Time Warner Cable

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Jordan Horowitz

By Jordan Horowitz

Time Warner Cable Logo [1]

Time Warner Cable Inc.
60 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10023 USA
(212)-364-8200
www.timewarnercable.com
[2]

About

Time Warner Cable is a dominant provider of video, high- speed data and voice services in the United States. Through the years, its technical innovation through the use of fiber optics has helped establish itself as a leader in the cable industry. Time Warner Cable was the first cable company to be recognized with an Emmy Award and has been honored with eight Technology and Engineering Emmys. In 2007, Time Warner Cable became a public company and two years later an independent one as it separated from Time Warner Inc. [3]

Today, Time Warner Cable is the second largest cable provider in the nation, serving in 29 states. Its quality services have built its strong sectors of its company including the residential services, Time Warner Cable Business Class and Time Warner Cable Media. For the consumer’s home, Time Warner Cable offers television, Internet and phone services and IntelligentHome, which is a home security and energy management system. [4] Time Warner Cable Business Class offers Internet, network, cloud, television and voice services for all types of businesses. [5] Time Warner Cable Media is the advertising sales section of the company, which focuses on helping marketers and agencies with affordable and targeted marketing strategies and solutions. [6]

Glenn A Britt: Chairman & Chief Executive Officer [7]

Robert D. Marcus: President & Chief Operating Officer [8]

Ellen M. East: Executive Vice President & Chief Communications Officer [10]

Arthur T Minson, Jr.: Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer [9]

Last month, Glenn Britt, the Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Cable for the past 12 years, announced he is receiving treatment for cancer and will work until his retirement, which was planned for the end of this year. Current Chief Operating Officer, Robert Marcus will be taking over both of his positions as Chairman and CEO. [11]

Arthur Minson will be speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference, which is held in Spain, this month. [12]

Financials/ Recent Developments

Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) Stock Chart Over The Past Five Years [17]

A few weeks ago, Time Warner Cable reported its 2013 third quarter results, which ended on September 30^th. Regarding financials for this quarter, Time Warner Cable’s total revenue of 5.5 billion grew 2.9% from its 5.3 billion last year (9/30/2012). [13] Its share price today is 121.53 and has been trending steadily upward, along with its whole sector, for the last five years. [14] The company took a hit with subscriber activity this quarter as customer relationships dropped from 15.2 million (9/30/2012) to 15.1 (9/30/2013). In addition, residential video subscribers and residential voice subscribers decreased from 12.1 million (9/30/2012) to 11.4 (9/30/2013) and from 4.9 million (9/30/2012) to 4.8 million (9/30/2013), respectively. In contrast, residential high- speed data subscribers increased from 10.8 million (9/30/2012) to 11.1 million (9/30/2013). [15] [16]

[20]

Time Warner Cable began this fall closing a retransmission contract deal with CBS. This agreement finally ended the month long blackout, during which three million Time Warner Cable subscribers did not have access to CBS programming. The blackout affected major markets such as Los Angeles and New York and Time Warner Cable was eager to meet a deal as the NFL season was rapidly approaching. [18] This vastly dragged out dispute greatly contributed, this past third quarter, to the company’s steepest quarterly loss of television subscribers in its history. At an attempt to stop its loss of customers, Time Warner Cable dispersed credits to its subscribers of Showtime, CBS’ premium cable channel, ultimately losing around $15 million. [19]

[23]

Time Warner Cable has been working and succeeding to reach a larger number of business customers. Third quarter reports displayed business services revenue increased 20.5% from 493 million (9/30/2013) to 594 million (9/30/2013). [16] Last month, Time Warner Cable came into an agreement to buy DukeNet Communications. This deal with Duke Energy Corporation and Alinda Capital Partners, who currently own DukeNet, is planned to close in the first quarter of next year costing Time Warner Cable $600 million. [21] DukeNet Communications is a fiber optic network company reaching seven states in the Southeast of the country, as they are centered in Charlotte, NC. This is key for Time Warner Cable’s business customer base growth, as DukeNet offers data and high capacity bandwidth services to customers including wireless carriers, data centers, enterprises and government affiliates. [22]

TWC’s Wifi Finder app helps locate the nearest hotspot. [25]

As well as its DukeNet deal, Time Warner Cable has been making huge progress in the Charlotte region. Making a multimillion-dollar investment in a public WiFi network back in 2012, the Charlotte network has grown from its original 200 hotspots to 1,700 today. These hotspots allow people to have a great Internet connection outside of their home in various places throughout the city. Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers have free access and non-subscribers can use the hotspots on a pay-as-you-go basis. The project has a big future as Time Warner Cable is working on implementing its hotspot network in New York City, Austin, Kansas City, Hawaii and Southern California. With a strong focus on its business customers, Time Warner Cable will soon be able to efficiently keep people connected outside the office and home. [24]

[28]

Time Warner Cable has recently made a deal with Univision Communications Inc. that will positively influence its reach to the Hispanic America community. The renewal of their previous agreement had expanded the variety of Hispanic networks and content for Time Warner Cable subscribers. Univision is allowing Time Warner Cable to be one of the first distributors to provide its new cable network, El Ray. As an English language network, El Ray targets adolescents and plans on having diverse entertainment content ranging from television series to movies and sports. [26] Also, customers will now have access to other new networks including, Univision Deportes, FOROtv and tlNovelas. The deal further entails a multiplatform distribution plan, where Time Warner Cable subscribers will be able to receive content through VOD and digital platforms. Univision’s UVideos and Univision Deportes digital properties will now also be available for Time Warner Cable customers. [27]

[31]

[32]

Along with Univision, A+E Networks and Sprout have also recently renewed their distribution agreements with Time Warner Cable. As a multi-platform deal between A+E and Time Warner Cable, customers will be provided with A+E’s diverse networks and will have authenticated access to their corresponding apps. In addition to receiving networks such as A&E, Lifetime, and HISTORY, “TV Everywhere” content for Time Warner Cable’s out of home platforms and VOD content will be offered. [29] Regarding Time Warner Cable’s deal with Sprout, they are expanding the distribution of Sprout beyond New York and Los Angeles to many other markets throughout the country to increase its reach to 60 million homes. Sprout is the first all day and night preschool network with interactive programming offering a great experience to children and their parents. [30]

References

[1] Time Warner Cable Logo
[2] Time Warner Cable Contact
[3] About Time Warner Cable
[4] Time Warner Cable Residential
[5] Time Warner Cable Business Class
[6] Time Warner Cable Media
[7] About Glenn Britt
[8] About Robert Marcus
[9] About Arthur Minson, Jr.
[10] About Ellen East
[11] CEO Transition
[12] Minson At Conference
[13] Revenue Growth
[14] Share Price
[15] 2013 Third Quarter Reports
[16] 2012 Third Quarter Reports
[17] TWC Stock Chart
[18] CBS Blackout
[19] TWC’s Loss of Subscribers
[20] CBS/NFL Logo
[21] DukeNet Deal
[22] About DukeNet
[23] TWC/ DukeNet Logo
[24] Charlotte Hotspots
[25] Wifi Finder Logo
[26] About El Ray Network
[27] TWC/ Univision Deal
[28] Univision Logo
[29] TWC/ Univision Deal
[30] TWC/ Sprout Deal
[31] A+E Networks Logo
[32] Sprout Logo

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.

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

Comcast – NBC Universal

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Conor McGovern

By Conor McGovern

30 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10112

212-664-4444

Key Executives [1]:

: Brian Roberts: CEO & Chairman, Comcast Corporation [2] [3]

: Stephan B. Burke: CEO, NBCUniversal [4]

: Cesar Conde: Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal [5]

: Ted Harbert: Chairman, NBC Broadcasting, NBCUniversal [6]

About NBCUniversal [7]:

NBCUniversal is a mass media company, and as of early 2013 fully owned by Comcast Corporation [9], that delievers entertainment, news and sports all across the globe. NBCUniversal creates and distributes content for broadcast and cable television, film, and online. With cooperate owenership and influence all around the world, NBCUniversal is much deserving of its name.

Broadcast & Cable Television:

NBC and Telemundo broadcast television networks are at the forefront of NBCUniversal’s television presence. Telemundo offers premium spanish language programming aimed at the Hispanic community. It is a one stop shop for a variety of shows, ranging from news to telenovelas and reality television. With powerhouse shows such as The Voice, Community, TODAY, Law & Order: SVU, America’s Got Talent and many more, NBC offers a variety of content to all television watchers across America. NBCUniversal also owns several NBC affiliates throughout the country, delivering high quality regional based content to the nation’s biggest cities.

As far as cable is concerned, NBCUniversal continues to grow its reach across all different types of audiences. NBCUniversal has cable channel offerings such as E!, USA, SyFy, The Golf Channel, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC and many others. This diverse distribution of their cable investments shows how NBCU can make an impact on your television viewing experience no matter what you enjoy.

Film & Digital Media:

Universal Pictures, one the six major film studios, is also owned by NBCUniversal. With recent and future releases such as About Time, The Best Man Holiday, and Lone Survivor, NBCUniversal will look for star-power to bring in large gains as the holiday season quickly approaches.

On the web, NBCUniversal has its hands in many nontraditional media outlets such as Hulu, Fandango, and iVillage. Fandago and Hulu link its users to an online stream or even a physical ticket to explore a vast array of movies and television entertainment. iVillage is a lifestyle, entertainment and news website geared towards women that boasts an impressive 30 million unique visitors a month [14].

Financials:

NBCUniversal continues to bring in great profit over the years with 2013 being no exception. NBCUniversal had a very solid 3rd quarter of the year with revenue increasing by 3.9% [15]. However, a huge portion of the quarterly gains were seen by the great success Despicable Me 2 has shown for Universal Pictures. On the television side of things, operating cash flow increased by 5.4% for the cable unit while plummiting by 61% for the broadcast unit [16].

NBCUniversal will look to bounce back with a great increase in revenue once the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia being. NBCUniversal has exclusive rights to the Olympics and hope to bring in similar numbers to their 2012 Summer Olympic coverage, which generated $1.2 billion in revenue [16] .

What’s Happening Now?

Aiming for a Younger Demographic?

NBCUniversal just sealed a deal to bump its cable television offerings with the purchase of the childrens cable network, Sprout, from PBS and HIT Television Ventures. The numbers and terms of the transaction have yet to be released. Unlike some other television networks such as Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel, Sprout is aimed at children 5 and below. This unique age gap will give NBCUniversal the ability to introduce Sprout watchers to the NBCU brand. Sprout currently broadcasts the PBS show, Sesame Street, as well as Lazy Town and others that remain popular with the demographic. It will be interesting to see if NBCUniversal can hold on to the rights to some of the existing programming, or if they create their own original content. Another prospect to consider is NBCUniversal rebranding the channel to coincide with an age demographic more suitable to be a bridge to their other cable channels. [18]

The BPL on NBCSN:

With the relaunch of NBC Sports Network back in January of 2012, NBCSN has constantly been looking for ways to distinguish themselves from the crowd. Channels like FOX Sports 1, as well as the giant that is ESPN, both threaten to take away viewership from NBCSN. However, with the purchase of the exclusive rights to broadcast the Barclay’s Premier League, England’s top soccer league, NBCSN has done well since the late-august launch of the BPL on the network. Comparing to last years opening weekend of the BPL on FOX Soccer Channel and ESPN, NBC and NBCSN averaged a .5 rating, a 67% increase over the average .3 rating their competitors had [20]. To put this success even more into perspective, NBCUniversal had 9 million viewers watch the first 5 game weeks of the season. This is quite impressive when you look at the only 4.8 million viewers who tuned in to watch the first 5 game weeks last year [21]. While the number may not seem very high, it is quite understandable given the morning start times of these games because of the time change.

An Olympic-sized push:

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics are quickly approaching and NBCU is ready to go. NBCUniversal has begun its 100-day company wide countdown to the opening ceremony. There is a lot on the line for NBCU to make sure that this olympics is as profitable as ever, considering its $775 million rights fee [23]. As a way to promote the coverage of this worldwide event, NBCU will play high quality promotional commercials over the upcoming weeks across all of its broadcast and cable networks. Also, NBC and other NBCU channels have already begun to display the iconic peacock bug symbol with the olympic rings below it [24]. However it will be interesting to see if the time zone shift will have an impact on ratings as Sochi and New York have an 8-hour time difference.

Below is a Sochi 2014 promotional video NBCU will use across its variety of networks.

Courtesy of Youtube [25]:

Twitter & NBCU strike a deal:

Last month NBCUniversal and Twitter announced a partnership to bring television and social even closer. Initially the deal works for Xfinity Comcast cable subscribers who will be able to essentially see a tweet about a show or movie and turn that into a direct link to watch or DVR it. Twitter will also be using this deal to advertise out an array of NBCUniversal content through promotional tweets. Look for both companies to push this social move onto other networks to heighten its popularity. [27]

Branson and NBCUniversal Liftoff:

Comcast and Virgin Galactic have partnered to bring the unique experience of the first commercial space flight, by no one other than Richard Branson, to the NBCUniversal family of networks next year. The coverage of this event will end with a 3-hour live special the day of the launch on TODAY. NBCUniversal will attempt to build hype around this event in hope that it will be considered a monumental moment in television history. [29]

Sources

[1] http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/management/executives/

[2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/08/07/broadband-behemoth-comcast-makes-ceo-brian-roberts-a-billionaire-again/

[3] http://corporate.comcast.com/news-information/leadership-overview/brian-l-roberts

[4] http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/management/senior-corporate-executives/nbc-universal/stephen-b-burke/

[5] http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/management/senior-corporate-executives/nbc-universal/cesar-conde/

[6] http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/management/senior-corporate-executives/nbc-universal/ted-harbert/

[7]http://www.nbcuni.com/corporate/about-us/

[8] http://www.nbcuni.com/site-content/uploads/2012/05/1-NBCU_homepage4.jpg

[9] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-13/comcast-s-nbc-purchase-pushes-roberts-into-entertainment.html

[10] http://media.getthefive.com/uploads/article_images/nbc-universal-logo.jpg

[11] http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1557238/execs-artists-got-high-in-universal-music-west-coast-office-lawsuit-claims