Score Media Inc. Eresearch Stockpotentials
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StockPotentials November 26, 2010 . SCORE MEDIA INC. Price (November 26) $1.03 52-Week Range $1.10-$0.35 Shares O/S 81.23 million Market Cap $83.67 million 50-day Average Volume 16,600 200-day Average Volume 25,100 Fiscal Year-End August 31 Symbol TSX: SCR Website www.scoremedia.com Financial Data Source: www.bigcharts.com PROFILE Score Media Inc. (“Score Media” or the “Company”) is a Canadian media company that provides “interactive and authentic sports entertainment”. The Company has established itself as the home for hardcore sports fans. Score Media’s primary asset, the Score Television Network (“theScore”), is a national specialty television service providing sports news, information, highlights, and live- event programming in more than 6.8 million homes across Canada. Score Media is headquartered in Toronto, has approximately 220 employees, and is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The Company was created in 1997 in response to the growing desire for increased participation in the consumption of sports. CORPORATE STRATEGY Score Media is devoted to: (1) sports reporting with a light-hearted feel; and (2) getting fans more involved with the consumption of sports. On-air personalities are chosen more for their wit and sense eResearch Corporation 56 Temperance Street, Suite 501 of humor, rather than pure sports knowledge. Score Media is also a Toronto, ON M5H 3V5 leader in mobile sports technology, and has holdings in web- Telephone: 416-643-7650 content development companies. Toll Free: 877-856-0765 eResearch Analysts: The Company continues to: (a) develop new ways to improve Mark Edwards, B.Comm. viewers’ interaction with sports; (b) expand into new markets; (c) Bob Weir, CFA, BSc, B.Comm. grow revenues (revenues have tripled in the past ten years); and (d) Note: Report prepared with public information only. acquire and develop on-air talent to become household names. eResearch Corporation www.eresearch.ca Score Media Inc. eResearch StockPotentials 2011 FOCUS Score Media will continue to focus on growing its primary asset, The Score Television Network, while expanding the development of related sports media properties and applications, such as theScore.com, ScoreMobile, ScoreMobile FC, theScore for iPad, and theScore Satellite Radio. INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS Strengths Score Media has successfully and consistently grown revenues (three-fold) in the past ten years. In the USA, the Company has over eleven million listeners to Hardcore Sports Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio, with another one million in Canada. Also, traffic on theScore.com is up 23% from 2008. ScoreMobile is the number one sports application for Blackberry with over 1.5 million users; there is also about 900,000 iPhone users, and it is available on the Android system. ScoreMobile has been named the #1 sports application by various industry sources, such as crackberry.com, The Independent (one of the U.K.’s top newspapers), and BlackBerry Partners Fund. Score Media has exclusive Canadian broadcasting rights to NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament. Mauro Ranallo on The Score Network is known to be the top Canadian broadcaster in Mixed Martial Arts (the fastest growing sport in North America). Challenges Score Media is an independent network that competes with the more-established TSN and SportsNet networks, which are owned by CTV Globe Media and, thus, being larger with substantially more financial resources, represent formidable competition. The specialty television services industry has risks, including being regulated by the Canadian Radio- Television & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which grants and reviews licenses. The Company is susceptible to substantial increases in input prices (broadcasting fees and licenses, as seen with the recent increase in NBA license fees). Programming and production costs are rising. Difficult economic conditions can impact advertising revenue. Significant reliance on one person: John Levy is Chairman, President, and CEO, and owns a controlling interest in the Company. REVENUE STREAMS (1) On-Air Programming and theScore.com Score Media features programming devoted to every major sports league in the North American culture, including soccer. These programs include both live broadcasts of games as well as pre/post game commentary. TheScore.com features news, tickers, blogs, contests, video, and fantasy leagues. The website is arguably the heart of the Company as it ties all the facets together and is