45 minute battle scene which ends the movie, the biggest fight scene director Peter Jackson has ever done. [5] [14]

Warner Brothers will be releasing two more movies before the end of the year. Inherent Vice on December 12th, featuring Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon, and American Sniper on December 25th, with Bradley Cooper, directed by Clint Eastwood. Inherent Vice has already won the Robert Altman award, which is given to “one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast.” [5] [15]

Sources:

1. Warner Bros. Company Overview – warnerbros.com RT: 11/15/2014

2. Warner Bros. Company History – warnerbros.com RT: 11/16/2014

3. Time Warner Q3 Earnings Results – money.cnn.com RT: 11/17/2014

4. Time Warner Annual Reports – TimeWarner.com RT: 11/15/2014

5. Warner Bros. Future Releases – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/21/2014

6. The Lego Movie – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/18/2014

7. Warner Bros. Oscar Results – hollywoodreporter.com RT: 11/17/2014

8. Warner Bros. Layoffs – nytimes.com RT: 11/19/2014

9. The Judge Box Office Mojo – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/16/2014

10. Annabelle Box Office Mojo – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/17/2014

11. Horrible Bosses Opening Weekend – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/20/2014

12. Horrible Bosses 2 Opening Weekend – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/30/2014

13. Variety Horrible Bosses 2 Article – variety.com RT: 11/30/2014

14. FansShare The Hobbit Article – fansshare.com RT: 11/21/2014

15. NoneSuch Inherent Vice Article – nonesuch.com RT: 12/1/2014

Multimedia Sources

a. http://corporate.kabam.com/company/ RT: 11/14/2014

b. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Kevin Tsujihara RT: 11/15/2014

c. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Richard J. Fox RT: 11/15/2014

d. Warner Bros. Company Executives -Thomas Gewecke RT: 11/15/2014

e. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Dee Dee Myers RT: 11/15/2014

f. PBS Gallery RT: 11/16/2014

g. Box Office Mojo RT: 12/1/2014

h. IMDB Gravity RT: 11/20/2014

i. IMDB The Judge RT: 11/21/2014

j. IMDB Annabelle RT: 12/1/2014

k. Collider.com RT: 11/17/2014

l. Youtube.com RT: 12/1/2014

Relativity Media

Posted on October 5, 2014 by jatuckma

by Jason Tuckman

Photo courtesy of logos.wikia.com. (1)

Relativity Media

Contact Information: (2)

Address: 9242 Beverly Blvd., Suite 300, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Phone Number: 310-724-7700

URL: http://www.relativitymedia.com

Twitter: @Relativity

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/relativity

An Overview of Relativity Media:

Focusing on the content creation and distribution of television, film, sports, music, fashion, and digital, Relativity Media was founded in 2004 by CEO Ryan Kavanaugh. (3) Relativity Media seeks to integrate different aspects of its content throughout all of its mediums, providing the best entertainment for its customers. Relativity Media Studios, the largest division of the company, has produced over 200 films such as “Don Jon”, “Out of the Furnace“, “Movie 43“, and “The Pursuit of Happyness“. The company has made more than $17 billion in box office revenue and has earned 60 Oscar nominations. (4)

Key Executives:

CEO: Ryan Kavanaugh

President: Tucker Tooley

$happy_{0df48154-b376-4127-ca4f-f6e66c0fce08}$

Co-Chief Operating Officer: Happy Walters

$gregory_{48e8d58b-0d15-407c-f40c-21bf53adce08}$

Co-Chief Operating Officer: Gregory Shamo

Photos and Info. Courtesy of http://www.relativitymedia.com/About.aspx (5)

Financials:

According to Ryan Kavanaugh, this year Relativity Media plans to make $1 billion in box office revenue, although the company is privately held and there is no official public documentation of revenue. (6) Kavanaugh believes in tight budgets that don’t necessarily need to be hits to make a profit. (7) This strategy is called the “Monte Carlo” approach, which is mainly used on Wall Street. This approach uses information about a possible movie and analyzes whether or not it will make a profit. Considering actors, budget, genre, and release time, Relativity Media is able to figure out which possible movies will be hits, and which ones will be flops. (8) Therefore, the company is able to use small budgets to make small profits, which add up over time to make Relativity Media successful. Currently, Relativity Media is privately held but is planning on going public in the next year once enough equity is raised. (9)

