[OT - NEWS] Disney loses big $$ on FoxFam/Saban purchase
burg...@ranger.com
for the Saban library. Not much, but here it is.
--------------------
World's scariest places: ABC Family's financials
By John M. Higgins
Broadcasting & Cable
2/15/2002 12:45:00 PM
Everyone knew Fox Family Worldwide Inc. was in tough shape when The Walt
Disney Co. bought it last fall, but new Securities and Exchange Commission
filings showed just how badly the company is performing.
Disney took a huge $362.9 million charge against the rechristened ABC Family's
earnings in the quarter ended December.
The bulk of that was scrapping programming that "under Disney management will
not be utilized."
The company didn't specify how much of that programming was children's shows
in the old Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment library and how much was more
recently produced or licensed programming that had initially been slated for
Fox Family Channel, such as haunted-house series World's Scariest Places.
But the move writes off about one-half of the value of ABC Family's
programming rights.
Although large, the write-off is no particular surprise since Disney paid $5.1
billion for the network last fall and its executives have said from the
beginning that they plan to extensively reprogram ABC Family.
Before Disney bought the company from News Corp. and Haim Saban, ABC Family
had three segments -- the cable network, the Fox Kids U.S.
syndicated-broadcast-programming block and a library licensed out
internationally.
The Fox Kids block is gone, so naturally, revenues dropped, with the company
posting a 27 percent decline to $134.7 million.
But ignoring the Fox Kids shutdown and looking just at the ad-sales slump, ABC
Family's revenues dropped 20 percent.
Operating cash flow plunged a huge 95 percent from $63 million to just $2.8
million.
That, of course, doesn't account for the write-off.
Include that -- and some other charges -- and Fox Family posted a $362
million net loss for the quarter.
----- Posted via NewsOne.Net: Free (anonymous) Usenet News via the Web -----
http://newsone.net/ -- Free reading and anonymous posting to 60,000+ groups
NewsOne.Net prohibits users from posting spam. If this or other posts
made through NewsOne.Net violate posting guidelines, email ab...@newsone.net
Donte
saying:
>
<snip>
>Include that -- and some other charges -- and Fox Family posted a $362
>million net loss for the quarter.
Wowza kaboodle!!
========
"A sword is a weapon for killing. The art of swordsmanship is the art of
killing. No matter what kind of fancy words you use or what title you put on it
that is the ONLY truth!" - Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin)
CyberBlue
>>million net loss for the quarter.
You know what's sad? Even though it's a massive amount for us and an amount
which couldn't be pooled together if everybody in the newsgroup put all their
life savings together and then some, and while I know this is bad loss for any
network, to Disney, they probably weren't all that worried about it.
If FK ever *really* gets in trouble, you'll know. How? Ren/Louis Stevens and
Lizzie McGuire start hosting. ;)
Yellow Lightning
"CyberBlue" <lrsp...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020216152946...@mb-fl.aol.com...
> >>Include that -- and some other charges -- and Fox Family posted a $362
> >>million net loss for the quarter.
>
> You know what's sad? Even though it's a massive amount for us and an
amount
> which couldn't be pooled together if everybody in the newsgroup put all
their
> life savings together and then some, and while I know this is bad loss for
any
> network, to Disney, they probably weren't all that worried about it.
>
> If FK ever *really* gets in trouble,
I think being canned is enough trouble....
--
"Monkey clown horrible (karate) round and yummy, like a cute baby chick,
would beat the donkey." Excerpt from "Jimmy James: Macho Business Donkey
Wrestler."
When I said my quarters were cold, I did not mean "Oh, I think it is a
little chilly in here. Perhaps I'll throw a blanket on the bed." No! I said
it was cold! As in, "Oh look - my left arm has snapped off like an icicle
and shattered on the floor!" - Londo