The stock opened the day up 3.3% after the satellite company announced strong Q4 results and a $4B share repurchase plan. But the stock price has dropped since then to -3.3 at mid-afternoon as investors grappled with the implications of Venezuela’s decision this week to devalue its currency by 32% — which will lead DirecTV to take a $160M charge this quarter. “We think investor focus remains on the Venezuelan devaluation and the prospect of further Argentinian devaluation to the company’s growth prospects in U.S. dollars,” says Isi Media’s Vijay Jayant. That’s too bad for the company because its Q4 numbers were strong. It generated net income of $948M, +31.1% vs the same quarter in 2011, on revenues of $8.05B, +7.9%. Revenues were slightly ahead of the Street’s forecast for $8.03B. Earnings per share, at $1.55, were way ahead of expectations for $1.13. In the U.S., revenues were +5% to $6.32B with operating income +6% to $1.02B.
- 2/14/2013
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
Satellite TV giant DirecTV on Thursday reported higher fourth-quarter financials and said it crossed the 20 million subscriber mark despite slower customer growth. The company, led by president, CEO and chairman Mike White, posted an earnings increase of 31 percent to $942 million. Revenue rose 8 percent to $8.05 billion. The figures exceeded Wall Street estimates. The pay TV company signed up 103,000 net new U.S. subscribers, down from 125,000 in the year-ago period. That brought DirecTV's total U.S. subscriber base to more than 20.08 million. The firm is the second-largest
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- 2/14/2013
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DirecTV CEO Mike White is no stranger to taking a stand against rising programming costs, pulling 16 Viacom channels off his service during the summer for 10 days before reaching a carriage deal. Now his company and Dish Network are the lone pay TV providers serving Southern California who don’t have an agreement to carry the La Lakers’ newly created TV homes: Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes. The satellite companies are balking at the $3.95-per-sub-per-month price that TWC reportedly wants. (Verizon, At&T, Charter and, as of today, Cox Communications have made deals and are carrying the channels.) DirecTV, with about 1.2 million subs in SoCal, also is holding out on making a deal for a third rookie regional sports net, the Pac-12 Networks. It says that costs are out of control. (A fine Sports Business Journal report on the La mess calculates providers must pony up about...
- 11/8/2012
- by PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor
- Deadline TV
Analysts may overlook some of the encouraging numbers in the satellite company’s latest earnings as a higher-than-expected churn rate resulted in disappointing growth in domestic subscriptions. DirecTV ended up with net income of $572M, +9.8% vs the period last year, on revenues of $7.42B, +8.4%. Revenues were a hair above the $7.41B that the Street expected. But earnings per share at 90 cents missed projections for 93 cents — and the results would have been lower without a $39M “other gain.” The U.S. business generated $5.77B in revenues, +6.4%, with an operating profit of $876M, +9.5%. The gains were partly due to price increases, higher sales of premium services, and an extra week of NFL Sunday Ticket vs last year. But the standout figure is the 19.98M domestic subscriber number — up just 67,000 vs last year’s gain of 327,000. The company says the slowdown is largely due to a rising churn rate “principally driven by a contract dispute” with Viacom.
- 11/6/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
Satellite TV giant DirecTV on Tuesday reported higher third-quarter earnings as its U.S. pay TV subscriber growth momentum slowed. "U.S. subs were a lower than expected due to a combination of slightly lower gross adds and higher churn - due in part to the Viacom dispute," Barclays Capital analyst James Ratcliffe said. The company, led by chairman and CEO Mike White, posted a profit of $565 million, up 9 percent from the year-ago period. Revenue rose 8 percent to $7.42 billion. DirecTV signed up 67,000 new U.S. pay TV subscribers in the third
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- 11/6/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The announcement about Michael White’s agreement to stay is a little unusual: Although he’ll stay past the January 1 expiration of his three-year contract, there’s no word about a new contract, how long he’ll be around, and how much he’ll be paid. DirecTV says details will come later in an SEC filing. White says that he’s “grateful for the opportunity to continue to lead DirecTV…at this exciting and challenging time.” He adds that he remains “fully committed to continue increasing value for our shareholders by providing the best video experience for all of our customers.” The board’s lead independent director, Neil Austrian, says that White has “kept us on a course to continue serving the long-term interests of shareholders.” DirecTV stock has appreciated 52.4% since White took charge. He had a compensation package in 2011 of $5.9M, down from $32.9M the previous year which included special stock and option awards.
