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Lionsgate Chief Says Studio Would Need “Adjustment” If TV Ads Cover 7-Day Viewing

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday November 9, 2012 @ 7:11am PSTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, TV Advertising

This has emerged as a hot question for the TV business in the Q3 earnings season: As DVRs become more popular, and time-shifting more common, should ads be sold on the basis of the number of people who view them up to seven days after they first air instead of the current three? CBS’ Les Moonves made the case on Wednesday, and Disney’s Bob Iger added his support yesterday. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has indicated that he likes the idea — but his support is qualified: “If it’s a movie coming out in three days…we’re not going to get the benefit of those [additional] viewers,” he told analysts in a call to discuss earnings. In that case, “we’ll have to look at those numbers and get some kind of adjustment.” Lionsgate has options if that doesn’t happen — or even if it does. “There’s no question that we are seeing significant amounts of awareness from social media and the Internet, and that’s going to give us a tremendous opportunity to reduce our overall marketing spend,” he says. But while a shift to what’s called C7 ratings might create problems for the movie side, Lionsgate’s TV unit could benefit. Its new show Nashville, which airs on ABC, is “one of the most time-shifted shows on television,” he says.

Related: Lionsgate Shares Rise After Fiscal Q2 Results Soar Past Expectations

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Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer Urges Cable Operators To Cooperate With Programmers

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday October 15, 2012 @ 4:10pm PDTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate

The Lionsgate CEO gently touched some cable industry hot buttons in a speech today to marketing execs. He said that cable could be left behind as viewers increasingly turn to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets for entertainment unless operators improve user interfaces, offer dynamic ad insertion for on-demand shows, and begin to sell movies and programs directly to consumers. “These days, an educated consumer may not be our best friend because an educated consumer knows that if you and I don’t give him what he wants, there are a million other places he can get it,” Jon Feltheimer told the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. “And nobody has to tell you that once a consumer has left your ecosystem, it’s very hard to get him back.” Read More »

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Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer Collects $6.4M Compensation For Fiscal 2012, -18.6%

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday July 30, 2012 @ 12:59pm PDTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate

The drop has nothing to do with the performance of the company, whose stock price appreciated 128% in the fiscal year that ended in March. It’s just that last year the independent studio’s CEO had $4.8M in stock awards … Read More »

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Lionsgate Shares Down On Fiscal Q3 Earnings Miss

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday February 9, 2012 @ 1:25pm PSTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate Finance, The Hunger Games, Twilight

The production company’s shares dove more than 8% in initial after-hours trading — but recovered to a more modest loss later — after it released what appears to be a dreary report. Lionsgate had a net loss of $1.7M in the last three months of the year vs a $6M loss at the end of 2010, on revenues of $343M, down 23.6%. Analysts expected revenues to be much higher, at $358.8M. The company’s net loss, at 1 cent a share, also contrasts with the 9 cent profit that the Street anticipated. Lionsgate says that revenues suffered from the lack of a wide theatrical release in the quarter; last year it had three. As a result, motion picture revenues fell 28.6% to $233.3M. TV production was down by 6.8% to $89.7M. Home entertainment also struggled with revenues from movie releases of $128.9M (-28.8%) — slightly offset by $34M for TV shows (+108.6%). Lionsgate said it made $7.3M from its 31,2% stake in EPIX, an improvement from the $11.1M loss on the investment in the same quarter in 2010. But that was somewhat offset by the $2.1M loss on its 51% of TV Guide Network a slight increase from the $2M loss last year. Read More »

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Lionsgate Blames Theatrical Film Woes For Fiscal 2Q Earnings Miss

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday November 9, 2011 @ 4:43am PSTTags: Abduction, Blue Mountain State, Boss, Conan the Barbarian, Epix, Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Lionsgate Finance, Lionsgate Stock, Mad Men, Netflix, The Wendy Williams Show, TV Guide Network, Warrior, Weeds

The film and TV company had a net loss of $24.6M, an improvement from its $29.7M loss in the quarter last year, on revenues of $358.1M, down 21.5%. That revenue figure was far below the $421.5M that analysts expected. And the net loss, at 18 cents a share, was below the 13 cent loss the Street had forecast. The bottom line could have looked even worse: Lionsgate included the $11.0M it collected from its sale of Maple Pictures. The company also was able to add $6.1M from its 31.2% stake in EPIX vs a $19.8M loss from last year’s quarter. Lionsgate says that it suffered from “underperformance of theatrical films in the quarter” — where releases included the Conan The Barbarian remake, Warrior, and Abduction – as well as “timing of DVD releases which offset gains in the Company’s television and digital businesses.” The movie operation generated $218.9M in revenues, down 36%. Read More »

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Former Carl Icahn Protege Mark Rachesky Named Lionsgate Co-Chairman

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday September 15, 2011 @ 3:29pm PDTTags: Carl Icahn, Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Mark Rachesky

Lionsgate said in a regulatory filing today that Mark Rachesky, the former Carl Icahn protege and the mini-major’s largest shareholder, has been appointed co-chairman of the board, a title he will share with current CEO Jon Feltheimer. The … Read More »

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Tyler Perry TV? Lionsgate Says It’s A Good Idea, But Won’t Confirm Plans

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday August 10, 2011 @ 7:28am PDTTags: Epix, Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Lionsgate Tyler Perry, The Hunger Games, TV Guide Network, Tyler Perry

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer sure talks as though the company’s looking to create a TV channel around Tyler Perry — Tyler TV – even though he says he “can’t comment” on a report about it. He told analysts this morning that “we strongly support” the idea of bringing Perry to “exciting new platforms.” That could include a “not fully distributed (cable) channel that we could buy” or nesting Perry at “a channel we already have. … We have a lot of options if we choose to go down that path.” The New York Times says this morning that the company is considering rebranding its struggling TV Guide Network, buying a channel such as Gospel Broadcasting Network, or teaming with Comcast, which promised federal officials who approved its acquisition of NBCUniversal that it would beef up programming for minority audiences.

