Talking about 50/50...

by Eric G. Satterwhite

Greatness in today's sports dialect is a common exaggeration, and like all exaggerations of dimension it connotes at once the necessary corollary of "talking head" emptiness. 

One thinks of an inflated toy balloon does one not? 

There are, however, occasions when we are forced to acknowledge the promise of an approach--brilliantly close--to what we designate loosely by the term greatness.

Such a promise is looming on the Global sports horizon--in the personage of Marco Balotelli--the native of the infamous  African Gold Coast the son of Ghana.

Balotelli currently shares his 6.5 million dollar annual Football/Soccer salary to the impoverished children of the African Continent...

Wealth is inside out-- Mr. Balotelli despite your travails in Europe-- the MotherLand rejoices...

 

Mario Balotelli Donates 50% of His Salary to Children in Africa, Lets Talk About It.

19.8kSHARES

AUGUST 20,2015

The media makes fun of Mario Balotelli and not a lot of people take him seriously, just because he is different. Just wonder what the lot will think when they find out Mario Balotelli is known to donate 50% of his salary for the children of Africa. 

The message did rounds throughout twitter and Facebook some time ago.

For the ones who do not know, Mario Balotelli is a football player, who plays for Liverpool and Italy. There are rumours he may be leaving Anfield to go somewhere else, as Liverpool think he might not be suited for the club.

SEE ALSO: Didier Drogba Investing Millions To Build 5 Hospitals In Cote d’Ivoire

Knowing that he gives 50% of his salary to kids in Africa, what do you think of him now. The fact he is a such a generous giver shows a little different personality from what a lot of people think. He also said:

“I am a naturalised italian, but I`m from Ghana. I was abandoned by my parents and adopted by two angels. I suffer with racism every day. I am the first black to wear the jersey of Italy. I`m not angry, but my life experiences make me act differently from other people. Then, try to learn more before you criticise me!”.

Who would have guessed he had such an awful life, growing up and still suffers from prejudice till today? And when he cried in the Euro 2012 final, he showed some feelings too. After knowing all this, and the most important that he helps children with 50% of his salary, one should think twice before criticising him. After all he`s a great person.

                          http://www.myafricanow.com/mario-balotelli-donates-50-to-africa/

The Volatility of (24/7/365) looped video Media

***Due to the high volume of emails received regarding our most recent post--- per request ---we provide the masses additional MainStream media viewpoints in their zeal  for more intel***

Respects...

 

 Disney’s ESPN Reality Show Doesn’t Convince

http://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-espn-reality-show-doesnt-convince-1438802891 

ESPN’s sensitivity to subscriber declines may lead Disney to rethink its plan

ENLARGE

ESPN’s subscriber base has fallen by about 2% this year. PHOTO: DAVID KOHL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By 

MIRIAM GOTTFRIED

Aug. 5, 2015 3:28 p.m. ET

7 COMMENTS

Walt Disney’s Robert Iger doth protest too much.

The chief executive gave an impassioned defense of his ESPN sports network on the media giant’s earnings call Tuesday. Mr. Iger said Disney executives were “realists” about the pressures from new distribution models that will continue to bear down on the cable ecosystem. Still, he said, expanded cable packages would remain the norm and ESPN would remain must-have, even in new Internet-TV bundles.

Yet Disney’s actions spoke louder than those words. The company lowered its expectations for domestic cable affiliate revenue and said lower subscriber numbers, along with foreign-exchange rates, would push cable operating income growth for fiscal 2013 to 2016 down to mid-single digits from a previous forecast of high-single-digit growth. Disney shares tanked Wednesday.

Indeed, cable networks made up 50% of Disney’s overall operating income in fiscal 2014 ended September. And ESPN is the biggest factor in that. But as the cost of cable has risen, more consumers are opting out. Some have selected “skinny” bundles of channels, which typically exclude the costly ESPN. Others opt for Internet services like Netflix or individual channels such as HBO.

ENLARGE

Mr. Iger made clear that Disney isn’t ready to take the “radical” step toward an Internet offering, saying 83% of U.S. cable households watched ESPN in the first quarter. He added the company doesn’t see “dramatic declines” in cable subscribers over the next five years.

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But unpacking assumptions underlying that view suggests Disney may feel pressure to pivot more quickly.

ESPN’s primary channel gets $6.61 per subscriber per month, according to SNL Kagan estimates. Assume that rises by 8% a year—roughly the average of the past six years—and that fees from ESPN’s secondary channels continue to climb by about 6% a year.

