May 7th, 2007
The topic of a la carte cable service (consumers being able to choose and pay for specific channels they want, and no “basic” tier) has been a big topic of discussion from time to time. Today it gained new attention due to comments by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (via Reuters):
“An a la carte regime would enable viewers to buy their television channels individually, in smaller bundles, or in the large bundles currently offered,”
The way cable rates are set has little to do with the consumers of entertainment content, which is why we seem to have progressed from 57 channels to several hundred… and still nuthin’ on. We each pay for a package of channels that includes one or two we’d like to have and dozens we don’t care about. Meanwhile, some of these programmers pay the cable company for distribution while others get paid by the cable company for the right to distribute the content.
According to the Reuters article, “cable operators have been reluctant to allow customers to choose their own program bundles, claiming that it would raise prices for consumers.” So what? Consumers frequently trade higher prices for things they want more. The real issue is whether the cable companies would continue to get the kickbacks for certain channels, or whether the consumer would buy any channels at all if they found out the one they wanted was the only one in the 20 they were actually paying for. The article concludes:
Kyle McSlarrow, chief executive of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said at a press conference afterward that the industry should not be forced by government to offer networks on an a la carte basis.
Which is the real problem. Who do you trust more: the government or the cable operators. The chances are it is neither, and that is why Joost, YouTube and other options are the real threat to content providers and distributors.
June 13th, 2006
There has long been controversy over inflation numbers. An example of the bull case is Paul Kedrosky’s post on how many hours of work are required to buy certain items today compared with 1975. The bear case is explained by the Big Picture, and concerns adjustments made to CPI numbers over time that have resulted in lower reported inflation than there would have been under the previous methodology.
We won’t step into the controversy as to whether the numbers are overstated or understated. Instead, we will look at whether the numbers indicate anything for particuar sectors or companies we follow. The source for all of these charts is the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This first chart (above) shows the year/year change in producer prices for electronic computer manufacturing. While the May PPI data shows a year/year decline of 10.9 percent, that is at the low end of the historic range of declines. This is one factor that has contributed to DELL’s poor performance, as DELL’s business model does better when its competitors inventories are losing value faster. More »
June 9th, 2006
Digitimes brings bad tidings for PC manufacturers in the form of an unusual sequential sales decline in the second quarter. And since notebook computers all have an LCD display, it doesn’t help ease the panel glut either.
Notebook manufactures may see sequential sales drop in 2Q
Taiwan’s leading notebook manufacturers - Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron and Inventec - may see revenues in the second quarter drop or remain flat sequentially, despite the fact that second quarter performance should be seasonality better than the first quarter, according to market sources.
The four leading notebook makers all posted on-month sales declines in May, with a drop ranging between 15-27%, according to company filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE). Quanta even saw an on-year sales decrease of 6.5% last month, whereas Compal managed a slight increase of 4.9%. In contrast, Wistron and Inventec performed better than the two leading notebook players in on-year revenue growth in May, with Wistron recording a 44% increase and Inventec having 37% growth.
Historically, the perfomance of notebook makers generally bottoms out in the first quarter with a pick up in revenues starting from the second quarter, according to industry sources. The sources describe the companies’ May performance as “unusual” and blamed slow demand in the worldwide PC market.
May 25th, 2006
Well, Samsung will need to do something with all of that excess semiconductor capacity.
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it will launch two mobile computers in early June that will do away with hard drives altogether, replacing them with 32 gigabytes of NAND flash memory. The notebooks will be the first to use flash memory as the main storage device.
The use of flash memory will allow the computers to enjoy several advantages, according to Samsung. Perhaps the most significant, according to the company, is that the Q30-SSD will operate in complete silence, lacking the quiet chatter of the hard drive or even a processor fan. The Q30 will include a 1.2-GHz Intel Celeron M 753, which will likely be passively cooled.
Not to mention faster, cooler and less power-hungry. The only negative is the price, and with the excess semi capacity soon that concern too may fade.Source: New Samsung Notebook Replaces Hard Drive With Flash
Disclosure: William Trent has a long position in SMH.
April 18th, 2006
Here is the latest deal from DELL:
25% off Dimension desktops and Inspiron laptops.
Hewlett Packard (HPQ - Annual Report) is offering $100 off laptops as well. The competition has always been fierce, and it is often hard to tell the difference between a normal market and a difficult one. To that end, it is worth monitoring sites such as slickdeals.com. If you have access to research by firms that do extensive channel checks, all the better. You can also look at the PPI data for electronic computers to tell whether pricing is better or worse than usual (go to advanced search and get a graph of the 12-month change.)
Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
Computer deals from Amazon
April 15th, 2006
Introducing a Saturday Lifestyles section.
Forbes has an article on matching seasonal foods and wines. My Wines Direct
, The Wine Messenger
, and wine.com
will help you do so.
Forbes also recommends booking your summer travel now. You can book hotels through EasyClickTravel.com.
Our last Forbes post this week is a guide to picking the right cell phone. We want this one:
Meanwhile, if you’re stock picks have been particularly good, you may be able to afford this watch.
March 24th, 2006
Bill Cara has a link to the report.
Yahoo is the most widely used Internet portal and advertising has only recently begun a very long-term shift away from traditional media and toward the Internet, not unlike the 20-year (and still going) shift from broadcast television to cable.
As TechDirt points out, Yahoo can use its brand name and existing services to take share from traditional information providers. Whether it is voice over IM taking share from the telcos or video services taking share from old media, Yahoo is in the cat-bird’s seat in the early stages of each transition due to its large existing base of users.
However, new media is still media, and short term we are concerned about a slowdown in consumer spending. That, in turn, would reduce the amount companies spend on advertising - including online advertising.
March 23rd, 2006
So the rumors were true, and DELL has bought high-end PC maker Alienware. Most likely, having Alienware as a subsidiary will enable DELL to offer AMD processors under the Alienware brand while remaining faithful to Intel under the DELL logo. Such a move would address one of the concerns investors currently have.
Update: Dell confirmed as much.