Current Movies:

Relativity Media has released nine films this year, four of which are still in theaters. The films still in theaters are “The November Man”, “Beyond the Lights”, and “The Best of Me”. “Hector and the Search for Happiness”, an action comedy staring Simon Pegg, was released in select theaters during the month of September. (10)

“Hector and the Search for Happiness”

$HATSFH_FIN_07-IN THEATERS THIS FALL-SMALL-web_{04488678-6e2e-e411-b444-4040e990bee0}$

Photo courtesy of www.relativitymedia.com (11)

Directed by Peter Chelsom, “Hector and the Search for Happiness” tells the story of a psychiatrist who feels guilty that his patients aren’t getting happier, leading him on a quest to understand the true meaning of happiness. (12) The movie was only released to 183 theaters and made $938,954 in revenue. (13) It garnered negative reviews, receiving only 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The November Man”

Photo courtesy of www.relativitymedia.com (14)

Directed by Roger Donaldson, and staring Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, and Olga Kurylenko, “The November Man” is an action thriller about a retired spy who must come out of retirement for a personal mission. It is based off the novel “There are No Spies”, by Bill Granger. (15) So far, it has made $32 million dollars globally in box office revenue. It’s budget is disclosed, and came in sixth for its opening weekend in late August, way behind “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. (16) It received negative reviews, with only 34% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Best of Me”

Photo courtesy of www.relativitymedia.com (17)

Based off the Nicholas Sparks novel, “The Best of Me” is a drama/romance film that tells the story of two high school sweethearts that, after 20 years, are drawn back to their hometown after the death of a friend. They rekindle their high school love, but realize that there are problems after being apart for so long. The movie is directed by Michael Hoffman and stars Michelle Monaghan, James Marsden, and Luke Bracey. (18) Ranked fifth in its opening weekend, “The Best of Me” has made just under $33 million in global box office revenue, $25 million domestically. (19) It also received an underwhelming 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. In late October, B4U, a Bollywood Film and TV company invested $100 million in Relativity Media to make a version of “The Best of Me” for audiences in India. (20)

“Beyond the Lights”

Photo courtesy of www.relativitymedia.com (21)

Watch the trailer here. Courtesy of youtube.com

Relativity Media’s most recent film, “Beyond the Lights” opened on November 14, 2014. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and staring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker, and Minnie Driver, “Beyond the Lights” tells the story of a young popstar who falls in love with a cop who is striving to become a prominent politician. Fame tests their relationship as they struggle to find peace in the madness that surrounds their lives. (22) The film has made $6.2 million in box office revenue during its opening weekend, and currently has $12 million in total domestic revenue, with a reported budget of $7 million, and received 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. (23)

On August 12, 2014, Relativity Media hired Matt Alvarez as EVP of Production and President of Relativity Studio’s newly formed multicultural division. Alvarez produced hits such as “Ride Along”, the “Barbershop” franchise, and Relativity’s recent movie, “Beyond the Lights”. He will focus on growing the studio’s slate with more diverse filmmakers. (24)

Recent News:

On October 2nd, Relativity Media announced that One West Bank Group and Dune Capital Management is set to purchase Elliot Management’s stake in Relativity Media, along with Ryan Kavanaugh himself. The purchase is led by Ryan Kavanaugh, One West Bank Group and Dune Capital Management’s founder, Steven Mnuchin, along with some other unnamed private investors. (25) This investment shift may hint at secret preparations for Relativity’s IPO release in the next year. Kavanaugh will still be the largest individual shareholder of the company and no specific financials were released. (26) Steven Mnucin is no stranger to Hollywood. He is known for helping to finance “Gravity” and “Avatar”.

