Jeremy Herron, AP Business Writer, reports on the annual retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, hosted by investment bank Allen & Co. This is where media and tech execs mingle and make deals.
Even the top Internet companies — save maybe Google Inc. — are seeing revenue growth slowing as online audiences fragment. And they worry that, without steady access to high-quality content, they won’t be able to attract enough viewers to keep growing fast.
At the same time, the barons of old-line newspapers and broadcast TV seem to have realized it’s pointless to keep fighting the shift online, but they’re still unsure how to embrace it. And they’re struggling to attract new online users just to survive.
Meanwhile, Ajay Kamalakaran reports from Bangalore(!) that NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker is looking to spin off or sell some of the company’s assets – something has been been speculated about for what seems like years now. Although theme parks are almost always considered the stepchildren in diversified conglomerates that can be easily dropped (Paramount Parks, anyone?), it looks like NBC’s Los Angeles-area assets are being integrated more with Universal Studios Hollywood, where I would think it would be difficult to bifurcate the studio operations and the theme park. Disney figures in because of some jointly-owned cable channels.