Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Environment
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Poor DVD sales hamper U.S. film financing deals
Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:02pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the credit crisis forces banks to scale back investments in Hollywood, a weak DVD market -- long an industry growth driver -- is adding to the challenges of getting films financed.
U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment fell 4 percent in 2008, in the first decline since the advent of the DVD, according to Bernstein Research analyst Michael Nathanson. DVD sales are estimated to have fallen 6 percent last year.
Operating margins at film studios, which have grown on the back of DVD sales for most of the decade, contracted 110 basis points in 2008, Nathanson wrote in a report on Wednesday.
He predicted demand for DVDs to fall further over the next five years as the maturing market slowly transitions to high-definition Blu-ray and digital distribution models, which offer lower profit per transaction.
Bankers say these trends are factoring into financing negotiations between lenders and studios, such as Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, Viacom Inc's Paramount, News Corp's Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co.
"Consistent with the financial markets as a whole, film lenders and investors are taking a much more conservative approach to structuring deals then they previously had," said Eileen Burke, principal of West End Capital and Advisory.
"If a company's business plan relies on robust DVD revenues, it's likely to be an area where lenders will haircut projections and their lending advance rates. It's a part of the overall analysis you do when determining how much 'lending currency' is available for a particular deal," she said.
From 2005 to 2008, hedge funds partnered with all the major banks from Merrill Lynch to Lehman Brothers to pour about $15 billion into films, financing studio "slates" of as many as a dozen movies at a time and collecting returns after the films were released or started generating DVD and TV revenue.
But after some box office duds and the credit freeze, most banks with the exception of JPMorgan have cut back in Hollywood.
"Every company in the industry is looking at the DVD market and how it affects it going forward. Some genres will be harder hit than others and certain companies will be harder hit than others. It will play a major factor in terms of financing," said PriceWaterhouseCoopers Managing Director Ron Cushey.
Stephen Prough, founder of Salem Partners, which advises investors on how to maximize film investments, agrees.
"The decline of video revenue is something the industry will have to deal with. Economic expectations will have to be adjusted and production costs will have to come down," he said, noting studios run "green-light" models to analyze releases.
After coming up with potential high and low box office ranges, video and TV revenue assumptions, studios determine whether a film has a good chance of turning a profit, he said.
"What's happening now is that lower video estimates are going into those models, which means that you either don't do a film, or have to do something on the cost side. The largest and most vulnerable line item is talent costs," he said.
"Video is the largest source of revenue on a new release, accounting for about 40 percent, but new release video is off 25 percent from a year ago," he said. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
also on reuters
Blog: Apple raises ruckus with baby-shaking app
"Banker to the poor" gives New York women a boost
Video
Video: "Best job in the world" a marketer's dream
More Entertainment News
Double elimination as "Idol" nears home stretch
Streisand says she can "relax" after Obama victory
Colorado man arrested for shooting bounty hunter "Dog"
"Lost" to host stealth campaign for "Flash Forward"
Miss Universe Australia in "skinny" controversy
More Entertainment News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Freddie Mac CFO in apparent suicide: police source | Video
Clinton says Cheney not a "reliable source"
Global economic crisis hits German sex industry
Lewis testified that U.S. urged silence on Merrill deal: report
U.S. credit card bill advances on eve of Obama meet | Video
Obama triggers firestorm in CIA interrogation case
Double elimination as "Idol" nears home stretch
Bra deflects bullet aimed at woman
Financial worries spark bearish option trades in ETFs
EU sent draft Intel ruling to member states-source
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Freddie Mac acting CFO dead
Obama touts green jobs on Earth Day
Smallest earth-like planet found
Terror suspects trial in Germany
Credit card controversy
IMF: Global recession is severe
Clinton: Pakistan abdicating Taliban
Galapagos volcano erupts again
Business Update: Mixed earnings
"Best job" a marketers dream
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters Deals
The global destination for corporate leaders, deal-makers and innovators
Knowledge to Act
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.