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Question: What do fake blogs, phony or misleading websites, promo MP3 releases and even dummy MySpace accounts have in common?

 

Answer: They are all part of sophisticated New Media, multi-media marketing campaigns for Television, print and other entertainment content. 

Following on the heels of books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point (which theorizes about how trends develop),  and no doubt  influenced by the  increasingly rapid  viral growth and acceptance of web properties from MySpace to YouTube, media marketers are embracing new technologies and techniques to hawk their offerings.  

Some efforts go so far as to create fictional stories, or companies and full interactive environments around them.  These efforts don’t just promote a Television show or book; they’re also helping legitimize the technology platforms they’re built on.  Traditional Media was slow getting to the ball during the first wave of Internet activity; they’re looking like they don’t want that to happen again.

NBC’s popular show Heroes probably leads the pack of current offers when it comes to this kind of creative interactive marketing. Click to Read More

Imax (NASDAQ: IMAX), the maker of giant screen movie technology, announced it was unable to file its 2006 annual on time. The 10-k needs to restate results due to accounting errors over a 6 yr period.  The errors, according to the company, are related to incorrect expense accounting for legal services in asia, mistaken capitalization of expenses for co-produced films and unrecorded branch level interest taxes of approximately $750k.
The issues were characterized as minor and are expected to be corrected by March 30th.

More detailed press coverage on Imax’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

There are almost more rumors about Google’s activities than there are gossip column reports about Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.  

For several weeks the latest buzz has hinted at Google following Apple’s footsteps and developing a mobile phone that integrates features and function with their web services (Gmail, Google maps etc).  Much of the speculation has been fueled by Google’s hiring of high level analog engineers and mobile hardware/software developers.   It’s certainly possible.  It’s another possibility (which makes a lot more sense) that Google is not interested in building or selling phones but rather is working on phone development to better optimize Google services and products for use and distribution to the wireless world.   A Google-phone may never hit the market but development on one could help Google integrate Gmail into the next line of Motorola or Samsung phones.

Others rumors have swirled that Google is looking at acquiring Click to Read More

About a two years ago I made my first foray into the blogging world by way of few comments on Roger McNamee’s blog: The New Normal. At the time, Mr. McNamee was promoting his new book and writing regularly on the site. His observations and his reputation, led to some ongoing discussions that included the thoughts of a wide range of people, including some high-tech executives like Marc Andreeson and Jeremy Allaire (founder of Brightcove, which was just beginning).

I was intrigued and as a passing experiment wrote a reply to two of Roger’s posts, one on Sarbane Oxley where Roger’s speculated the law was influencing corporate earnings guidance, and the other a post of Roger’s about the direction Internet video. With just a toe-in-the-water of blogging, I wrote both pieces anonymously using only an email address (lookingglass@gmail.com) to identify myself.

My replies were an experiment, but after recently seeing what I wrote in some old files, for the sake of nostalgia, and to own what I originally wrote, I decided to reprint my posts as well as links to the original discussion here on Metue today and tomorrow.

Today, Sarbanes-Oxley issues from February 2005(tomorrow net video):

Click to Read More

Tivo (Nasdaq:TIVO), the pioneer in digital video recording, announced earnings yesterday for the quarter ended Jan 31.  The Company reported a quarterly loss of $18.7m (.19c a share) versus a loss of $21.1m (.25c a share) for the same period last year.

Net revenues were at $77.6 compared to $60.1 a year ago. Revenue excluding hardware sales, service and technology was up 22% to $57.4m

For the entire fiscal year, Tivo reported a net loss of $47m on revenue of $259m compared to a loss of $37m on revenue of $196m for the prior year.

With subscription numbers, an important metric of performance for a company like Tivo, Tivo added 101,000 net new subscribers but lost 91,000 customers previously gained through satellite TV provider DirecTV.

In various statements analysts are expressing concern about subscriber metrics.

More detailed press coverage on Tivo’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

With rumors of mergers and acquisitions still swirling, Tribune Co. today sold the two smallest (by circulation) newspapers in its portfolio to Gannett. The Greenwich Time and the Stamford Advocate have modest readership but are in premium advertising market. (As much as any newpaper ad market could be considered premium in the currently difficult print ad marketplace.

At a sales price of only $73m, the transaction is small for Tribune but it fits with the company’s stated goal of liquidating at least $500m in non-core assets. The sale may or may not help with Tribunes ongoing effort to sell itself as a whole.

Entertainment conglomerate Viacom (NYSE: VIA), reported Q4 numbers easily beating analyst estimates. 

Net income was up to $480.8m compared to $129.5m.  Revenue increased 32% to $3.59b.  Operating expenses were up 20% to $2.76b

Movie business showed profits of $86.3m on revenue of $1.57b.  DreamWorks added $560m to the topline.  TV businesses which include MTV, Comedy Central, and Spike TV saw positive earnings growth of 11%

Compared to last year, the numbers were helped by Viacom’s $1.6b purchase of DreamWorks. Viacom also faced charges in last year’s Q4.

More detailed press coverage on Viacom’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch