For the full year 2007, Vivendi’s revenues total €21,657 million compared to €20,044 million for the full year of 2006, an increase of 8% (+9.7% at constant currency). For the fourth quarter of 2007, Vivendi’s revenues total €6,014 million compared to €5,545
million for the fourth quarter of 2006, an increase of 8.5% (+10.5% at constant currency). Vivendi confirms 2007 outlook: an adjusted net income above €2.7 billion, at approximately €2.8 billion.

Vivendi Confirms Position as a Digital Entertainment Leader
• UMG: increased market share in all of its major markets
• Canal+: TPS integration and subscription growth
• SFR: 3G/3G+ leader, successful launch of Illimythics, 657 000 net new SFR customers in the fourth quarter
• Maroc Telecom: 20% growth
• Vivendi Games: revenues exceeded €1 billion and World of Warcraft reaches over 10 million subscribers

Universal Music Group
Market share increased in all of its major markets
For the full year 2007, Universal Music Group increased market share in all of its major markets. Universal Music Group’s revenues amounted to €4,870 million versus €4,955 million in 2006 (-1.7%). Revenues increased 3.0% at constant currency reflecting revenues from the acquisitions2 in 2007 of BMG Music Publishing (BMGP) and of Sanctuary, as well as strong digital sales growth and a better than market performance. Excluding these acquisitions and at constant currency, revenues were 3% less than the previous year reflecting a difficult music market and lower license and legal settlement income.

Digital sales of €676 million grew 51% versus last year at constant currency, representing 14% of total revenues. Best sellers included titles from Amy Winehouse, Mika, Rihanna and the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack. For the fourth quarter of 2007, Universal Music Group’s revenues of €1,605 million declined 3.1% compared to the same period last year. Revenues increased 2.4% at constant currency reflecting revenues from the acquisitions BMGP and Sanctuary and a strong performance in Japan. Excluding these acquisitions and at constant currency, revenues declined 5%. Digital sales of €188 million grew 54% versus last year at constant currency with strong growth in both the on-line and mobile sectors. Best sellers in the period included new titles from Andrea Bocelli, Eagles and Mary J. Blige.

Canal+ Group
TPS integration and subscription growth
For the full year 2007, Canal+ Group’s revenues amounted to €4,363 million, a 20.2% increase compared to 2006. Revenues from pay-TV operations in France were up €746 million (+25%) compared to 2006. Pay-TV operations benefited from the TPS acquisition3, as well as increased revenues from portfolio and higher advertising revenues.

CanalOverseas also had a positive impact. As of December 31, 2007, Canal+ Group’s total portfolio amounts to more than 10.5 million pay-TV subscriptions (individual and collective, in France and overseas, including Africa). Net additions over the year totalled 280,000 subscriptions. This figure included net additions of 330,000 subscriptions and a negative adjustment of approximately 50,000 subscriptions resulting from a portfolio change of scope to include viable contracts only.

Canal+‘s total subscriptions at the end of the year reached 5.3 million, which represented a net increase of more than 80,000 over the year. The proportion of Canal+ Le Bouquet subscriptions reached 71% of the total Canal+ portfolio, up from 61% a year ago. The churn rate was 12.8%.

CanalSat and TPS’ total subscriptions were more than 5.2 million, which represented a net increase of 200,000 compared to the end of 2006. CanalSat’s churn rate was 10%. Revenues from Canal+ Group’s other operations (excluding PSG, sold in June 2006) grew €24 million or 4%, thanks to the good performance of Canal+ in Poland and higher advertising revenues from i>Télé.

StudioCanal posted lower revenues (€352 million in 2007 versus €362 million in 2006) despite good international performances driven by the growth of Optimum.

For the fourth quarter of 2007, Canal+ Group’s revenues amounted to €1,132 million, which represented a 23.3%
increase compared to the same period last year. Revenues from pay-TV operations in France grew €196 million (26%) compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. This strong increase was mainly due to the favorable impact of the TPS merger, as well as the increased portfolio of Canal+ and CanalSat. CanalOverseas contributed favorably as well.

Revenues from Canal+ Group’s other operations (Poland, i>Télé and StudioCanal) were also up (€18 million in total).

