Netflix

Posted on October 5, 2014 by mmueller

by Micaela Mueller

Company Logo – www.netflix.com

100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032
(408) 540-3700

Executives [1]

Reed Hastings, Founder and CEO

David Wells, CFO

Twani Cranz, Chief Talent Officer

Kelly Bennett, Chief Marketing Officer

About [2]

Netflix is an international public company that allows users to stream movies and television shows online with a monthly subscription. They also offer rentals by mail for an additional cost and produce their own original programming.

History

Courtesy of postalnews.com

Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix in 1997 as an online movie rental service. In 2007, Netflix introduced streaming services that allowed members to use personal computers to instantly watch movies and television shows online. In 2012, Netflix began producing original content and became the first Internet TV network to be nominated for the primetime Emmy with 31 nominations in 2013 [3]. Currently in 2014, Netflix has over 53 million members in nearly 50 countries worldwide and accounts for more than 34 percent of the peak wired download traffic in North America [4].

Financials

Netflix is publically held. According to the company’s 2014 third quarter report, it has $1,223 billion in total revenue, a 27% increase from the same quarter of the previous year. The company reported a 20% increase in domestic revenue from the same quarter of the previous year and a 47% increase in international revenue due to their expanded global market. Netflix predicts a 6% increase in total revenue and an additional 4 million subscribers by the end of the fourth quarter, bringing their total revenue up to $1,305 billion and their global membership to 57 million. Netflix’s two major competitors are Hulu and Amazon [5].

Courtesy of finance.yahoo.com

Over a 3-month period, Netflix’s highest share price was $484.39. However, after a massive 25% drop on October 16^th, the price dropped to $361.70 and eventually reached it’s lowest share price of $346.59 on November 30^th [6].

The 25% drop in share price occurred a day after Netflix reported that the company’s subscriber growth was below the original forecast. Netflix speculates that the subscriber growth was lower than anticipated as a result of the increased price for membership that was announced in May 2014 [7]. The price increased $1 from $7.99 to $8.99 monthly [8].

Recent News

International Expansion

Courtesy of gigaom.com

For the past couple of years, Netflix has been working to increase their international presence. Since 2012, Netflix has been available internationally in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and in the Netherlands since 2013. In September of 2014, Netflix announced that streaming services are now available to subscribers in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg via all devices with Internet access including computers, smartphones, and video game consoles [9].

Then, in November of 2014, Netflix announced, that by March of 2015, it will expand into New Zealand and Australia [10].

Netflix and Nielsen

Since its start in 1997, the company has never released how many people watch each show on Netflix. The company claims that because their revenue comes from subscribers and not advertisers, the only number that matters is their subscriber count. The company’s decision bothers networks such as HBO, Showtime, and Starz, who also rely on subscribers and not advertisers, but who have their ratings recorded by Nielsen [11].

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Nielsen is going to start measuring viewership for streaming services like Netflix. Starting next month, Nielsen will use already existing in-home metering devices to record Netflix viewership without the need of the company’s permission. Nielsen, however, will not be able to record viewership via mobile devices, a platform heavily used for Netflix streaming [12].

Recent Original Content

Netflix started producing original programming in 2012 with the release their first series Lilyhammer starring former Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt [13]. Since then, the company has produced a number of successes such as Orange is the New Black, winning 3 Primetime Emmy Awards [14], and House of Cards, winning 4 Primetime Emmy Awards [15].

Courtesy of netflix.com

In addition to producing their own content, Netflix picks up dropped on-the-air television shows and continues to produce them. Arrested Development, for example, was off the air for a number of years before Netflix produced its fourth season in 2013. In August of 2014, the network confirmed that it will be producing a fifth season in the coming year [16].

On June 19, 2014, Netflix announced the company’s pairing with Chelsea Handler to produce a Netflix original comedy talk show. Handler decided to pair with Netflix in order to keep herself new and interesting. The talk show will debut in early 2016 [17]. However, on October 10^th, the network premiered a stand up comedy performance from Handler’s latest comedy tour, Uganda Be Kidding Me, as her debut to Netflix [18].

