MARK CUBAN OFFERS ADVICE TO NETWORK EXECS ON AD-SKIPPER

At the Produced By Conference over the weekend, Mark Cuban, who made a fortune in online video well before there was much of a market for online video, suggested that some prominent video sites today attempt to deceive advertisers with rubbish statistics. He pointed out that his own Shark Tank, his relatively low-rated reality show […]

MOVIE TO OPEN ON FACEBOOK AND THEATERS ON SAME DAY

For the first time, Facebook will stream a movie online on the same day that it opens in theaters. The movie, Marley, a documentary about the late reggae singer Bob Marley, will be available for a rental fee of $6.99 beginning April 20th. Theater owners by and large have opposed such “day and date” releases, […]

CUBAN’S HDNET TO BECOME POP-CULTURE OUTLET AXS

While older folks are likely to associate the Axis as the World War II alliance of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo, the younger generation may soon identify the name with the rebranded HDNet. Spelled AXS and pronounced “access,” the channel is a partnership of Cuban, Ryan Seacrest, concert promoters AEG, and the Creative Artists Agency. It’s […]

MARK CUBAN: INDIE CABLE NETS BEING SQUEEZED OUT BY CONGLOMS

Increasing demands by the broadcast networks for “retransmission consent” compensation are making things ever more difficult for independent channels to land cable outlets, according to Mark Cuban, who owns HDNet — the home of Dan Rather Reports — and HDNet Movies. Cuban, in an interview with TheWrap.com, noted that the major media conglomerates have traditionally […]

MAGNOLIA PICTURES OFFERING VOD ON SAME DAY MOVIE DEBUTS

Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres chain does not seem at all concerned about movies becoming available for video-on-demand at the same time they’re in theaters. One of the reasons may be that the chain is a corporate sibling of Magnolia Pictures, also owned by Cuban, which already has offered to allow cable and satellite companies to […]

INDIE PRODUCERS FINDING SALVATION IN VIDEO-ON-DEMAND

With fewer moviegoers buying tickets to see independent films, the producers of those films are turning to video-on-demand in the hope of salvaging their business, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday). The newspaper noted that independent films accounted for 19 percent of the box office in 2010, down from 33 percent in 2001, according […]

MARK CUBAN THROWS IN WITH CARL ICAHN

Carl Icahn’s effort to gain control of Lions Gate Entertainment received a big boost Thursday from fellow billionaire Mark Cuban. In interviews with CNBC and the New York Post Cuban, the owner of HDNet, Landmark Theaters, and the Dallas Mavericks, said that he will sell his 5.4 percent stake in the company to Icahn for […]

TED TURNER’S ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS: AVOID TV

Ted Turner, who pioneered cable television with his WTBS Superstation and later with CNN, has told a conference in Los Angeles that if he were starting out today, he wouldn’t get into television at all but would probably target clean alternative energy. “The television business is filled,” he told the second annual “Produced By” conference […]

MARK CUBAN MAY SUE WEINSTEINS OVER “THE ROAD”

Even as Bob and Harvey Weinstein, together with their financial partner Ron Burkle, were focusing their attention on finalizing a deal to buy Miramax, they were being nettled by billionaire investor Mark Cuban, conducting himself the way he often does behind the players’ bench when his Dallas Mavericks basketball team is playing. Cuban is upset […]