Comcast Bidding for Virgin Media?

Big headline is something called City A.M. in the UK claims an inside source says that Comcast is considering a bid for Virgin Media. While Comcast may have requested info from the bankers running the auction I’ll be shocked if they bid. I think the Comcast-Virgin Media rumors are being planted by the Virgin Media […]

Financial Times Writes Up Central European Media Enterprises

The Financial Times posted an interesting article on CETV and its role in consolidation of European TV stations. The article touched on CETV as a seller and buyer and included some surprisingly frank comments by Wallace Macmillan, the company’s CFO. As a reminder, last year private equity firm Apax Partners bought control of half off […]

Good News: Central European Media Enterprises Acquires Minority Interests in Slovakia

Central European Media Enterprises (CETV), a name familiar to former Street Insight subscribers as my favorite long-term growth idea in media, announced some good news on Friday. CETV purchased the remaining 21% minority interest in Markiza, its TV station in Slovakia for $79 million. CETV now owns 100% of its Slovakian operations. The purchase price […]

Purchasing Comcast At Last

After writing positively about Comcast (CMCSA) for two years on Media Talk and in my contributions for theStreet.com, I finally decided it was time to buy the stock for Northlake clients. The main reason I had not bought Comcast previously was that I was very satisfied with the current portfolio of stocks held by clients. […]

Central European Media Enterprises Joins Russell and Receives Good News In The Czech Republic

Central European Media Enterprises (CETV) rose to a new all-time high on Friday. The shares have been unusually strong over the last few weeks even as the market has pulled back. I suspect that much of the strength is related to the fact that CETV is being added to the Russell indices on this year’s […]

Barron’s Discovers Rogers Communications

Barron’s Online gave Rogers Communications (RCI) a nice write-up yesterday, succinctly outlining the bull case. Barron’s noted the positive dynamics of the Canadian wireless market which has just 60% penetration and therefore promises several more years of well above average growth (unless Canadians end up being a lot less fond of mobile phones than the […]

Stable Pricing Bullish For Comcast

One of the reasons I remain bullish on Comcast (CMCSA/CMCSK) is that the much feared price war over the components of the triple play – cable TV, high speed internet, and telephony – has not come to pass. In fact, what has long been feared to be a fight to the death is looking a […]

Scripps Onlne Competitor Gets Bought Out

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that Providence Equity was taking a control position in shopping comparison website Nextag.com. Nextag is the #2 shopping comparison website, trailing, Shopping.com. The #3 shopping comparison site is Shopzilla.com, owned by E.W. Scripps (SSP). SSP shares have rallied on takeover speculation due to similarities with Dow Jones […]

News On Northlake Stocks

Several stocks in the Northlake portfolio have had newsworthy items over the past week. Here is a recap of the latest news, all of which I think is positive. Disney (DIS) completed the sale of almost all of its radio operations to Citadel Broadcasting (CDL). DIS shareholders received .0768 shares of CDL for each share […]

Regal Entertainment Competitor Completes IPO

Yesterday several brokerage firms initiated coverage on recent IPO Cinemark Holdings (CNK), the third largest operator of movie theatres. Not surprisingly, the underwriters are providing favorable coverage including new buy recommendations. A few brokers expressed their preference for CNK over Regal Entertainment (RGC), the largest theatre operator and one of my long positions. The analysts […]