Studio Report Card: Sony Corp.
Sony steady if not stellar
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Sony Pictures suffered a B.O. letdown in 1998, after its record-breaking $1.3 billion domestic B.O. take of 1997. Still, despite its fourth-place spot in market share and the less-than-hoped-for B.O. of "Godzilla," Sony execs expressed optimism about the past year's perf, and are on track to release some 20 to 25 pics this year, bucking the downsizing trend of Hollywood. Although the exec suites are stable for the most part, Sony Corp. of America restructured its top rung, upping SCA prexy Howard Stringer to chairman, streamlining the executive reporting process and giving Sony's U.S. ops a single voice in Stringer. Sony's TV arm, Columbia TriStar TV, is still plagued by a lack of guaranteed distribution outlets but has found a niche in teen TV with hits like "Dawson's Creek." The syndication arm has branched out into original cable programming, with five series on various cable nets. Sony Pictures Entertainment has also become the first of the U.S. majors to dive into the domestic Hispanic market by snapping up Spanish-language web Telemundo. Like several of the other Hollywood studios, Sony is convinced that branded entertainment channels abroad is the way of the future. And despite the economic downturn there, Asia has been targeted by Sony for particular growth. The studio launched its AXN action channels in several Asian territories as well as in Spain. The company also owns outright or has substantial stakes in seven or eight other channels abroad, including Sony Entertainment TV in India, HBO Ole in Latin America and Anime in Japan. Its acquisition of Telemundo in 1998 was in part inspired by its belief that there are production synergies to be harnessed between North and South America. Sony has also set up local production subsidiaries in the U.K., Germany and Australia as well as in India and China.
