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Blockbuster  (NYSE: BBI, BBI.B), reported Q4 earnings.

For the quarter, net income was down to $12.9m ($.05/share) from $18m ($.09/share).  Revenues increased 1.4% to $1.51b.  Online subscribers increased by 700k during the period.  Operating income totaled 445.8m, down from $57m in the prior year.

For the full year, 2006 revenues decreased 3.5% $5.52 billion – attributed by the company to the closing of stores.  Operating income for the year was at $79.1m,  versus a loss of $388m in the prior year (which included a $341m non-cash charge).

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

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Marvel (NYSE: MVL) , owner publisher and licensor of the Marvel comic book character library, report weak Q4 earnings.  

Net income was down 14c a share to $11.7m from $25.9m the prior year.  Toy and publishing segments were up, but the licensing division was a drag on earnings.  4th quarter net sales were only $25.5m down from $81.7m last year.  Among that decrease, Marvel’s joint venture with Sony for the Spider-Man franchise provided sales of only $600k off of $4.3m in the prior.  As a positive note, however, the May release of Spiderman 3 should bring positive results in the coming quarters.

Also of interest, Marvel has secured $500m in financing to build their own internal film unit which will allow them to release movies without the revenue share needed in a joint venture.  This both increases the company’s risk exposure but also its potential revenue upside.  Iron Man and Hulk 2 are due to be the first tiles for release from this in house studio with likely targets set for summer/winter 2008.

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

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Tribune Co (NYSE: TRB), reported its summary of revenues and advertising revenue for its so-called Period 1 ended Feb 4. 

Publishing Revenues were down 6% in January tp $345m.  Circulation revenues were down 5.2%. Advertising revenues were down 7.3%.  Consolidated revenues were down 5% from last years $465m. 

In the broadcast and entertainment division revenues in January were down 1.4% off $98m last year.

The company continues to work through its defined “Self Help” plan.  Some properties are being divesting and there are regular rumors and discussions about larger scale changes including strategic investment or buyout.

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

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Getty Images, one of the dominant companies in the Stock Photo industry, and a company comfortable with growth via acquisition, announced it would acquire the holdings of MediaVast, Inc (the parent of photoservice Wireimage) for approximately $200m in cash. The deal will give Getty an increased archive of celebrity photos and video to add to its already vast library of images and video, including the royalty-free istockphoto.com that it acquired in 2006. (Wireimage owns the largest entertainment photo and video archive in the industry).

Wireimage will retain its photographers, executive staff and name. Wireimage and all of Mediavast’s other assets, which also include the Film Magic and Contour Photos business lines, will be incorporated in the editorial division of Getty’s business which focuses on providing images for new services.

The deal will likely close in the next two months but may draw some antitrust regulatory oversight or review before being completed.

I looked at the prospect of hiring some off-shore programmers to handle a few items for this site. From a cost standpoint, the cost savings were a tempting lure for a small site like Metue, especially in comparison to hiring programmers locally in Silicon Valley.  Ultimately I did all but a couple tiny things myself.  For me, I saw it as an opportunity to get my hands dirty and learn more about web development. My tasks were also not that complicated.

If I had a big project, or needed more specialized services – and if I had the means to manage the workflow effectively (something not as easily done with a single project freelancer) I’d seriously consider using programming services overseas – India, Eastern Europe etc.  

On the heals of my experience, I wasn’t surprised when I saw news that Sony’s Special Effects and animation arm, Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI) is expanding to far beyond it’s Culver City campus’ geography.

SPI acquired a 51 percent equity stake in Chennai India based effects and animation studio FrameFlow.  FrameFlow will change its name to Imageworks India and will work together with Sony Pictures Imageworks’ facility in Culver City, California. Click to Read More

The list of potential suitors for the Tribune Co. is starting to read like a supermarket tabloid about celebrity couples.  The Tribune Co which owns a range of media and entertainment properties including the LA Times, Newsday, more than 20 TV stations, the Chicago Cubs, and sizeable investments in Food Network, Career Builder, Topix and others,  has had itself on the market since around September 2006 around which time S&P lowered the company’s credit status to “junk.”  

Since special committee was formed by the Board of Directors to oversee the process, rumors and reports have put Tribune in bed with virtually every private equity company from the Blackstone Group to the Carlyle Group.   Billionaire moguls have also been rumored on the dance card.  Last month the Financial Times reported Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was interested in taking a substantial minority stake.  The Wall Street Journal separately reported investors Eli Broad and Ronald Burke had submitted a bid.  Now the Chicago Tribune is reporting that Chicago local, and real estate mogul, Sam Zell is trying to structure a deal.

Why is this deal so hard to get done?  The simple answer is some combination of three things Click to Read More

Google the Gatekeeper?  Is Google trying to become the defacto middle-man for advertising placement across both new and traditional media?  Will a prospective company be able to go to Google a year from now and order advertising placement as if at a buffet: “give me 2 radio spots, 1 tv hit, and a ¼ page in these three papers alongside these keywords and this text placement?”

The answers are probably no, but with increasing efforts to participate in placement of tradition media advertising – including in radio (through acquisition of dMarc), print (partnerships with newspapers), and television – alongside its dominant Internet search advertising services, these seem questions worth asking.  It’s almost impossible not to speculate about them.

Today, adding fuel to that kind speculation, Google announced the acquisition of Adscape Media, a small one year old startup that was focusing on providing advertising for the video game industry (termed “in-game” advertising).

Click to Read More