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Like Tiger Woods aiming for a field of brilliant green, Westinghouse Electric Corp. is about to make the most important approach shot of its life. For years the company was [...]

Acquisitions, mergers, and consolidation continue to dominate the broadcast and cable TV industries. Time Warner is acquiring Turner Broadcasting, CBS Inc is being acquired by Westinghouse, and Capital Cities ABC Inc is being purchased by the Disney Co. These mergers may not make business sense, but they are good for shareholders of the acquired companies. This industry has opportunities for the intelligent investor.

Strong demand for advertising time in commercial TV for 1995-1996 is helping earnings in this industry. Both cable and commercial broadcasters will also be providing appealing programming for the 1995-96 broadcast year. Agreements within the industry concerning the information highway and other topics, however, are what investors pay attention to. Investors seeking income should look elsewhere, but there are investment opportunities here.

The information superhighway, the fiber-optic interactive cable system, is the major investment problem for the TV and cable broadcasting industries. Consumers who do not wish to pay more for extra services, along with audience segmentation, will impact earnings of cable providers. Turner, Viacom, and other broadcasters who provide basic programming have the most favorable future for shares in this industry.

Investors looking to invest in media stocks will find much competition among companies aiming to eventually offer their customers similar services. Cable firms are laying fiber optic to offer interactive services, as well as 500 channels of television programming. Telephone companies have more financial clout and will soon join the competition, along with direct broadcast satellite systems. Customer demand for so much television programming remains doubtful, so these firms may fare better over the long term.

Investors have been oversold on the information superhighway and the demise of over-the-air TV. Broadcast has proven surprisingly resilient - via Fox, new networks and redoubled production efforts. The 'highway' will be no more pervasive than personal computers. Because it is too early to say what medium will predominate, investors are advised to go with companies that have a proven track record in programming, regardless of the medium.

Investor interest in the broadcast/cable television industry has increased dramatically in 1994 even though earnings are not particularly impressive. This is because of widespread excitement over the so-called 'information superhighway,' which would supposedly bring television viewers an estimated 500 interactive channels. Many questions about the promises of this industry have yet to answered, however, such as whether viewers would have the time for 500 television channels. Investors are advised to proceed cautiously.

Potential investors in the television broadcasting industry should look to companies that currently offer appealing programming. Such companies will be in the best position to woo viewer support through the difficulties that will accompany the coming transition to the 500-channel interactive data highway. They include Viacom, Turner, Capital Cities/ABC and CBS. Uncertainties throughout this dynamic industry make it difficult to predict promising investments.

The rapidly changing television broadcasting environment offers potential investors two investment strategies, to invest by distribution mode or by media content. Since the former is least predictable, it seems to be the riskier choice. Companies with high content ratings, including CBS, Multimedia, Turner Broadcasting, Capital Cities/ABC and Viacom, seem safer. The trend towards corporate mergers adds more uncertainty to the picture.

CBS has revamped its program lineups and its financial position to focus more on managing a profitable operation than maintaining its number one position in the ratings. The issues of program ownership and the effects of loosening the regulations by the FCC are examined.

$3.2 million The top price that CBS will charge for a 30-second ad during the 2010 Super Bowl, up from the $3 million high mark NBC set last year. The [...]

The recession continues unabatted, suppressing advertising revenue. Entertainment program cost, most agree, are out of control. Professional sport rights will this year singlehandedly drive the three-network earnings figure into the [...]

The Senate confirmation hearings on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas swept through the broadcasting industry like a tornado starting 10 days ago, turning everything upside down for an exhausting five-day [...]

Byline: Andrew Scott The tribe has spoken, but this time the tribe is automaker General Motors, who has decided to drop its sponsorship of CBS's Survivor reality series. Detroit, MI-based [...]

The CBS network has made a deal with its affiliate board over alternative digital media distribution. The agreement, if approved by stations, frees up CBS in making alternative digital platform [...]

NBC's favored ``Friends'' blew past network sibling ``ER'' and CBS's ``Survivor'' to top the charts this season as the highest-priced show on TV. A 30-second spot on ``Friends'' averages $455,700, [...]

CBS may ask stations to help pay for NCAA New York-CBS is expected to ask its local stations to help pay for a $6 billion contract to televise the NCAA [...]

How the broadcast networks' fourth-quarter scatter advertising market has turned out depends on which network you talk to. NBC and CBS say they have had record fourth-quarter scatter volume, each [...]

The decision by CBS television to cancel the Emmy Awards Show in Los Angeles for a second time on Oct. 7 cost the network millions in ad revenues, and the [...]

CBS' recent decision to cancel the Emmy Awards Show could have cost the network more than $50 million in ad revenue, and the show wasn't covered by cancellation insurance, said [...]

NEW YORK -- Viacom Inc. president Mel Karmazin offered analysts and investors more details on how terrorist attacks in New York and Washington affected his company's cable and broadcast networks, [...]

The nearly $400 million in disrupted TV commercial time due to the terrorist acts of Sept. 11 could spell trouble for TV networks, upsetting TV commercial pricing throughout the season. [...]

The nearly $400 million in disrupted TV commercial time due to the terrorist acts could spell trouble for TV networks, upsetting TV commercial pricing throughout the season that starts tonight. […]

Viacom Inc.'s cable networks helped to drive 18-percent revenue growth and 12-percent cash-flow growth in the second quarter, even as soft ad sales affected its radio and broadcast-television properties. In [...]

The primetime TV upfront market is looking worse than forecast, with the total take expected at $6.7 billion for this period-about $200 million below earlier estimates, and $1 billion less […]

FocusBaton Rouge THE MARKET DMA rank 96 Population 786,000 TV homes 280,000 Income per capita $15,701 TV revenue rank 75 TV revenue $58.2 million COMMERCIAL TV STATIONS Rank [*] Ch. [...]

The Script Development Fund which helped sponsor the creation of Gilmore Girls is growing. In the Fund's first year. The WB Television Network had the foresight to be the first [...]

After years of occupying third place among the Big Four television networks and seeing its audience grow as old as Dick Van Dyke's shtick, New York City-based CBS stormed back [...]

TV ad revenues are in for the fourth quarter, and, except for some big cable networks, they are higher than fourth quarter 1999 revenues, but not by much. But the [...]

CBS scored $200 million this Sunday from a combination of Super Bowl XXXV and 'Survivor 2' -- the highest ad revenue take for any network in a single [...]

Net revenues at the Big Three networks jumped 42.5%, to @2.6 billion, in the third quarter, thanks largely to the Olympics on NBC, according to Ernst & Young figures released [...]

Who wants to be a millionaire? The final answer to that oft-asked prime-time question is not the popular game show's contestants so much as the network that carries it-ABC. ``Who [...]

The bottom lines of the three major networks were healthy at the end of this year's second quarter. ABC, CBS and NBC registered a combined revenue increase over last year [...]