Top 5 Media Companies To Own In Right Now

Top 5 Media Companies To Own In Right Now: Comcast Corporation(CMCSA)

Comcast Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides entertainment, information, and communications products and services in the United States and internationally. Its Cable Communications segment provides video, high-speed Internet, and phone services to residential and business customers. As of June 30, 2011, its cable systems served approximately 22.5 million video customers, 17.5 million high-speed Internet customers, and 9.1 million phone customers. The company?s Cable Networks segment operates cable entertainment networks, such as USA Network, Syfy, E!, Bravo, Oxygen, Style, G4, Chiller, Sleuth, and Universal HD; news and information networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and CNBC World; cable sports networks comprising Golf Channel and VERSUS; regional sports and news networks; international entertainment, and news and information networks, such as CNBC Europe, CNBC Asia, and Universal Networks International portfolio of networks; cable television production oper ations; and digital media properties consisting primarily of brand-aligned Websites and other Websites, such as DailyCandy, Fandango, and iVillage. Its Broadcast Television segment operates the U.S. broadcast networks, NBC and Telemundo; 10 NBC and 15 Telemundo owned local television stations; broadcast television productions; and related digital media properties. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment operates Universal Pictures, which produces, acquires, markets, and distributes filmed entertainment and stage plays worldwide in various media formats for theatrical, home entertainment, television, and other distribution platforms. Its Theme Parks segment operates Universal Studios Hollywood park and Wet ?n Wild water park, as well as licenses intellectual properties and provides services to third parties that own and operate Universal Studios Japan and Univers! al Studios Singapore. Comcast Corporation was founded in 1963 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Stocks delivered again in 2014. Even after a poor start in January and wobbles in October and December, the U.S. market climbed 11.4 percent and ended the year close to record levels. The solid gain pushed the bull run for stocks into its sixth year, the longest such streak since the 1990s. Investors have been encouraged by rising corporate earnings and a strengthening U.S. economy, which helped stocks overcome a brief winter chill in growth and tensions with Russia. The stock market also overcame worries about the impact of the end of the Federal Reserve's stimulus program. Those who stuck out the market's ups and downs were rewarded with double-digit returns for the fifth year out of the last six. "Companies delivered and the ability to produce on the bottom line remained resilient," said Jeff Kleintop, Charles Schwab's chief global investment strategist. "Ultimately, that's what stocks track." All the major stock averages are ending the year with respectable returns. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) has returned 13.7 percent including dividends, after a return of 32 percent in 2013. The stock market also experienced its biggest bout of volatility in more than two years. Stocks plunged as much as 9.8 percent in October on concerns about global growth and worries about the spread of the Ebola virus. The market also managed to climb despite a big drop in oil prices that hit energy companies. Geopolitical tensions flared as Russia seized Crimea, war broke out in eastern Ukraine and the Islamic State group seized swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. These were some of the biggest themes in the financial markets in 2014: A Resilient Economy The backdrop for the stock market's gains was a gradually strengthening U.S. economy. Hiring and consumer confidence continued to improve. Despite a big contraction! in the f! irst quarter caused by an unusually harsh winter, the economy kept growing. The average pace of growth climbed to 2.7 percent by the end

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Getty Images The stream is about to turn into a gush. Streaming video-on-demand purveyors like Netflix (NFLX), Hulu and Amazon.com (AMZN) are set to open their wallets a lot wider for content. And where will that cash flow? For the most part, into the bank accounts of the content producers, specifically the Hollywood TV industry. The Fight for Eyeballs As everyone expected with the advance of streaming technology (and the bandwidth to accommodate it), video on demand has become one of the hottest items in entertainment. The evolution has been fast. Five years ago, Amazon's Prime was essentially just a subscription service that provided free two-day shipping of physical goods for its members. Since 2011, though, it's been an increasingly aggressive player in the streaming market. Amazon doesn't break down the figures it spends on streaming video; nevertheless, its "technology and content" expenses line item was $6.6 billion in the first nine months of this year. That was 41 percent higher than in the same period last year, and the amount comprised nearly 10 percent of the company's total net sales. According to an estimate from Bernstein Research, Amazon is set to spend $1.5 billion to $2 billion this year on streaming syndication and original content, which should balloon to more than $2.5 billion in 2015. It's in good company. Its two most prominent rivals, Netflix and Hulu -- a joint venture of units from Comcast (CMCSA), 21st Century Fox (FOX) and Disney (DIS) -- are also prepared to write big checks. According to Variety, an analysis from RBC Capital Markets estimates that the troika will spend a collective $6.8 billion on such content next year. That's a chunky 31 percent increase from the anticipated 2014 figure of $5.2 billion. That higher spend is going both to the original content that has proliferated! on such ! channels (series like Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black"), films, and syndication rights for such broadcast TV series as "The Blackli

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  To blame? Continued bad publicity following the 2013 release of the documentary film “Blackfish” and increased competition in the Florida market from the likes of Disney (DIS) and UniversalStudios, owned by Comcast (CMCSA)

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-5-media-companies-to-own-in-right-now-2.html