Market Currents

• Wednesday, November 4, 2009

• 09:44 AM Oppenheimer lifts Viacom (VIA +2.3%) to Outperform, saying valuation is "excessively low." Firm contends cable is positioned to benefit from late-quarter holiday ad buying; says Viacom's cost management has been excellent; and predicts Paramount will deliver a robust Q4 thanks to low-budget "Paranormal Activity" and strong DVD sales. Comment!

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 07:25 AM Viacom (VIA): Q3 EPS of $0.69 beats by $0.12. Revenue of $3.32B (-2.7%) in-line. Shares +0.7% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable premarket earnings: ABC, ACOR, ADM, AMT, ANR, CAM, COL, CTSH, EMR, EXPD, FTR, GET, HCP, HNT, ICE, JOE, JRCC, LPX, MA, MHS, MRO, MVL, NXG, OSK, PER, PKD, PQ, RCL, RDC, RL, SNH, TE, TEVA, THC, TLM, VIA, VNO Comment!

• Sunday, October 18, 2009

• 18:12 PM Top weekend movies (last weekend's ranking in parentheses, *=new): 1) Where the Wild Things Are (TWX, *, $32.5M). 2) Law Abiding Citizen (LINTA, *, $21.2M). 3) Paranormal Activity (VIA, 4, $20.2M). 4) Couples Retreat (GE, 1, $17.9M). Comment!

• Wednesday, October 14, 2009

• 07:24 AM National Amusements to sell part of its stake in CBS (CBS) ($345M) and Viacom (VIA) ($600M). (MW) Comment!

• Tuesday, September 29, 2009

• 14:05 PM Summit Entertainment, the studio that scooped up teen vampire movie Twilight from Paramount (VIA), is close to hiring Morgan Stanley (MS) to help it identify potential acquisitions that could include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (owners: Sony (SNE), Comcast (CMCSA), TPG Capital, Providence Equity Partners, and others) or The Weinstein Co. Comment!

• Tuesday, September 1, 2009

• 08:15 AM Not everyone feels marvelous about Disney's (DIS) latest acquisition. Paramount (VIA) will be able to complete but not extend a recent distribution deal with Marvel (MVL), and Electronic Arts (ERTS) got bumped as a short-term acquisition target for Disney. Comment!

• Wednesday, August 26, 2009

• 09:07 AM The four-month revenue-sharing trial between Paramount Pictures' (VIA) and Redbox (CSTR) is a win-win: it gives Redbox a little more leverage in dealing with hold-out studios and gives Paramount a little more flexibility in its efforts to boost DVD sales. Comment!

• Sunday, August 23, 2009

• 19:08 PM In a 5,000 word article a week ago, NY Times said indie movie company Weinstein Co. was in dire need of a hit after a string of failures. They may have gotten it with Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which opened this week at #1 with $37.6M in sales. Rounding out the top four: Sony's (SNE) District 9 ($18.9M); Paramount's (VIA) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($12.5M); and Warner's (TWX) The Time Traveler’s Wife ($10M). 2 Comments

• Wednesday, July 1, 2009

• 08:12 AM Paramount Pictures (VIA) is looking to merge its home entertainment unit with a rival and is in advanced talks with Sony Pictures (SNE) and Fox studio (NWS). Comment!

• Thursday, June 25, 2009

• 13:44 PM Transformers Revenge of the Fallen's (VIA) Wednesday debut brings in $60.6M, dwarfing previous Wednesday debut record holder Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which made $44.2M. Comment!

• Tuesday, May 5, 2009

• 09:53 AM Burger King (BKC) turns to Hollywood, teaming up with Paramount Pictures (VIA) to promote the summer releases of "Star Trek," "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe." Comment!

• Thursday, April 30, 2009

• 13:10 PM This is the beginning of a bull, Sumner Redstone (VIA) says, noting markets are shrugging off bad news. Redstone also took a swipe at rival Rupert Murdoch (NWS): "The newspaper is dying... I'm not sure there will be newspapers in 10 years. I read newspapers every day. I even read Murdoch's Wall Street Journal." 1 Comment

• Tuesday, April 28, 2009

• 13:18 PM The new kids on home-entertainment block continue to grow rapidly. Blu-Ray sales more than doubled in Q1, and digital downloads rose 19% - great news for Sony (SNE), Netflix (NFLX) and Blockbuster (BBI). Meanwhile traditional DVD sales fell 14%; Time Warner (TWX) and Viacom (VIA), which report this week, both rely heavily on DVD sales. Comment!

• Thursday, February 12, 2009

• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Thursday's open: AET, ALXN, BWA, CLI, ECA, ECL, FCL, KO, LH, LIFE, MAR, MAS, NRG, NXY, PCH, PGN, PTEN, SCG, TDC, VIA.B, VTR, WMI Comment!

• Tuesday, January 20, 2009

• 15:56 PM Comcast (CMCSA) and Discovery Communications (DISCA) have quietly reached a new long-term carriage deal, TVWeek says, filling in the details of an agreement that - in contrast to the high-profile Viacom (VIA) / Time Warner Cable (TWC) battle - didn't even generate a press release. Comment!