Private Equity and Traditional Media

Jeff Marcus,partner and co-founder of Crestview Partners,a private equity firm with expertise in media,said that 92% of Americans still listen to traditional radio,and 100 million homes subscribe to cable or satellite.That's where the channels that people want to watch are.Cable has the bandwidth.
There isn't a la carte cable because programmers insist on bundling.It's a contractual matter for the cable companies.
We specialise in difficult situations;contrarian situations;complexity.Hopefully we'll always be there to take advantage of that.We like a good business model,but with too much debt.
There are dislocations caused by new media that cause value to go down,but radio's a local business.People listen to radio in the car more than to any of the others;and most people do traffic and weather,which are not on new media.We believe in traditional media,Mr.Marcus emphasised.
Crestview Partners says it is a value-added private equity firm with about four billion dollars under management.It targets investments in financial services;media;health care;and energy.Among Crestview's holdings are Charter Communications;FBR Financial Corporation;Cumulus Communications;Silver Creek Resources;and Symbion Helathcare.

Time Warner Bridges the Worlds

TV is going on the Internet on demand,says Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes(pronounced Byu-kiss).There's still some mid-hanging fruit for industry growth.If you think about all the people with mobile devices,the TV industry is turning to it.There's a tremendous amount of economic activity when TV goes mobile.
Basically every device is becoming a TV.It is also going on overseas.Time Warner network CNN goes all over the planet.TV profits,viewers and ratings are all growing and healthy.
All these new devices have helped the TV industry figure out how to be easier to find and easier to use.We've got now 150 channels buying shows off of network TV.We license more shows to network and cable channels than anyone else.We haven't licensed to competing subscription services.You pay a subscription,you can have it on any device that you own.
We had pricing growth in the mid-teens.The revenue growth in Time Warner's HBO,CNN,TNT is very strong.The TV business,the film business is really quite strong.The Internet is a great development,but let's not forget the strength and vitality of the TV business,Mr.Bewkes reminded.
Time Warner is a media conglomerate that owns several major brands in journalism and entertainment.From Time,Life,Fortune and People magazines to CNN,HBO and Warner Brothers Pictures Group,as well as allied online properties,it is a global leader in the publishing,film and television industries.
Time Warner Cable and Warner Music Group are now independent entities.They were spun off from their parent,Time Warner,Inc.
Time Warner,Inc.(TWX)

Comcast Left Bitter Taste

Comcast,the cable TV and broadband titan,alienated several customers on its way to the top.The company,which recently acquired a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric and Vivendi SA,consistently whittled away at its expanded basic tier of cable TV channels.It cut the NASA TV channel from the expanded basic lineup.Then it axed Retirement Living TV from the package.It also sheared off EWTN,the Catholic channel.Most recently,Comcast eliminated Maryland Public Television from expanded basic.
All the while it was depriving thousands of viewers of stimulating options,Comcast raised prices.The subscribers got less than what they originally signed up for,at a higher price.The taste of Comcast will not be on their favorite flavors list.Presumably the only reason Comcast hasn't eliminated expanded basic entirely is the political heat it would feel from local franchising authorities,should they dare to do so.No wonder these marginalized customers,many of them seniors,aren't cheering Comcast's recent success.