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After the compensation information revealed in Friday’s proxy filings, Monday morning coffee talk and water cooler conversations might well have been peppered with gossip about hefty executive pay packages at Viacom in 2007. Instead, an oddly timed Sunday announcement marrying Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate in joint venture to launch a cable TV channel of their own played the trump card.  The bigger headline than pay: New Channel coming 2009, news at 11.

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How hot is the domestic video game market?  According to NPD’s monthly gaming round up, which was released Thursday, as hot as ever.  It fact, it may be nearing molten.

Overall, for March, total sales, including hardware, software and accessories rose 57 percent versus a year ago hitting $1.7 billion.  The number was also up month to month besting the $1.33 billion in total sales registered in February. 

Software sales, in particular, were outstanding with a monthly return of $945.6 billion, a 63 percent annual gain and well ahead of both January and February results.  Some comparative numbers shows just how staggering the number is. According to data from Home Media Retailing, combined movie rentals for the top ten movie titles in March generated approximately $270 million at the registers.  Domestic film box offices grosses for the same period were $567.2m (via Box office Mojo).  The $945.6m in video game software sales beat the two combined.

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Mark Twain once quipped "The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated."  The same seems to be true for the state of the Internet advertising market.  Today, with a market on pins and needles in anticipation, Google reported Q1 earnings.  Contrary to fears, the news was good.  From the rooftops in Mountain View, Googlers could signal the all clear sign.  Not far away, at Yahoo, the news (and its expected impacted on Microsoft’s takeover efforts) was also greeted with excitement.  Good reports from Google rebuff anecdotal claims about a faltering Internet economy with fact.

During the analysts’ conference call, CEO Eric Schmidt told analysts, “It’s clear we are well positioned for 2008 and beyond, regardless of the business environment we are surrounded by.”

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It’s iPhone supply mania, part two.   

In late March reports began to spread that Apple stores around the U.S. were dangerously low on iPhone inventory.  Orders at Apple’s own online store were taking 5 to 7 days to fill.  Something was amiss.   Given mismanaging channel inventory or poorly estimating demand is not a mistake Apple usually makes, the anomaly fueled heavy speculation we were seeing the beginning of a product shift and not a coincidence.   Apple was beginning to clear out shelf space to make way for a new phone model, people guessed.

A few analysts countered that that was unlikely.  They suggested the inventory shortfall was more likely the result of parts shortages, or about accounting and revenue recognition.  Their argument pointed out there was still ample supply of the phones at retail partners and across the UK, France and Germany.  Because shipments to partner stores are recorded as sales and shipments to Apple’s own outlets aren’t, they argued, such an inventory alignment made good financial sense.  It was a way for Apple to record more sales.

Now two weeks later, conspiracy theorists have another sign to point at Click to Read More

It’s all systems go for the combination of Vivendi Games and Activision.  Wednesday, the companies got the go ahead from European regulators.  Officially, the European Commission will not move to block the deal for antitrust reasons.

The antitrust evaluation was conducted as part of a routine investigation following the proposed merger’s  December announcement.  There was little likelihood of a regulatory blockade but the size of the two companies, and the behemoth the merger would create, was sufficient for the European regulators to take caution to insure it would not negatively influence competition in the industry. 

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There’s no denying the ubiquity of the cell phone.  Since the Motorola “Dynatac” prototype was used to call AT&T rivals in early April 1973 to say “we beat you to it,” the world has voraciously adopted and clamored for the devices. Currently, reports estimate somewhere between 75% and 90% of U.S. adults have a cell phone or are subscribed to a mobile phone service agreement.  Around the globe, estimates say there are more than 3 billion phones.  Thirty five years after the prototype, it’s clear we can’t live without them.

It’s also clear today’s phones aren’t just for talking. Click to Read More

From key earnings announcements to days significant in takeover battles like Yahoo/Microsoft and EA/Take Two, the next month is littered with influential events, especially for companies at the crossroads of media, entertainment and technology.  There’s so much to keep track of:  On April 17th Google releases earnings.  April 22nd, Yahoo follows suit. Then there’s Microsoft on the 24th, Nintendo (also the 24th), DreamWorks SKG, Viacom, Disney and a host of others. It’s easy to lose track.

For quick and easy reference to stay on top of it all, we’re trying out a new feature: The Metue Event calendar.  The new page takes our internal calendar and puts the key dates in a simple, sortable table for all to use.  Looking for a company, click the headings for the appropriate column and the table will resort to list the companies. Click to Read More