Looking Ahead

Film

Courtesy of imdb.com

On September 30, 2014, Netflix announced their pairing with the Weinstein Company to release their first original movie. The movie will be a sequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, a 2002 martial-arts epic movie directed by Ang Lee, also the director of Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain [19]. The sequel will be titled Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend and will be directed by Yuen Wo-ping. It will be produced by Harvey Weinstein, Academy Award winner for The King’s Speech, Peter Berg, Emmy Award winner for Friday Night Lights, and Sarah Aubrey, producer of Lone Survivor. The film tells a martial arts story where good and evil battle for the fate of the Martial World. Major stars of the film will include Harry Shum Jr., Jason Scott Lee, Roger Yuan, and Eugenia Yuan [20]. It will be released and available to all subscribers on August 28, 2015 as well as in select global IMAX theaters [21].

Days later, on October 2^nd, Netflix announced a deal they made with Adam Sandler, comedy actor and founder of Happy Madison Productions [22]. Sandler, alongside Happy Madison Productions, committed to acting and producing four films exclusively available through Netflix. The first movie could come as early as late 2015 and currently has no theatrical component [23].

Television

Courtesy of netflix.com

Netflix will be premiering two original programming pieces on December 12, 2014. The first is Marco Polo, a series centered on Marco Polo’s exploration during the time of the 13^th century war in China and will be produced by The Weinstein Company [24].

The second is a stand-up comedy special, American Ham, with actor Nick Offerman, known for his role in NBS’s Parks and Recreation. The special will appear in the US, Canada, the UK, and Ireland [25].

The company will continue their original series in 2016 with a relationship sitcom called Love. Judd Apatow, known for producing Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin, will co-write and produce this Netflix original series [26].

Courtesy of joblo.com

Another sitcom in the works is Grace and Frankie, starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. The show is targeted to premier in summer 2015 [27].

Sources

[1] “Officers and Directors”, ir.netflix.com, RT: 11/29/14

[2] “Company Overview”, pr.netflix.com, RT: 11/29/14

[3] “Company Timeline”, pr.netflix.com, RT: 11/29/14

[4] “Netflix Crowned King of Streaming With More Than a Third of Peak Traffic”, Time Magazine, 5/14/14, RT: 11/29/14

[5] “Letter to Shareholders”, ir.netflix.com, 10/15/14, RT: 11/29/14

[6] “Netflix, Inc.”, Yahoo!Finance, RT: 11/30/14

[7] “Netflix Shares tank 20% on Weak Results”, CNN Money, RT: 11/29/14

[8] “A Quick Update on Our Streaming Plans and Prices”, blog.netflix.com, 5/9/14, RT: 11/29/14

[9] “Netflix Launches in Belgium and Luxembourg”, Multichannel News,9/9/14, RT: 11/29/14

[10] “Press Releases”, pr.netflix.com, 11/18/14, RT: 11/29/14

[11] “How Much Longer Can Netflix Keep Ratings a Secret?”, Forbes, 9/18/14, RT: 11/29/14

[12] “We’re Still a Long Way Away From Knowing How Many People Watch Netflix and Amazon Shows”, vulture.com, 11/20/14, RT: 11/29/14

[13] “Lilyhammer, Netflix’s First Original Show, Available to Watch Online Now”, Huffington Post, 2/6/12, RT: 11/29/14

[14] “Orange is the New Black Awards”, IMDb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[15] “House of Cards Awards”, IMDb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[16] “Will Arnett Confirms ‘Arrested Development’ Season 5 Is Happening”, Huffington Post, 8/8/14, RT: 11/29/14

[17] “Press Releases”, pr.netflix.com, 6/19/14 RT: 11/29/14

[18] “Chelsea Handler to Launch Netflix Talk Show”, CBS News, 6/19/14, RT: 11/29/14

[19] “Ang Lee”, IMDb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[20] “Press Releases”, pr.netflix.com, 9/30/14, RT: 11/29/14

[21] “Netflix to Release First Original Movie”, Time Magazine, 9/30/14, RT: 11/29/14

[22] “Adam Sandler”, IMDb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[23] “Press Releases”, pr.netflix.com, 10/2/14, RT: 11/29/14

[24] “Press Releases”, pr.netflix.com, 4/8/14, RT: 11/29/14

[25] “Netflix Sets Premiere for Nick Offerman’s ‘American Ham’ Stand-up Comedy Special”, bostonherald.com, 11/24/14, RT: 11/29/14

[26] “Netflix (NFLX) to Stream Original Content Love in 2016”, zacks.com, 9/18/14, RT: 11/29/14

[27] “Netflix Orders Comedy Series to Star Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin”, Variety 3/19/14, RT: 11/29/14

Hulu

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Caroline Soss

By Caroline Soss

Photo courtesy of: [1] www.crunchbase.com

ADDRESS

12312 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064 [2]

CONTACT

Phone (310) 570-4700
Website www.hulu.com
Twitter @hulu

PROFILE

Hulu is an over-the-top video service provider streaming on-demand programming from NBC, ABC, A&E, AMC, FOX, The CW, MTV and more.

Hulu offers advertisement-supported free programming with limited commercial interruption on its website Hulu.com. Regular advertisers include Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Microsoft, GEICO and Target.

Photo courtesy of: [4] www.vulture.com

For a monthly fee of $7.99, Hulu Plus subscribers can stream unlimited premium and exclusive content from any Hulu+ enabled device. These devices include smart televisions, game consoles, smartphones/tablets and media players like Apple TV and Roku [3].

Hulu delivers over 70,400 hours of video from 514 different content partners [5]. Hulu streams popular TV shows such as FAMILY GUY, SCANDAL, THE VOICE, PARKS AND RECREATION, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART [6] and more than 800 films from The Criterion Collection [7].

Photo courtesy of: [6] www.hulu.com

Hulu also produces its own original content like DEADBEAT, EAST LOS HIGH, THE AWESOMES and THE HOTWIVES OF ORLANDO [8].

Watch Hulu’s promo for their 2014 Originals here. Video courtesy of: [9] www.hulu.com.

Hulu.com was launched in 2008 as a joint venture between Comcast’s NBCUniversal and News Corporation [10]. Today, NBCUniversal, The Walt Disney Company’s Disney-ABC Television Group and 21st Century Fox’s Fox Broadcasting Company together own Hulu’s online subscription service [11].

As of February 2014, Hulu reported more than five million Hulu+ subscribers and thirty million monthly free service users [12] with over four billion videos streamed in 2013 [13].

KEY EXECUTIVES

CEO Mike Hopkins, photo courtesy of: [14] www.engadget.com

Last October, Hulu replaced its acting CEO with Mike Hopkins, former President of Distribution at Fox for five years [14]. Within weeks of joining the company, Hopkins hired Disney’s Elaine Paul as CFO [11]. In February 2014, Hopkins hired NBC’s Peter Naylor as SVP of Advertising Sales [13] and Sony’s Tiam Lim as Chief Technology Officer [12]. In March 2014, Disney’s Tim Connolly joined the company as Head of Distribution [15]. In April 2014, Warner Bros.’ Craig Erwich was hired as Hulu’s SVP and Head of Content [16].

FINANCIALS

Hulu is a privately held company and not required to publicly release its financial information. However, CEO Mike Hopkins reported Hulu earning one billion dollars in annual revenue at the end of last year [17]. In 2013, Hulu’s owners (Comcast, Disney and 21st Century Fox) also dropped offers to sell Hulu and instead invested $750 million dollars into the company [11].

Photo courtesy of: [18] www.techcrunch.com

FOCUS IN THE U.S.

In February 2014, Hulu sold its Japanese subsidiary to Tokyo-based Nippon Television Network Corporation. Since 2011, Hulu had streamed 13,000+ videos from fifty different American and European content providers to Japan. While Hulu will continue to make its content and brand available for use by Nippon TV as well as provide infrastructure service to the Japanese company, Hulu will focus on the U.S. rather than internationally [19].

MULTI-PLATFORM

Hulu aims to operate on all types of platforms with 50% of Hulu+ subscribers streaming solely on devices [17].

Photo courtesy of: [21] blog.hulu.com

In April 2014, Amazon.com launched Amazon Fire TV – the company’s new set-top box/game console hybrid positioned to replace media players like Apple TV, Roku and Xbox [20].

Amazon Fire TV streams not only Amazon’s own online video subscription service (Amazon Prime) but also partner on-demand services, including Hulu Plus. Hulu promises the “most enhanced and updated version of the Hulu Plus Living Room experience on Amazon Fire TV” [21]. Further, Amazon added Hulu Plus to the list of services available through voice search by speaking into the Fire TV remote – making Hulu even easier to utilize on this new platform [22].

NEW CONTENT

Hulu is continuing to grow its content library with both current season television and original programming [17].