- 11/2/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
DirecTV said Friday that Mike White has agreed to continue leading the company in his roles as chairman, president and CEO. His current employment agreement with the satellite TV giant would have expired on Jan. 1. The company no longer has long-term contracts for its executives, so his employment will be ongoing. Terms of his extension weren't disclosed. "During his three-year tenure as CEO, White has led DirecTV to record performance levels and has kept the company positioned as the top video entertainment choice in the U.S. and across Latin America," the company said. "Over the
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- 11/2/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DirecTV CEO Michael White kept the ember of this long-standing idea burning this morning at the Goldman Sachs Annual Communicopia Conference. “Consolidation could be pro-consumer, perhaps,” he told investors, citing, among other things, the soaring programming costs for DirecTV and other pay TV providers. White says that outlays for popular channels are growing “at an unsustainable rate for consumers.” (That includes DirecTV’s higher payments from its new deal with Viacom, although White says that “we ended up better off” after the companies’ recent showdown.) This would be an awkward time to pursue a deal. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has been amassing rights for wireless spectrum and “we have to see what he has in mind to do with it,” White says. Verizon, At&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile already are well established in the wireless phone business. “It’s hard for us to see why we’d ever want...
- 9/21/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
DirecTV CEO Mike White said Friday that a possible combination with Dish Network, if that option is ever revisited, could be seen as being "pro-consumer" amid a continuing increase in programming costs. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York in a session that was webcast, he said the industry has changed since the last time the companies pursued a deal a few years ago. After all, telecom giants' video services are already available in half the country, and there continues to be a "challenging content cost environment," White said. Asked if Dish chairman Charlie Ergen's
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- 9/21/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Was Viacom’s showdown last month with DirecTV worth the trouble? It was from Viacom’s view, CEO Philippe Dauman told analysts this morning. The final terms were “materially better for Viacom than the deal that was on the table” at the beginning of the nine-day period when the company’s 17 channels went dark at the homes of DirecTV’s 20M subscribers. “We are extremely pleased”. The impact will show up on Viacom’s next earnings report, due in about three months. But Dauman says his company’s ad losses will roughly equal the total sales for the Bet Awards, which aired July 1. “They basically cancel each other out”, he says — which means the underlying business is showing “core sequential improvement.” The rate hike for DirecTV in the 7-year deal will be “significantly more than 20%” right away with “annual increases in excess of the prior agreement”. He’s also pleased...
- 8/3/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
It’s believed to be the first time that DirecTV has lost subscribers in the U.S., and the drop — of 52,000 to 19.9M — was bigger than many analysts expected. In Q2 the satellite company generated $716M in net income, +1% vs last year, on revenues of $7.2B, +9.5%. The revenue figure is right about what the Street anticipated. But earnings at $1.09 a share were short of the $1.14 consensus figure. (There’s no mention of the recent battle with Viacom, which took place in Q3.) DirecTV says that the U.S. sub loss reflects its “greater focus on higher quality subscribers and stricter credit policies.” Expectations aside, the numbers weren’t bad: Revenues from the U.S. operation were +7% to $5.6B with an operating profit of $1.2B, +19.7%. And DirecTV’s Latin America operations were surprisingly strong. They gained 645,000 subscribers, for a total of 9.1M. Revenues there at $1.5B were +20.3%, but unfavorable exchange rates...