ESPN’s subscriber base has declined by about 2% in 2015, in line with the previous two years, Nielsen data show. Assuming that rate continues, ESPN’s affiliate revenue should still grow by about 6% a year from 2016 to 2020.

ESPN’s overall revenue is about 75% of Disney’s reported cable-networks revenue, according to estimates by Jefferies. Assuming all nonaffiliate revenue is advertising and assigning a 3% growth rate, results in annual revenue growth of 5% at ESPN for the next five years.

On the cost side, sports rights at ESPN rose by 13% in 2014 and 19% in 2015, according to MoffettNathanson. That reflects the onset of new deals with various leagues. Nonsports programming costs have grown at a somewhat slower pace. But the pace of growth in ESPN’s programming and production costs should level off to 5% a year from 2016 through 2020, MoffettNathanson estimates. Meanwhile, the research firm sees nonprogramming costs rising at less than 1% a year.

Assuming, as many analysts do, that ESPN amounts to about 25% of Disney’s operating income in 2015 and adjusting for Disney’s 80% ownership of the network, ESPN will earn about $4.5 billion in operating income on $11.9 billion of revenue in 2015. That 38% operating margin would be significantly below the roughly 45% historical margin this model implies for ESPN. But it shows ESPN margins moving back to 42% by 2020 as cost increases moderate.

If, though, ESPN subscriber declines accelerate by, say, one percentage point in 2016 and by another in 2019, the network’s 2020 operating margin falls to 39%. That would amount to $4.6 billion of operating income attributable to Disney’s 80% stake, versus $5.1 billion under the slower-decline scenario. The potential $500 million decline emphasizes the sensitivity of ESPN’s profitability to small changes in subscriber growth amid a media landscape facing what could be massive disruption.

Granted, new Internet-TV services from the likes of Apple might help ESPN avert subscriber declines if they carry the channel. Declines might also stabilize as skinny-bundle adoption slows.

Still, there are compelling reasons to believe declines will accelerate as the cost of the cable bundle rises and the availability of high-quality online alternatives increases.

Moving outside the bundle would be a painful transition for ESPN and Disney. But waiting too long to do so risks teaching some consumers to live without it.

 

 In MainStream Media News

The following article is presented by TheStreet.com a business affiliate/sponsor of The Metaphysics of Hoops .

    

 

Disney (DIS) Stock Slumped on ESPN Subscriber Losses

By Eiffy Luo Follow | 08/14/15 - 04:18 PM EDT

Get TheStreet Quant Ratings' exclusive 5-page report for (DIS) - FREE.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS - Get Report) closed down 0.33% to $107.16 on Friday as the company is seeing more cancellations among ESPN subscribers. 
ESPN's subscription base declined by about 2% in 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported.

If ESPN subscriber declines accelerate by one percentage point in 2016, the potential $500 million decline will reflect the sensitivity of ESPN's profitability to small changes in subscriber growth amid a media landscape facing what could be massive disruption, the Journal added.

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Besides Disney, losses at ESPN may cause a selloff across the media world, including the stocks of 21st Century Fox (FOXA) and CBS (CBS), Barron's reported.

Analysts at Barclays noted that ESPN's business model and the corresponding operating leverage have been key to Disney's performance over the last few years.
"We have been more cautious on Disney relative to Wall Street due to our belief that Disney is not isolated from the secular trends that are being priced into the rest of the media industry," Barclays analysts said.

With ESPN having hit peak penetration and now losing subscribers, operating leverage could be a drag on future margins, especially in a more fragmented sports market, Barclays added.
For more on Disney, click here

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates DISNEY (WALT) CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate DISNEY (WALT) CO (DIS) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, revenue growth, notable return on equity and solid stock price performance. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow."
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• DISNEY (WALT) CO has improved earnings per share by 13.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, DISNEY (WALT) CO increased its bottom line by earning $4.25 versus $3.38 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.06 versus $4.25).
• The company, on the basis of net income growth from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly outperformed against the S&P 500 and exceeded that of the Media industry average. The net income increased by 10.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $2,245.00 million to $2,483.00 million.
• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 5.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.1%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Media industry and the overall market, DISNEY (WALT) CO's return on equity significantly exceeds that of the industry average and is above that of the S&P 500.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.33, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.84 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.