Posted on 12/09/2008 8:18:46 AM PST by Kevin J waldroup
Viacom, Inc. will weather the economic downturn by focusing on “organic growth” instead of any “significant acquisitions,” according to president and CEO Philippe Dauman.
Speaking at the annual UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York, Dauman downplayed the company’s announcement least week that it would cut 850 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, and instead focused on the company’s positioning as a content provider with multiple revenue sources across each of its television, movie and digital divisions.
Dauman was bullish on Nickelodeon, VH1, MTV and BET, which recently underwent a shift in programming leadership. He conceded that MTV has struggled as repeated reruns of hit shows in the age of the DVR and episode streaming have become a less viable. The network will instead concentrate on more original and less acquired programming while also adding elements to reruns in the hope of stemming viewer hemorrhaging.
For instance, a selection of comments from The Hills fan forum Backchannel are featured in the rerun of the previous week’s episode. MTV will employ the same strategy with the upcoming iteration of Road Rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at broadcastingcable.com ...
After the election I am pulling the plug on cable TV. I encourage others to do the same. We do not have a free TV news press. Fox is like CNN now or MSNBC-Lite.
“SNL Kagan data also indicates that cable penetration of homes passed peaked at 65.5% in 1998. As of yearend 2006, cable subscriptions stood at 65.4 million, or 58.4% of 111.9 million homes passed, according to the data. Due to two recent quarters of declining cable subscriptions, this figure is likely to drop further by the end of 2007, SNL Kagan said.”
http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/snl-kagan-cable-subscription-data-contradicts-fcc-chairman-kevin-martin-2634/
cable television, has enjoyed a two-tiered revenue model of subscription and advertising. The growth of new technology has moved content outside the gated, subscription window, into an open access model. Consequently, the subscription model has lost as it is no longer necessary to “pay to play”. Cable operators should take notice of this trend. As video content leaves the gated walls of its liner channel for Hulu and online consumption, the consumer may stop paying for its cable subscription and devotes itself to a web based experience. Any monetization will come from advertising until the industry figures out a new media subscription model.
http://entertain247.blogspot.com/2008/10/mourning-old-medias-decline.html
I can get HDTV for free!
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