(VZ)(T)(FTE)(GOOG)It is not enough that companies like Verizon and AT&T are cutting deals with studios, TV networks, and even YouTube to get programming for their fiber-to-the-home IPTV initiatives. The deals may end up being lucrative for the studios who are stuggling with their mix of distribution that includes theaters, DVDs, and airplane movies. The list get longer.Money from downloading films over the internet may end up being a big business and will be critical to telecoms war with cable to own the pipe to the home.But, why should the content guys take little risk and get all the money.That’s what France Telecom want to know. Their answer is to start their own production operation and invest in content themselves. The company has already started a large division to buy exclusive content for its customer, but that does not seem to be enough. France Telecom plans to invest in 10 to 15 movies a year.The move may have a ripple affect in the US. Studios often take on private partners to spread the risk of high budget films. There is no reason that those partners could not be Verizon or AT&T. This move might give them an earlier window to show the programming, a flanking move against the cable companies.Of course, the cable companies might want to get into the act themselves.Being in the studio business may not be so tough after all.
Weekend Edition: Telecom Goes To The Movies
Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.
McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.
His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.
TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.
McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.
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