the only place where elements from the 3 products, or revenue streams, can be found. Revenue is generated by commercials on the television station and banner-style ads on the website. eResearch Corporation www.eresearch.ca Page 2 Score Media Inc. eResearch StockPotentials (2) ScoreMobile ScoreMobile is an application available for Blackberry, iPhone, and Android. It features live streaming data from 13 sports leagues and is free of charge to users. There is also a ScoreMobile FC application, which is devoted entirely to soccer, and features coverage of over 40 leagues and competitions in over 20 countries. Advertising is now operated by Nexage (Boston-based), which runs the ad mediation for ScoreMobile. There are other completely theoretical revenues that come in the form of brand loyalty and promotion. The idea is to create a tool for fans to use and enjoy while either remaining loyal to The Score or becoming Score fans by using the application and, thus, subject to advertisements at a later date. Score Media and Budweiser have improved ScoreMobile with the feature “Bar Finder”, which provides users with the games being aired at local bars across Canada. (3) Hardcore Sports Radio – Sirius Satellite Radio There are 8 different programs featured on The Score’s Sirius Satellite Radio station, including soccer, hockey, pro wrestling, mixed martial arts, and 4 shows covering the world of sports. Selected CFL games are also broadcast live. Revenues are typically few and far between for satellite radio stations but, with 11 million listeners, it should be turning a profit. Note: Neither theScore nor Sirius disclose earnings from the station. (4) Web Content Development Score Media recently purchased a 20% interest in NuLayer Technologies, which specializes in custom software applications. Nu-Layer was the team behind the iPad Edition of ScoreMobile. MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTORS The Officers and senior management comprises: John Levy, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Levy, Executive Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer Asha Daniere, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel Tom Hearne, Chief Financial Officer Brian Merker, Vice-President of Finance Dan Moen, Vice-President of Sales Oliver Gayagoy, Vice-President of Broadcast and IT Greg Sansone, Vice-President of Television Jonathan Savage, Vice-President of Digital Media Sally Farrell, Vice-President of Human Resources The Board of Directors comprises: John Levy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Score Media Inc. Benjamin D. Levy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Score Media Inc. Ralph E. Lean, QC, Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP Kenneth J. Read, President & CEO, Alberta Alpine Ski Association Lorry H. Schneider, Principal, LHS & Associates Mark A. Scholes, Partner, Weisz, Rocchi & Scholes William E. Thomson, President, Thomson Associates, Inc. Mark J. Zega, Partner, Evans, Philp eResearch Corporation www.eresearch.ca Page 3 Score Media Inc. eResearch StockPotentials SHARE STRUCTURE Common Shares: 81,231,000 Options: 5,656,837 Fully Diluted: 86,887,837 CORPORATE INFORMATION Score Media Inc. 370 King Street West, Suite 435 Toronto, ON M5V 1J9 T: (416) 977-6787 F: (416) 977-7851 Website: www.scoremedia.ca (corporate) or www.thescore.com Email: contact form found at http://www.scoremedia.com/contact-us/ NOTE: eResearch reports on Score Media Inc. and other companies are available FREE on our website at www.eresearch.ca. You must REGISTER to access these reports. Analyst: Mark Edwards, B.Comm. Bob Weir, B.Sc., B.Comm, CFA eResearch Corporation eResearch is a primary source for professional investment research, focused primarily on small- and mid-cap companies. Our research and analysis is of institutional quality, and has the potential to reach millions of global investors through our extensive electronic distribution network. StockPotentials Reports The eResearch StockPotentials reports are written on companies that eResearch believes have interesting prospects, are smaller in size and, therefore, have little or no following on the Street, and which would benefit from the exposure that eResearch can provide through the dissemination of the reports via our extensive electronic distribution network. eResearch writes these reports solely from publicly-available information, and has not contacted or spoken with company management. Consequently, no Target Price or Recommendation is provided. eResearch does not receive a fee for the preparation and publication of StockPotentials reports. eResearch Corporation www.eresearch.ca Page 4 .