Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports
New news network, housing starts decline and the Los Angeles Lakers
In today’s edition, I discuss a new news network, a decline in housing starts in the United States and the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
MEDIA: New News Network
That new channel will be part of Prende TV, Univision’s recently launched free video streaming service.
Earlier this year, Univision and Televisa, the large Mexico-based media company, agreed to merge, which will create a Spanish language media behemoth once that deal closes.
That merged entity likely will also focus on video streaming, and that makes the launch of the new news channel, which will be part of Prende TV, so intriguing.
Pink's Bottom Line
Overall, it appears that video streaming and consolidation are two key tenets of current strategy in the media industry.
That’s evidenced not only by the Univision-Televisa planned merger but by Monday’s announcement that Discovery and Warner Media were combining assets and forming a new company.
MONEY: Housing Starts Decline
Housing starts in the United States fell 9.5% in April compared to March, according to data released today by the government.
The decline in housing starts likely does not indicate a cooling off of the red hot US housing market.
Rather, it’s likely that higher lumber prices and a shortage of workers to build homes were the main culprits behind that lower housing starts number.
Pink's Bottom Line
The US housing market has been a bright spot in the US economy, which slowed dramatically for much of last year due to the pandemic. The economy now is bouncing back sharply.
In any case, demand for housing in the United States shows no signs of slowing down so if lumber prices move lower and if more workers become available, those housing starts should rebound in the coming months.
SPORTS: NBA Seeds
No seventh or eighth seeded team has ever won an NBA title, but the Los Angeles Lakers, who likely will be a seventh or eighth seed, might change that.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Lakers are the second favorite to capture the NBA title at +500, behind only the Eastern Conference second seeded Brooklyn Nets at +210.
Note that the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers are the sixth favorite to capture the NBA title at +800 while the top seed in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz, are the fourth favorite at +600 to win it all, according to FanDuel.
Pink's Bottom Line
Assuming that the Lakers do become the seventh seed in the Western Conference — that will happen if the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors in a play-in playoff game tomorrow night — then Los Angeles would play the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
While the Suns boast the second best record in the NBA, they do not match up well against the size and strength of the Lakers.
Additionally, it puts Los Angeles on the other side of the playoff bracket from two of the strongest teams in the West, the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, which means the Lakers wouldn’t play the Jazz or the Clippers until the Western Conference finals.
All in all, it is setting up nicely for the Lakers to win the West, and to become the first seventh seed to win an NBA title.
Jeremy Pink is currently COO of Geniecast, a leading virtual content and experience company. He is the former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he helped lead the company to a successful sale and exit during his tenure there. He is also a former CNBC television executive in New York, London and Singapore.
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(Newsletter Editor: Karina Pink)