Photo courtesy of blumhouse.com (27)

On November 4th, Relativity acquired the rights to distribute “Lazarus”, a horror film, in the U.S. This movie comes from Jason Blum’s production company, Blumhouse, and is set to be released on February 20th, 2015. The movie stars Mark Duplass, Olivia Wilde, Evan Peters, and Donald Glover. Blumhouse is known for box office hits such as the “Paranormal Activity” franchise as well as recent success, “Ouija”. “Lazarus” is about a group of medical students who discover a way to bring dead patients back to life. (28)

In Development:

“Not Without Hope”

$not without hope book cover_{5cc99a63-5594-e311-af13-4040e990bee0}$

Photo courtesy of www.relativitymedia.com (29)

Based on the best selling memoir by Nick Schuyler, “Not Without Hope” tells the true story of four NFL players who go on a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico that turns deadly when the ship capsizes, forcing the friends to cling to the the capsized boat while a storm rages around them. (30) This gruesome tale of friendship will star Dwayne Johnson and has recently begun script adaptation by Nicholas Mariani. (31)

“Demon House”

Lee Daniels, Director. Photo courtesy of thereelnetwork.net (32)

Directed by Lee Daniels, this movie will tell the story of Latoya Ammons and her family, whom have been possessed by demonic spirits for the past two years. Turn Left Productions, with owners Jackson Nguyen and Todd Crites will finance, produce, and distribute the film along with Relativity Media and producer Bruce Cohen. (33) This will be an interesting change for Lee Daniels, known for “The Butler”, who is now taking a turn at making a thriller.

Sources:

(1) Relativity Media Logo From 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(2) Relativity Media Contact Information From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(3) Founded From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(4) Relativity Media About From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(5) Relativity Media Executives From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(6) Relativity Media Profitability From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(7) Tight Budgets Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(8) Monte Carlo Approach Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(9) IPO Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(10) 2014 Films From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(11) Hector and the Search for Happiness Movie Poster From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(12) Hector and the Search for Happiness Synopsis From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(13) Hector and the Search for Happiness Box Office From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(14) The November Man Movie Poster From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(15) The November Man Synopsis From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(16) The November Man Box Office From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(17) The Best of Me Movie Poster From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(18) The Best of Me Synopsis From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(19) The Best of Me Box Office From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(20) The Best of Me Bollywood From 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(21) Beyond the Lights Movie Poster From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(22) Beyond the Lights Synopsis From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(23) Beyond the Lights Box Office From 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(24) Matt Alvarez From 12 August 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(25) Relativity Media Purchase From 2 October 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(26) IPO Holdings From 2 October 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(27) Blumhouse Productions Logo Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(28) Lazarus From 4 November 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(29) Not Without Hope Book Cover Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(30) Not Without Hope Synopsis Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(31) Not Without Hope Development From 10 October 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(32) Lee Daniels Retrieved 30 November 2014.

(33) Demon House Development From 12 November 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.

Paramount Pictures

Posted on October 5, 2014 by bjyuran

by Brian Yuran

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Logo [1]

Contact Information: [2]

555 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323)-956-5000

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Paramount

Twitter: @paramountpics

http://www.paramount.com

About Paramount Pictures:

Founded in 1912, Paramount Pictures is the fifth oldest surviving film studio. Paramount specializes in film production, distribution, and digital entertainment. It has built its success on many hit films and franchises, such as Titanic, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, and Transformers. [3] In 1994, Paramount was purchased by Viacom for $8.28 billion. [4]

Key Executives: [5]

Brad Grey: Chairman and CEO

Rob Moore: Vice Chairman

Frederick Huntsberry: COO

Adam Goodman: President, Paramount Film Group

Financials:

Paramount Pictures’ 2013 estimated box office revenue was approximately $970 million. [6] Also, its 2013 market share was 10.8%. As of late, Paramount Pictures’ performance has not been ideal. While it was the most profitable of the major studios in 2011, it is currently last. However, Paramount has a business model to fix its recent slip. It plans on making less films and going for guaranteed profit. In fact, Paramount is only releasing 11 films from now on as opposed to 16 in previous years. The studio believes this new business model will work because its profit margin has been 5.5% or more for the past three years, up from 0.5% in 2008. [7] Through these new tactics, Paramount looks to best competitors Warner Bros., Fox, and The Walt Disney Company.