SFR
3G/3G+ leader, successful launch of Illimythics, 657 000 net new SFR customers in the fourth quarter
For the full year 2007, SFR’s revenues4 increased by 3.9% to €9,018 million compared to 2006. Mobile revenues increased by 1.6% to € 8,785 million compared to 2006. Mobile service revenues5 were up by 0.9% to €8,382 million.

The favorable effects of an increase in the customer base along with growth in “voice” and “data” usage and the Enterprise segment dynamism were largely offset by strong cuts on mobile voice termination rates (21%) as of January 1, 2007, and on SMS termination rates (30%) as of mid-September 2006. SFR’s ARPU6 decreased by 3.3% to €440 at the end of December 2007 (versus €455 at the end of December 2006). Excluding the impacts of regulated tariff cuts, SFR mobile service revenues would have been up by 4.4%.

In 2007, SFR added 883,000 net new customers, taking its registered customer base to 18.766 million7, a 4.9% increase versus last year. The contract customer base grew by 5.8% year-on-year to 12.294 million (676,000 net additions), leading to an improved customer mix of 0.5 percentage point in one year.

In 2007, SFR confirmed its leadership in mobile broadband networks and services both in Enterprise Segment and Mass Market:
• SFR number one in network quality in 2007 ARCEP survey for the fourth consecutive year8;
• SFR leader in 3G/3G+ customer number with 4.1 million customers at the end of December 2007, compared
to 2.7 million at the end of December 2006.
• Successful mobile Internet access offers with “Illimythics” launched in November 2007 and selected by
more than 250,000 customers (more than 175,000 customers at the end of 2007) and more than 40,000 3G+
USB modems for laptops sold since July 2007;
• Successful Happy Zone offer with more than 400,000 Happy Zone customers at the end of the year.

Despite the impact of the regulator’s cut on SMS termination rates, net data revenues improved by 8.1% mainly due to interpersonal services (SMS and MMS), content (music, TV-Videos, games) and the development of mobile Internet and corporate segment operations. Net data revenues represented 13.7% of service revenues at the end of December 2007, compared to 12.8% at the end of December 2006. Number of text messages (SMS) sent by SFR customers grew by 15.2% on a year-on-year basis to 7.3 billion and revenues from data services, excluding SMS and MMS, increased by 21.4%.

ADSL and fixed revenues reached €233 million, mainly reflecting the integration of Télé2 France since July 20, 2007. In total, SFR has 415,000 ADSL customers and 2.036 million fixed voice customers at the end of December 2007. For the fourth quarter of 2007, SFR’s revenues increased by 8.7% to €2,371 million compared to the same period of 2006.

Mobile revenues increased by 3.3% at €2,246 million compared to the same period in 2006. Mobile service revenues were up by 2.2% to €2,128 million. SFR added 657,000 net new customers in the fourth quarter of 2007 versus 377,000 net new customers for the same period last year. The favorable effects of an increase in the customer base along with growth in “voice” and “data” usage and the Enterprise segment dynamism were largely offset by strong cuts on mobile voice termination rates (21%) as of January 1, 2007. Excluding the impacts of the regulated tariff cuts, SFR’ service revenues would have been up by
5.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. Data revenues amounted to €322 million and increased by 20.6% when compared to the same period last year.

ADSL and fixed revenues reached €125 million due to the integration of Télé2 France since July 20, 2007.

Maroc Telecom
20% growth
For the full year 2007, Maroc Telecom’s revenues9 increased by 19.6% to €2,456 million compared to 2006 (+10.5% at constant currency and at constant perimeter10). Mobile revenues11 grew by 27.3% to €1,721 million compared to 2006 (+21.4% at constant currency and at constant perimeter).

Despite increased competition, the customer base12 13 still experienced strong growth and reached 13,327 million customers, up 24.5% compared to December 2006 (or a net increase of 2,620 million customers over the year 2007), driving the sharp evolution of mobile revenue.

The blended ARPU12 14 reached €9.6, down 4.9% at constant currency compared to 2006, mainly due to a strong increase of the customer base. The average price decrease driven by promotional offers, in particular unlimited offers, allowed strong customer usage growth.

