If Sarah Palin had won, perhaps this establishment might have received a little more love.
http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=20155
A January 2008 story on the club can be found here.
I don't get out to play NTN Buzztime as much as I'd like. Most of my playing is done while traveling, and I count it a success if I play once during a trip.
But RoadDog certainly makes more out of his traveling time. In less than a week, he has visited twenty NTN Buzztime locations in four states.
I like his slogan:
Too Old to Go Clubbin'. Too Young to Play Bingo.
When I'm not talking NTN Buzztime games, I'm talking NTN Buzztime the business. And I just caught this item:
Activist hedge fund Trinad Capital has increased their position in NTN Buzztime (NTN) by additional 1 million shares, bringing the firms total position size to 8.6 million shares, equal to 15.6% of the company’s shares outstanding. NTN Buzztime distributes various interactive multi-player games, including trivia quiz shows, play-along sports programming, casino-style, and casual games to restaurants, sports bars, taverns, and pubs. The firm is profitable on a gross profit basis, but lost $0.12 cents per share last quarter.
The benefit of acquiring NTN Buzztime stock, however, needs to be examined. The post also notes that TheStreet.com gives NTN a rating of D-.
The NTN Buzztime site provides a more complete listing of significant owners. As of this morning, the top owners were:
Trinad Advisors L.L.C. 8,649,893 15.5%
Fidelity National Financial Corporation 6,644,611 11.9%
Berg (Jeffrey Alan) 5,475,600 9.8%
To keep content in this blog, I scour the world for even the briefest mentions of NTN Buzztime trivia. While much of the stuff is linkbait, I do run across gems here and there, many of which I share here.
This was a very brief mention, but I found this at virtualdr.com:
I am playing an NTN/Buzztime game called Lexitopia frequently. Like it.
I've never played this game before, so I read up on it at the NTN Buzztime website:
Lexitopia, brought to you by Dictionary.com, will test what you really know about all of those words you haven't seen since taking the SATs.
We'll give you the word, you'll tell us what it means. Sound simple? We'll see about that!
Of course, I should have remember that Lexitopia was just launched last summer. I rechecked the Premium Game Schedule, and it looks like Lexitopia now only appears once a week, Wednesday at 5:45 pm Pacific time. (The Saturday Lexitopia game apparently no longer exists.)
You'll recall that I previously mentioned Calypso, and that the person who mentioned it wasn't pleased with the place.
http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=29316
So I went to the Buzztime site to check out the reviews. One short 2006 review mentioned the large number of TVs in the place. The 2008 review also did, but seemed to echo the concerns I had already shared:
This place has the most TV's I've EVER seen in a restaurant or bar--and that's saying a lot, 'cause I've been to a lot of places all over the country! They don't really seem to promote NTN, though. I've been there before and found that not a single one of those hundred or so TV's was tuned to NTN.
And when you look at the leaderboard and see that the second place person has less than 100,000 points - MUCH less - it's clear that Calypso doesn't promote NTN Buzztime at all.
Follow-up. The results were announced:
NTN Buzztime, Inc. Announces Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2008 Results
CARLSBAD, Calif., March 19/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: NTN) today announced results for the fourth quarter and 2008 fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.
“In a very busy fourth quarter, NTN Buzztime has begun laying the groundwork to return to profitability in 2009 and to become more of an integrated media company that attracts growing audiences to the iTV Buzztime Network. It is very exciting to have been chosen the Company’s CEO to help lead this transformation,” commented NTN Buzztime Board member and CEO Terry Bateman. “With our sales showing considerable resilience in the face of once-in-a-generation economic uncertainties, we have cut our net loss by more than half, improved our gross margins and made fundamental improvements to our cost structure that should reduce our selling, general and administrative expenses by $5 million in 2009. These changes were essential and will give the company the runway to fully develop the integrated media business that we envision, which will include a heavy focus on developing our ad program and the development of our online and mobile channels for launch in the second half of 2009.”
Mr. Bateman continued, “We have also restructured our Board of Directors and made significant enhancements to our management team. New-media executive and investor Jeff Berg is bringing timely and focused expertise to his responsibilities as Chairman. Mary Beth Lewis, with her CFO and growth company experience, and Kenneth Keymer, with his impressive chain-restaurant management credentials, further enhance the strategic depth that the Board provides to management. On the management side, Michael Arzt, our new Executive Vice President of Marketing, and Jeffrey Lewis, our new Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales, both have the solid backgrounds, expertise and commitment necessary to contribute to making Buzztime a powerful out-of-home advertising network.”
