Vision India 2020: NCTV

I am going to make a detour from Healthcare and switch to Sports for this column. NCTV is a media company that we built around the core concept of non-cricket television. As in prior years, India had put up a pathetic show in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Athletes were sent to compete in Archery, Athletics,

Read Full Article »

Deal Radar 2008: Flock

Flock is an open source web browser that has social networking features built into its interface. Founded by Bart Decrem, Geoffrey Arone, and Anthony Young in 2005, Flock is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Victoria, British Columbia.

Deal Radar 2008: Metacafe

Metacafe is a popular video sharing site where users can upload and view video clips. The company was founded by Eyal Hertzog and Arik Czerniak, with early funding from Ofer Adler, in July 2003 in Tel Aviv. In September 2006, the company moved its headquarters to Palo Alto, California and currently has offices in Tel

Read Full Article »

Vision India 2020: Bioscope

Professor Raj Reddy at Carnegie Mellon University first urged me to look at micro-franchise as a vehicle for economic development. Today, micro-finance has become a world-renowned phenomenon, especially with Dr. Yunus’ Nobel Prize two years back. [You can read my interview with Raj here.]

Deal Radar 2008: Joost

Joost is a peer-to-peer internet TV client software, launched by the Skype and Kazaa founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom. The company?operated from Netherlands, UK and North America? was featured in Mitch Berman’s post on IPTV.

Media Industry Worth Watching in 2008

2007 was a not a pleasant year for the Media Industry. Most of the Media stocks including IAC, Walt Disney, News Corp. and Time Warner have undergone correction between 10% to 40%. Except Walt Disney, all other stocks are trading close to at their 52-week lows. Most of the companies have reported below the Street’s

Read Full Article »

Is Jennifer Lopez The Bellwether?

By Richard Laermer, Guest Author As we move from mediocrity (the 2000s) into a decade of fabulous, forward-thinking, show-us positivism, we’ll always remember the star from these years who turned our cynicism into a beloved trait, none other than J. Lo “Don’t Call Me That” Lopez. People who work in media-could be you-constantly shake their

Read Full Article »

Will Netflix Survive iTunes Movies?

Amidst weak economic conditions, Netflix reported a solid 4Q07 beating the street’s expectations. Revenues in 4Q07 was $302.4 million, up 9% y-o-y. Gross Profit margin was 33.8% compared to 38.9% a year ago. Net profit increased to $15.8 million, up 6% driven mainly by a 9% q-o-q decline in Subscriber Acquisition Cost (SAC) to $34.60,

Read Full Article »