Criminal Minds: I worry so much about the staff and crew of Criminal Minds thanks to CBS and Disney laying them off of their jobs right before the holidays. I really loved reading this article. I hope the heads of CBS and Disney have fun explaining their loses to their stockholders.
Between the writers' strike and a lukewarm advertising climate, 2007 was not such a great year for entertainment conglomerates. The numbers seem to support this hypothesis: Of the five biggest media companies—CBS, Disney, News Corp., Time Warner, and Viacom—only Viacom ended the year with a higher share price than it started with. Time Warner fared worst: A share trading at $16.67 today was actually 23.46 percent more valuable last year. CBS's stock is down nearly 14 percent, Disney's is down 4 percent, and News Corp.'s is down 3.41 percent.
How did Viacom, up around 7 percent, buck the trend? By being really cheap, for one. Also, they own MTV, the network that airs The Hills, which is seemingly the only lucrative show on television these days. We're only sort of kidding. Says the Post: "Viacom had improved ratings at its cable networks and a turnaround at movie studio Paramount Pictures."
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/12/as.php
