New York Times Sees A Digital Lift

The New York Times seeks a similar strategy as Gannett, pursue the digital business while managing the decline of print.  If costs can be contained, a leaner company can also be a stronger one.  With that, the NYT saw a double digit increase in digital subscriptions.  On the other hand, "Print advertising at the company’s newspapers, which include The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, shrank 10.9 percent, and digital advertising across the company fell 2.2 percent."

Pushing great, exclusive content, only available behind a paid wall, that is of value to the consumer, should propel the company forward.  As more and more tablets get into the hands of more people, the desire for content becomes greater.  Marketing to these consumers the value of a digital subscription is essential.  Getting them to part with their hard earned dollars is necessary, especially as there is also so much free content to consume as well.  For those, like me that have grown up on the NYT, the value proposition to digital is an easier one to make; for the younger audience, the push to compete against other news outlets for share of the digital market may be a bigger challenge.

Netflix Not Growing Fast Enough

Netflix continues to face challenging times.  Unable to successfully transition from DVD to streaming, it faces a battle of watching its DVD subscriber rental base declining, but its streaming base not rising fast enough.  Add to that mix the higher costs associated with streaming verse DVD, and the profit margins are dropping faster then desired.  Still the streaming base is growing, just not as fast as expected, and certainly not fast enough for Wall Street.

Netflix has tried to recapture a higher revenue by raising prices on its streaming business, but consumer uproar nixed it.  "Netflix also needs more subscribers because it is sticking to its price of $8-a-month for unlimited video streaming. The company faced a huge backlash last year when it raised prices as much as 60 percent for people who subscribed for both DVD service and streaming. The company says its reputation has yet to recover."  Still, Netflix may have to keep trying to raise its prices.

It also faces a hurdle from competition.  Cable operators continue to push their on demand line-up as comparable to Netflix and as an added value to cable subscribers.  Amazon, Apple, and others are there to offer similar content as well.  The launch of new tablets and mobile customers may enlarge the marketplace and further grow the subscriber base.  Content feeds these devices and video is a perfect fit.

Can Netflix contain its costs and grow its streaming business?  Can it stop the excessive bleeding of DVD subscribers as it continues to transition to a digital business? Its CEO Reed Hastings sees great opportunities, both domestically and internationally.  That is certainly what investors are hoping for.

iPad Mini Starting at $329

iPad Mini is $329, iPad 2 is $399.  Did Apple price the mini too high to compete effectively against the Nexus, Kindle, and Nook?  Will you buy a Mini?

How Much For An iPad Mini?

Today is the big day.  The iTunes Store is down, the Apple devotees are waiting, and in a few hours the announcement will confirm what has been buzzing for months.  The release of a smaller version of the iPad.  But at what price?  "The Kindle Fire starts at $159, and the Nexus 7 at $199. Meanwhile, Apple sells the iPad 2 for $399 and the 4-inch iPod Touch for $199. Company watchers are pegging the price of the smaller iPad somewhere in between."    Will the iPad Mini be priced at a comparable value as Nexus and compete on price with Amazon, or price itself a bit higher expecting that consumers may pay a bit more?

If the Apple magic can extend to the iPad Mini, it could become the next huge holiday gift.  But the price must be right.  And what else will be announced today; new laptop, revamped iTunes store, are all a possibility.  Even as we wait for the announcement, questions swirl as to the next product innovation for Apple, the next new piece of hardware that we must buy and own.  Apple has struck gold with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.  Will an Apple TV be next or something else?  Stay tuned.

Dish Settles And Former Cablevision Networks Relaunch

It seemed to take the threat of a witness stand to put the final nail into a case and cause Dish to settle with Cablevision.  Cablevision clearly won as Dish will pay a settlement fee and relaunch all of the AMC Networks, including AMC, WE, and Sundance, as well as finally launch the Fuse Network.  And as both sides begin to play nice again, the rancorous feelings between both companies and their respective leaders has most probably not subsided. Publicly, both sides are saying nice things, using the old expression, "it's just business, not personal".  But it is hard to believe that is true.