Photo courtesy of: [23] blog.hulu.com

In April 2014, CEO Mike Hopkins announced Hulu will be exclusively streaming NBCUniversal-produced THE MINDY PROJECT and Golden Globe-winning comedy BROOKLYN NINE-NINE as well as popular series like KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS and TOP CHEF. These high-in-demand hit programs will not be available to competitors Netflix or Amazon Prime, ultimately giving Hulu monopoly control over more content [23].

Hulu also recently acquired the rights to stream ELEMENTARY, the highly rated CBS drama starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu [24], and popular CBS classics like THE BRADY BRUNCH and CHEERS.

Photo courtesy of: [25] blog.hulu.com

Hulu is expanding its library of popular TV shows from past decades [25]. This may be a tactic to keep fairly older viewers, who grew up with this content, entertained; 60% of Hulu subscribers fall between the ages of 18 and 49 years old with an average age of 39 [26].

Photo courtesy of: [26] www.hulu.com/advertising

However, the Nielsen Company will continue excluding broadband-only households, a large total of Hulu Plus viewership, in the ratings for the 2014-2015 television season [27].

ORIGINAL CONTENT

Hulu developed twenty original series in 2013 and plans to launch twenty more this year [28]. Hulu’s original shows THE AWESOMES, BEHIND THE MASK and THE WRONG MANS were among the top ten weekly shows watched on Hulu when they aired in 2013 and were all recently renewed for another season in 2014 [17].

New in 2014, Hulu’s original comedy series DEADBEAT, starring Tyler Labine, is receiving strong reviews from Variety, the New York Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer since its premiere [29]. All ten episodes of the show’s first season were uploaded to Hulu on April 9th, 2014, and only hours later DEADBEAT as dubbed “Hulu’s best show yet” [30].

Photo courtesy of: [29] www.hulu.com

DEADBEAT follows Kevin Pacalioglu (Tyler Labine), a lazy stoner who can see the dead and becomes a freelance medium to pay his rent, helping ghosts move on to the afterlife by competing in eating contests and proposition their ex-girlfriends.

Watch the DEADBEAT series trailer here. Video courtesy of: [31] www.hulu.com.

Critics, however, argue that Hulu being owned by television companies may explain why competitor Netflix is still spending so much more than Hulu on original programming [32].

TV EVERYWHERE

In the past year, Hulu has hired 260 new employees to complete a staff of more than 725 members with plans to continue growing the company [17].

As public interest in more convenient Internet TV Everywhere services grows, analysts predict subscribers may more easily authenticate their pay services through a social media account like Facebook or Twitter – a business tactic that may be in Hulu’s near future [33].

SOURCES

[1] Hulu CrunchBase Profile. CrunchBase. RT: 4/18/14

[2] Company Overview of Hulu, LLC. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. RT: 4/18/14

[3] Hulu – About. Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[4] “Streaming Scorecard: Is Hulu Plus Still the TV King?” Vulture. RT: 4/19/14

[5] “Hulu Names Warner Bros. TV’s Craig Erwich Head of Content.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[6] Hulu Popular TV Shows. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[7] “‘The Great Beauty’ Debuts Only on Hulu Plus.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[8] “A New Year With New Hulu Originals.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[9] Hulu Promos 2014 Hulu Originals. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[10] “Hulu Opens to Public.” Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[11] “Hulu Hires Disney’s Elaine Paul as CFO.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[12] “A World-Class Builder Joins the Hulu Ranks.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[13] “A Big Sales Win – Welcome Peter Naylor.” Blog.hulu.com RT: 4/18/14

[14] “Hulu officially announces its new CEO, former Fox exec Mike Hopkins.” Engadget. RT: 4/18/14

[15] “Hulu Hires Disney’s Tim Connolly as Head of Distribution.” Variety. RT: 4/18/14

[16] “Hulu Original Series Chief Departs Amid New Programming Push.” The Hollywood Reporter. RT: 4/18/14

[17] “A Strong 2013.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[18] “The Second Screen Becomes The First Screen: Hulu Says 50% Of Its 5M Subscribers Use Devices Exclusively.” TechCrunch. RT: 4/18/14

[19] “Hulu Says Sayonara, Sells Off Japanese Unit to Nippon TV.” TechCrunch. RT: 4/18/14

[20] “Amazon Fire TV review: the set-top that tries to do everything.” Engadget. RT: 4/19/14

[21] “Hulu Plus on Amazon Fire TV.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[22] “Amazon Fire TV’s voice search expands to cover Hulu Plus and Showtime, but not Netflix.” Engadget. RT: 4/19/14

[23] “We’re Flipping Out for NBCU Library Shows Only on Hulu Plus.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[24] “Hulu Plus Acquires Subscription Video on Demand Rights for Popular CBS Drama ‘ELEMENTARY.’” Business Wire. RT: 4/19/14

[25] “More CBS Shows Coming to a Hulu Plus Screen Near You.” Blog.hulu.com. RT: 4/19/14

[26] Hulu Advertising. Hulu.com. RT: 4/18/14

[27] “Nielsen Capitulates, Agrees to Withhold Broadband Households from Local Ratings – For Now.” MediaPost. RT: 4/19/14

[28] Hulu Exclusive Series. HuluMovies. RT: 4/20/14

[29] Deadbeat. Hulu.com. RT: 4/20/14

[30] “‘Deadbeat’ Is Hulu’s Best Show Yet.” Flavorwire. RT: 4/19/14

[31] Deadbeat Series Trailer. Hulu.com. RT: 4/21/14

[32] “Netflix has nothing to fear from Hulu’s sad little content expansion.” BGR. RT: 4/20/14

[33] “Hulu’s Original Content Strategy Continues to Progress Steadily.” Adweek. RT: 4/20/14

Comcast – NBC Universal

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Angela Saggiomo

By Angela Saggiomo

30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
212-664-4444
www.nbcuni.com

Key Executives [1]

-courtesy of nbcuni.com

Stephen Burke
CEO, NBCUniversal

-courtesy of stopthecap.com

Brian Roberts
Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation

-courtesy of nbcuni.com

Stuart Epstein
Executive VP and CFO, NBCUniversal

-courtesy of nbcuni.com

Robert Greenblatt
Chairman, NBC Entertainment

About the Company [2]

This picture provides a detailed list of holdings under the NBCU umbrella for each platform. (courtesy of williamsager.com)

NBCUniversal is a major American media company that owns and operates content across multiple platforms. NBCU distributes content through broadcast and cable television, film, and digital media. The company is owned by the Philadelphia based Comcast Corporation.

History [3]

-courtesy of toobtalk.com

In 2004 NBC and Universal merged to form NBCUniversal, a company jointly owed by General Electric and Vivendi. In 2009 the Comcast Corporation announced intentions of acquiring NBCU and the venture was completed in January of 2011 when Comcast became majority stockholders. In 2013 Comcast gained full ownership of the media conglomerate after purchasing GE’s minority stake for $16.7 billion.

Financials* [4]

NBCUniversal had a very successful third quarter in 2013. Overall revenue increased 3.9% to $5.9 billion. For the cable networks revenue is up 4% to over $2 billion, increasing 5.4% and 4.6% in distribution and advertising respectively. Broadcast also saw an increase in revenue, up 2.6% due to an increase in retransmission fees. This is an important increase because it is a fairly new revenue stream for the company.

*all financials are compared to third quarter results of 2012 excluding extra revenue generated by the 2012 Olympics which were broadcast by NBCUniversal during that period

In the News

The Esquire Network

-courtesy of g4tv.com

In early 2013 NBCUniversal announced plans to launch the Esquire Network on the low performing G4 [6]. However after examining network brands, and with less than a month before its unveiling, it was announced that it would instead replace the female skewing Style Network. With channels like Bravo, E! and Oxygen which tend to perform better with females, NBCU saw the launch of this network as a chance to appeal to a more male audience.

Since its debut in late September, Esquire has premiered original programming as well as aired rebroadcasts of NBC favorites such as Parks and Recreation and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The new network appeals to a male audience but differs greatly from its direct competition Spike and FX. The target audience is of the more sophisticated male population with many new shows about travel and cooking [7]. Esquire joins the ranks of NBCUniversal owned networks that are programmed around a very distinct brand, allowing them to better target specific audiences for advertisers.

Welcome to the Family! [5]

-courtesy of kidscreen.com

On November 13^th Comcast NBCUniversal announced the acquisition of the popular children’s cable network PBS Kids Sprout. NBCU already owned 40 percent of the network, buying the rest from PBS and HIT Television Ventures. The company first acquired management of the children’s network in 2011 during the merge with the Comcast Corporation.

The new ownership signals a significant change for the network, which will drop PBS from its title. NBCU plans to create much more original programming and mobile content for the network in order to better compete with rival networks such as Nick Jr. and Disney Jr. Overall NBCU has had trouble keeping up with social media content and this acquisition shows a step towards increasing their presence online [12]. By creating original shows for the network NBCU will own all rights and therefore be able to create much more digital content at a much lower cost.

