May 5, 2008

Yahoo Shares Fall, But Will Rupert Give Them a Bounce?

News Corp. quarterly report may give clue to plans for Yahoo, the proliferation of mobile TV and more news.

By Steve Goldstein

News Briefing for Monday, May 5, 2008

Bloomberg reports that Yahoo shares declined 21% in early trading today. Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang reportedly was in a celebratory mood after Microsoft refused to meet his target stock price of $37 and then chose not to attempt a hostile takeover of the board of directors, but Yahoo shareholders may not be indulging in high-fives. News Corp., which reports its quarterly results this Wednesday, may yet strike a deal with Yahoo that “injects” MySpace into the Web company. [Bloomberg | New York Times | Silicon Alley Insider]

Its failed bid for Yahoo behind it, Microsoft must now come up with another way to compete with Google, the New York Times says. [New York Times]

The mobile TV phenomenon has spread beyond Japan to Switzerland and Italy, and will soon reach the U.K. and France. Yesterday AT&T launched its own mobile TV service, but it’s unclear whether the platform will generate the same kind of enthusiasm in the U.S. that it does overseas. Verizon Wireless has fewer than 100,000 subscribers to its year-old mobile TV service, the New York Times reports. [New York Times]

Mobile TV advertising is still in its infancy, the International Herald Tribune reports. [IHT]

Benita Fitzgerald Mosley and Kathy Johnson write about WICT and NAMIC's streamlined research survey in an editorial at Cable360.

Briefly Noted
Paramount Pictures’ in-the-works premium channel already has a good marketing hook: It will likely get first crack at the TV presentation of Iron Man, which earned $201 million in worldwide box office receipts in its first five days of release. Marvel is the big winner here, though. [Variety]

Sci Fi Channel and WE will share rerun rights to CBS’ Ghost Whisperer. [Variety]

Woody Allen’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi for the Los Angeles Opera is closing in on its opening night. [Bloomberg]

Polling has closed on the Cable360 question, “During the current economic slowdown, which of cable's services will triple-play subscribers drop first?” The results: 37.8% of respondents chose digital phone as the first service cable’s triple-play subs would drop, 28.4% chose “none—cable’s triple play is recession-proof”, 27% picked digital cable and 6.5% selected high-speed Internet.
    Our current Cable360 poll question: “Two years from now, mobile TV will be as ubiquitous as cell phones and iPods, true or false?”

Late Stories
WWE founder Vince McMahon will receive the Promax/BDA Lifetime Achievement Award during 53rd annual Promax/BDA Conference, June 17-19, The Hilton New York Hotel.

Gospel Music Channel named cable vet Mary Jeanne Cavanagh to the newly-created position of EVP, Ad Sales. Cavanagh recently was EVP Ad Sales at Oxygen.

BBC America has acquired digitally re-mastered episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and will premiere them during a Memorial Day marathon, beginning May 26, 9:00am ET.

A pair of personnel moves at In Demand. Terri Hyacinth joined as Regional VP, Affiliate Relations. She was Director of Aff Sales for Current TV. Emily Lewis has joined the network as Director, Business Affairs & Senior Counsel. She was an Associate at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP.

What are the best companies to work for in the cable industry? Help CableFAX: The Magazine decide by nominating the companies you think should be on our list of the Top 10 Places to Work in Cable by completing our online nomination form.  We will run the Top 10 Places to Work as a Web exclusive on Cable360.net and on CableFAX: The Magazine's home page.

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