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More Consolidation in Printing Industry
Senator Johnny Isakson on Bankruptcy
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Another 'Broadcasting is Dead' Story
This article, Piracy is Good, over at Australian site Mindjack, is a good description of the effect technology is having on broadcast television. Author Mark Pesce discusses, in some detail, the use of p2p filesharing technology BitTorrent and, more importantly, proposes some interesting business models for how producers and advertisers can collaborate to create a viable business.
Mark uses a couple of good case studies, including recent download scenarios for Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica, to make the case that downloading does not necessarily equate to lower viewership. He also offers good analysis of the economic situation broadcasters face after 50 years of training viewers that TV is free, trying to suddenly convince them they should be paying for everything isnt going to work.
This, of course, is not news to anyone who regularly reads weblogs, RSS feeds, or uploads pictures to Flickr. But Pesces is one of the first articles Ive seen to dig into the figures around p2p distribution, broadcast viewership, and the relative impact for popular TV episodes.
Im not ready to concede broadcast is dead even the latest bittorrent clients are too geeky for mass use but Pesces case for advertisers is compelling. And if one thing is certain, its that advertisers follow the market. A commericalized, ad-supported p2p distribution network with viewer tracking cant be far away.
Terry Frazier at 1:14 AM
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Thursday, May 12, 2005
More Consolidation in Printing Industry
Big, big news in the printing industry...
Quebecor World To Sell Commercial Unit
(05/11/2005)Quebecor World announced yesterday that it intends to sell its North American commercial printing division, which operates 10 plants and generates revenues of $250 million.
The company says its financial performance was hampered by the unit. Quebecor World saw its Q1 profits chopped in half, reporting Q1 net income of $16.3 million compared to $35.8 million in Q1 2004.
"We have determined this business [the commercial group] to be non-core and are currently pursuing exclusive negotiations to sell this business and similar facilities in Canada," said Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor World's president and CEO. The company also has started to move its short-run book printing offshore to attract publishers outsourcing work to Asia. Work and assets are moving to four of its plants Latin American.
QW is one of the big four North American printing companies and one of the strongest in magazine and book printing. The fact they could not make any money in commercial print here, and are moving their book work offshore says a lot about the state of this lagging industry, and the intense pressure starting to appear from AsiaPacific.
Terry Frazier at 4:00 PM
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Senator Johnny Isakson on Bankruptcy
Below is the response I received from Senator Isakson's office. Mr. Isakson was not nearly so loquacious as Mr Chambliss. But then, Mr. Chambliss is a lawyer (aka paid by the word), Mr. Isakson a real estate salesman (paid by developers.)I sent the same letter to both. It covered both the Bankruptcy Bill and the Real ID Act. Mr. Chambliss chose to respond to the Real ID Act only. Mr Isakson to the Bankruptcy Bill only.
At least neither Senator sent me the form letter that the Republicans were sending around after they passed the Bankruptcy Bill. A friend in Texas got exactly the same letter from both his senators. Sad. If I get a response from my Congressman (none so far) I'll post it, as well. In fact, if you've gotten letters from any of your elected representatives send me copies and I'll post them. Would be interesting to see the collection of generalized, non-committal, "trust me" letters.Dear Mr. Frazier:Thank you for contacting my office regarding the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act. I appreciate your thoughts on this subject and the opportunity to respond to you.
On March 10 th the Senate overwhelmingly passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act.I voted in favor of this bill because there has become a disturbing trend of abuse in using bankruptcy provisions. Bankruptcy laws were put in place to assist individuals who have reached insolvency, not to serve as a crutch for those who purpose to avoid their obligations. Reform of our Bankruptcy code was necessary to address those issues of abuse.
Thank you again for your ideas and input on this issue. If I may ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Senator Johnny Isakson
Terry Frazier at 3:19 PM
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