Fixed and Internet revenues11 grew by 5.7% to €989 million compared to 2006 (-6% at constant currency and at constant perimeter). Fixed customer base12 reached 1.289 million lines, experiencing a net increase of 22,620 lines over the year 2007 due to the success of unlimited offers launched at the end of 2006. However, the average “voice”12 invoice amount decreased by 3.5% (at constant currency) over the same period. The ADSL customer base12 still experienced a strong growth, due to the active promotions policy and reached 470,000 lines, displaying a net increase of more than 86 000 lines in 2007 and increasing by 22.4% compared to December 2006. For the fourth quarter of 2007, Maroc Telecom’s revenues increased by 27.7% to €637 million compared to same period last year (14.9% at constant currency and at constant perimeter).

Mobile revenues grew by 40.3% to €455 million compared to the same period last year (30.6% at constant currency and at constant perimeter).

Fixed and Internet revenues grew by 4.9% to €246 million compared to the same period last year (-8.5% at constant
currency and at constant perimeter).

Vivendi Games
Revenues exceeded €1 billion and World of Warcraft reaches over 10 million subscribersFor the first time ever,

Vivendi Games exceeded €1 billion in revenues. Vivendi Games’ 2007 revenues of €1,018 million were 26.6% above the prior year (up 33.5% on a constant currency basis). Blizzard Entertainment, Inc’s revenues of €814 million were higher than 2006 (up 58%), while the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile businesses were lower at €204 million (-29%); each of the business segments were impacted by unfavorable currency exchange movements.

Blizzard Entertainment’s revenues increased strongly, driven by the continued momentum of World of Warcraft, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and the very successful first quarter 2007 release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment’s first World of Warcraft expansion. As a result of Blizzard’s 2007 subscriber acquisition initiatives World of Warcraft’s subscriber base increased by 2 million over the year, reaching more than 10 million players worldwide.

Sierra Entertainment’s revenues were lower overall, while the Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions each showed growth. Sierra’s 2007 PC and console releases, including Crash of the Titans, Spyro: The Eternal Night, F.E.A.R. expansion and compilations, Timeshift and World in Conflict, were not as strong as the 2006 release slate, which included Scarface, Ice Age 2, Eragon, Spyro: A New Beginning and F.E.A.R. For the fourth quarter of 2007, Vivendi Games’ revenues of €302 million were 7.4% below the prior year (down 4.4% on a constant currency basis). Blizzard Entertainment’s revenues of €186 million were higher than 2006 (+19%), while the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile businesses were lower at €116 million
(-32%); each of the business segments were impacted by unfavorable currency exchange movements.

The increase in Blizzard Entertainment’s revenues was driven by the continued momentum of World of Warcraft.

French media authority CSA has launched a call for tenders for the attribution of a DTT HD pay-TV service.

This call specifically concerns pay-TV services already authorized on DTT and that wish to switch from standard to high definition.

Applicants have until March 2008 to let the CSA know their plans for a selection to take place in May.

Source: RapidTV News

French music sales go from bad to worst, with sales in 2007 seeing a 17.4% drop.

According to annual results from the professionnal association of phonographic editors SNEP, delivered early this week at Midem in Cannes, music sales generated last year €713 million revenue against €862.6 million in 2006.

CD and DVD sales even broke a negative record, going down 19.2% at €662 million, not compensated by quite good virtual music results, up 16.6% at €50.8 million. Since 2002, the market has dropped a huge 45% in revenue.

Digital music in France represents a share of only seven per cent, with a 58.7% domination of that by the phone sector (€29.8 million) vs the internet.

In 2008, producers expect a lot from the application, soon, of new repressive measures proposed last November by mission Olivennes to France’s government so as to fight back against illegal downloads.

In its first 12-month analysis of advertising spending on media outlets that reach African American consumers, The Nielsen Company reported today that spending for the period October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007 totaled $2.3 billion. The Nielsen African American ad spending analysis covers over 22,000 national, regional and local advertisers, across 130+ media vehicles.African American Spending by Medium
Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the advertising intelligence service of Nielsen, tracked 5 individual media for this analysis: Local Radio, National Magazine, National Cable TV, Network TV and Syndication TV. Local Radio reported the greatest amount of spending on African American targeted media at $805 million dollars, comprising 35% percent of total spending.