Also on the call, Lionsgate executives talked up their plans for The Hunger Games. The first film in what’s likely to be a four-film series completes principal photography on Labor Day weekend ahead of a March 2012 release. But the studio says it won’t release the second film until Thanksgiving 2013 because it wants to take advantage of the big holiday season audiences — and to give itself time to work on the script and marketing plans. The productions won’t necessarily be filmed back-to-back, although there’s a chance that the second and third installments will be. Read More »

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Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer’s $7.9M Compensation Package For FY 2011 Up 116.8% Thanks To Carl Icahn

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday July 29, 2011 @ 2:10pm PDTTags: Carl Icahn, Carl Icahn Proxy Fight, Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Lionsgate Carl Icahn, Lionsgate Finance, Michael Burns

Billionaire Carl Icahn did a big favor for Lionsgate execs when he accumulated more than 33% of the stock in June 2010. That triggered change-in-control clauses in executives’ contracts, accelerating their stock payments for the fiscal year that ended this … Read More »

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‘Hunger Games’ Will Provide A Feast For Lionsgate, Execs Say

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday June 1, 2011 @ 7:26am PDTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Lionsgate The Hunger Games, Mad Men, Netflix, The Hunger Games

Lionsgate executives told Wall Street analysts this morning to expect big things from The Hunger Games, a series of four action films that the studio will release from the trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. COO Joe Drake said it was “the highest-selling film we’ve ever had” at the Cannes Film Festival and that overseas exhibitors consider it “the movie that can change their company.” Although Lionsgate wouldn’t disclose its budget for the films, Drake says Hunger Games could become an “outsized success” for Lionsgate. The studio says it bought the rights before the books became runaway bestsellers, and it has “retained the majority of the upside” in its talent and distribution deals.

On other matters following the company’s earnings report yesterday, Lionsgate says that it isn’t concerned about the public’s waning interest in 3D. “We never thought of 3D as a one-size-fits all solution to the movie business,” CEO Jon Feltheimer says. He added that Lionsgate’s recent deal to syndicate reruns of Mad Men to Netflix reflects his view that Internet streaming services can be “partners, not adversaries.” He hopes to “replicate these kinds of deals around the world.” Read More »

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Lionsgate & Televisa Launch Venture To Make 10 Films Per Year For Hispanic Auds

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday September 13, 2010 @ 9:33pm PDTTags: From Prada to Nada, Jon Feltheimer
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: A press conference is skedded for tomorrow morning, with Lionsgate co-chairman/CEO Jon Feltheimer and Grupo Televisa chairman/CEO Emilio Azcarraga. Lionsgate will team with Spanish-language media company Televisa to launch Pantelion Films, a joint venture that will target the fast-growing market of Hispanic moviegoers and release 8 to … Read More »

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Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer Named MIPCOM’s 2010 ‘Personality Of The Year’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 28, 2010 @ 8:58am PDTTags: Jon Feltheimer, Jon Feltheimer MIPCOM, Lionsgate, Mad Men, Moguls
Mike Fleming

Carl Icahn might not be crazy about Lionsgate co-chairman/CEO Jon Feltheimer and the rest of the indie studio’s management team, but MIPCOM loves him. He’s been named MIPCOM’s 2010 Personality of the Year. Feltheimer was been cited for “his leadership … Read More »

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Can Lionsgate Cap Icahn Shares At 38%?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 1, 2010 @ 8:56pm PDTTags: Carl Icahn, Carl Icahn Shares, Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate, Lionsgate Finance, Lionsgate Hostile Takeover, Lionsgate Management, Lionsgate Stockholders, Lionsgate Tender Offer, Michael Burns, Poison Pill Defense

feltheimer-200Welcome to the real-life game of Survivor: Wall Street. Lionsgate management tonight is trying to outwit, outplay, and outlast Carl Icahn before he effects a hostile takeover of the movie/TV studio for his son Brett. Lionsgate tonight announced it’s putting into place a “Shareholder Rights Plan” — i.e. a poison pill defense — to cap Icahn at 38% of its stock (he is currently at 37.9%) so he can’t do a “creeping bid” through open market purchases like he did today or private market transactions. ”If he wants control of the Company, he should make a bid that is fair to all shareholders along the lines of a permitted bid described in the press release below,” a studio insider tells me.

icahn200Today, Icahn’s stake rose to 37.9%, or 44.8M shares, of Lionsgate. With 12+% more stock, he can become its majority stockholder. And then Lionsgate’s 12-member board, and the studio’s management team of Jon Feltheimer and Michael Burns, all have a target on their backs. Icahn’s $7 a share tender offer expired at midnight Wednesday, and left him with a 33.9% stake in Lionsgate. (Icahn Now Owns 33.9% Of Lionsgate) Today, he acquired an additional 4% more of the company by buying on the open market. Lionsgate’s immediate reaction was effectively to enact a poison pill defense. But it enacted a poison pill months ago — to prevent Icahn from accumulating over 20% of Lionsgate stock through his tender offer — and Canadian regulators nixed that measure. Can that happen again?

Here is tonight’s Lionsgate statement:

lionsgate-logoSANTA MONICA, Calif., and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 1, 2010 — Lionsgate (the “Company”) today announced that its Board of Directors has adopted a Shareholder Rights Plan that is designed to encourage the fair and equal treatment of Lionsgate’s shareholders in connection with any initiative to acquire effective control of the Company.

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