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Subject to stockholder approval, on June 9, 2000, Todd-AO will change its corporate name to Liberty Livewire Corporation. Effective June 12, 2000, the company's class A common stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol LWIRA. "Malone also wants to invest in "infrastructure" firms. "There's an entire industry to create, from distributing interactive ads to billing to getting product to the person who points and clicks on cubic-zirconium jewelry they've got to have," he says. This summer Liberty paid $163 million in Liberty Media stock for controlling stakes in two video studios, Todd-AO and Soundelux. They could be the start of a digital production empire for on-line advertisers. He figures that when General Motors one day launches a sport utility vehicle with interactive ads, it won't have to wade through rival technical standards for cable, DirecTV and the broadcast networks. Liberty will do the leg work." Liberty's Empire: Although not yet a monopoly, the result is a staggering assemblage through consolidation, leaving only the Post Group, Post Logic and Laser Pacific among the remaining multipurpose post-production stalwarts. Post-production is not exactly a glamorous field, and the risks are high. But the business features the most dedicated employees, and rewards do exist. Liberty is convinced the consolidation will greatly boost the profit margin in the post sector. The buys will feed productions for Liberty's cable ventures, position the company as a major player in production for new technologies like DVD and digital TV, and plunge Liberty into Internet production. Once its acquisitions of Todd-AO, 4MC and Soundelux close, the entire entity will be called Liberty Livewire. Other parts of the gameplan: -- Liberty plans to turn around the post biz's stolid 6 percent profit margins, which means studios that farm out post work to Todd-AO, 4MC and Soundelux may be saddled with bigger bills. The studios may be shut out from going to anyone else and find their negotiating capabilities clipped. -- Liberty plans to funnel all of its post needs for programming on its stable of cable channels -- BET, Discovery Channel, E!, Encore, QVC and USA Networks -- to its own facilities, signaling a growing competitive advantage for Todd-AO, 4MC and Soundelux. -- The Internet is closing in fast, and new technologies are forcing post houses to upgrade and keep up. With Liberty's new post powers, the company should turn into a central player for video-based programming that needs to be edited and encoded for distribution over the Web, as well as wireless hand-held devices such as Palm Pilots and cell phones, and interactive TV services such as TiVo (in which Liberty has also invested). Virtually all of the new Web-casted TV shows and films online could go through Liberty for post work, if it positions itself properly. | ||||||||||||||
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