Replies to post #220350 on Circa Pict. & Prod. Co. Intnl Inc. (fka CPPD)

[skunksyard]

good info island....here's a link to what you just posted

http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/stocks/media/10267563.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_i...

QTN is now in the middle of 5 carriers...and hopefully we get a satellite (let's not forget the telephony came on and pretty much on schedule: Verizon).....and we should see additional carriage from the existing ones.....

thanks for that info

[junkmasterg]

aloha



http://www.out.com/comments.asp?id=16382

Q Television Shuts Down Production

[skunksyard]

Univisión explores possible salePotential Univisión buyers include News Corp., Walt Disney and Time WarnerBY CHRISTINA [e-mail]ón, the nation's largest Spanish-language media empire, may put itself on the auction block in a move that would put one of the television industry's hottest growth companies up for grabs.
The Los Angeles-based company said its board of directors decided Wednesday to ''explore strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.'' Univisión said it has hired UBS Investment Bank to act as its financial advisor.
The news boosted the company's stock price by 12 percent, closing at $34.20 on Wednesday. That puts the company's value at about $10.5 billion.
Wall Street analysts estimated that Univisión could fetch $12 billion in the marketplace.
Univisión, which comprises two broadcast networks, a cable network, radio stations, an Internet portal and a music label, has long been eyed as a possible takeover target, but last fall rumors started intensifying that the company was in merger talks with some of the nation's major media conglomerates attracted by the potential of the rapidly mushrooming U.S. Hispanic population.
While growth at mainstream broadcast networks has lagged in the face of tough competition from cable and other media, Univisión has countered that trend in both viewership and finances.
The company posted a 36 percent increase in revenue in 2004, to $1.79 billion, and a 65 percent rise in profits to $256 million. Viewership has steadily increased to make it one of the top four most watched broadcast networks in the country.
Wall Street analysts pointed to four potential bidders that may be attracted to that scenario: CBS, News Corp., Walt Disney and Time Warner. Spokespersons for CBS, Disney and Time Warner declined comment.
News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch told analysts on a conference call Wednesday that he'd consider Univisión. ''We'll be looking at it, but we have no specific intentions and at some of the prices that have been thrown around, we have no intentions,'' he said.
Another possibility is Univisión programming partner and stockholder Grupo Televisa, which has long hankered for a bigger say in Univisión operations.
As a Mexican company, Televisa would be limited by foreign ownership rules to a maximum 25 percent stake in any deal, but could join up with a media conglomerate or private equity firm to make a bid.
A Televisa spokesman said the company had no comment.
Univisión also has another big foreign investor -- Venezuela's Venevisión, which owns 14 percent of Univisión with warrants exercised. ''I'm not sure Venevisión would sell,'' said Guzman & Co. equity analyst Philip Remek.
A spokeswoman for the Cisneros Group, owner of Venevisión, said the company would analyze all proposals.
Media conglomerates also face significant regulatory hurdles if they pursued Univisión. Both CBS and News Corp. would need to divest TV stations in order to comply with Federal Communications Commission limits on station ownership, wrote David C. Joyce of Miller Tabak + Co. in a research note.
FCC LOOPHOLE?
That might not be a significant handicap if the FCC looks at English-language and Spanish-language television coverage as different markets, Joyce said.
With fewer TV stations, Time Warner and Disney would not have such big FCC hindrances, but Time Warner is in the middle of a battle with shareholder Carl Icahn, who wants to break up the conglomerate, and Disney has been pursuing a strategy of content development, wrote Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen in a research note Wednesday.
Reif Cohen saw private equity firms as a more likely buyer.
The Univisión board decision comes as a running feud between Univisión and Televisa shows no sign of abating. Both companies have sued each other, alleging violations of their programming contract, which runs until 2017.
Last week Televisa upped its charges of violations to ``material breaches.''
If the alleged violations are found to be material breaches, that could prompt Televisa to ask a court to void the contract. But analysts have noted that even if that happened, Univisión would have 180 days to remedy the breaches, making a point-blank end to the contract an unlikely scenario.
Televisa's more likely strategy behind the suit, said observers, is to gain more leverage in sale talks.
GAINING LEVERAGE
''It is possible that Televisa's lawsuit is at least partially designed to obtain a seat at the negotiating table, as any bidder would have to think twice before purchasing a company involved in litigation with its primary supplier,'' Reif Cohen said.
Some observers saw Univisión's move to sell as an exit strategy for 75-year-old Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry Perenchio, who controls 56 percent of the company's voting power through a special class of stock.
It may also be a way to realize more value for the company, whose stock price has not risen in tandem with its revenue growth in recent years.
''The stock price remains depressed,'' said José Cancela, a former Univisión executive. ''And Perenchio is never going to mend fences with Emilio Azcárraga,'' the Televisa chairman.
Competitors see a Univisión merger with a large media conglomerate as positive for Hispanic media across the board. A general-market player would bring in more advertisers, said Azteca América Chairman Luis Echarte.
''It's very good news. There would be more money thrown into the market,'' he said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/13826605.htm