National Cable TV reported the largest ad growth with 14.5% during this period. This growth is the result of a number of factors including: Year over year growth for BET, the inclusion of TV One in the Nielsen Monitor-Plus service as of January 2007, as well as a number of high profile TV programs such as “House of Payne” on TBS, “Being Bobby Brown” on Bravo, “Flavor of Love” on VH1, and “Making the Band” on MTV.

“We think it is terrific that Nielsen has undertaken this analysis, demonstrating their desire to increase their reporting of ethnic advertising. It’s the first-time that such a comprehensive analysis of advertising spending to reach African Americans has been undertaken,” said Deborah Gray-Young, Vice President & Director of Media Services for Chicago-based E. Morris Communications. “This is an excellent first step, and we look forward to seeing the number of media included increase in future analysis.”

“We’re excited to be able to offer African American targeted media insights to our clients, and we look forward to continuing to provide analysis like this in the future,” said Brian Lane, SVP of Client Strategy and Product Management for Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

National magazines reported more than $600 million in spending, showing healthy revenue across a number of publications including Essence magazine. Nielsen Monitor-Plus also added the following publications to its monitoring during this time period: American Legacy, King, Giant and XXL.

Syndication TV reported $102.4 million dollars in ad spend for programs that have a 50% or greater composition of African American audiences, and that’s down year over year. Syndication is made up of a good mix of both established off-network programs such as “The Bernie Mac Show,” “One on One” and “Girlfriends” as well original syndication programming, like “Judge Mathis” and “Showtime at the Apollo.”

Network TV at $193.3 million dollars saw a consolidation of UPN and WB into the new CW network. The Top Network TV shows based on total ad revenue are: “Girlfriends,” Everybody Hates Chris,” “The Game,” and “All of Us” on the CW, as well as “Watch Over Me” on MNT.

Source: The Nielsen Company

Top Advertisers & Product Categories
With $89.7 million in spending, Procter & Gamble is the largest advertiser targeting African American consumers.  McDonald’s is second with $37.7 million, followed by Johnson and Johnson with $36.1 million in total spending for the 12 months October 2006 through September 2007. Collectively, the Top 25 Advertisers spent a total of $681.0 million.

Five auto makers are in the top 25 advertisers across all African American media: General Motors ($35.8 million), Chrysler ($28.2 million), Ford Motor Co. ($25.9 million), Nissan Motor Co LTD., ($22.1 million) and Toyota Motor Corp ($21.7 million).

The top brands advertised by Procter & Gamble include Charmin, Bounty, Crest, Olay, Cover Girl and Tide. National Amusements, parent company to CBS Corp and Viacom advertised for a number of movies that featured African American characters or casts including “Freedom Writers,” “Dreamgirls,” “Norbit,” and “Black Snake Moan.”

Spending for the top 15 product categories across all media reached over $806 million. Not surprisingly the Automotive category has the most spending at $187.4 million, more than double the dollar amount of the number two product category, Quick Service Restaurants at $79.1 million. Motion Pictures is the third highest ad spending product category at $75.4 million.

Source: The Nielsen Company

Source: The Nielsen Company

In addition to this African American advertising analysis, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reports annually on Spanish-Language ad spending for 6 distinct media: Spanish-Language cable and network television, national magazines, local newspapers, local TV and local radio.

Nielsen Monitor-Plus African American Advertising Spending Analysis Methodology

Radio: 92 stations across 28 markets. The following formats were included: Black News & Talk, Gospel, Urban Reggaeton, Smooth Jazz, Urban, Urban AC, and Urban Oldies.

Network & Syndication TV: 3 television networks (13 programs) and 16 Syndication programs included. Includes programs with an African American audience composition of 50% or greater.

National Magazines: 12 titles.

Cable TV: BET & TV One, as well as 61 programs across 16 additional networks provided the program achieves an African American audience comp of 50% or greater. The 16 networks are: AMC, BRAVO, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC Family Channel, MTV, MTV2, OXYGEN, Sci-Fi, TBS, TNT, TVGN, TV Land, USA, VH1, and WGN Cable.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (Nielsen Online), mobile media (Nielsen Mobile), trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA.

Digital music distribution is now part of the music industry’s culture, and Orange is playing a pivotal role in the development of quality services for music and entertainment.