- 8/2/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
DirecTV on Thursday reported its first-ever quarter of U.S. subscriber declines, but set a new company record for user growth in Latin America. The satellite TV giant, led by CEO Mike White, posted a profit of $711 million, up 1 percent. Revenue grew 9 percent to $7.22 billion. But U.S. subscribers fell by 52,000, compared with a year-ago gain of 26,000. DirecTV ended June with 19.91 million U.S. subscribers. The decline came before a cable networks carriage dispute with entertainment conglomerate Viacom last month. "DirecTV U.S. delivered the highest operating
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- 8/2/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Negotiators spend just “10 minutes a day talking” about substantive matters says Denise Denson, Viacom Media Networks’ Evp for Content Distribution and Marketing. “I don’t see it ending any time soon.” Viacom’s 17 channels went dark for DirecTV’s 20M customers early last week. Afterward Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman offered a compromise proposal to DirecTV CEO Michael White while they were both at the Allen & Co confab in Sun Valley. “Philippe hasn’t heard personally back from Mike since,” Denson says. In her view DirecTV is dragging things out because “in the short term the programmer does feel the pressure from the loss of subscribers.” The satellite company was “bullied into this by their investors” and wants to send a signal to other programmers not to ask for big price increases. But she says that DirecTV is being disingenuous with its subscribers by urging them to hang on in the...
- 7/18/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
At midnight on Tuesday, 17 Viacom-owned cable nets like Nickelodeon and Comedy Central went dark on DirecTV after the conglomerate failed to reach a new carriage deal with the satellite provider.
DirecTV customers who wanted their MTV (or their Bet, or Spike, or VH1) were met with this message: “Viacom, the owner of this channel, forced DirecTV to suspend it despite our many requests to keep it on. We are working to bring it back as soon as possible without an unfair increase to your bill. Disruptions like this are brief. Go to DirecTVPromise.com for the latest info.” CEO Mike White...
DirecTV customers who wanted their MTV (or their Bet, or Spike, or VH1) were met with this message: “Viacom, the owner of this channel, forced DirecTV to suspend it despite our many requests to keep it on. We are working to bring it back as soon as possible without an unfair increase to your bill. Disruptions like this are brief. Go to DirecTVPromise.com for the latest info.” CEO Mike White...
- 7/11/2012
- by Lynette Rice
- EW - Inside TV
A carriage-fee showdown between entertainment conglomerate Viacom and satellite TV giant DirecTV could lead to its networks not being available to DirecTV subscribers as of midnight Tuesday. "Our negotiations have reached an impasse,” Viacom, led by CEO Philippe Dauman, said in a blog post. It argued that DirecTV offered "a lower rate than Viacom receives from any other distributor in the industry.” The blog post said that DirecTV may drop all Viacom channels as of midnight. DirecTV, led by CEO Mike White, has about 20 million subscribers. It carries 26 Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and
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- 7/10/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DirecTV CEO Mike White on Friday said that there was something to be said for another attempt at a merger with Dish Network. "There is a strategic logic to having one satellite company servicing a country like the United States, and certainly if I look at where content costs are, there is probably more of a case for that," he said. Speaking at the Sanford C. Bernstein 28th annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, White was asked about the possibility of a merger. The companies tried to combine in 2002, but the plan was rejected by the FCC
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- 6/1/2012
- by Eriq Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This is a big deal. Chang has been at the center of DirecTV’s negotiations with broadcast and pay TV channels since 2006 — including the recent dust-up with Tribune — and is highly regarded throughout the industry. Before joining the No. 1 satellite company he was interim CFO at Charter Communications, a member of the original management team at the New York Yankees’ Yes Network, and an exec at At&T Broadband. CEO Michael White says that Chang wants to “take his career in a different direction.” Here’s the release: El Segundo, Calif., May 29, 2012 – Directv announced today that after more than six years of successfully leading its programming acquisition, original content, regional sports networks and ad sales groups, Derek Chang will leave his position as executive vice president of Content Strategy and Development at the end of the year. Succeeding him will be Dan York, former president of Content and Advertising Sales for At&T,...
