Viacom (VIAB) discusses its technology initiatives, independent films and selling radio assets (quotes from conf call)

Below are some comments from Viacom (VIAB) from its February 24, 2005 conference call with investors.

On its technology initiatives:

….Technology will play a big role in creating significant new opportunities for content… in broadband, wireless, and through other consumer electronic devices. We expect to be big participants here…....in 2004 our dot com revenues were up 50 percent…in 2005 we're going to introduce a branded digital music offering…. while that market is competitive, we clearly see this as an opportunity to carve out a slice for ourselves [and] reinforce our overall music brand positioning….we already have a very successful relationship with Virgin Wireless in the U.S. to deliver digital applications to handsets and [recently] announced a deal to deliver video clips to Verizon cell phones.

On a push into smaller, independent films:

…. …we do see beefing up the specialty film arm a bit…. you're looking there anywhere from four to eight picture a year over a period of time…..our slate of pictures is going to be, sort of all over the map from big to small. It will have a younger skew than it has had in the past..

On selling radio assets:

…. we are looking at divesting a lot of our radio stations…below the top 20 markets, and we're looking for swaps, we're looking for sales….you'll see some activity from us in the next few months….

(Quotes are from the CCBN StreetEvents transcript.)