For Dish, the win may be that the $2.4 billion suit was settled for $700 million and saving four months of not paying for these channels.  For Cablevision, it was a recoup of some of the loss of Voom and to regain a healthy number of subscribers across its networks.  And for now, one more fight between network and distributor has ended; no worries though, another should begin again as we get closer to the end of the year and another contract is set to expire.

Sprint Intends To Be A Player

It's amazing what a little cash can do for a company.  Softbank's investment into Sprint has enabled Sprint to take a majority ownership in Clearwire.  "Clearwire’s spectrum is crucial to planned high-speed upgrades to Sprint’s network."  Certainly the plan is to build the widest, most efficient next generation broadband communication system to rival its competitors, AT&T and Verizon.  As we become a nation requiring more access to wireless at the fastest speeds possible, a leap like this could propel Sprint well forward and continue to force its competitors to hasten its capital expenditures to manage an increasing demand.

With Softbank, a Japanese owned investment group with businesses in mobile and fixed communication, Sprint becomes an international player as well.  The world becomes a smaller and smaller place as companies entrench themselves, not only in the US, but across the globe.  We do indeed live in interesting times.

For Newsweek, The Digital Switch Turns Quickly

In a changing media landscape, transitioning becomes part timing, part luck, part skill, and part intuition.  No change is deemed right or wrong until after the fact when we look back and see who has survived and who has fallen.  Across industries, the past is littered with brands and companies that couldn't adapt to change  and are no longer in business.  For print, the media landscape is changing rapidly from physical to digital as consumers embrace tablet and mobile technology.

Gannett has  taken one path to the digital transition, embracing a subscription paywall as a means to increase its digital subscriber base and improve revenues.  At the same time, they continue to print and sell print subscriptions.  For Newsweek, now under the control of Barry Diller and IAC, is to pull the bandage off quickly.  "The last print edition in the U.S. will be the Dec. 31 issue, Tina Brown, editor-in-chief and founder of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, said today on the company’s website. The all-digital publication, to be called Newsweek Global, will require subscriptions and will be available on tablet computers and on the Web, Brown said."  Cost to print and mail drop effectively to zero although revenues are also expected to drop.  Most significantly felt will be the loss of single issue sales off newsstands.

Can a leaner, meaner Newsweek survive as a digital only weekly magazine?  Is such a quick transition the best course of action or does Gannett have a better strategy?  Such are the questions and challenges facing these two companies as well as others in the print media space.  Perhaps the answer lies in how well marketing can attract subscribers and how valuable the content is measured by the consumer.  Wherever one is led to get access, the hope of these companies follow the famous line from "Field of Dreams", "If you build it, they will come."

TiVo Seeks New Revenue Sources Through Litigation

Ideally, TiVo would be able to take its superior product and integrate into each and every cable operators cable box to create a world class cable DVR box.  But that has not happened as quickly as possible.  Especially as the top cable operator have done little to embrace TiVo.  Instead, new revenue has come from another source, lawsuits.  With wins and settlements, TiVo has been doing quite well.

The latest source for funds may just come from another lawsuit.  "TiVo Inc. said it may be entitled to billions of dollars in damages should it win its patent- infringement lawsuit against Google Inc.’s Motorola Mobility unit over digital-video recording technology." Should this fight find a similar outcome as others, TiVo will once again see a financial lift from litigation.

It is certainly nice to see that TiVo is working over time to protect its patents.  It simply needs to work equally as hard to get its products in the home.  Perhaps the outcome of this latest litigation is that Google and Motorola make TiVo the official DVR of its cable box.  Thus cable operators  using Motorola set top boxes will automatically be using TiVo.  Perhaps.

Pay Wall Working For Gannett

Gannett may just be turning the corner on its business model as it takes more and more revenue from the digital side of their business.  With digital subscription expected to rise 25% this year and digital ad revenue rising, it seems that Gannett is transitioning well from a print to digital business.  "Digital 'now represents more than 25 percent of total revenues,' CEO Gracia Martore said in a statement accompanying the earnings release."  It is likely that as more effort is made to build out the digital model, costs can be reduced in the print model to build out a healthy profit margin.  Exciting times ahead.