- 5/29/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
The stock is down slightly in pre-market trading after the No. 1 satellite company issued a Q1 earnings report that seems to justify the cases for both bulls and bears. DirecTV generated net income of $741M, up 8.5% vs the period last year, on revenues of $7.05B, up 11.5%. Analysts expected revenues to be just a little higher, at $7.06B. But earnings of $1.07 a share were a penny ahead of forecasts. DirecTV ended the period with nearly 20M U.S. subscribers, up 81,000. Analysts were looking for a jump closer to 86,000 — and some were as high as 115,000. That would still be down from early 2011, when DirecTV added 184,000 customers. The picture was brighter in Latin America, where the company added 593,000 subs for a total of 8.5M. DirecTV says that earnings were tempered by increasing programming costs, along with increased spending to retain U.S. customers. CEO Mike White says that “our industry leading revenue and...
- 5/8/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
DirecTV on Tuesday reported increased first-quarter financials. The satellite TV giant, led by CEO Mike White, posted earnings of $731 million, up 8 percent. Revenue grew 12 percent to $7.05 billion. The company added 81,000 U.S. subscribers in the latest period, compared with 184,000 additions in the year-ago quarter. It ended March with 19.97 million subscribers. In Latin America, DirecTV added 593,000 subscribers, compared with 427,000 in the year-ago period. "DirecTV delivered another strong quarter of financial and operating results highlighted by double-digit revenue, earnings per share and cash
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- 5/8/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The No. 1 satellite company promoted Paul Guyardo to be Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, continuing to report to CEO Mike White. Guyardo will pick up ad sales, which will expand as DirecTV begins to sell local ads. As a result, the company says, he’ll oversee ”all functions that drive the Company’s $22 billion in U.S. revenue.” His universe already included marketing, branding, public relations, pricing and packaging, directv.com, sports, premium channels and on-demand businesses, customer retention, consumer research and analytics and creative services. The company also promoted Keith Kazerman to Svp Ad Sales, reporting to Guyardo. He’ll focus on interactive ads. Meanwhile, DirecTV created a Digital Entertainment Products unit, pulling together several existing operations, to develop the company’s strategy on initiatives including TV Everywhere. It will be run by Svp Tony Goncalves, who used to report to Guyardo, and now also will report to White. “As...
- 4/30/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
New York - DirecTV executives on Thursday morning touted the growth outlook for DirecTV Latin America, with Mike White, the chairman and CEO of the satellite TV firm, vowing that "the best is yet to come." "We have had a terrific couple of years," but there is more growth in the years ahead, he said in opening the DirecTV Latin America Investor Day, which was webcast. The growth outlook for the region "is still huge," making DirecTV Latin America a "terrific opportunity" for investors, he said. More than 80 percent of DirecTV's profit growth in 2011 came from
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- 3/29/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York - DirecTV chairman and CEO Mike White's compensation amounted to $5.94 million in 2011, according to a regulatory filing from the satellite TV giant on Tuesday. His haul was down from $32.93 million in 2010 when he got big initial multi-year stock and options awards upon his joining the company. His 2010 compensation included $14.69 million in stock awards and $12.50 million in options awards. Excluding that, his compensation package's value increased slightly. The one-time awards "were in the form of a single "up front" multi-year incentive grant, valued at approximately
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- 2/28/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Shares are up in pre-market trading as the satellite company performed well in Q4, with a lot of help from Latin America. DirecTV had net income of $718M in the year-end quarter, up 16.2% vs the period in 2010, on revenues of $7.5B, up 12,7%. The revenue figure slightly beat the $7.4B that the Street anticipated. Earnings at $1.02 a share were well ahead of the 92 cents forecast. At the main business, the U.S. satellite service, revenues were up 9% to $6B as rate increases and higher sales of NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions outweighed the growing number of discounts DirecTV offered to new customers. The company ended the year with 19.9M domestic subscribers, up 3% vs the end of 2010. The net addition of 125,000 customers in the quarter represents a sharp retreat from the period last year when DirecTV added 289,000 U.S. subscribers. At the Latin American operation — which includes large stakes in Sky Brazil, Sky Mexico,...
