Deal chatter heats up as Hollywood tackles slump

NEW YORK: Dealmaking in Hollywood could get hot and heavy in coming months as movie studios explore ways to fight tumbling DVD sales and distribute entertainment in new formats.

Even as the recession squeezes financing from Wall Street banks and funds, the deal chatter has picked up because studios have already cut expenses and are looking for new growth opportunities for their movies, TV series and other content.

Viacom Inc's Paramount Studios is in early talks with several studios, including News Corp's Fox and Sony Corp's Sony Pictures, to cut costs by combining DVD manufacturing and distribution operations, a source told Reuters.

Time Warner Inc, which owns the Warner Bros studio, is considering a bid for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, according to Variety columnist Peter Bart.

Liberty Media Corp chief John Malone told shareholders Sony Pictures and privately held Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer could be up for sale soon.

"What we're hearing is everybody's talking to each other on how to get joint ventures and structure costs," said veteran investor Mario Gabelli, whose Gamco Investors owns Viacom stock. "It's driven by how do you reduce costs, how do you raise financing, how do you distribute products globally."

With little hope of DVD sales picking up - as online and mobile technologies change the way people view entertainment - media bankers expect consolidation, but say more studios will prefer to combine units or strike partnerships and joint ventures rather than buy each other outright.

Traditional mergers and acquisitions may raise the hackles of antitrust regulators since there are only six major studios and a handful of smaller players, one banker said.

"Studios will tend toward creating JVs to bring them together so that there is some pricing power over content," the banker added.

Acquisitions could also present integration challenges on the theatrical side of the business because of different movie production schedules, a second banker said.

"Everyone thinks studio consolidation makes a lot of sense," said a third banker. "There is tremendous overhead that can be reduced. But it's difficult given the egos and personalities involved."

Media moguls, from movie titans Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Katzenberg to overlords Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch, have been invited to attend an annual retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, this week, where they may well plot deals.

Bankers and analysts say cable companies like Comcast Corp could make a play for the rich content libraries that studios own. Comcast, the number one US cable operator, already owns a stake in MGM, which also counts private equity firms Quadrangle and Providence Equity Partners among its owners.

A fourth media banker suggested that Lions Gate Entertainment Corp could be a good fit for Comcast because it could transform the independent studio's wealth of content into a cable network.

All four bankers requested anonymity because they do business with these studios or their parent companies.

Reuters

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page11)