Quotes From Entertainment Executives

Goldman Sachs published a research report for Entertainment Investors, giving quotes from chief staff of Viacom (NYSE: VIA.B), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA), and Disney (NYSE: DIS). Quotes are as follows:

Viacom – Philippe Dauman, CEO
“But when you look at the severity of the recession we went through and the fact that, as people were cutting back on a lot of expenditures, they maintained their subscriptions tocable or telcos or satellite in the worst of times, I think that's a pretty good indicator of the value of the consumer proposition, to have all this variety of channels available and services, whether it is VOD or other services, that the distributors provide.”

Time Warner – John Martin, CFO
"In the short-run, Time Warner thinks the cord cutting risk is relatively limited because no over-the-top service matches the breadth and depth of the content – sports, live events, news – available from MVPDs. In the long-run, Time Warner also thinks the cord cutting risk is limited because over-the-top services will have difficulty accumulating the financial resources to outbid the incumbent distributors for content unless they meaningfully grow subscribers. Meaningful OTT subscriber growth is contingent on having more content and the only way to get more content is to outbid the incumbents – which brings the argument full circle. The content companies should act rationally and seek to maximize profits, the content will go to the highest bidder, and the incumbent distributors seem to have the advantage in terms of financial resources when bidding for content."

News Corp. – Chase Carey, Vice Chairman and COO
“I think, first, this whole cord cutting seems to be a bit the flavor of the month. I think digital is an issue we have to deal with, we have to manage. But I think it's a long-term issue. I don't think it's a two-, three- and five-year issue. I think as you go out in time, how do these digital platforms emerge? And I think in many ways there are both challenges we have to navigate and there are opportunities.”

Disney - Robert Iger, CEO
“We also are very mindful of what kind of products we make available in what I'll call an over-the-top experience or an Internet direct experience, because on one hand we want to reach consumers more often, serve consumers and by doing so improve our bottom line. On the other hand, we want to protect the channel business that has obviously been unbelievably valuable to us. We've been probably the most aggressive at putting our product on these new platforms, but we're still mindful of what product we put in the marketplace on these platforms and when and how it's priced.”

The Walt Disney Company closed yesterday at $33.12.
Viacom, Inc. closed yesterday at $34.75.
Time Warner Inc. closed yesterday at $30.76.
News Corporation closed yesterday at $13.46.

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