- 2/16/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
New York - DirecTV on Thursday reported higher fourth-quarter earnings and revenue as subscriber growth continued driven by its Latin American business, but slowed in the U.S. compared with the year-ago period. The satellite TV giant posted a quarterly profit of $718 million, up 16 percent compared with the same quarter of 2010. Revenue rose nearly 13 percent to $7.46 billion. DirecTV on Thursday also unveiled a new $6 billion stock buyback program. The company, led by chairman and CEO Mike White, said it added 715,000 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter. In the U.
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- 2/16/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York - Ubs analyst John Hodulik has turned bearish on satellite TV giant DirecTV, downgrading its stock from "buy" to "neutral," citing a likely slowdown in subscriber growth this year. As a result, he also cut his price target on the stock from $53 to $46 on Wednesday. DirecTV is led by chairman and CEO Mike White who has gotten positive reviews from Wall Street. "The maturity of the U.S. pay TV market and increased competition from cable will require DirecTV to focus less on subscriber growth and more on retention and profitability," he wrote in a
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- 1/18/2012
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Update, 11:30 Am: DirecTV shares are up 6.3% after it reported better-than-expected sub growth in 3Q — and a three year extension of its deal with At&T to sell co-branded TV, broadband, and wired and wireless phone services in 22 states. The agreement, which now runs through March 2015, covers areas where At&T does not offer its U-verse video service. There’s “no material change” in the terms, DirecTV CEO Mike White told analysts in a conference call. He added that it’s “too soon to say” whether DirecTV will offer more bundles with Verizon broadband services. ”The question will be how customer friendly the (Internet usage) caps are.” White says he talks to everybody about packaging broadband service with DirecTV — and that could include Dish Network if it uses the wireless spectrum it’s amassing to sell a wireless Internet service. DirecTV is “thinking about the cloud and where you use...
- 11/3/2011
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
CEOs from two major cable television distributors and a satellite television provider met this week with the Federal Communications Commission to ask it to address retransmission consent issues that they say are harming millions of consumers. Glen Britt of Time Warner Cable and Michael White of DirecTV met with commissioners Robert McDowell and Michael Copps on Wednesday, while Mediacom CEO Rocco Commissio held a conference call with commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s chief of staff, Dave Grimaldi, on Tuesday. Also read: Cablevision, Fox Fuel Fire That Could Burn the Cable Industry The move comes after breakdowns...
- 9/23/2011
- by Peter Voskamp
- The Wrap
Update, 7:15 Am: Investors appear to be more concerned this morning about DirecTV's potential weakness in the U.S. than they are with its better-than-expected financial performance in 2Q. The stock price is down 6% in early trading. "Unfortunately, the picture in the U.S. isn't all that appealing," says Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett. Subscriber growth is "unmistakably slowing," he adds: The 26,000 pickup in domestic subscribers for the quarter is DirecTV's lowest ever and constrasts with 100,000 a year ago. Previous, 5:28 Am: The No. 1 satellite company reported 2Q net income of $701M, up 29% vs the same period last year, on revenues of $6.6B, up 12.9%. Earnings at 91 cents a share handily beat the 85 cents that analysts forecast. They expected revenues to come in at $6.5B. The company says it ended June with 19.4M subscribers, up 4% from a year ago. Higher prices for subscriptions and leased set-top boxes outweighed the promotional discounts.
- 8/4/2011
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
New York -- The FCC is scheduled to start the process towards possible retransmission consent reform at a meeting on Thursday, but DirecTV CEO Mike White doesn't expect sweeping changes from the government agency.
Amid heated programming fee showdowns between broadcasters and TV distributors last year, such as one between cable operator Cablevision and News Corp./Fox that led to the temporary loss of signals in Cablevision households, some have called for new powers for the FCC in such battles.
