Sony, Sharp Meet To Build LCDs Sony Corp. has announced that it will take a one-third stake in Sharp Corp’s new LCD panel factory in Tokyo. The plant, which will cost $3.5 billion to construct, will be completed by March 2010. The partnership is a response to the growing popularity of flat-screen televisions, which has prompted competition between Japanese manufacturers. It is projected that worldwide LCD TV sales will double to 155 million units sold per year by 2012. To keep up with increased demand, Sony has lately had to look for alternate suppliers of LCD panels for its TV sets. In teaming up with Sharp, Sony has secured its supply of screens, while Sharp has been guaranteed a reliable buyer. After South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, Sony and Sharp are, respectively, the second and third largest manufacturers of flat screen TVs. In addition to investing in Sharp, Sony will continue to partner with Samsung for LCD screens as a way to keep its panel suppliers diverse. Apollo TV Project Out of Orbit Arbitron and TV ratings giant Nielsen Co. have put a stop to Apollo, one of the most expensive and buzz-worthy market research programs in history. The program’s sole purpose had been to examine how exposure to different media and marketing approaches affects purchases by tracking consumers’ media and buying habits in a single database. Arbitron used its Portable People Meters to track consumers’ media exposure both in and out of the home among members of Nielsen’s household panel, who had to scan each and every purchase they made. But while the service attracted seven major backers (including Procter & Gamble Co.), Apollo just couldn’t seem to win enough client commitments to be able to foot the bill for a massive U.S. rollout. Arbitron and Nielsen reportedly put more than $45 million combined into the program. Procter & Gamble is said to have paid another $20 million. Ben Ammar Goes to Italy France-based Quinta Communications CEOTarak Ben Ammar has acquired control of Eagle Pictures, a leading Italian film distributor, in a deal that is part of his strategy to establish a panEuropean network supported by Goldman Sachs. This U.S. investment bank already holds significant stakes in Aurum in Spain and inMomentumPictures in the U.K. and was instrumental to CanWest Global Communications’ $2.3-billion takeover of Alliance Atlantis. The Franco-Tunisian financier, Ben Ammar, is interested in creating a “onestop shopping distribution network” for independent producers in Europe and is widely considered one of the brightest entrepreneurs in the entertainment arena. He is currently in advanced negotiations to acquire Nordic distribution company, Scanbox Entertainment, and is looking for new targets in Europe. Very few players can compete against the Ben AmmarGoldman Sachs franchise, but one could be Russia’s Gazprom Media, which owns interests in TV stations, radios and newspapers. This latest holding claims as the main objective of its activities the accumulation and development of media assets, and has access to significant liquidity for new acquisitions. Another obstacle could be presented by several Jordan and Qatari entrepreneurs, who, in the new geofinancial situation, could become main players in the entertainment industry. In the market there are signs that motion pictures are regaining their importance as an asset class to corporate finance as hedge funds and private equity houses invested heavily in this industry in 2007. For example, Dark Castle Productions, a production company headed by producer Joel Silver, was able to raise $240 million in a deal underwritten by CIT Group, a provider of commercial and consumer finance solutions with global headquarters in New York City. In recent years the listing on the stock exchange has been an important growth strategy followed by several media companies. ContentFilm plc, a British company that holds an important library of film and television assets, AP R I L 2 0 0 8 WE KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT Every day, TV executives around the world use the most comprehensive analysis of cable network programming anywhere, to produce better programs and to buy the best programs. WWW.CABLEU.TV Know Networks Better. Pitch Smarter. (Continued on Page 10) (Continued from Page 6)
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