Right Here, Right Now:

Over the summer, Paramount Pictures released the popular franchise films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers: Age of Extinction. Paramount’s fall season is slow as it is only releasing Interstellar and Men, Women, & Children.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

MV5BMjEwNTg1MTA5Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTg2OTM4MTE@._V1_SX640_SY720_

Transformers: Age of Extinction Official Poster [8]

Transformers: Age of Extinction dominated the box office, despite negative reviews. It currently holds an 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [9] During its opening weekend, the film grossed $138,345,769 million, giving it the 29th biggest opening of all time. Internationally, the film crossed the $1 billion mark. It has become the highest-grossing film in Chinese film history, generating over $300 million in revenue. [10] Many studios like Paramount have been setting films overseas to appeal to the international market.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michelangelo [11]

Paramount distributed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a joint Nickelodeon Movies and Platinum Dunes production, in August. The movie focuses on the origin story of the Ninja Turtles and their quest to defeat the evil Shredder. [12] Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Michael Bay, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was major financial success.

It grossed $93.7 million globally during its opening weekend. Domestically, it had an opening of $65 million in 3,845 theaters. To date, the film has grossed over $400 million at the international box office. [13] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had the fourth biggest box office debut ever during the month of August. As a result, a sequel has been ordered for June 3rd, 2016. [14]

Men, Women, & Children

Adam Sandler in Men, Women, & Children [15]

Directed by Jason Reitman, Men, Women, & Children tells the story of a group of parents and high school students who face the consequences of the power of the Internet. [16] It has only grossed $705,908, which is substantially less than its $16 million budget. It is on track to be a major flop. In its wide release it only earned $306,367. Men, Women, & Children had the fifth worst wide release opening to a movie released on 600 screens. [17] Critical reviews have been negative with a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [18]

The negative buzz around the film is shocking as the topic very much pertains to the present. The internet has become such an integral part of all our lives. Also, the cast features A-list actors, such as Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, and Judy Greer. In fact, Sandler has been a huge box office draw for the past 15 years; his movies have grossed nearly $4 billion at the box office. [19] Even he could not salvage the film. Furthermore, the main issue was that the plot lines between the characters did not intertwine strongly. There was a huge opportunity to make this film great, but it was unfortunately bland and lacking in aesthetic value according to Chief Film Critic Justin Chang of Variety. [20]

Interstellar:

Interstellar Movie Poster [21]

Directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, Interstellar focuses on a team of individuals who search for a habitable planet that will allow humanity to survive. [22] It is maybe Nolan’s most daring film yet as it combines stunning visuals and a puzzling story with a solid family dynamic. Nolan borrowed many thematic elements from 2001: A Space Odyssey. For instance, he pays homage to the black monolith and computer HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nowadays, it is rare to see a three hour movie, like Interstellar, but most critics are not complaining. A few have not been in love with the film like Joe McGovern of Entertainment Weekly, who gave the film a B- rating. [23] However, most of the other reviews have been more positive as the film currently holds a 9.0 rating on IMDB. [24]

Paramount is only handling the domestic release of Interstellar, while Warner Bros. takes care of the international distribution. [25] It grossed $61,837,040 domestically in its opening weekend, but a whopping $144,737,040 worldwide, which nearly surpassed its $165 million budget. By its second week in theaters, Interstellar grossed over $300 million ($321.9 million to be exact) globally. [26] Domestically in its second week, it made $29.2 million, for a domestic total of $97.8 million as it fell 39%. Over the weekend, it crossed the $500 million mark worldwide. [27]

In Other News

In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major studio to distribute all its content digitally. Also, Paramount has created a new website that enables people to stream movies right from its site so it can funnel money directly back into corporate headquarters, rather than dealing with websites like Amazon Prime. [28]

In addition, Paramount has been in a tireless legal battle with investors who claim they never received their money back from projects such as Mean Girls and The Manchurian Candidate. The investors are suing to get back $40 million of their investment. The court concluded that Paramount is off the hook and not responsible. [29]

Looking Forward:

Unlike the fall season, Paramount’s winter film slate will be much busier with the releases of highly anticipated films, The Gambler (2014), Top Five, and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water.