Once again this year, Orange will be present in Cannes from January 26 to 31 at the Midem, with a dedicated space enabling it to organize events and offer several demonstrations of its products and services.

As the annual international event for music industry professionals, the Midem represents a genuine platform for meeting the market’s decision-makers and an essential event for meeting the music community.

The Midem will also represent an opportunity to launch various initiatives supporting young talents, with several concerts taking place, as well as the Orange Magic Mirrors, a new space open to professionals and the general public, which Orange is partnering. A dedicated Midem evening is also planned on the “Second Life” Orange Island.

Orange will be taking part in the conferences held throughout this event, in the Midemnet Forum, a preamble to the Midem: a discussion place about emerging trends and developping strategies in link with digital music and mobile. Orange will also speak during the Midem conference “talent only” providing insight into the new directions for discovering and developing artists today.

This coming Sunday’s Super Bowl (XLII) at the University of Phoenix’s Glendale stadium will be celebrating more than just two football teams.

The premium ticket prices (from US$4000 for a “game day experience” to US$100,000 for a table at the “Big Ticket” gala), and the fact that the game itself is a near-local event for the “home” team of the New England Patriots and “away” team, the New York Giants, likely to drive even more TV interest if that’s possible. But viewing interest in the game is the catalyst in getting sports fans into electrical retailers in what seems to be the biggest HDTV sales week of the year.

The Consumer Electronics Association says that more than 2.4m high-def sets will be sold prior to the game – and helped by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers appearing as the half-time musical treat. Indeed, one bullish forecast talks about 3.9m sets being sold ahead of the big game. The sets will have a wholesale value of some US$2.2bn, says the CEA, and the Sports & Technology annual study from Sports Video Group. Throw in new connectors, surround sound systems and fixing brackets, plus the obligatory food and drink and the overall bill gives the game a huge importance across the nation.

The CEA recently said that more than half of all US homes now have at least one digital TV set although not necessarily good for HD reception. The CEA says that an increasing number of these are HDTV sets and should account for 79% of all TVs sold in the country over the course of 2008.

This year’s game is being covered by Fox, who will use 30 cameras – up from the 24 used at last year’s Green Bay event, plus about 80 microphones scattered around the ground. The heart of Fox’s engineering is a 53-foot Expando OB truck that handles engineering, video, replay and audio functions. Crucial kit includes a 512 x 1024 Pesa video router; 30 Fortel UDC-550 Up/Cross Converter/Framesync devices; Sony HDC-3300 super-slow-motion cameras and HDC-1500 cameras complete with Canon lenses; EVS replay servers; Panasonic DVC Pro HD and D-5 HD tape decks; a Calrec Bluefin Alpha audio console with 96 faders; and a suite of Dolby digital audio encoding and decoding gear. Three other giant OB units look after production, graphics and tape functions, and editing and transmission. A fifth unit “double” Expando serves as the fleet’s mobile studio.

Source: RapidTV News, Chris Forrester

The NRJ Group’s sales (excluding exchange operations) for 2007 reached 359.7 million euros compared to 398.3 million euros in 2006. i.e. a 9.7% fall (-7.9% on a like-for-like basis and at a constant exchange rate). In the fourth quarter, the Group’s sales were 99.8 million euros compared to 119.0 million euros in Q4 2006. i.e. a 16.1% fall (-14.3% on a like-for-like basis and at a constant exchange rate).

In the fourth quarter, in a market that was still proving difficult for the sector overall, revenue from radio in France shows a slight improvement compared to the trend for the first 9 months. It came to 72.6 million euros compared to 78.8 million euros in Q4 2006. i.e. a 7.9% fall. In total, revenue from radio in France came to 239.6 million euros in 2007. i.e. a fall of 8.5% on 2006.

Revenue from international radio business, at 32.1 million euros, is up slightly (by 0.3%) on 2006 (+2.4% in Q4). It incorporates a positive consolidation scope effect of 2.7 million euros following the 50% consolidation of the sub-group, Nostalgie in Belgium, in 2007.

