The owner of the Hallmark Channel says that its original movies are still working — and advertisers like the network’s daytime programming plans which include a two-hour daily show Home And Family and Marie Osmond’s Marie. Crown generated net income of $13.5M, – 38% vs the period last year, on revenues of $86.7M, +13.9%. Much of the decline in earnings is due to interest and tax expenses, partly due to its debt restructuring. For common stockholders, earnings per share increased a penny to four cents. The company is thinly traded and not closely followed by analysts. Crown says that ad sales were up 15% in Q2 to $66.5M, which it attributes to the growth in its audience. Subscriber fees from pay TV providers were up 10% to $19.9M. Crown says that that advertiser CPMs for Home And Family — which will feature former Entertainment Tonight host Mark Steines and TV personality Paige Davis — were as much as 100% better than what Hallmark had been collecting for its off-network daytime shows. It also says that Marie is attracting first-time advertisers including KitchenAir, Electrolux, Visa, and General Motors. “During second quarter, the casting developments for Hallmark Channel were significant,” says Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott. Although Crown shares closed yesterday at a modest $1.73, the price is up nearly 43% in 2012, recovering somewhat from a steep decline in 2011.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Crown Media Q2 Revenues Up As Hallmark Channel Ad Sales Improve
Crown Media Q2 Revenues Up As Hallmark Channel Ad Sales Improve:
The owner of the Hallmark Channel says that its original movies are still working — and advertisers like the network’s daytime programming plans which include a two-hour daily show Home And Family and Marie Osmond’s Marie. Crown generated net income of $13.5M, – 38% vs the period last year, on revenues of $86.7M, +13.9%. Much of the decline in earnings is due to interest and tax expenses, partly due to its debt restructuring. For common stockholders, earnings per share increased a penny to four cents. The company is thinly traded and not closely followed by analysts. Crown says that ad sales were up 15% in Q2 to $66.5M, which it attributes to the growth in its audience. Subscriber fees from pay TV providers were up 10% to $19.9M. Crown says that that advertiser CPMs for Home And Family — which will feature former Entertainment Tonight host Mark Steines and TV personality Paige Davis — were as much as 100% better than what Hallmark had been collecting for its off-network daytime shows. It also says that Marie is attracting first-time advertisers including KitchenAir, Electrolux, Visa, and General Motors. “During second quarter, the casting developments for Hallmark Channel were significant,” says Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott. Although Crown shares closed yesterday at a modest $1.73, the price is up nearly 43% in 2012, recovering somewhat from a steep decline in 2011.
The owner of the Hallmark Channel says that its original movies are still working — and advertisers like the network’s daytime programming plans which include a two-hour daily show Home And Family and Marie Osmond’s Marie. Crown generated net income of $13.5M, – 38% vs the period last year, on revenues of $86.7M, +13.9%. Much of the decline in earnings is due to interest and tax expenses, partly due to its debt restructuring. For common stockholders, earnings per share increased a penny to four cents. The company is thinly traded and not closely followed by analysts. Crown says that ad sales were up 15% in Q2 to $66.5M, which it attributes to the growth in its audience. Subscriber fees from pay TV providers were up 10% to $19.9M. Crown says that that advertiser CPMs for Home And Family — which will feature former Entertainment Tonight host Mark Steines and TV personality Paige Davis — were as much as 100% better than what Hallmark had been collecting for its off-network daytime shows. It also says that Marie is attracting first-time advertisers including KitchenAir, Electrolux, Visa, and General Motors. “During second quarter, the casting developments for Hallmark Channel were significant,” says Crown Media Family Networks CEO Bill Abbott. Although Crown shares closed yesterday at a modest $1.73, the price is up nearly 43% in 2012, recovering somewhat from a steep decline in 2011.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Lawmakers Ponder: Are Big Media Companies Too Powerful?