The Gambler (2014) Trailer [30]

The Gambler (2014) is Mark Wahlberg‘s latest film, in which his character, Jim Bennett, borrows money from a gangster and puts his life up as collateral. It is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. [31]

Top Five Trailer [32]

Top Five is a comedy film written and directed by Chris Rock. It has a planned release date of December 12th, 2014. It currently holds a stellar 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [33]

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water Trailer [34]

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water is planned to be one of Paramount’s biggest hits of the winter, as it will attract young fans and older fans who grew up viewing the television show.

Paramount’s future appears promising with the other releases of Selma, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and Project Almanac, which will be presented in a found footage style. [35] Selma is expected to generate much Oscar talk.

Sources:

[1] Paramount Logo, Paramount.com, RT: 11/10/14

[2] Paramount Contact Information, Paramount.com, RT: 11/12/14

[3] Film Franchises, Paramount.com, RT: 11/12/14

[4] “Viacom To Announce Deal To Purchase Paramount”, The New York Times, 9/12/93, RT: 11/12/14

[5] Key Executives, Paramount.com, RT: 11/10/14

[6] Paramount Revenue, Boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/08/14

[7] New Business Model, The New York Times, 12/22/13, RT: 11/09/14

[8] Transformers: Age of Extinction Poster, IMDB, RT: 11/08/14

[9] Transformers: Age of Extinction Review, Rotten Tomatoes, RT: 11/11/14

[10] Transformers: Age of Extinction in China, Deadline.com, 8/3/14, RT: 11/12/14

[11] Michelangelo Photo, Screenrant.com, RT: 11/07/14

[12] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, IMDB, RT: 11/09/14

[13] “Ninja Turtles Cracks $400 Million”, Variety.com, 11/02/14, RT: 11/10/14

[14] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sequel Announced, Variety.com, 8/10/14, RT: 11/11/14

[15] “Adam Sandler Leads Sexually Charged Dramedy”, The New York Post, 9/30/14, RT: 11/10/14

[16] Men, Women, & Children Summary, Time.com, RT: 11/10/14

[17] Men, Women, & Children Flop, Thewrap.com, RT: 11/11/14

[18] Men, Women, & Children Rating, Rotten Tomatoes, RT: 11/12/14

[19] Adam Sandler Box Office, The New York Times, 9/30/14, RT: 11/09/14

[20] Justin Chang, Variety.com, 09/06/14, RT: 11/10/14

[21] Interstellar Photo, Hollywoodreporter.com, RT: 11/11/14

[22] Interstellar Info, RogerEbert.com, RT: 11/16/14

[23] Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly, 11/19/14, RT: 11/19/14

[24] Interstellar Rating, IMDB, RT: 11/19/14

[25] Interstellar Distribution, Variety.com, 11/16/14, RT: 11/19/14

[26] Interstellar Box Office, Boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/20/14

[27] Interstellar’s Splash, Deadline.com, RT: 11/21/14

[28] Paramount Streaming Service, Theverge.com, RT: 11/06/14

[29] “Paramount Pictures, Movie Investors in Mean Fight”, The Wall Street Journal, 10/26/14, RT: 11/18/14

[30] The Gambler (2014) Trailer, Youtube.com, RT: 11/18/14

[31] The Gambler (2014), IMDB, RT: 11/18/14

[32] Top Five Trailer, Youtube.com, RT: 11/18/14

[33] Top Five Rating, Rotten Tomatoes, RT: 11/18/14

[34] The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water Trailer, Youtube.com, RT: 11/17/14

[35] Paramount Future Releases, Deadline.com, RT: 11/10/14

Lionsgate Entertainment

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Naomi Pinkus

Lionsgate Company Logo [1]

Contact Information:

Address: 2700 Colorado Ave Ste 200
Santa Monica, CA, 90404 United States

Phone Number: (310) 449-9200

Website: http://www.lionsgate.com

About Lionsgate:

Lionsgate Entertainment was founded in 1997 by financier Frank Giestra. In 2000 Giestra stepped down as CEO, and the current CEO, John Feltheimer, took charge along with the current Vice Chairman Michael Burns [2]. For a while, Lionsgate was seen as a small studio known for their Tyler Perry comedies and horror flicks such as Saw [3]. Then, in 2012, The Hunger Games came to theaters, and become one of the most successful film franchises in history. Since then, Lionsgate bought Summit Entertainment (Twilight series) and has been speeding up to the major film studios in record time [3]. This particular wiki will focus on Lionsgate’s motion picture production line of business, as it is also involved in television programming, home entertainment, distribution, and new channel platforms [2].