In Thursday's open meeting, the FCC will consider issuing a so-called notice of proposed rulemaking that will seek comments on possible reforms to current retrans rules.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco Tuesday, White reiterated that the best the agency can likely do is to add transparency to the process.
"I'd love to see "you can't take it dark" and arbitration and all those things,...
Amid heated programming fee showdowns between broadcasters and TV distributors last year, such as one between cable operator Cablevision and News Corp./Fox that led to the temporary loss of signals in Cablevision households, some have called for new powers for the FCC in such battles.
In Thursday's open meeting, the FCC will consider issuing a so-called notice of proposed rulemaking that will seek comments on possible reforms to current retrans rules.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco Tuesday, White reiterated that the best the agency can likely do is to add transparency to the process.
"I'd love to see "you can't take it dark" and arbitration and all those things,...
New York – Satellite TV giant DirecTV on Wednesday said it swung to a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and added more net subscribers than projected.
U.S. subscriber momentum exceeded expectations, and the company also continued to grow its Latin American subscribers in the latest period, which propelled it to its best quarter of total subscriber growth in 10 years.
DirecTV added 667,000 net subscribers in the final period of 2010, including 289,000 in the U.S. - well ahead of the Wall Street consensus expectation of 200,000 for the U.S. and of the year-ago addition of 119,000 users. That allowed DirecTV to end 2010 with more than 19.2 million total U.S. customers. For all of 2010, DirecTV added 663,000 U.S. subscribers, compared with 939,000 in 2009.
"Our fourth quarter results capped off one of DirecTV's strongest years ever as we further extended our position as the world's largest provider of pay television services with over 28 million subscribers in the U.
U.S. subscriber momentum exceeded expectations, and the company also continued to grow its Latin American subscribers in the latest period, which propelled it to its best quarter of total subscriber growth in 10 years.
DirecTV added 667,000 net subscribers in the final period of 2010, including 289,000 in the U.S. - well ahead of the Wall Street consensus expectation of 200,000 for the U.S. and of the year-ago addition of 119,000 users. That allowed DirecTV to end 2010 with more than 19.2 million total U.S. customers. For all of 2010, DirecTV added 663,000 U.S. subscribers, compared with 939,000 in 2009.
"Our fourth quarter results capped off one of DirecTV's strongest years ever as we further extended our position as the world's largest provider of pay television services with over 28 million subscribers in the U.
- 2/23/2011
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Survivor" will stage a battle for the ages in the fall.
Wait -- make that battle of the ages.
"Survivor: Nicaragua" will organize its two tribes by age when the season kicks off on Sept. 15. One tribe, Espada, will consist of people over 40, and the other, La Flor, will be made up of people under 30. (Sorry, thirtysomethings. You don't get to play this time.)
The cast -- including, possibly, former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson -- will be revealed in a couple of weeks.
- CBS has also revealed four of the executives who will be taking part in "Undercover Boss" this season -- including the show's first female CEO.
She is Kimberly K. Schaefer, the CEO of Great Wolf Resorts, which operates indoor water parks. The others are DirecTV chairman, president and CEO Mike White; Nascar senior vice president Steve Phelps; and Chiquita Brands International chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre.
Wait -- make that battle of the ages.
"Survivor: Nicaragua" will organize its two tribes by age when the season kicks off on Sept. 15. One tribe, Espada, will consist of people over 40, and the other, La Flor, will be made up of people under 30. (Sorry, thirtysomethings. You don't get to play this time.)
The cast -- including, possibly, former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson -- will be revealed in a couple of weeks.
- CBS has also revealed four of the executives who will be taking part in "Undercover Boss" this season -- including the show's first female CEO.
She is Kimberly K. Schaefer, the CEO of Great Wolf Resorts, which operates indoor water parks. The others are DirecTV chairman, president and CEO Mike White; Nascar senior vice president Steve Phelps; and Chiquita Brands International chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre.