Results for the Fourth Quarter Ended December 31, 2008
Revenues decreased by $1.2 million or 15% to $6.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to revenues of $7.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. The Company’s site count was 3,746 as of the end of 2008, consistent with the site count as of September 30, 2008. Loss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $690,000, a reduction of approximately $844,000 or 55% from the loss from continuing operations of $1.5 million recorded for the fourth quarter of 2007.
Gross margin as a percentage of revenue improved to 75% for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to approximately 70% for the fourth quarter of 2007.
Quarterly selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $1.3 million or 19% year over year to approximately $5.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2008 from $6.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2007.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2008 and 2007, results from continuing operations reflected solely the results from the Entertainment division, following the discontinuation of the Hospitality division.
Results for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2008
Revenues decreased by $3.0 million or approximately 10% to $27.5 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 from $30.5 million in fiscal 2007. Year-over-year reductions in subscribing site counts and corresponding revenue were impacted by the Company’s Q3 2008 discontinuation of U.K. operations (37 sites) and the bankruptcy of former national account Bennigan’s (34 sites). The site count declined from 3,877 at December 31, 2007 to 3,746 at December 31, 2008, for a reduction of 60 sites in addition to the site reductions noted related to the discontinuation of U.K. operations and the Bennigan’s bankruptcy. The Company’s loss from continuing operations for the 2008 fiscal year totaled $6.1 million, compared to a loss from continuing operations of $4.3 million in 2007.
Gross margin as a percentage of revenue improved to 72% in fiscal 2008 compared to 70% in 2007.
Fiscal-year selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $1.4 million, or 6%, to $25.3 million in the 2008 fiscal year from $23.9 million in 2007. This increase is primarily related to increased personnel related costs, including $956,000 in increased severance payments; increased consulting costs of $857,000; software disposal costs, which increased by $360,000 due to impairments on certain projects that were deemed to no longer fit with the Company’s current strategy; a $198,000 increase in legal fees related to corporate governance matters and an ongoing trademark infringement case; increased bad debt expense of $201,000 related to customer cancellations and bankruptcies; a $202,000 increase in recruiting expenses; and an increase of $304,000 in office lease expenses. These increases were offset by decreases in marketing expenses amounting to $851,000; decreased commission expenses of $339,000; a decrease in tax expense of $270,000; and salary reductions of $120,000 resulting from force reductions and the closing of the Company’s U.K. office.
The Company’s Entertainment division incurred $478,000 of restructuring costs during fiscal 2007, related to the restructuring of the Canadian operations, completed in January 2007, compared to none in 2008.
For fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 and 2007, results from continuing operations reflected solely the results from the Entertainment division, following the discontinuation of the Hospitality division.
Discontinued Operations
Discontinued operations of the Company's Hospitality division consisted of two segments, Wireless and Software Solutions. On March 30, 2007, the Company reported the sale of substantially all assets of the NTN Wireless segment for $2.4 million, which resulted in a gain of approximately $396,000 in the first quarter of 2007. On October 31, 2007, the Company announced that it had completed the sale and transfer of Software Solutions’ intellectual property assets and began winding down the operation. This process was completed in the third quarter of 2008.
Discontinued operations generated no net income in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to a loss of $386,000, net of tax, in the 2007 fourth quarter. Discontinued operations generated a loss of $332,000, net of tax, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, compared to a loss of $735,000, net of tax, for fiscal 2007.
Conference Call
Management will review these results in a conference call today, March 19, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
To access the conference call, please dial 1-866-360-7027 if calling from the United States or Canada, or 1-706-643-3291 if calling internationally.
A replay will be available until March 26, 2009, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-642-1687 if calling from the United States or Canada or 1-706-645-9291 if calling internationally. Please use passcode 87984288 to access the replay.
The call will also be accompanied live by webcast over the Internet and accessible at the Company's web site at http://www.buzztime.com.
About NTN Buzztime, Inc.
NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for 25 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,746 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.
Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.
Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations including but not limited to estimates of financial performance and cash flows, trends in subscriber preference and engagement and results of marketing strategies. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include risks associated with our recent management transition, our significant losses, our ability to grow our out-of-home Buzztime iTV network and implement our other business strategies, the risk of changing economic conditions, failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.
(financial tables follow)
The financial tables didn't format properly when I tried to blog them, but you can find them here.
