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Author Topic: Mark Cuban buys interest in Carmike Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 01-01-2009 01:40 PM                        My boss made it a regular routine to short sell Carmike stock, said it made him money every time. As far as why Cuban bought stock in Carmike, I don't think it has to mean anything. I think for awhile in the 90's the Syufy's owned a small portion of AMC stock and the media got hold of it on a slow news day and started speculating on a Century-AMC merger. Though if Cuban thinks he has the answers to Carmike's problems he may be angling to get in there and turn them around, who knows. Clearly Carmike needs some new energy as what they've been doing hasn't made much difference has it? (Trust me, I want to like Carmike, after National Amusements they're the second coming of GCC in their generic-ness).  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 01-02-2009 05:10 AM                     quote: Chad Souder My cable company just added 10 more channels to my HD package. I would be able to get none of those channels over the air. Too bad they all suck!  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-02-2009 12:03 PM                     It's just a question of what people are willing to pay to receive cable programming in HD. Right now I'm paying $55 per month for roughly 60 real national network channels in HD (but none in SD), my local channels in SD and several channels of HBO all in HD. I think that's a pretty good deal. To get the same HD channels from DirecTV I would be paying over $100 per month. Dish Network isn't offering the DishHD Absolute package to any new customers, so anyone wanting all the same HD channels has to sign up for the TurboHD Gold package and have the Platinum package added. That's $50 per month. Add another $20 for the local channels and HBO. It's up to $70 per month. Then figure in the rate increases Dish plans to charge in February. That may have the bill jump to $80 or $90 per month. And this is all just HD-only packages. It doesn't figure in the SD channel packages like America's Top 250. It's real easy for a cable or satellite TV monthly bill to hit the $120 per month level. At some point pay TV is just going to get too expensive. With so many shows available to watch for free via the Internet and so many series being available in box set form on DVD or Blu-ray it's not all that bad a hardship to do without pay TV entirely or just sign up for a basic package to cut costs.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 01-03-2009 12:01 PM                        Why not just start a thread about HD programming and reception since this thread has pretty much done a 180 from what it's title indicates?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-03-2009 08:03 PM                     I think it took that route because of Mark Cuban's involvement with HD Net. Incidentally, HD Net and HD Net Movies are the only cable networks I've seen running ads for AccessIT and now lately Cinedigm and its 3D live broadcast of the BCS Championship Bowl game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida Gators. A lot of Carmike locations will be showing the game.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-05-2009 11:35 AM                        quote: Aaron Mehocic I've always considered Cuban to be a certifiable nutcase. He just wasting his time and money I use to subscribe to his blog and agreed with most of his views on the Theatre Business in general. How would people perceive you if you came into a whole bunch of money and bought a theatre chain? I know his background and how he became wealthy (Compuserve or something), so on a business level he has (or had) his act together for quite sometime. I guess I like him because I respect his attempt to right some wrongs in the business world. If I ever became wealthy, I would probably be a lot like him in that I would take my business personally. Meaning that - what I do for a living is a passion both professionally and personally. I get that from him. As far as his recent troubles in the stock market world, we will see how that pans out. I think anything happening to Carmike is a positive thing. That company has needed serious help for many years. Maybe he can bring some of his passion for the theatre business to them, because that is something most people at Carmike lack.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 01-05-2009 08:47 PM                        I think it's easier to dismiss someone than it is to carefully consider the ideas he raises and see if anything might have an application. I'm not saying that this is Aaron's situation, but it sounds like it might be. Cuban made his money by being in the right place at the right time with the right product. Another year later, and he might not have gotten anything for Broadcast.com! But the fact remains that he did make a lot of money and instead of buying an island and never coming back, he's invested his money into several ventures that he seems to believe in. I read his blog, and while I don't always agree with his viewpoints, I think he has some valid observations that people in the business tend to dismiss because they don't want to think what it might do to their standard way of doing things. He had an idea that day-and-date releases, or at least cross-pollination between theaters, TV, and DVD sales might work to improve overall revenue of movies. So, instead of issue a press release that meant nothing, he went about taking control of all the elements necessary to give it a try. Maybe the efforts that have been done to date haven't been successful, I don't know, but I admire his willingness to put his money where his mouth is. I don't think that his investment in Carmike and Carmike's investment in Digital Cinema is coincidence. What other theater chain has made such a large investment in terms of their overall business? The upcoming Cinedigm events will be shown in Carmike theaters, which includes the NBA All-Star Game. Cuban's investment in the Dallas Mavericks NBA team plays into the possibilities opened up by theaters becoming outlets for hosting sporting events. If he does nothing but shake things up in the industry a little as a result of his investment, that's a good thing all by itself! This industry needs some shaking up to wake it from its slumber.  |  IP: Logged Chad Souder Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 962 From: Waterloo, IA, USA Registered: Feb 2000 posted 01-09-2009 04:59 PM                     quote: Dennis Benjamin I guess I like him because I respect his attempt to right some wrongs in the business world. HUH?? The guy is being investigated for insider trading. He is what's wrong in the business world! Maybe he can get Martha Stewert's old cell.  |  IP: Logged

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