| Traverse Global Communications Corp Announces Partnership with Wells ...
Traverse Global Communications Corp is now an authorized private label reseller for Wells Fargo and Authorize.Net merchant account services to provide online real time e-commerce transactions. (PRWEB) October 11, 2005 -- Traverse Global Communications Corp has agreed to exclusively offer Wells Fargo merchant accounts and Authorize.Net transaction processing services to it's client base. By offering private label merchant accounts through it's Credit Plus (http://www.creditplus.net/) subsidiary, Traverse Global will be able to leverage the depth of quality services that their new partners offer to their existing client base. For just $29.95/mo, clients of Traverse Global will be able to process credit cards in real time through their own website and receive free web hosting along with a free shopping cart to conveniently process their orders.
Cards: Opportunities Abound In Crowded Payments Field
In the course of a decade, card-based payments have doubled in volume to account for 28 percent of all consumer payments. It's nearly half of the payments pie when excluding the amount spent on auto loans, mortgages and other debt vehicles unsuitable for cards. Credit or debit card use at the point of sale represents 56 percent of all purchases, interchange now accounts for 19 percent of issuers' revenues, and the number of card-accepting merchants now tops 6.1 million. It's obvious that consumers are comfortable swiping cards for groceries, utility bills, morning coffee and hamburgers. But as Celent notes in a new report on payment trends, cards are not close to conquering cash and checks: cards' growth market is $4.5 trillion. Much of that growth is going to be fueled by evolving trends in consumer behavior, added merchant choices and technology, as bank issuers seek innovative ways of building and retaining card customers whose average cost of acquisition is between $50 and $300.
Making a Hallmark
There were two rounds of bidding, with media giants such as News Corp. and Time Warner Inc. weighing in. But Crown ultimately took the network off the block. "There was enough interest evident from the major players," Granath said. "I mean, everybody was interested, and everybody had kind of a deal they wanted to do. But it wasn't writing a $2 billion check." Cable networks have traditionally been priced based on cash flow, and Hallmark Channel is only on the brink of turning cash-flow positive, according to Derek Baine, senior vice president for Kagan Research. "At the end of the day, networks are going to be [valued] on what the cash flow is going to be," Baine said. "It's going to take them five to 10 years to get up to the range where they're going to have cash flow to justify [a premium sale price]." As he sees it, Hallmark Channel has "a tough seat to sit in" because "the question is all about that license fee and how do you get that up to a dime, or something more normalized, so they really would be getting more significant cash flow." Since it pulled Hallmark Channel off the block, Crown has made good on its promise to trim costs, to the tune of $14 million to $15 million, in part by making cuts in marketing spending, laying off 25 of its 175 employees in April, and improving ad sales, trafficking and information-technology systems.
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