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Posted
Jul 06 2009, 03:59 PM
by
Tobin Smith
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Back in the '70s and '80s, baby boomers were at the forefront of a new wave of consumer demand. They were also the early adopters of new media technologies. Their TV viewing habits, purchasing habits, likes and dislikes were tracked intensely by the corporate world to help them determine which products, services and technologies were wanted most.
But fast forward a few decades to the 21st century -- are baby boomers still at the forefront of today's media technology?
Given the radical changes in media, particularly over the last decade, including the ubiquitous use of the Internet, social networking services and now even video content delivery over the Web, you wouldn't think baby boomers would be leading the charge forward.
Well, think again. A recent ChangeWave Alliance survey points to a powerful shift occurring among baby boomers from traditional TV to new types of online entertainment.
But what, if anything, are media companies doing to keep up with changing demand? As it turns out, they're doing plenty. And it could mean a boom for the biggest media firms out there.
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Posted
May 07 2009, 09:27 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
DirecTV (DTV) quarterly profit drops 46%? Big deal. The real number to look at is net subscriber additions, which rose 67% in the U.S. to 460,000. That's the sharpest rise in four years. The company spent a pretty penny on promotions and signup deals, which resulted in a wave of new customers -- and a drop in profit. Revenue was up 7%, while the percentage of customer turnover in the U.S. dropped to 1.33% -- a 10-year low. That's in part because DirecTV has gone after higher-quality subscribers that can better afford its services.
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Posted
May 04 2009, 12:28 PM
by
Minyanville
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I've written in the past about Sirius XM’s (SIRI) convertible bonds. There's a 10% Sirius XM bond maturing December 1 of this year with a checkered past and a highly probable happy ending. This bond began its life over 4 years ago, when XM Satellite Radio issued it with a 1.75% coupon and a conversion price of $50 per XM share. When you stop laughing, read on.
Last year a group of the holders of these bonds threatened to sue for immediate full repayment of principal, even though the bonds weren't due to mature until December 2009. The holders believed that the language in the bond’s indenture qualified the merger with Sirius as a legal “change of control.” In general, a change of control allows convertible (and other) bondholders to require the issuer to repurchase the bonds at par, upon completion of the change. This is commonly known as a “poison put” in the bond market.
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Posted
Feb 04 2009, 11:24 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
"Saturday Night Live" goes commercial? Horrors!
What looked like a "MacGruber" sketch appeared during the Super Bowl, but it was instead a clever ad for Pepsi (PEP). It also indirectly plugged NBC's (GE) popular comedy show by using the familiar character created by cast member Will Forte -- a twofer.
The tactic is part of an ongoing effort to make ads that viewers won't ignore or use their TiVo to skip.
Product placement in movies and TV shows is a familiar part of the plan to reach prospective customers who have grown weary of standard pitches. Using an "SNL" sketch as the jumping-off point for an advertisement is a deft variation on NASCAR's decision to plaster sponsor logos on its cars and drivers, or movie stars wearing the latest designer dress or watch to some grand shindig.
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Posted
Sep 03 2008, 10:41 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
TiVo has been racking up some big-name partnerships lately, and today's announcement with DirecTV is icing on the cake. TiVo is creating a new high-definition DVR for DirecTV customers, and plans to launch it in the second half of next year.
DirecTV will still have its own line of set-top boxes. But the company will market and sell the new DVR to customers who want TiVo service as well. This has got to be particularly gratifying for TiVo because the two companies went through a public breakup that DirecTV customers still cry over
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Posted
Jun 18 2008, 09:47 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A big setback for DISH Network has sent shares down 7% today. And while some analysts caution not to read too much into it, I say that DISH has plenty to be worried about. AT&T is forcing DISH to pay back $500 million in debt that was supposed to be due in July of 2010. DISH says it has the money to do so, and won't have to take out a loan. AT&T played down the move, telling the Wall Street Journal that the money "could be put to better use." But this is also a clear message that AT&T has no interest in acquiring DISH. AT&T shares fell less than 1% today.
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Posted
Apr 03 2008, 11:45 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Filed under: Apple, Comcast, Ford, DirecTV, Verizon, Sirius XM, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Toyota, GM, Utilities, Dish Network
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When the Justice Department cleared the merger of Sirius with XM Satellite there was anticipation that once the deal got done the shares of both companies would go up. A year ago, the combination was viewed as a dream deal.
If anything, the shares have dropped. Sirius is below $3 and XM is below $13. The market began to realize that the year wasted on getting government approval was a year the companies need to stay competitive. XM has over $1 billion in debt. Refinancing it in the current market would be nearly impossible. Selling shares would lead to extremely large dilution. As we recently noted, Goldman Sachs even put Sirius on its "Conviction Sell List" with a price target of $2.25.
Growth at Sirius has slowed considerably. In the fourth quarter revenue rose only 29% to $250 million. But, for the full year, revenue was up 45%. Subscriber deactivations in the fourth quarter were almost 540,000 compared to 330,000 in the same quarter of 2006. The firm's net loss was $166 million. Long-term debt was almost $1.3 billion.
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Posted
Mar 13 2008, 12:18 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
DirecTV is finally going to offer a video-on-demand service. About time, too. Comcast and other companies are light-years ahead in this area, and on-demand is becoming a required feature for some consumers these days. It's taken DirecTV this long because, as a satellite provider, it broadcasts a one-way signal. The technology doesn't allow for the two-way conversation that an interactive service like on-demand uses. DirecTV is going to work around this using broadband connections and digital video recorder (DVR) technology, according to the WSJ. DirecTV shares are up nearly 1% on the news today to $25.21. The project is expected to launch in the second quarter.
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Posted
Feb 15 2008, 01:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
You'd think that in a slowing economy, companies would be trying to hold on to every potential customer. Not DirecTV. The satellite operator is weeding out customers, and it has no problem with fewer people signing up.
In a conference call with analysts this week, CEO Chase Carey said the company has a new focus on "quality subscribers" (read: ones with money). It finds these subscribers by analyzing their income, age, home ownership, education and other metrics, Carey said in an earnings call with analysts. (Transcript here). DirecTV puts those customers into different categories to figure out who's valuable and who's not, and it's going after the valuable ones.
"We developed in the last couple of years a much more sophisticated customer segmentation set of tools that are unique to us," he said.
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Posted
Nov 12 2007, 12:18 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Little by little, we're starting to see how tech companies are getting hit by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The latest victim is EchoStar, who said in an SEC filing that it's not getting as many new subscribers to its DISH Network. The company is blaming the "deteriorating housing market and increased mortgage defaults," among several reasons. EchoStar shares are getting hammered today, falling nearly 14%.
The numbers are pretty bad. Net new subscribers for the third quarter plummeted 63% from last year to 295,000. Subscriber churn rose to 1.94% from 1.76%. EchoStar again blamed "adverse economic conditions" as one of the factors.
That churn was churning Todd Mitchell's stomach. The Kaufman Brothers analyst called it a "red flag that slower growth was due to more than just a pullback in spending."
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