Analyze This:
Liberty Capital said it would eliminate its current tracking stock structure by converting each share of
Liberty Starz into .88 of a share of Liberty Capital on Nov. 28.
Citi's
Jason Bazinet says based on the closing price of Capital ($77.70) and Starz ($68.10), the .88 exchange ratio yields a .6% premium for Liberty Starz. "We believe the Capital/Starz combination may foreshadow a spin of Capital's
Sirius stake as the consolidation… will place more operating assets under one legal entity," the analyst writes. ---
Zacks Equity Research remained 'neutral' on
Time Warner Cable with the firm saying it is "highly concerned regarding the continuation of the company's video subscriber loss" and mounting competition from fiber and OTT services.
$$$: Dear
Google, we want to take over the world, too. Love,
Amazon.
Daily Finance reports on how the internet sales-tax debate affects the online sales giant. --- Consumer review website
Angie's List's first day on the market was a good one… the firm opened at $18 per, up 39% from its IPO offering of $13. ---
LinkedIn shares jumped by as much as 7.2% to $76.71 in mid-day trading today. ---
T-Mobile said it has stashed millions … to the tune of $64M … to retain key employees if it is indeed taken over by
AT&T. --- Hey
DIRECTV, you made
Retirement Planning's "Active Stock" list! So there's that...
Rules & Regs: The
ACA is not happy about
Raycom's shared services agreement with
Belo to control three Tucson-based stations, including those of
Fox and
CBS. ACA President
Matt Polka described the deal as a "breathtaking disdain for public interest" and a violation of the
FCC's ban on consolidation among the top local stations. The exec said the two sides' agreement will lead to "higher retransmission fees; higher advertising rates; less competition, localism and diversity; and job loss among news reporters and production employees." Local reports have already indicated that all workers except sales staff will lose work at Belo's Fox-affiliate
KMSB. --- A
House panel voted to
advance a bill that would limit the
FCC's influence on companies seeking merger approval. The Republican-sponsored bill would require the agency to identify and publish a perceived harm that would be remedied by a proposed merger, among other requirements. Critics say it undermines the FCC's ability to impose public-interest conditions on M&A activity.
In Court: Not so fast
Verizon,
Cablevision's stranglehold on
MSG isn't over yet. The company filed a lawsuit against the
FCC's decision to require
Madison Square Garden to make its HD feeds of MSG and
MSG+ available to Verizon FiOS and
AT&T U-verse subs. The suit seeks an immediate stay of the decision that would make the nets available on Nov. 25. ---
LA Dodgers' owner
Frank McCourt filed a lawsuit this week against
Fox Sports for crowding the team's plate while it tried to auction off its media access rights. The suit comes on the heels of Fox's cease-and-desist notification that the team stop trying to sell those rights when the company's RSN
Prime Ticket actually holds exclusive negotiating concessions through Nov. 2012.
A to Zee:
Zee Entertainment, the largest publicly-traded broadcaster in India, is reportedly in talks with
Comcast and
Time Warner Cable to expand distribution here in the States.
Bloomberg has more. In related news,
Zee Group invested $250M in
Veria Living for content development and production expansion.
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