- 7/28/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
CBS today announced the next four company chiefs who have signed up to participate in this season’s Undercover Boss, which will bow Sept. 26 before moving to its regular time period on Oct. 3. They are Nascar’s Senior VP Steve Phelps; DirecTV Chairman Mike White; Chiquita Brands Chairman Fernando Aguirre, and Great Wolf Resorts Chairman Kimberly K. Schaefer.
Air dates will be announced later. “We’re thrilled with this season’s new batch of bosses,” said Stephen Lambert, creator/executive producer of Undercover Boss in a statement. “The companies are some of the best known brands in corporate America, and...
Air dates will be announced later. “We’re thrilled with this season’s new batch of bosses,” said Stephen Lambert, creator/executive producer of Undercover Boss in a statement. “The companies are some of the best known brands in corporate America, and...
- 7/28/2010
- by Lynette Rice
- EW - Inside Movies
CBS has revealed the names of four companies that will be taking part in the next season of Undercover Boss. The show follows executives as they go undercover and work alongside their employees. At the end of each episode, the boss reveals their true identity and rewards their hard-working colleagues. CBS has now announced that Nascar senior vice-president Steve Phelps and DirecTV's chairman Mike White will both take part in the new season. Fernando Aguirre, the chairman of marketer Chiquita Brands International Inc., and (more)...
- 7/28/2010
- by By Catriona Wightman
- Digital Spy
New York -- John Malone will give up a big chunk of DirecTV stock with bigger voting power and convert it to regular shares with a smaller voting stake, plus he will resign as the satellite TV giant's chairman and leave the board.
The two parties unveiled the transaction, which will cut the DirecTV voting stake held by Malone and his family from 24.3% to 3% and is expected to be completed in the coming months, late Tuesday.
It allows the Malones to continue to benefit from any stock upside but eliminates DirecTV's dual voting share structure. Importantly, it is expected to satisfy a condition imposed by the FCC when Malone's Liberty Media acquired its DirecTV stake from News Corp. in February 2008. The FCC recently told DirecTV management that a trust arrangement it had set up wasn't enough to assuage concerns over potential overlaps between a Liberty Global business and DirecTV's Puerto Rico subsidiary.
The two parties unveiled the transaction, which will cut the DirecTV voting stake held by Malone and his family from 24.3% to 3% and is expected to be completed in the coming months, late Tuesday.
It allows the Malones to continue to benefit from any stock upside but eliminates DirecTV's dual voting share structure. Importantly, it is expected to satisfy a condition imposed by the FCC when Malone's Liberty Media acquired its DirecTV stake from News Corp. in February 2008. The FCC recently told DirecTV management that a trust arrangement it had set up wasn't enough to assuage concerns over potential overlaps between a Liberty Global business and DirecTV's Puerto Rico subsidiary.
- 4/6/2010
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Josh L. Dickey
DirecTV has named Michael White, vice chairman of PepsiCo, as its new president and chief executive.
White replaces Chase Carey, who left the satellite TV provider this summer to become News Corp.'s president and chief operating officer.
White will take over El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV Group Inc. in January and join its board of directors.
"This is an exciting time to be taking the reins at Directv," ...
DirecTV has named Michael White, vice chairman of PepsiCo, as its new president and chief executive.
White replaces Chase Carey, who left the satellite TV provider this summer to become News Corp.'s president and chief operating officer.
White will take over El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV Group Inc. in January and join its board of directors.
"This is an exciting time to be taking the reins at Directv," ...
- 11/18/2009
- by Josh Dickey
- The Wrap
News reports say DirecTV will announce today that Michael White, CEO of PepsiCo International and vice chairman of PepsiCo, will be the new No. 1 at DirecTV. White replaces Chase Carey, who left to become the No. 2 at News Corp. White will start in January and join DirecTV's board of directors. DirecTV is in the process of splitting off from John Malone's Liberty Media into a stand-alone publicly traded entity. I don't get how soda sales experience = subscription sales experience.
- 11/18/2009
- by Nikki Finke
- Deadline Hollywood
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