This is (from) CNN:
NTN Buzztime, Inc. to Report Fourth-Quarter and Fiscal 2008 Financial Results on March 19
PR Newswire
March 12, 2009: 08:00 AM ET
CARLSBAD, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NTN Buzztime, Inc. (Amex: NTN), today announced that it plans to release financial results for fourth quarter and fiscal year 2008 after the close of regular market trading on Thursday, March 19, 2009. The Company’s senior management will then host a conference call to discuss these results at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/CLM183LOGO)
To access the conference call, please dial 1-866-360-7027 if calling from the United States or Canada, or 1-706-643-3291 if calling internationally.
A replay will be available until March 26, 2009, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-642-1687 if calling from the United States or Canada or 1-706-645-9291 if calling internationally. Please use passcode 87984288 to access the replay.
The call will also be accompanied live by webcast over the Internet and accessible at the Company’s web site at http://www.buzztime.com.
About NTN Buzztime, Inc.
NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for more than 20 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,750 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.
Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.
Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.
For More Information:
BUZZTIME CONTACT:
Kendra Berger
Chief Financial Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.
(760) 438-7400
CCG CONTACT:
Sean Collins
Senior Partner
CCG Investor Relations
(310) 477-9800, ext. 202
SOURCE NTN Buzztime, Inc.
As featured previously in this blog.
http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=29027
Bars have to pay a fee to host NTN Buzztime games in their facility.
Some try to recoup the fee by emphasizing the service as a key draw - Buffalo Wild Wings comes to mind here.
Then there are other places, such as Calypso at Panama City Beach, Florida. RoadDog stopped by a couple of times:
The second time we went in, the bartender told us we could only play it in the restaurant. In the restaurant, they said we could only play it in the bar. The bartender wouldn't turn it on, so we left.
Um, this is not the way to recoup your costs, Calypso.
I was checking my Google Analytics stats for the Empoprise-NTN blog, and I noticed that I got several hits resulting from the Google search "stephanie tequila hoppers."
Unfortunately, the post that people were visiting had nothing to do with any Stephanie from Tequila Hoppers. It does mention a Stephanie, but she is a blogger who had previously mentioned Fitzpatrick's in Greenville, South Carolina.
So who is Stephanie at Tequila Hoppers? I couldn't figure it out. She may be a waitress, she may be the owner, or she may be someone who hangs out there.
If she's a waitress, then perhaps she should have been nominated for the "know your server" game that NTN Buzztime had some time back. Incidentally, that game was won by Erin, who works at CK's Tavern & Grill in Phoenix, Arizona.
But is Stephanie better? Personally, I liked Terri.
From RoadDog:
[Thursday] we had the championship round for NTN-Buzztime at Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. First round it was Geoluv vs. me. I was leading by a lot until the second five questions and we started getting movie questions. I had a small lead, then the last question was the male star in "Rosemary's Baby." I didn't know and Geoluv did. I lost.
I hate movie questions.
I'm not a movie person, but sometimes I'm lucky or have just a smidgin of knowledge that allows me to answer them correctly. But I'd probably fail in a movie-only game.
Since new NTN Buzztime CEO Terry Bateman was formerly CEO of Dick Clark Productions, I figured it would be fitting to feature a Philadelphia site.
The Philadelphia area site with the highest trivia rank is McStews Irish Sports Bar in Levittown.
Because of my travels, I missed this little tidbit:
NTN Buzztime...announced on Monday that it recently laid off 17% of its staff, and undertaken other cost-cutting measures it expects will put it back into the black by the fourth quarter of 2009.
Carlsbad, Calif.-based NTN also said it named Terry Bateman as CEO; Bateman was formerly CEO of Dick Clark Productions, and has been a board member since November.
RoadDog is worried:
[T]he new CEO looks to be doing the CEO Leapfrog, going from one place to another in rapid succession, never a good sign.
With a new CEO comes a new strategy. First, we have contraction, or concentration:
NTN also said it will now focus on the top 30 designated marketing areas to expand its service in the U.S. and Canada...
At the same time, NTN Buzztime is trying to expand into a new market:
[I]ts Buzztime games are expected to become available online and via mobile devices by the fourth quarter.
We'll see what happens this time around.
Here is the full press release:
NTN Buzztime, Inc. Announces Management and Board Additions, Significant Cost-Cutting Measures and a Major New Business Initiative
CARLSBAD, Calif., March 2/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - NTN Buzztime, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: NTN) today announced the appointment of a new senior management team to lead the company's aggressive growth strategy to become a fully integrated media business. Additionally, management announced its expectations for the Company to significantly reduce its cash burn during 2009 and to achieve positive cash flow in the fourth quarter. Lastly, the company also announced that two of its Board members, Gary Arlen and Bob Clasen, have resigned from the Board effective February 6, 2009 and February 17, 2009, respectively, continuing the restructuring of the Board that began in August 2008. With the addition of new Board member Mary Beth Lewis, as discussed below, the Board now consists of five members.
Executive appointments
Terry Bateman has been appointed CEO, effective February 2, 2009. Mr. Bateman was appointed to the Company's Board of Directors in November of 2008 and has most recently been serving as the Board's special advisor on the Company's Interim Committee of the President. Mr. Bateman has a strong background in the out-of-home ("OOH") media business. He spent the early part of his career at Whittle Communication, one of the pioneers in OOH, developing and selling new media properties. He was then President of the Marketing Services Division of Snyder Communications, President and CEO of Barton Cotton, a leading direct marketing firm servicing the non-profit market, CMO of the Washington Redskins and CEO of Dick Clark Productions.
Chairman Jeff Berg commented, "Terry is an outstanding executive to lead the transformation of the Company. The Board conducted an exhaustive search which yielded a number of outstanding candidates, however, none offered Terry's depth of experience and success in developing the kind of company we are building at Buzztime. Over the past ten weeks he has worked closely with the Board and the management team to lead an assessment and revision of the Company's business model, along with a restructuring of the company's workforce. These actions have significantly reduced our cost structure and have begun to position us for development of a more integrated media company, with plans for new products and new revenue streams."
Mr. Bateman commented, "I am very excited about the opportunity for this company. Buzztime has a strong foundation in its core business in bars and restaurants along with proprietary games and IP, which provides a great platform to move into digital and mobile and develop a fully integrated media business. We have put together a top-tier management team and product development roadmap, which should yield significant growth over the next couple of years."
The Company has also appointed Michael Arzt as Executive Vice President of Marketing. Mr. Arzt has a strong background in the competitive video game industry, having most recently served, since 2006, as Senior Vice President and General Manager of The World Cyber Games (WCG), at International Cyber Marketing, an affiliate of Samsung Electronics. In this capacity, he established the domestic U.S. headquarters for an online gaming event termed the "Olympics of Video Gaming," driving significant growth in sponsorship acquisition and media sales within the first two years. Approximately 1.7 million gamers from 80 countries participated in last year's World Cyber Games. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Arzt was Vice President, National Sales and Marketing for Live Nation Alliances (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment), where he spearheaded the creation and sales of national music, sports and entertainment marketing partnerships, media assets and customized marketing and licensing programs.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Arzt held executive positions in New York City with Gravity Games, LLC (a joint venture between NBC and Primedia) and Petersen Publishing Company, where he was actively involved in development of some of the action sports industry's early televised competitions, and 3Sixty, Inc. (The Conway Corporation).
Operational plans and expectations
NTN Buzztime also announced that its future growth initiatives in its traditional bar and restaurant sales segment will be concentrated in the top 30 Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs) in the United States plus Canada, in order to focus and gain maximum efficiency from the licensing of its proprietary Buzztime games to owners and operators of hospitality venues such as bars and restaurants, as well as to maximize related media opportunities.
Further, the Company announced that Buzztime games are expected to be available online and via mobile devices by the fourth quarter of 2009, with the intent of creating a fully integrated media platform and experience. Expanding the availability of Buzztime beyond its traditional hospitality venue-based platform is intended to capture new customer segments, to cross-promote venue-based games by online games and vice versa, and to build even greater popularity among the many electronic game enthusiasts than Buzztime has already won in over 20 years as a leader in electronic entertainment.
Finally, the Company announced significant cost-cutting measures as it streamlines and re-focuses its activities. As part of this initiative, in January 2009 the Company laid off approximately 17% of its workforce. Management projects that this and other cost-cutting measures will allow the Company to significantly reduce its cash burn during 2009 and become cash-flow positive in the fourth quarter of 2009 and. SG&A expenses in 2009 are projected to be approximately $5 million less than in 2008. The Company will elaborate more on its strategy and outlook during its Q4 financial results conference call, currently slated for March 19, 2009.
Board Changes
The Company also announced additional restructuring of the Board. Two Board members, Gary Arlen and Bob Clasen, have resigned from the Board. The Company wishes to thank them for their long service and for their assistance with restructuring the Board.
