| Liberty Media reports mixed 3rd quarter; Starz shines, QVC slumps
Liberty Media Corp. said today its third-quarter revenue climbed, although a solid performance by the Starz cable TV channel was offset by lower sales in the QVC home-shopping network. The diversified media holding company, founded by cable pioneer John Malone, was expected to release full consolidated financial statements later today. Liberty, based in suburban Englewood, has divided its assets into two groups, Liberty Interactive Group, which includes QVC and other e-commerce businesses, and Liberty Capital Group, which consists of Starz Entertainment LLC. Each has its own tracking stock. Liberty said its interactive group reported a 10 percent drop in operating income to $231 million from $257 million last year. Revenue edged up to $1.69 billion from $1.65 billion.
Digital Home Theater Storms CES
Increasingly, solution providers are entering the home theater arena, providing installation, advice and equipment. Many of these projects are in home settings, others are in offices. Users are shopping for products operating at ever-higher levels of performance. Products from screens to components to cables are increasing in demand. Following is a sampling of channel-friendly products featured at CES that solution providers might want to consider offering customers interested in this technology. Networked Audio Systems
Denon Electronics will debut its two new S-Series Networked Audio Systems, Models S-52 (SRP: $699) and S-32 (SRP: $499). Featuring advanced Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11 b/g), both systems offer consumers an easy way to wirelessly receive and enjoy music from other connected devices in the home and directly from the Rhapsody digital music service.
ShopLocal Retail Index Up 43% in December; Continues Record Growth for ...
CHICAGO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- ShopLocal(TM), the leader in multi-channel shopping and marketing services, today announced the ShopLocal Index was up 43 percent for the month of December compared with the same period last year. The Index ended the 2007 year with a 36 percent overall growth versus 2006, reflecting consumers' heightened awareness and use of the Internet to search for the best deals and promotions available in-store. As a point of comparison, e-commerce increased 19 percent in December versus last year, and total online retail spending grew 20% in 2007 (up from $102.1 billion to $122.7 billion) (1). In terms of retailer segments tracked by the ShopLocal Index, mass merchant and discount department stores showed the greatest growth, followed by consumer electronics and office stores.
Diller vs Malone
With friends like John Malone, the world's most powerful media executives could do without enemies. The cable industry mogul – who won the nickname Darth Vader because of his ruthless dealmaking style – is at it again, and in spectacular style. He has turned on his long-time ally, the television executive-turned-internet entrepreneur Barry Diller, and is trying to oust him from the helm of his internet empire, IAC/InterActiveCorp. Mr Diller has shot back that Mr Malone's reasons are "incomprehensible" and that his people have gone "insane", but the situation last night was that both men stubbornly insisted that they controlled the company. It promises to be a doozy of a media feud. IAC is Mr Diller's publicly quoted holding company, whose businesses include the box office website Ticketmaster, the upstart search engine Ask.com and the home shopping channel HSN.
IAC's shares jump 2% amid turmoil
IAC/InterActiveCorp, owner of the HSN home shopping network and Ticketmaster, rose almost 2 percent in U.S. trading on speculation billionaire John Malone will fail to wrest control of the company from chairman Barry Diller. Malone's Liberty Media Corp., which holds 30 percent of IAC's shares and 62 percent of its voting power, asked a court to let it oust Diller and six directors from IAC's board, according to a complaint filed Monday in Wilmington, Del. Liberty, the Douglas County-based owner of the QVC and Starz channels, wants to name three directors to IAC's board to fill the vacancies. IAC and Liberty traded lawsuits last week over Diller's plan to split IAC into five publicly traded companies and to halve Liberty's voting power. IAC rose 48 cents to $25.65 in Nasdaq composite trading, the highest since Jan.
IconNicholson's SocialRetailing(SM) Solution Selected by Time Magazine ...
NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- IconNicholson, a leading full-service digital agency, has been recognized by Time Magazine for its ground-breaking SocialRetailing(SM) concept, which was named one of the top inventions of the year. The solution -- developed for renowned fashion designer Nanette Lepore and piloted at Bloomingdale's this past spring -- demonstrates the agency's commitment to its clients to innovate the customer experience at a time when the Internet and other emerging technologies are profoundly changing the game of marketing and world-class customer service. SocialRetailing(SM) itself has come to represent what many are calling the first integration of Web 2.0 activities with real-world channels. Facebook, MySpace and other social sites are proving the power of social networks to influence purchasing decisions and buying behaviors; SocialRetailing(SM) connects that power with the in-store shopping experience and is the first of a wave of applications that IconNicholson envisions for the future of retail.
Corey caught on film fighting
PARTY pest Corey Worthington has been caught on camera taking part in a "pre-arranged" fight with a group of teenagers near a Melbourne shopping centre. The Narre Warren teen was filmed on a mobile phone camera trading blows with other teenagers at a park near Fountain Gate shopping centre on Monday afternoon. "Chris, give it to him," one onlooker is heard to say on the footage shown on Channel 9's A Current Affair last night. An unnamed witness said a fight broke out and Chris started hitting Corey in the face. Video: Corey fights in a Melbourne park "The fight broke out when I got to the oval. Chris started like hitting him in the face, kneeing him in the face," he said. "The group didn't like him. "Corey walked past the group that didn't like him. "It was a sort of planned fight.
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