Posted on 01/31/2004 5:01:49 PM PST by the invisib1e hand
Universal Music Mulls Music TV Venture
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Universal Music Group, the world's largest record label, is teaming up with satellite broadcaster DirecTV and business partners behind a prominent pornography video company to launch a music channel featuring uncensored videos.
According to a report on Friday in the Los Angles Times Universal, a unit of Vivendi Universal_(NYSE:V - news), is in negotiations with DirecTV to offer the new subscription-based channel, known as "1 AM."
Universal and the entrepreneurs of Vivid Entertainment Group founders, which is known for porn videos such as "Bad Wives" and "Women In Uniform," are expected to split ownership of the venture, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Other partners in the channel will be the Endeavor talent agency and Shady Records, the Universal-backed label managed by rap superstar Eminem (news - web sites).
General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news) unit, NBC, is in the process of combining its television broadcast and cable networks with Universal's parks, film and TV studios.
Representatives of Universal, Vivid, DirecTV, News Corp., and Endeavor were not immediately available for comment.
The newspaper said ownership stakes of the channel are not set in stone, but Universal and Vivid entrepreneurs are likely to each own 45 percent stakes, while Endeavor and Shady Records will have 5 percent apiece.
The main players behind the channel are Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Universal's Interscope label and Ari Emanuel, a founding partner of Endeavor, according to the report.
The channel is the latest in a string of efforts to challenge MTV's dominance of music video and pop culture programming.
Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE:CVC - news)-owned Rainbow Media Holdings launched Fuse earlier this year as an edgier upstart. Another venture, Hype TV, backed by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, recently landed distribution through the television unit of Playboy Enterprises Inc._(NYSE:PLA - news).
DirecTV, the largest satellite broadcaster in the US with 12 million subscribers, is under the control now of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NCP.AX)(NYSE:NWS - news) in a deal that cleared regulatory approval in December.
Vivendi Universal at Yahoo! Finance (you can write to major shareholders).
General Electric at Yahoo! Finance (you can write to major shareholders. GE owns NBC which is merging with Vivendi-Universal's entertainment group.).
General Electric Home Page (you can write to the company with your concerns. Be sure to read "Our commitment to integrity" and "Our commitment to social performance" before clicking over to "Investor Relations" to tell them what you think.).
News Corp's Investor Relations page. News Corp also owns Fox Entertainment.
The NYSE ticker symbols are as follows: General Electric (GE), News Corp (NWS), Hughes Electronics (HS).
These companies are publicly held on US exchanges and therefore are accountable to the US public for the way they conduct business. If you believe that they engage in morally destructive activities, you owe it to your country to speak up. People who benefit from the free enterprise system have a moral obligation to 'first do no harm' to those they seek to capitalize.
You might have to hunt a bit for contact links but they are there. You will also have to be persistent and follow up if you're given the run-around.
Trust me, it's worth it. If the company ignores your concerns, you keep writing anyone and everyone, SEC, representatives, Wall Street Journal, etc. until they hold themselves accountable to the people whose money they are trying to take.
The One, The Only, The Invisible Hand, spoken of by Adam Smith.
there's apparently a demand for crack cocaine, too. demand itself isn't enough to make a business legitimate.
there is a moral obligation on that part of businesspeople that makes for responsible business citizenship, even as there is for individuals.
you know, the whole 'self-government' thing...
ummm, so, is this your idea of how 'the rest of us' feel?
your prior post is a tangled contradiction. I invite you to think it through a bit more.
Ah, yes. Kind of along the lines of "if you don't like abortion, don't have one.
And about as reasonable, too.
this argument was settled centuries ago. i'd merely like to point out that morality is not 'my morality.' it was here before I got here and will be here after I'm gone.
and I admit I'm going to have to look up 'conflating.' but hey, i'm just a simple-minded moralist who inhabits this bubble where all human action has a moral dimension...
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