A new addition to the Board is Mary Beth Lewis, who is the former CFO of Fresh Produce Sportswear, Noodles and Wild Oats. At Wild Oats, Mary Beth was CFO during a period when company revenues expanded from $36 million to $850 million. During that period, the Company also raised almost $200 million in private equity and debt, completed its initial public offering and raised almost $100 million in public equity. At Noodles, she helped engineer the growth of the business from 30 restaurants to 100. Ms. Lewis also sits on the Board of Ebags, where she chairs the Audit Committee, and has been a guest lecturer on accounting issues at various universities since 1992. Ms. Lewis will chair the Company's Audit Committee.
About NTN Buzztime, Inc.
NTN Buzztime, Inc., a leader in interactive entertainment for more than 20 years, is based in Carlsbad, CA. Buzztime is distributed in-home and out-of-home across broadband platforms including online, cable TV, satellite TV and in approximately 3,750 restaurants, sports bars and pubs throughout North America. Buzztime entertainment is also available on electronic games and in books. For more information, please visit http://www.buzztime.com.
Buzztime is a proud member of the OVAB |Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau.
Buzztime is a registered trademark of Buzztime Entertainment, Inc. and Playmaker is a registered trademark of NTN Buzztime, Inc.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements which reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These statements include statements relating to projected growth, product development and deployment and financial performance. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include the risk of changing economic conditions, risks and uncertainties related to executive hires and staff adjustments; risks and uncertainties related to profitability expectations; risks and uncertainties related to the potential failure of product demand or market acceptance of both existing and new products and services and the impact of competitive products and pricing. Please see NTN Buzztime, Inc.'s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks that may affect the Company. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. These statements speak only as of the date hereof, and NTN Buzztime, Inc. does not undertake to publicly update or revise any of its forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes show that the indicated results or events will not be realized.
# # #
COMPANY CONTACT:
Kendra Berger
Chief Financial Officer
NTN Buzztime, Inc.
(760) 438-7400
OK, so perhaps I wasn't able to play trivia at JJ Muldoon's in Gaithersburg, Maryland last night, but I was able to make it over there for lunch today.
When in Rome...you order the Maryland crab soup. Not too bad, although I don't know what Maryland crab soup is supposed to take like so I'm not the best judge.
Game-wise, I did OK.
I apparently missed this bit of news earlier, but just found it on Implu:
Effective February 13, 2009, based upon the favorable recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Mary Beth Lewis has been appointed to the Board of Directors of NTN Buzztime, Inc. (the “Company”) and to the Audit Committee of the Board. There were no arrangements or understandings between Ms. Lewis and any other person pursuant to which she was selected as a director.
Ms. Lewis, age 50, most recently held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Fresh Produce Sportswear, Inc., a women’s apparel company, from 2007 to 2009. During 2006 and 2007 she was an accounting instructor in the Colorado State University College of Business. From 2001 to 2005 Ms. Lewis was employed by Noodles and Company, a restaurant chain, where she held, among other positions, the role of Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Wild Oats Markets, Inc, a national grocery store chain. Ms. Lewis currently serves on the Board of Directors for eBags, Inc., an online retailer of bags and accessories, where she also serves as the Audit Committee Chair. Ms. Lewis holds two undergraduate degrees from West Virginia University: a BA in Psychology and a BS in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Ms. Lewis also holds an M.B.A. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Pittsburgh.
Not really a lot of online gaming experience, but she was obviously sought for her financial expertise - and NTN Buzztime can definitely use it.
Oh, and one more thing:
Effective February 17, 2009, Robert Clasen resigned as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company.
According to information that I found in August 2008, Clasen had been a director since November 2001. No explanation for his departure was given, and he appears to be successful at his day job at Starz Entertainment, according to an investor conference call last Wednesday (2/25/2009):
At premium cable network Starz Entertainment, the performance was markedly better. Cash flow at the movie channel surged 69% in the quarter to $81 million, on a revenue increase of 8% to $285 million, fueled by the inclusion of Liberty Sports Group — which houses Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves and three regional sports networks — and increases in subscribers and monthly rates. Starz added about 300,000 new subscribers in the quarter, upping its total base to 17.7 million customers.
On the conference call with analysts, Starz chairman and CEO Robert Clasen said that the results reflect that in a down economy “at least so far, subscription TV has held up reasonably well.”