Key Executives:

John Feltheimer, Chief Executive Officer [4]

Michael Burns, Vice Chairman [5]

Since starting in 2000, Feltheimer and Burns have grown Lionsgate from an $80 million company to a nearly $4 billion one today. Lionsgate’s revenue has increased more than 15 times over [4].

Financials:

Lionsgate reported as of September 30th (when the quester ended) their revenue has increased by 11% to $552.9 million. They also had an adjusted EBITDA of $59.0 million. They also had an adjusted net income of $33.0 million or $0.24 adjusted basic net income per share. Additionally, they had a net income of $20.8 million or $0.15 basic net income per share, which is up from $0.00 basic net income per share last quarter [6].

Big Releases:

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1:

In this portion of the story, Katniss is in District 13 as the face of the rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol [8].

The third movie in the Hunger Game’s franchise which made over $1.5 billion in the box office before this new release [7]. The Hunger Games is by far Lionsgate’s most well-known and lucrative project. This third film came out November 21st, and has spent its two weeks of release being number one in the box office [9]. With a budget of $125 million, it has already made $225 million in the domestic market and $480 in the international market [9]. This franchise is also responsible for the Jennifer Lawrence’s rise to one of the top A-List stars in Hollywood.

John Wick is the story of an ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to hunt the gangsters who took everything from him [10].

John Wick:

With the reintroduction of Keanu Reeves, John Wick did surprisingly well as number 2 in the box office opening weekend. With a budget of $20 billion, Lionsgate gained $42 million domestically and $17 million internationally [11].

Smaller Film Releases:

Addicted is a thriller that encompasses a story about a gallerist engaging in an affair, which jeopardizes her family and career [12].

Jessabelle is the story of a girl who returns to her hometown after a car crash, where she’s met with a dark spirit who won’t let her go [14].

Addicted came out on October 10, 2014 and made $17 million. It was in approximately 1,000 theaters for only about 7 weeks [13].

Jessabelle is a horror film that came out on November 7th, 2014. As of now, there is no information on the budget, earnings, or number of theaters of this film [15].

Dear White People is a story about four black people struggling with race at a university [16].

MV5BMTQ4NTkxOTEyMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTI1NzcwMzE@-1._V1_SY317_CR0,0,214,317_AL_

The Homesman is the story of a man and woman who must transport 3 insane women across the country [18].

Dear White People was released on October 17th and has made about $4 million domestically (it was not released in the international market) [17].

The Homesman came out on November 21st. The film had an estimated budget of $16 millions and has only made $200,000 in the box office thus far [19].

Upcoming Releases:

Mortdecai:

Starring Johnny Depp, Gwenyth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Munn, Mortdecai is sure to be a success. It is set to be released on January 23rd. The story is an action-comedy who’s premise is an art dealer is given a job to hunt down an art thief and faces an adventure across the world [20]. CEO Feltheimer compares this film to The Pink Panther and considers Depp’s character very “franchisable” [21]. The movie’s release was moved from early February so as to reduce the competition: now it is pinned up against Jennifer Lopez’s thriller The Boy Next Door [22].

Insurgent:

Perhaps the biggest grossing project next to The Hunger Games is the Divergent franchise. Insurgent, the second film of the trilogy, sets to be released to theaters on March 20th [23]. Divergent, the first film, made about $288 million worldwide last spring [24]. This film is estimated to be even more successful because the lead, Shailene Woodley, has escalated in fame since Divergent’s release through the film Fault in Our Stars [25]. Also interesting is the fact that Lionsgate has released a trailer that is a dream of the lead Tris (Woodley)- which has been commented on by news outlets as a risky way to promote the film, especially since they leave out the romance element of the film [25]. Insurgent will also be released in 3D.

The Age of Adeline:

Starring Blake Lively, The Age of Adeline tells a story about a woman who cannot age. It is set to be released on April 24th [26]. This is the first big movie Lively will lead in, so it’s a potentially big opportunity to draw fans in [27].