Revenue from television business continues to rise strongly. It amounted to 8.7 million euros in 2007 compared to 3.7 million euros in 2006 (+135.1%). In the fourth quarter, turnover reached 3 million euros, up 130.7% on Q4 2006. The move up-market of NRJ 12’s new generalist programme schedule enabled the channel to cross the 2% audience share threshold in November (2.1%) and December (2.3%) (source Médiamétrie – Target 4 year-olds and over, equipped with DTT). The channel is thus now in fourth place among the new DTT generalist channels and represented a national audience share of 0.7% in December.

Revenue from telephony business amounted to 18.3 million euros in 2007 compared to 13.8 million euros in 2006 on a like-for-like basis, i.e. a 33.2% rise. In Q4 2007, turnover amounted to 5 million euros, up 43% on a like-for-like basis. Following the launch in mid-2007 of the NRJ Mobile PAYG offering aimed at young people, the mobile telephony division successfully launched its new “C le Mobile” offering in mid-November aimed at an adult public and marketed exclusively via CM-CIC’s powerful network. Thus, at the end of December, NRJ Mobile had acquired nearly 600,000 clients since its launch, including nearly 35,000 subscribers (15,000 subscribers acquired in December alone).

Revenue from Non-Media business amounted to 41.5 million euros in 2007 compared to 62.6 million euros in 2006. Le Roi Soleil [‘The Sun King’], one of the greatest musical success stories in France, played its final shows in early July at Paris Bercy. In 2008. the Group will pursue the development of artistic productions, with musicals and plays, and is also preparing a new musical, the first performances of which are due to commence in 2009.

Finally, the Group’s broadcasting business continues to develop strongly, notably in the DTT broadcasting market. Its contribution to the Group’s sales reached 18.2 million euros in 2007 compared to 12.8 million euros in 2006. i.e. a rise of 42.2%. In December, towerCast, the Group’s broadcasting subsidiary, reached the threshold of the 1000th frequency broadcast on, and its total turnover came to 30.2 million euros (including turnover realised within the Group).

Recent developments and prospects
Over the last audience wave, the Radio medium reached its highest historical listenership levels (Source Médiamétrie, November-December audience, population aged 13 and over, during the week). In this context, the NRJ radio won a further 109,000 listeners compared to September-October 2007 with a listening period that 3 was minutes longer.

In television, DTT is pursuing its rapid deployment in France, both in terms of territorial coverage and household equipment levels. In 2009, DTT is expected to cover more than 90% of French population and virtually 100% by 2012. In this favourable context, the Group is pursuing the development of a fully-fledged television division with the national channel NRJ 12, which is applying for a Personal Mobile Television licence, the music channel NRJ Hits and a number of local channels, including the new DTT Ile-de-France (Paris region) channel, which will be launched early in 2008.

In telephony, NRJ Mobile is pursuing the acquisition of clients, notably with its post-paid offering. This will be boosted in the spring with the addition of innovative products aimed at the youthful target.

Michael Schumacher racing a Roman chariot, Zinedine Zidane in unlikely Egyptian garb kicking a ball — “Asterix at the Olympic Games”, France’s biggest-budget movie ever, was designed with a bit of magic Gallic potion to please any audience.

Whether the slapstick comic-book routine will work this time is a million-dollar question.

Produced at a record cost of 78 million euros (114 million dollars), its star cast and massive release on 5,000 screens in 40 European countries this week and next, is timed to benefit from the 2008 Olympic spirit, and its financial spin-off.

In terms of budget, it beats Luc Besson’s two blockbusters “The Fifth Element” and “Arthur And The Minimoys” (1997 and 2006), but to get a payback on investment, the film will need to beat the two first Asterix films at the box office.

The 1998 movie starring the pint-sized hero’s crusade against the Roman Empire, “Asterix and Obelix against Caesar”, sold 25 million tickets, of which 15 million were overseas. Four years later, “Mission Cleopatra” did almost as well with 24.5 million, but only 10 million foreign sales.

“We thought, produced, cast and shot the film so it would export well,” said Emmanuel Montamat of La Petite Reine, co-producers with Pathe.

In France the film is being released in 950 cinemas, followed by around 800 in Russia. It premiered in Poland and is being released in Germany, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Scandinavia.

Loosely based on a 1968 comic book of the same name, the 12th in the series about the tiny Rome-bashing Gaul and his portly sidekick Obelix, the made-to-measure movie makes no bones about exploiting the Olympic factor.

