Needham & Co analyst Laura Martin says they are — and her new report making that case should rattle media execs. Martin thinks more deeply about corporate strategy and game theory than any analyst I know. And she warns traditional content providers that streaming infotainment companies including Google, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and Vevo are shrewdly sneaking up on them by focusing on young people who like to watch videos on mobile devices including tablets and smartphones. The tech companies are “creating short-form premium videos that are difficult to monetize, and therefore largely ignored by incumbents,” who’d rather create hit TV shows, Martin says. The big guns have to pay attention to conventional programming: Attractive shows help to keep pay TV subscribers attached to today’s high-priced packages. “Unbundling threatens up to 50% of the total revenue of the TV ecosystem,” Martin says. But media money follows time, and as mobile devices become more popular we could see “advertising share shifts away from TV and toward the new premium-video online ecosystem.” The big producers are “fighting over the 0-2% viewing growth pie rather than the 50% viewing growth pie.” Martin says that she’d “feel better” about the long term prospects for Big Media “if they were allocating 10% of their budget increases to short form premium video…designed to push young viewers toward their hit TV shows.”
Are Big Media Companies Too Lax About Mobile Streaming?
Chris McGurk Sees Movie “Renaissance” Instead Of “Apocalypse” – Thanks To Digital
Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk broke from the traditional gloom and doom many Los Angeles Film Festival keynoters have expressed regarding the future of showbiz. Noting that one previous speaker said, “and I quote: “The sky really is falling”, McGurk pointed out that “the only thing Hollywood has done better than building an industry is predicting its imminent demise.” Once again “doomsayers seem to be proclaiming the Seven Signs of the coming Indie Apocalypse” but McGurk said he sees “the Seven Signs of its Renaissance” — thanks to lower production and distribution costs because of the “digital revolution.” Despite having what he described a reputation as being “a suit” he said “I think I’ve actually become somewhat of a softie in regard to at least one aspect of the film business. Somewhere along my corporate ride in Hollywood, I fell in love with independent film.” McGurk sees enormous targeted opportunities for filmmakers, distributors, marketers and exhibitors. And variety that can satisfy broadly different kinds of people who love movies.
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FX ‘Damages’ Saved By New DirecTV Deal
DirecTV has become the patron saint of lost TV causes, saving yet another high-quality series from untimely death. Following its deal with NBC Universal for Friday Night Lights, DirecTV has inked a pact with Sony Pictures TV for the Emmy nominated Damages taking over the ratings-challenged legal drama with an order for 20 new episodes to run over two consecutive seasons, the show’s fourth and fifth, in 2011 and 2012. But unlike the deal for FNL, in which the original network, NBC, got a second window on the series, Damages‘ new episodes will only air on DirecTV. DirecTV has also acquired the rights to Damages‘ first 3 seasons, which ran on FX. Here is the official release on the deal, which had been in the works for the past several months with Sony as the driving force: Read More »
BSkyB Still Rejects News Corp’s Increased Offer But Both Agree to Keep Negotiating & Proceed With Regulatory Process For Deal
NEW YORK, NY, June 15, 2010 – News Corporation (“News Corp”) announces that it approached the Board of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (“BSkyB”) on Thursday, 10 June 2010, and proposed making an offer to acquire the entire issued and
‘Grease’ Is The Word Starting July 8th
Paramount today announced the re-release of the digitally enhanced sing-a-long version of Grease for a limited release on July 8th, with expansion on July 23rd.
Cineworld Converting 50% of Screens to 3D
Cineworld is extending its lead in 3D digital. About half of the UK exhibitor’s screens will be 3D within three years. At present 33% of its 790 screens are digital. Cineworld has just announced a £30 million ($44 million) initiative with … Read More »
Fox & CBS Rejoin Other Networks In NAB
CBS and Fox today rejoined the National Association of Broadcasters. Fox exited in 1999, CBS in 2001 over the issue of station ownership cap. Now all Big Four broadcast networks have returned to the lobbying organization, which is looking to pay a key role on such main issues for networks … Read More »
Online Movie Stores Go Out of Business
Forty two online movie stores went out of business last year, according to research firm Screen Digest. Online movie stores that have disappeared over the past few years include Movielink, Lycos, Guba, AOL and BitTorrent. So much for that … Read More »
UK Film Council Lets Multiplexes Catch Up
EXCLUSIVE: The British government has extended its Digital Screen Network scheme, giving multiplexes which have missed their film quotas time to catch up. The DSN scheme will now run until September 2012. Multiplexes that joined the DSN promised to … Read More »
James Murdoch To Give Keynote Speech
EXCLUSIVE: News Corp’s Europe and Asia CEO will be giving a speech at the launch of University College London’s new Centre For Digital Humanities on May 20. The invitation says that Murdoch “will address the issues of creativity and … Read More »
Gollum Goes Into Performance Capture Biz
EXCLUSIVE: Andy Serkis, who’s pulling on his latex suit again for The Hobbit, has gone into the performance capture business himself. The Imaginarium is the UK’s first performance capture studio. Serkis wants Imaginarium to provide live avatars at rock concerts or the ballet, not just movies and commercials. He’s already … Read More »
Forecast: Online Movie Pot Of Gold Fading
Uh-oh. You know how online movies are always being held up as the pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow? How downloading movies, or streaming them over the internet, will more than make up … Read More »
UK Confab: Lucky Studios, Unlucky Others
From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler: That was the message at today’s confab in London organized by industry think-tank the British Screen Advisory Council. Claire Enders, managing director of Enders Analysis, said that Enders pointed out that whatever technological panic there’s been over the past 20 years, the same five … Read More »
Now Warner Bros Hops On iPad Bandwagon
Sherlock Holmes was just released this past Tuesday in Blu-Ray and DVD. So a Warner Bros press statement asks: “Why not download it from iTunes for your iPad? Why not also play the game designed for the device? Sherlock Holmes: Mysteries … Read More »
Taxpayers Give UK Cinemas 3D Leg-Up
EXCLUSIVE From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler: Cinema chains including Cineworld, Odeon and Vue have all upgraded digital equipment provided free of charge by the UK government to 3D. Whereas other exhibitors have had to spend hundreds … Read More »
Disney Closing Zemeckis’ Digital Studio
BURBANK, Calif. – March 12, 2010 – The Walt Disney Studios and ImageMovers Digital (IMD) today announced that they will close operations at IMD’s Marin County facility after production is completed on Mars Needs Moms. The IMD facility is expected to be closed by January, 2011.
“Bob and the entire
MPAA Cites 3D For Fueling Box Office Spike
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2010
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE CONTINUES TO SOAR;
U.S. ADMISSIONS ON THE RISE
3D gives a boost to box office growthLos Angeles – The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today released its annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for
WGAW Signs 33rd Online Content Company
Los Angeles – Emmy-nominated production company Big Fantastic has signed on as a signatory to the Writers Guild of America, West. Going forward, all new media content produced by the company will be made in accordance with the WGA’s Minimum
Wal-Mart Is Buying Digital Entertainment Provider VUDU
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Feb. 22, 2010 — Walmart announced today a definitive agreement to acquire VUDU, Inc., a leading provider of digital technologies and services that enable the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband high-definition TVs and Blu-ray players. The deal is expected to close within the next few
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