That wasn’t the precise topic of the Senate Commerce Committee hearing today. (It had the boring title: “The Cable Act at 20.”) But the question — as well as ones about whether the federal government over-regulates media — bubbled underneath the discussion of problems including higher-than-inflation annual pay TV price hikes, and contract disputes that sometimes result in blackouts of consumers’ favorite channels. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W Va.) says that there’s too little competition in a system where pay TV customers “are still forced to pick larger and larger packages of channels no matter how few they watch.” His view resonated with Colleen Abdoulah, a witness who chairs the American Cable Association which primarily represents small and mid-sized cable operators. She says that broadcasters make “crazy payments for sports (rights) because they can be forced onto consumers…This abuse of power should be outlawed.” Mark Cooper of the Consumers Federation of America also called for changes that would enable pay TV customers to just buy the channels they want. “The only way to break the market power (of major networks and programmers) is to ensure consumers have choices.”The discussion kept returning to retransmission consent agreements and disputes, one of the lasting legacies of the ’92 Act. Time Warner Cable’s Melinda Witner told lawmakers that it’s time to change some of the rules. They’ve resulted in “significant and ongoing consumer harm,” she says. In the first half of 2012 there’ve been 69 blackouts, +39% over all of last year, and “we can expect blackouts to increase in the future.” Broadcasters not only demand that distributors pay for programming that’s delivered over the air for free, she says, they insist that cable and satellite distributors carry channels that they don’t want. That results in “bloated packages and higher costs to consumers.” Since the major networks are must-have services, it’s “the opposite of a free market.”
But broadcasters countered that the current system is working. “Bad weather is a far greater source of consumer disruption” than retransmission consent disputes, CBS’ Martin Franks said. National Association of Broadcasters chief Gordon Smith noted that 75% of the blackouts this year involved just three companies: Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, and DirecTV. He’s not opposed to changes, though. He wants pay TV companies to notify subscribers well in advance when a potential disruption is coming, make it easier to switch services, and he wants them to provide refunds to customers for the days when they go without channels for which they’ve paid. Franks noted that changes in the law could create problems for CBS, which spends $5.5B a year for programming. “We need to be able to plan. And we know how this system works….I guess we prefer the devil we know.”
http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/senate-commerce-hearing-retransmission-consent-big-media/
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
http://www.4-traders.com/news/Bertelsmann-AG-BMG-Welcomes-Hitmaker-Steve-Mac--14405415/
Bertelsmann AG : BMG Welcomes Hitmaker
Steve Mac
07/09/2012 | 12:17pm US/Eastern
Songwriter-producer Steve Mac is one of the world's most successful hitmakers, and BMG is delighted to report that he has just signed an exclusive publishing deal for his Rokstone publishing catalogue with BMG Chrysalis UK. Over the course of his career, Mac, born in 1972, has had total of 58 Number One singles and albums and sales of over 140 million records.
Steve Mac's debut as a writer was on his second ever production, Gonna Give You Devotion, which reached number two in the UK charts in 1991. Since then, the artists he has worked with include such well-known names as The Wanted, One Direction, Susan Boyle, Westlife, Boyzone, Kelly Clarkson, Il Divo, Leona Lewis and JLS.
In the past 18 months alone, Mac has writing credits on 10 UK Top Ten hit singles including Glad You Came" by The Wanted, You Make Me Feel…" by Cobra Starship, Gotta Be You" by One Direction, Sparks" by Cover Drive, and Notorious" by The Saturdays. Steve Mac's latest US hits are You Make Me Feel..." by Cobra Starship (now over 2.4 million downloads) and Glad You Came" by The Wanted (3 million downloads).
BMG Chrysalis UK Vice President of A&R Ben Bodie said, We are delighted to be working with Steve Mac. His strike rate of hits is truly phenomenal. We are looking forward to demonstrating the value BMG's team can add."
Steve Mac said:I'm very excited to join the BMG Chrysalis family and to seek more opportunities internationally." David Howells, Steve Mac's manager, added: BMG Chrysalis impressed us above all with the quality of their team and the very close integration of their creative team in their offices across the world."
Alexi Cory-Smith, Senior Vice-President of BMG Chrysalis UK, commented, Steve Mac is a marquee signing. We are particularly pleased to welcome him in a week in which BMG Chrysalis has shares in all top three singles.
Steve Mac's debut as a writer was on his second ever production, Gonna Give You Devotion, which reached number two in the UK charts in 1991. Since then, the artists he has worked with include such well-known names as The Wanted, One Direction, Susan Boyle, Westlife, Boyzone, Kelly Clarkson, Il Divo, Leona Lewis and JLS.