Along with real-life Schumacher (as “Schumix”) and Zidane (”Numerodix”), movie-goers get a few amusing moments of basketball star Tony Parker (”Tonus Parker”) and tenniswoman Amelie Mauresmo (”Amelix”).

On the movie star front, the producers sent out the best of France’s big names — Gerard Depardieu, in his usual role of fat and kindly Obelix, and Alain Delon, as a not-very-kindly-ageing yet self-infatuated Julius Caesar who in his lines refers to his grand celeb roles of the 1960s, such as “The Leopard”.

Looking to please foreign film-goers, the film appropriately throws in a handful of foreign stars, Spain’s Santiago Segura, Germany’s Michael Herbig and Canada’s Stephane Rousseau.

The star cast cost the producers 10 million euros, copyright for Asterix seven million, decor and costumes eight million, with 32 million euros spent on technical means for the five-month shoot in southern Spain.

The producers have launched a massive four-month PR campaign involving the likes of phone company Orange, Vokswagen, McDonald’s and Nestle to rustle up public interest.

Source: AFP

Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson reveale the title of the latest James Bond movie today at Pinewood Studios.

Quantum of Solace is the 20th Bond movie to be filmed at the studios and is named after a short story published by 007 creators Ian Fleming.

Filming will be taking place on location and stages at the studios including the 59,000 sq ft 007 Stage. The stage was recently used to film an adaptation of the Abba musical Mamma Mia!.

Microsoft Corp. today announced second quarter records for revenue, operating income and diluted earnings per share of $16.37 billion, $6.48 billion and $0.50, respectively. Compared to the year ago period, these figures represent growth of 30%, 87% and 92% for revenue, operating income and diluted earnings per share, respectively.

Results in the prior year were impacted by the deferral of $1.64 billion of revenue and operating income and $0.11 of diluted earnings per share from the second to the third quarter of fiscal 2007, due primarily to technology guarantee programs. Without these deferrals, second quarter growth rates for revenue, operating income and earnings per share growth rates would be 15%, 27% and 32%, respectively.

“Revenue of over $16 billion this quarter exceeds our previous record by $2 billion,” said Chris Liddell, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “We are extremely pleased by the broad based strength of our business performance and field execution. Throughout the first half of our fiscal year, all of our businesses met or beat our expectations.”

Since Windows Vista became generally available one year ago, Microsoft’s Client business has grown over 20% on average and sales of Windows Vista have surpassed 100 million licenses.

“We are pleased with the progress of Windows Vista in the market. We’ve hit our stride with partners and customers and are looking forward to the release of our first service pack later this quarter,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms and Services Division at Microsoft.

Sales to business customers remained brisk in the quarter with Microsoft Business Division and the Server and Tools business each experiencing double-digit revenue growth rates over the prior year and together increased revenue over $1 billion versus the comparable quarter last year. Microsoft Business Division generated 23% business revenue growth driven by the versions of Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Exchange that were launched last November.

“We are in the midst of another strong year with great momentum heading into calendar year 2008,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. “We continue to see healthy demand from both businesses and consumers in the United States and our growth in emerging markets is especially strong. Looking across Brazil, Russia, India and China, our field revenue reached a combined growth rate over 65% this quarter. As we look ahead, our Windows Server 2008 launch, with our virtualization solution, will further our quest to bring exceptional value to our customers.”

Microsoft rolled out new consumer focused offerings during the quarter such as Windows Home Server, new versions of the Zune media player and the next generation of Windows Live Online Services. Exiting the calendar year, the life to date sales of Xbox 360 consoles reached 17.7 million units, representing a 70% increase from the prior year.

Business Outlook

Microsoft management offers the following guidance for the quarter ending March 31, 2008:

• Revenue is expected to be in the range of $14.3 billion to $14.6 billion.

• Operating income is expected to be in the range of $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion.

• Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $0.43 to $0.45.

Management offers the following guidance for the full fiscal year ending June 30, 2008:

• Revenue is expected to be in the range of $59.9 billion to $60.5 billion.

• Operating income is expected to be in the range of $24.2 billion to $24.4 billion.

• Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1.85 to $1.88.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.