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Tag: Carl Icahn

  • Disney deal a huge step forward for Netflix: Sarandos

    Disney deal a huge step forward for Netflix: Sarandos

    MUMBAI: At the UBS media Conference in New York, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the company‘s content deal with Disney is a major step forward.

    “It is going to be a huge step forward for our programming.” Sarandos also stressed the importance of getting more exclusive programme rights and developing additional original content. He also called Disney a near perfect media company.

    Sarandos also said that the children’s content on Netflix shouldn’t cut in to conventional TV viewing. “Every month we stream hours of content so you’d think we’d be cannibalising linear television like crazy”. But Disney Channel is doing well.
    Nickelodeon ratings fall has nothing to do with Netflix. “Before Netflix they used to have ratings slumps”. The company is working on its user interface to make it more kid-friendly.

    He described the relationship with Carl Icahn who bought a stake in the company as being good so far. "This relationship is pretty new, but it has been very positive,"

    Harvey Weinstein interviewed Sarandos. Weinstein asked him why Netflix let the exclusivity of a content deal with premium TV service Epix go. Sarandos explained that it wasn’t valuable relative to the premium. Epix content from Viacom, MGM and Lionsgate was already available on Epix and comes to Netflix only three months later.

  • Mobile content service firm Motricity gets $50 mn investment from Carl Icahn

    Mobile content service firm Motricity gets $50 mn investment from Carl Icahn

    MUMBAI: The US based Motricity, which provides mobile content services and solutions has announced the completion of $50 million in equity funding from Carl Icahn, through an affiliated company.

    It has also appointed Brett Icahn, an investment analyst with Icahn Associates and affiliated companies, to the Motricity board of directors.

    Motricity chairman and CEO Ryan Wuerch says, “Carl has proven himself as one of the leading investors of all time, with an incredible ability to identify top performing companies and drive shareholder value. This investment bolsters our balance sheet and positions us to continue to aggressively grow the business and consolidate the industry.”

    Over the past year, Motricity’s business has expanded substantially, quadrupling its customer base to include some of the leading wireless operators and media and entertainment companies, including Cingular, Alltel, Sprint, Tracfone, MTV, BET, NBC, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Turner and several others.

    icahn says, “Motricity has an excellent management team and leading technology. They are well positioned for dominance in mobile content, a sector for which we forecast strong growth in the coming years.”

    Motricity is provides mobile content services and solutions that enable consumers to receive the right content at the right time, every time. Its solutions create end user experiences and deliver mobile content offerings for partners such as MTV, BET, CBS, NBC, Turner, Cingular, Alltel, Sprint Nextel and Palm. Its mobile content delivery platform, Fuel, received the 2006 GSM Association Award for “Best Service Delivery Platform” and was also named 2005 Premium Mobile Content Platform of the Year by Frost and Sullivan.