On the heels of this announcement NBCUniversal also revealed that they would be shutting down KidsCo in early 2014. The network, co-owned by Corus Entertainment, could not find footing among the wide variety of children’s programing available in today’s market. Rather than splitting original children’s programming across multiple networks NBCU has decided to focus on one channel, allowing them to better distribute the content across multiple platforms. [8]

Ad Sales Overhaul

-courtesy of bloomberg.com

Following a successful season in upfront ad sales NBCUniversal has decided to revamp its Advertisement Sales Department [10]. Previously, the company would sell ad inventory on a single network. Rather, they plan to sell ad time based on “demographic and thematic lines” [9]. This way ad reps can offer sponsors distinct audience groups for a more targeted sales approach. Because NBCUniversal has so many cable channels with such defined brands they can use this new sales structure to capitalize on this strength.

Networks will be split into two major groups: mass-entertainment programming and lifestyle cable channels. The mass-entertainment channels will include NBC, USA and Syfy while the lifestyle group includes networks like E!, Bravo and Esquire [11]. The department also saw a great amount of layoffs as a result of the restructuring because many of the channels are being packaged together for ad sales.

On the Horizon

2014 Winter Olympics

-courtesy of www.mcwade.com

NBCUniversal will air the 2014 Winter Games this February, which will take place in Sochi, Russia. NBCU has been a long time broadcaster of the Olympic games, a deal that has proven very lucrative for the company in the past. Comcast NBCUniversal made a deal to pay $4.38 billion for the exclusive rights to the next four Olympic games. The deal also stated that NBCUniversal would air all the events live for the first time. This is a decision made after the results of the events at the 2012 London Summer Olympics were revealed through social media prior to their primetime broadcast [14].

This year’s winter games will involve six new events: the ski halfpipe, women’s ski jumping, biathlon mixed relay, a figure skating team event, and luge team relays [15]. However, the games have already received a great deal of bad press as a result of strict anti-gay laws put in place by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The politician enacted a national law that bans all homosexual activity and even support [16]. While the International Olympic Committee has ensured that this will not affect the games, many have chosen to boycott the events. It is still unclear as to how this will affect the NBCUniversal coverage of the games.

To Infinity and Beyond [13]

-courtesy of chatter-fest.com

NBCUniversal has made a deal with Virgin Galactic to broadcast the eccentric billionaire Richard Branson’s first commercial flight to space. Multiple networks within the NBCUniversal family will cover the flight, which takes off next year. It will begin with a primetime special of the take off followed by interviews conducted next day on the Today Show.

This deal signals a “continued push for live event programming from entertainment channels and news organizations,” an idea that was previously unpopular because of its lack of rebroadcast opportunity[13]. However with the emergence of new media, live broadcast such as this can be very lucrative because it can air across multiple platforms at the same time. This allows companies like NBCU to maximize their reach for a single broadcast.

ADDRESS

CONTACT

PROFILE

KEY EXECUTIVES

FINANCIALS

FOCUS IN THE U.S.

MULTI-PLATFORM

NEW CONTENT

ORIGINAL CONTENT

TV EVERYWHERE

SOURCES

About the Company [2]

History [3]

Financials* [4]

In the News

The Esquire Network

Welcome to the Family! [5]

Ad Sales Overhaul

On the Horizon

2014 Winter Olympics

To Infinity and Beyond [13]

Sources

[1] – List of Executives – NBCUniversal

[2] – About NBCUniversal – NBCUniversal

[3] – History of NBCUniversal – NBCUniversal

[4] – NBCUniversal Financials – Comcast Corporation

[5] – NBCUniversal Acquisition of Sprout – NYTimes

[6] – Esquire Network Takes over Style – The Hollywood Reporter

[7] – Review of Esquire Network – slate.com

[8] – KidsCo Shutting Down – The Hollywood Reporter

[9] – NBCU Ad Sales Revamp – Variety

[10] – NBCU Upfront Success – Variety

[11] – NBCU Layoffs – Variety

[12] – NBCU Social Media Footprint – Forbes

[13] – NBCU to Air First Virgin Space Flight – Capital New York

[14] – NBCU Olympic Deal – NYTimes

[15] – Six New Olympic Games – NBC Bay Area

[16] – Olympic Boycott – PRNewser