In the past 18 months alone, Mac has writing credits on 10 UK Top Ten hit singles including Glad You Came" by The Wanted, You Make Me Feel…" by Cobra Starship, Gotta Be You" by One Direction, Sparks" by Cover Drive, and Notorious" by The Saturdays. Steve Mac's latest US hits are You Make Me Feel..." by Cobra Starship (now over 2.4 million downloads) and Glad You Came" by The Wanted (3 million downloads).
BMG Chrysalis UK Vice President of A&R Ben Bodie said, We are delighted to be working with Steve Mac. His strike rate of hits is truly phenomenal. We are looking forward to demonstrating the value BMG's team can add."
Steve Mac said:I'm very excited to join the BMG Chrysalis family and to seek more opportunities internationally." David Howells, Steve Mac's manager, added: BMG Chrysalis impressed us above all with the quality of their team and the very close integration of their creative team in their offices across the world."
Alexi Cory-Smith, Senior Vice-President of BMG Chrysalis UK, commented, Steve Mac is a marquee signing. We are particularly pleased to welcome him in a week in which BMG Chrysalis has shares in all top three singles.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Susan Boyle: Honorary doctorate for singer
Susan Boyle was honoured by Edinburgh's Queen Margaret University
She was honoured by Edinburgh's Queen Margaret University, where she studied for a certificate in caring.
The degree is for work in society at large, which the university said reflected its commitment to the communities it serves.
It was presented to the West Lothian star by founding chancellor Sir Tom Farmer.
Brought up in Blackburn, Boyle made her name on ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2009.
One YouTube clip of the performance where she sang I Dreamed A Dream, from the musical Les Miserables, has had 21.5 million hits.
Her first album in 2009, I Dreamed A Dream, was at the time the fastest-selling debut album ever.
With the release of two further albums, Boyle has since sold about 18 million albums worldwide and has 120 platinum and gold albums across 38 countries.
She has sung on TV in the UK, the US, Australia, Ireland and Japan, and performed for Pope Benedict XVI and the Queen.
The singer also performed live to half a billion people on the TV show China's Got Talent.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Posted in Music Week
Steve Mac signs to BMG Chrysalis
5 July, 2012
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Songwriter-producer Steve Mac has signed an exclusive publishing deal for his Rokstone publishing catalogue with BMG Chrysalis UK.
Former peermusic signing Mac boasts a career total of 58 Number One singles and albums and sales of over 140m records.
His debut as a writer was on his second ever production, Gonna Give You Devotion, which reached number two in the UK charts in 1991. Since then among the artists he has worked with are The Wanted, One Direction, Susan Boyle, Westlife, Boyzone, Kelly Clarkson, Il Divo, Leona Lewis and JLS.
Mac has writing credits on 10 UK Top Ten hit singles in the past 18 months including:
· The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’
· Cobra Starship – ‘You Make Me Feel’
· One Direction – ‘Gotta Be You’
· Cover Drive – ‘Sparks’
· The Saturdays – ‘Notorious’.
Steve Mac’s latest US hits are ‘You Make Me Feel….’ by Cobra Starship (now over 2.4 million downloads) and ‘Glad You Came’ by The Wanted (3 million downloads).
BMG Chrysalis UK Vice President of A&R Ben Bodie said, “We are delighted to be working with Steve Mac. His strike rate of hits is truly phenomenal. We are looking forward to demonstrating the value BMG’s team can add.”
Steve Mac said, “I’m very excited to join the BMG Chrysalis family and to seek more opportunities internationally.”
David Howells, Steve Mac’s manager, said, “BMG Chrysalis impressed us above all with the quality of their team and the very close integration of their creative team in their offices across the world. We believe that teamwork will make a difference as Steve continues to grow and develop his talent. We believe the best is yet to come.”
Alexi Cory-Smith, Senior Vice-President of BMG Chrysalis UK, said, “Steve Mac is a marquee signing. We are particularly pleased to welcome him in a week in which BMG Chrysalis has shares in all top three singles.”
Pick up today's new Music Week for the full story and more exclusive reaction from all parties.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
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