Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

Former Sentator Dodd Named New Head of MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America named former Senator Chrisopher Dodd as the new Chairman and CEO.  The news makes more sense in light of the fact that the MPAA is one of the largest lobbying groups in America.

Hopefully, the MPAA will go through some changes under Dodd’s leadership.  Their system of movie ratings has always been controversial, but it’s been under attack more recently.  The system is overly analytical and ignores context and thematic elements of transgressions.

The full text of the press release is under the cut.

Source: MPAA Press Release

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Atlus is dead! Long live Atlus!

1UP reported today that Atlus Games is being dissolved by their parent company, Index Holdings.  In the (realistic) best case, we’ll see some layoffs of middle management types and a more efficient business overall.  In the worst case, they’ll be a broken shell of their former selves; invoking pity and bittersweet memories of gamers everywhere.  Their Twitter feed is currently silent on any further details.

It’s been reported that Index Holdings is attempted to focus their attentions on a few core competencies, and I hope that this means we’ll continue to see the Atlus brand putting out some great games.

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WSJ Report: More Viewers “Cutting the Cord”

A couple of news agencies are reporting an increase in the number of viewers that are canceling their cable subscriptions and turning to their phones or computers for their television viewing.  The actual rate of increase isn’t substantial, but it’s the first time that cable has seen a decrease in the number of viewers.

I can’t help but wonder if this is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.  The possibility that consumers may begin to leave their couches has been meme-ed about so frequently, which helps those same consumers realize that they have the ability to leave their couches.  All this is in the midst of a slow summer among new movie releases.

So movies are blaming television which is blaming Hulu and Hulu is using the buzz to launch a little IPO of their own.  As I reported a few months back, Nielson is also planning on an IPO, but a skeptical me sees Hulu as being the more lucrative investment of the two.

The service that Nielson provides is to let advertisers know how many people watch “How I Met Your Mother,” so they know how much money they should be paying CBS for the privilege of telling people what they should be spending their money on.   They are in the process of expanding their online offerings so they can provide more of the same information, but in different formats.  Knowing the demographics of your viewership online is trivial for providers.  This problem is why Nielson is not in a growth industry.  But perhaps I’m tangent-ing.  The original points I wanted to make in this article are as follows:

1.  Perhaps people don’t want to pay for cable because they’re unemployed.

2.  I hate the term “cutting the cord.”

3.  Sometimes you have to use terms you hate if they’re popular buzz words or else no one will find your new flashy blog.

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Demo Look: Lego Harry Potter

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is a new game coming out on June 29th from Traveller’s Tales.  It will be presenting the first four books of the series in Lego form, just as we’ve seen in the past with Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones and is rated E.

I played through the demo last night and it’s a solid addition to the Lego video game franchise.  Levels have the openness of Lego Indiana Jones, without the level design issues.  The puzzles were appropriately challenging and even more carrots are being dangled in front of the player.  In addition to studs, you find yourself collecting crests, rescuing students, finding gold bricks among other collectibles.  The characters also learn new spells and thus gain new abilities as the game goes on, giving a sense of progression and leveling.

All in all, if you’ve enjoyed the Lego games in the past and aren’t tired of the premise, pick this one up as a summer gift for the kids in your life.  You can find it available on all the major consoles, as well as Windows on June 29th.

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Rockband 3: Hello Keytar

Ever since Jeffster’s stellar performance of Mr. Roboto on Chuck, I’ve dreamed of playing the Keytar.  The only obstacle is my complete lack of musical talent.

Until now.

Rockband 3 was announced my Harmonix a couple of months ago.  Today they announced the new peripheral, a keyboard and it actually looks like a keyboard.  It’s designed so that you can play it either on your lap or slung over your shoulder.

You can read more about it and see an interview over at Endgadet. (Link)

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Monday News Roundup – Julia Stiles & Torchwood

No big news today, but some interesting TV casting and moves.

  • Julia Stiles will be on ten episodes of the new season of Dexter.
  • Torchwood’s next season is moving from BBC America to Starz.
  • Lie to Me is returning to Fox tonight, Pretty Little Liars is premiering tomorrow on ABC Family and True Blood is returning on Sunday.
  • MTV showed some stuff over the weekend, but I don’t care.
  • Apparently, this last Memorial Day was the worst one for movies in 17 years.  Neither Prince of Persia, nor SATC 2 brought in the revenue that people were expecting.

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Nielsen’s Public Offering – Part 2

The financial analysis for Nielsen is still forthcoming, but I have looked a bit more on what the financial blogosphere is saying about it.  Most sites, such as Motley Fool and the Wall Street Journal, are calling the IPO a poor purchase.  What I find disappointing is the reasoning behind it.

Nielsen has a terrible business model.  They use a couple of thousand households to speculate on the viewership habits of millions.  The last view years has seen them branch out into some tracking of Internet and delayed viewing in their ratings.  The problem is that tracking Internet or DVR views is trivial.  Anytime you watch something on ABC, they know.  Every rewind on that TIVO is tracked.  Nielsen is no longer providing the useful product it once did.

But who cares?

Let’s say I start a LintMart.  We’re devoted to selling lint.  We have 6 customers.  Each of them pays us a million dollars for each gram of lint we provide them, with a bonus if the lint is  blue.  It’s a terrible business model, but I have customers and I’m making money.  With that kind of profit margin, why wouldn’t you invest?

Now, I’m not saying that Nielsen is selling fluff for a ridiculous amount, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t write it off as a bad investment simply because they have serious going concern problems.

So why should you write it off?  Michael Corkery on the WSJ says it better than I can: (Link)

“Still, anytime savvy investors – such as KKR, Blackstone and Carlyle Group – are selling out in a volatile stock market — potential investors should be asking themselves why.”

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Nielsen’s Public Offering

The Nielsen Company is who we blame when our favorite shows get canceled.  They’re planning a public stock offering, which means that sometime in the future, you may be able to buy NIEL stock.  This is purely speculation on my part, but N and NIE and NLS are all already taken, so the choices are limited.

TV by the Numbers has a bit of analysis on the legalize in the SEC document that’s amusing.

For my own part, I’m going to try to go through the numbers in the document and see where the company actually stands and post it tonight.  I’m also interested in how it affects a company that’s incorporated in the Netherlands to do a public offering in the US.

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Del Toro Quits The Hobbit

Guillermo Del Toro just announced today that he will not longer be directing The Hobbit. Just a few days ago, during press for Splice, Guillermo said he was still on board for the project. Unfortunately, delays caused by MGM’s troubles led to the departure.

In 2009, MGM sought to restructure its debt in an effort to continue operations.  Investors refused the restructure proposal and decided instead to sell off the company, either in pieces or as a whole.  The company’s intellectual property includes James Bond and part of the two Hobbit movies slated to be released in 2011 and 2012.  Estimates on the value of the company range from 1 to 3.5 billion.

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Television’s New Night

Television’s upfronts are this week and the various networks are announcing new shows and line-ups for the fall. For the last few years, Friday nights are where shows go to die. The opportunity costs are low enough that it’s an easy place to put a regretful new show or an old favorite that’s past its prime.

This fall almost every network is putting some effort into their Friday night lineup. Here are the shows we can expect:

Fall 2010 Friday Lineup

ABC CBS CW FOX NBC
08:00 Secret Millionaire Medium Smallville Human Target Who Do You Think You Are? &

School Pride

09:00 Body of Proof CSI/NY Supernatural The Good Guys Dateline
10:00 20/20 Blue Bloods Outlaw

* Bolded items are new shows.

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