Publications

December 2003
Case

Fox Bids for the NFL-1993

By: Bharat N. Anand and Catherine M. Conneely

The Fox television network, launched in 1987 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. was in a precarious position in 1993. Although it had met its business plan targets, its ratings in the recently concluded November "sweeps" were indifferent, several of its newly launched... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Competitive Strategy; Financial Reporting; Bids and Bidding; Revenue; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities

John Walson launched the first commercial cable television system in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, an Appalachian town eighty-six miles from Philadelphia. 1,2 Walson worked as a lineman for Pennsylvania Power & Light and also owned a... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Pricing at Netflix

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and Amy Klopfenstein

Since its launch in 1998 as “the Amazon.com of DVDs,” Netflix had evolved from a DVD rental company to a video streaming platform and producer of original films and television shows. As the company matured, it regularly increased prices and adjusted its product... View Details

June 2024
Teaching Note

Roku 2021

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-480. This case is used to explore the strategic concept of "look forward, reason back." Roku in 2021 is trying to figure out the future of television and streaming media. Students are asked to provide a vision for television and... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Television Entertainment; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Media and Broadcasting Industry

May 2021
Case

Roku 2021

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

This case is used to explore the strategic concept of "look forward, reason back." Roku in 2021 is trying to figure out the future of television and streaming media. Students are asked to provide a vision for television and streaming media (that is, Look Forward) by... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Article

Advertising, the Matchmaker

By: Bharat N. Anand and Ron Shachar

We empirically study the informational role of advertising in matching consumers with products when consumers are uncertain about both observable and unobserved program attributes. Our focus is on the network television industry, in which the products are television... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information; Consumer Behavior; Television Entertainment; Risk and Uncertainty; Product; Decision Choices and Conditions; Advertising Industry

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Read Now

November 2000 (Revised October 2005)
Case

TiVo

TiVo is a digital video recorder that allows viewers to watch what they want, when they want to watch it. Fourteen months into the launch, sales are very disappointing. Brodie Keast, VP of marketing and sales, wants to combine a catchy communications campaign, product... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Product Launch; Television Entertainment; Innovation and Invention; Electronics Industry

September 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Where to Get Your News and Information: The Digital Disruption

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

What is the response by traditional news and information deliverers (newspapers and television networks) to declining audiences as media consumption moves to the digital medium? Provides a view of the news industry in mid-2006 and discusses the impact of an... View Details

Keywords: News; Media; Emerging Markets; Internet and the Web; Disruption; Perspective; Advertising; Journalism and News Industry

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January 2005
Supplement

Intel Commercials

By: Youngme E. Moon and Christina L. Darwall

Presents 14 Intel television commercials. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Computer Industry

Research Summary

Research Questions

By: Anita Elberse

One overarching question drives my research: What are effective marketing strategies for managers in creative industries?

I focus on three sub-questions:

How can managers in creative industries effectively manage products and product... View Details

November 1993
Case

Colonial Broadcasting Co.

Colonial Broadcasting, a major American television network, must determine whether fact-based television movies garner higher Nielsen ratings than movies based on fictional concepts. Furthermore, the network must decide whether to accept a fixed-fee advertising... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Advertising; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

06 Oct 2016
Blog Post

An Interview with Corporate Relations Director, Cathy Hutchinson

Tell us about your background before coming to HBS. I’m a born and raised New Englander. I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and then headed to Yale for college. I continued west to Los Angeles, where I worked in the media industry for 6... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entertainment / Media / Sports

January 2011
Supplement

BBC America Showreel, Fall 2007

By: John A. Quelch

HD-TV ad clips of Fall 2007 television show line up from BBC America. View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United Kingdom; United States

May 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Case

STAR TV (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and J. Peter Williamson

Concerns the decision whether or not to launch a satellite television service in Asia in the 1990-1991 period. STAR TV was a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and Li-Ka Shing and was established to launch such a service. Li-Ka Shing's son, Richard, was CEO.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Asia; Europe; United States

November 1996 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Rogers Communications, Inc.: The Wave

By: John A. Deighton, Karsten Voermann and Reginal Gilyard

Rogers Communications, Inc., Canada's largest cable television provider, is deciding how it should respond to developments that appear to portend the convergence of its industry with the computing and telecommunications industries. In particular, it is investigating... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Consumer Behavior; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

March 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

BSkyB

By: Debora L. Spar

In 1983, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought a floundering two-year-old British company called Satellite Television plc. and renamed it Sky. Without external financing, without having been allocated any space on Britain's existing satellites, and over the opposition of... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Change Management; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Great Britain

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May 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Frasier (A)

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

In 2001, NBC entered into contract negotiations with Paramount Television Group to keep the hit show "Frasier" on the network. Paramount, the studio that produced the show, threatened to move "Frasier" to CBS, Paramount's sister network, if NBC did not agree to a... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry