April 22, 2008

iPhone Lifts AT&T's Q1

Wireless sales and layoffs help AT&T's bottom line, rumors about the 3G iPhone and more news.

By Steve Goldstein

News Briefing for Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Cable360 newsroom's beer and bowling event last night proved catastrophic, as staffers strained back muscles from too much working class posing. Good day.

Sales of mobile handsets, including Apple’s iPhone, and savings from layoffs associated with the BellSouth purchase drove first-quarter profits for AT&T, the telco said in its earnings report this morning, Bloomberg reports. AT&T’s first-quarter profit was up 22% compared with the same period last year, with net income increasing to $3.46 billion from $2.85 billion from the first quarter of 2007. AT&T has been losing landline customers to cable, and attempted to make up for those losses by cutting the price of the iPhone (AT&T is the exclusive carrier for iPhone) in September 2007 and thus increase its mobile profits. That strategy seems to have worked: AT&T added 1.3 million wireless customers in the first quarter. U-verse subscriptions rose by 148,000 to 379,000. [Bloomberg]

The so-called 3G version of the iPhone that Apple is expected to roll out this summer may come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the preferred function of the consumer, gadget Web site T3 reports. Those who intend to use their iPhone for music and video could buy one version of the device, and those who want a mini-laptop could buy another version, according to this scenario. [T3]

Netflix’s first-quarter profit jumped 36% compared to the same period last year, meeting analysts’ expectations, according to an Associated Press report picked up by the New York Times. This news did not prevent Netflix’s stock price from declining 14% on concerns over the company’s “shift to high-definition DVDs and increased digital downloading of movies and TV shows.” [New York Times]

Walt Disney Co. will be producing theatrical nature documentaries under a new divisional umbrella called Disneynature, the Wall Street Journal reports. Disneynature will be run by Disney executive Jean-François Camilleri, who helped develop March of the Penguins. [Wall Street Journal]

The Cable Center announced its 2008 Cable Hall of Fame honorees. They are: George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN, ABC Sports, co-chairman, Disney Media Networks; Richard R. Green, president and CEO, Cable Television Laboratories; Raymond E. Joslin, founder and former president, Hearst Entertainment Syndication, former SVP and member of the board of directors, Hearst Corp.; Susan E. Packard, president, brand outreach, Scripps Networks; Hubert "Hub" Schlafly, former president, Teleprompter; Michael S. Willner, vice chairman and CEO, Insight Communications.

Briefly Noted
Discovery Communications is taking part in online corporate travel company GetThere’s green travel program, GetThere Green.

Hells Angels motorcycle club founder Sonny Barger has sued HBO, production company White Mountain Co. and Michael Tolkin, writer/executive producer of HBO’s upcoming series 1%, for cutting him out of the 1% project, which Barger claims he helped pitch to HBO, according to an AP story picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle. [San Francisco Chronicle]

LATE STORIES
Normally we would ignore such announcements, but when Golden Globe winner Mad Men is involved, well, all bets are off. So, it’s with pleasure that we report AMC announced the start of production this week on season two of its original series, on location in Los Angeles. The new 13-episode season will debut in July in standard and high-def. The Lionsgate series is set for a season one DVD release July 1. 

It’s good to be the king. Showtime’s decided to renew The Tudors for a 3rd season, with a premiere in 2009. Production is slated to begin on June 16th in Dublin, Ireland with series star Jonathan Rhys Meyers set to return. 

Speaking of kings, CNN's other King, political reporter John King, gets the royal treatment in today's NY Times. [NYT] 

For the 16th week in a row  (every week this year), USA was the #1 network among P25-54 (1.19  million) and total viewers (2.71 million). WWE Monday Night Raw ranked among the week's top ten telecasts and took the top two  spots Monday among P25-54 (2.23 million), total viewers (4.55 million)  and households (3.06 million).    

Fuse added Sharoan Harris, Carol Valentine and Lori West as VPs to its advertising sales department.

David Pugliese was upped  to SVP of Product Marketing for Cox. He will continue to oversee Cox’s initiatives in product marketing for video, Internet, telephone and wireless products, bundling, competitive strategy and customer retention strategy.

Got a tip? Contact sgoldstein@accessintel.com and sarenstein@accessintel.com.

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