Spare Parts:

Spare parts is the story of four under-privledged hispanic boys starting a robotics club. It is set to hit theaters on January 16th and is starring George Lopez and Jamie Lee Curtis [28]. This film was a move by Lionsgate to reach out to and widen their Hispanic market. The Hispanic market is the fastest growing demographic in America, comprising 19% of U.S. box office revenue while representing 17.5% of the population [29].

Current Business Ventures:

Lionsgate has been extremely busy in the last few months expanding their company. The way they are doing this is by partnering up with many major companies to add projects to their plate and widen their distribution for the films they already had.

On September 3rd, Lionsgate announced that joined with Entertainment One, they would be renewing their multi-year film agreement in Canada, Australia, and Spain. This renewal will continue to distribute their major movies across the world, giving their company more recognition and money [30].

The last few months have been heavily focused on advertising and marketing The Hunger Games. On October 8th, Lionsgate partnered with Doritos, Mazda, and Whole Food’s, all of which sponsored a new app called “Our Leader, the Mockingjay” [31]. On October 20th, Lionsgate sent out a press release with the partnership between them and Google, where they created a five episode YouTube series about characters in Panem (the setting of The Hunger Games) [32]. Then on November 7th it was announced that Lionsgate would be partnering with Imagine Nations to produce The Hunger Games as a theater production in the UK [33].

As of November 13th, Lionsgate has partnered with CBS Films on up to 12 wide-release films. In this agreement CBS finds and produces the films while Lionsgate deals with distribution. This will allow each company to benefit from each other’s strengths [34].

There are many other examples of Lionsgate using any film success they’ve had to branch out into new media channels. It seems as though they are going to continue moving full speed ahead on their business ventures.

Sources:

[1] Lionsgate Company Logo, Deadline.com, RT 2/5/13

[2] Lionsgate Company Overview, lionsgate.com, RT 12/1/14

[3] Lionsgate Fighting the System, businessinsider.com, RT 1/24/14

[4] CEO Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate.com, RT 8/17/13

[5] Vice Chairman Michael Burns, Lionsgate.com, RT 8/17/13

[6] Financial Report, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[7] Google and Lionsgate Team Up, lionsgate.com, RT 10/20/14

[8] Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Imbd.com, RT 11/21/14

[9] Hunger Hames: Mockingjay Part 1, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[10] John Wick, imbd.com, RT 11/30/14

[11] John Wick, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[12] Addicted, imbd.com, RT 11/30/14

[13] Addicted, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[14] Jessabelle, imdb.com, RT 11/7/2014

[15] Jessabelle, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/2014

[16] Dear White People, imdb.com, RT 11/30/14

[17] Dear White People, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[18] The Homesman, imdb.com, RT 11/30/14

[19] The Homesman, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[20] Mortdecai, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[21] Johnny Depp’s New Franchise, thewrap.com, RT 11/30/14

[22] Mortdecai to Hit Theaters Early, hollywoodreporter.com, RT 11/30/14

[23] Insurgent, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[24] Divergent, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[25] Insurgent Trailer, forbes.com, RT 11/30/14

[26] Age of Adeline, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[27] Blake Lively, usatoday.com, RT 11/30/14

[28] Spare Parts, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[29] George Lopez, variety.com, RT 11/30/14

[30] Entertainment One, lionsgate.com, RT 9/3/14

[31] Our Leader, The Mockingjay, lionsgate.com, RT 10/8/14

[32] Google, lionsgate.com, RT 10/20/14

[33] Theater Production, lionsgate.com, RT 11/7/14

[34] CBS Films, lionsgate.com, RT 11/13/14

Principles & Practices

Website by the students of TRF235

Category Archives: TRF235.1

Verizon

Time Warner Cable

DirectTV

Contact Information

Executives

About

Financials

AT&T Merger

International Expansion

Raycom Media

Original Programming and What to Expect in the Future

Sources

Cablevision

Link

YouTube

Key Executives [2]

Weinstein Company

Warner Bros. Pictures

Relativity Media

Relativity Media

Paramount Pictures

Lionsgate Entertainment