When Miramax CEO Mike Lang unexpectedly resigned last month, there was speculation that the company, which had focused on marketing its library titles, was looking to get back into producing its own movies.
Indeed, that’s exactly what Miramax investor Rob Lowe says the studio plans to do. Lowe, to whom we spoke at the Tribeca Film Festival’s world premiere of his new movie “Knife Fight,” is part of the consortium that bought Miramax from Disney in 2010, through the media fund he created with Colony Capital CEO Tom Barrack.
The former Brat Packer praised the deals Miramax made with Netflix and others to monetize the studio’s 700-plus library titles. But, he said, the next step would be, “How do we go into production as a studio?”
Lowe indicated that would be Phase 2, with Phase 1 being “making our initial money back for investors,” likely a reference to Miramax’s $500 million refinancing last fall, which Colony principal and Miramax Chairman Richard Nanula has said returned the majority of owners’ invested capital.
Lowe also offered an additional tidbit about how his investment has worked out, saying, “We made a lot more money in our first year than we ever thought we would.” Hilary Lewis
Times out
Hindsight is 20/20, but one wonders what the New York Times Co. must be thinking as it sees Investigation Discovery leaping up the cable ratings charts.
Its predecessor was Discovery Times Channel, which the Times sold out of in 2006, forcing Discovery to buy back its 50 percent stake in the channel.
The Times’ investment in the channel was $104 million. That stake today could be worth four to five times more — had the company not opted to sell out and focus on its own Web video efforts.
Investigation Discovery is now a top-rated cable service among women ages 25-54. In fact, it ranked in the top 10 in that demographic in April, and for all viewers it ranked as the 11th most-watched cable channel for the month during the daytime, according to Nielsen.
The last major cable channel to come up for sale, Travel Channel, cost Scripps around $900 million to acquire back in 2009; sources point out that Investigation Discovery would be worth much more, given its ratings increases and its chart position. Claire Atkinson
Simon says
There’s a reason Simon Cowell lives in a V-neck T-shirt: He’s already sweating the competition his “X Factor” will face come fall.
Cowell had laughed off the notion he would overpay to restaff his judge’s table, but news last week proved otherwise, as he signed Britney Spears for upwards of $15 million.
But he’s not stopping there.
Sources told On the Money that NBC’s mega-hit “The Voice” is hoping “to go head-to-head” with Cowell in the music-show ratings war this fall — one NBC is currently dominating.
Cowell, who previously admitted his US version of the show didn’t meet expectations in its first season, is fully aware the peacock is looking for some unfriendly competition, and he is hot to add another big name to the fold: Gwen Stefani (pictured) — but not as a judge. Stefani would be the backstage host, replacing Steve Jones.
What’s hard to pinpoint is how much he is willing to spend — or has left in his budget — for the sultry singer.
Consider this: Cowell splurged on Spears after canning his “best friend,” Paula Abdul, who only earned $2.5 million. The other judge he dismissed, Nicole Scherzinger, raked in a paltry $1.5 million.
A source confirmed Stefani has been contacted and is interested, while estimating her price tag as between $5 million and $7 million.
The source added, “[Cowell] is feeling the pressure and knows only a big-time, well-respected name will do if he wants anyone to flip the channel from ‘The Voice.’” Joseph Barracato
Numbers massage
An interesting report came out from Nielsen on Friday. According to the TV viewing data , white TV viewers use their DVR twice as much as any other group on a daily basis, yet Asians watch the most time-shifted content as a share of overall TV time.
When dealing with online destinations for TV content — Hulu, Netflix and YouTube — Hispanics were most likely to watch video on Netflix, while Asians were most likely to watch on Hulu and black viewers on YouTube. Post staff