garyoz
12-29-2005, 03:02 PM
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal concerning video games and gambling offered on TV. What is interesting is that News Corp (Fox--Rupert Murdoch's company), the majority shareholder in TVG (through Gemstar) is having good results with gambling oriented programming in the UK. News Corp also owns DirecTV. The article requires a subscription, so a summary quote is below.
"While these kinds of offerings (gambling) still aren't as popular in the U.K. as television shows, games, especially games of chance, are providing much-needed revenue to TV companies beset by advertisers who are spending less and less of their marketing budgets on regular TV.
At British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, for instance, the satellite broadcaster in which News Corp. owns a 37.6% stake, revenue from its SkyBet gambling business is expected to overtake advertising revenue in the year ending June 30. Of BSkyB's total revenue of £4.05 billion, or about $7 billion, last year, SkyBet generated £261 million compared with £329 in advertising revenue. Most of the rest came from subscriptions. SkyBet takes bets on dozens of sports, including the National Football League; as well as taking bets over the television, it takes bets over the phone and the Internet. I think there are opportunities if you look at games and other initiatives" in multimedia, Chase Carey, the chief executive of News Corp.'s satellite unit, DirecTV, told analysts last month."
This would seem to suggest long term support for TVG.
"While these kinds of offerings (gambling) still aren't as popular in the U.K. as television shows, games, especially games of chance, are providing much-needed revenue to TV companies beset by advertisers who are spending less and less of their marketing budgets on regular TV.
At British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, for instance, the satellite broadcaster in which News Corp. owns a 37.6% stake, revenue from its SkyBet gambling business is expected to overtake advertising revenue in the year ending June 30. Of BSkyB's total revenue of £4.05 billion, or about $7 billion, last year, SkyBet generated £261 million compared with £329 in advertising revenue. Most of the rest came from subscriptions. SkyBet takes bets on dozens of sports, including the National Football League; as well as taking bets over the television, it takes bets over the phone and the Internet. I think there are opportunities if you look at games and other initiatives" in multimedia, Chase Carey, the chief executive of News Corp.'s satellite unit, DirecTV, told analysts last month."
This would seem to suggest long term support for TVG.