A Dean Martin Christmas?

With technological convergence, the business model is morphing and the goalposts are getting moved. The existing satellite and cable providers have the difficult task of attempting to manage transitioning from a shrinking legacy subscriber base, to a growing subscriber base in newer venues, such as streaming and slinging.  

Ultimately these competitors all face the same problem our Slingin Dude did, a litany of Byzantine content licensing schemes and turf wars.  Finishing my coffee (indicates one’s determination to see an activity through to its end no matter what).  More competitors pushing streaming services means, more downward pressure on prices for that content.  - The Big Lebowski

Speaking of the opposite end of the spectrum (pun intended), with shrinking pricing latitude, margins and revenues, SP500 valuations just keep going up. This equity fest almost seems like one big….





Dean Martin Christmas Party?

“The Dean Martin Show“ ran 9 years on NBC, 1965 – 1974 with 264 episodes and was perhaps, the most thoroughly enjoyable variety series of the 60’s. Regulars included a dozen chorus girls, named “The Golddiggers”, Dom DeLuise, Nipsey Russell, Kay Medford, Lou Jacobi, pianist Ken Lane, Leonard Barr, Guy Marks, Tom Bosley, Marian Mercer, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Rodney Dangerfield, while bandleader Les Brown was a regular.



Dean was initially reluctant to do the show, partially because he did not want to turn down other lucrative film and touring opportunities. His terms with the network were deliberately outrageous: demanding a high salary and that he need only show up for the actual taping of the show. To Dino’s surprise the network agreed. As daughter Deana Martin recalled after meeting the network and making his demands, Martin returned home and announced to his family, “They went for it. So now I have to do it“.



The King of Cool refused to take things seriously, on-camera, and his relaxed, flippant attitude seemed to bring out the very best qualities of his guests. Martin was legendary for his casual, spontaneous persona, and everything about his show followed suit, no doubt due to Martin’s refusal to rehearse. It was obvious that Martin was reading most of his lines from cue cards and oft joked about doing so.



Dino’s act was that of a drunken, work-shy playboy, although the ever-present old-fashioned glass in his hand often only had apple juice in it. One Take Martin did everything in one take, when he missed the lines on the cue cards, he just kept on going and grinning. Martin’s on air stumbling and bumbling were part of the charm of the show.  In constantly poking fun at the conventional TV talk show by maintaining a slightly subversive air, one could consider Dino’s variety show as a forerunner of The David Letterman Show. 



Martin, who actually did knock the Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” out of Number 1 on the Pop Charts in 1964 with ‘Everybody Loves Somebody”, was unbelievably popular.  In 1967, after two seasons of high ratings, NBC gave Martin the most lucrative contract an entertainer had ever received from the network, up to that time.







Getting a Raise?



Once again, while drinking from a punchbowl filled to the brim with happy “daze” MSM narrative, all served up via Byzantine statistical methods, the Fed delivered holiday market cheer in the form of a 25 bps raise.



A subtle reminder to all… Interest rates are the cost of money? DEAD WRONG. Interest rates are NOT the cost of money, they are the cost of LOAN FUNDS. The cost of money is reflected in FX indexes and currency pairs.  



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