Archive for January 1st, 2010
FOX -Time Warner Spat Shows Why The Death Of TV Can’t Come Soon Enough
In the latest of the never-ending greed-feuds between TV programmers and TV distributors, FOX is threatening to yank its broadcast network off Time Warner Cable if TWC doesn’t pay FOX $1 per month per subscriber. Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, is refusing to pay more than 25-30 cents.
This spat has entered the national consciousness because Time Warner Cable customers are panicked that, if FOX follows through on its threat, they won’t be able to watch FOX football games over the long weekend. John Kerry has weighed in, as has Julius Genachowski, head of the FCC.
If nothing else, the standoff demonstrates why everyone in the country who doesn’t work for a cable company or a TV programmer can’t wait for the day that the traditional TV distribution business is killed off by the Internet.
Time Warner Cable customers couldn’t care less who is “right” in this fight: They hate both parties. Customers of other TV distributors meanwhile, can only shake their heads and dread the day that the same infuriating fight will prevent them from watching what they want to watch.
The current TV distribution business is a dinosaur. Sometime in the next decade or so, it will die the same painful death that has befallen so many newspapers. Instead of paying through the nose for 500 channels they never watch, TV consumers will be able to watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it, and they’ll pay a lot less for this privilege. For most of them, this day can’t come soon enough.
Kenneth Li at the FT has more on the FOX – TW dispute >
See Also: Sorry, There’s No Way To Save The TV Business
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$229 Billion Fled Stocks Since 2007, Guess What Happens If It Comes Back
Fund flows into long term U.S. stock mutual funds have just started to perk up, according to long term mutual fund data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI), which covers over 95% of industry assets.
While an estimated $5 billion flowed out of stocks during the last four weeks, fund flows became positive, ie. net inflows, during the most recent weekly period of data, as shown below in red.
Meanwhile the bond investment frenzy has continued, with substantial inflows each week, shown above in gray.
Viewing ICI data on a longer time scale, from January to November 2009 $30 billion has flowed out of U.S. stocks and $349 billion has flowed into bonds.
If we even go back to the beginning of 2007, we find that a massive $229 billion has flowed out of U.S. domestic equity mutual funds since then… while $485 billion went into bond funds.
Thus in 2009, U.S. stock markets were able to rise despite a substantial fund flow headwind. It’s hard to see how mere ‘liquidity’ could have driven the 2009 rally, as some skeptics claim. At least based on ICI data, U.S. equity fund flows were negative for the year.
Rather, the 2009 rally was probably more the result of sellers becoming unwilling to sell at lower price levels. While buying demand was diminishing, selling demand at lower price levels was probably drying up at an even faster rate. Thus prices had to rise in order to clear the market.
The combination of a rising market with negative fund flows is an encouraging sign for the future. Guess what could happen if fund flows significantly reverse and become a positive tailwind.
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See Also:
- Gold ETF Fund Flows Quadrupled In November
- Global Fund Flows Sputter
- Uh-Oh, Commodity Flows Are Slowing
Googler Running For Governor Of Vermont
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) — Matt Dunne’s candidacy for governor of Vermont is drawing attention, in part because of his other job — as an executive with the Internet search giant Google.
The 40-year-old former legislator is head of community affairs for the California-based Google and works out of White River Junction. He says he wants to import Google’s culture of being organizationally flat, fast and innovative into state government.
Dunne is one of five Democrats vying for a chance to face the expected Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, in the November election.
He says a key focus of his campaign is the goal of bringing broadband Internet access to every corner of Vermont.
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See Also:
- 18 Awesome Tech Things We Didn’t Have 10 Years Ago
- Apple COO Tim Cook Said To Be A "Top Candidate" For GM CEO Job
- The 50 Worst Gadgets Of The Decade
Top 10 Objectively Biggest Tech Stories Of 2009
Ignore all the other lists! As we did last year, Techmeme has distilled its very own Top 10 story list, utilizing headline ranking data archived throughout the year.
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Apple Expects to Sell 10 Million Tablets in First Year [REPORT]
Apple expects to sell 10 million tablet computers in the product’s first year, according to a former Google executive.
Lee Kai-fu, founding president of Google China until September 2009, says in a blog post he heard the numbers from a friend. He added that the Apple tablet (rumors now cal…
Continue reading at Mashable »
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See Also:
- If You Already Have An iPhone And A MacBook, Why Would You Want A Tablet?
- Apple Tablet Will Cost Under $1,000, Says Ex-Google Prez