Net income dropped by 71 percent at Crown media Holdings in the fourth quarter when compared with the previous year.

The Studio City-based owner and operator of the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel had net income of $373,000, or $0.00 per diluted share, on revenues of $77.6 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31. For the same period in 2008, Crown reported net income of $1.3 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, on revenues of $75.2 million.

For the 2009 fiscal year, the company had a net loss of $22.6 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, on revenues of $279.6 million. For the previous fiscal year, the company reported a net loss of $37.2 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, on revenues of $281.8 million.

During the year, Crown broadened its programming on the two channels with specials and the announcement of adding a block of time of lifestyle programming anchored by The Martha Stewart Show, said company President and CEO Bill Abbott.

“This growing distinction between our two channels, and the tremendous expansion in distribution for Hallmark Movie Channel, will enable both channels to deliver strong results in 2010 and achieve their full revenue potential in the long-term,” Abbott said.

Whew!

A collective sigh of relief came from car dealers throughout Southern California as 2009 ended bringing to a close one of the worst years faced by the auto industry in decades.

While 2010 is expected to bring an improvement in sales as the carmakers begin to right themselves after an extended period of financial difficulty there remains the question of how much improvement and how rising gas prices and low inventories will play into that.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Allan Mullaly anticipates additional sales of 1 million to 2 million vehicles in 2010 over the 10.5 million in 2009.

At Acura of Valencia, co-owner Don Fleming said the phone is beginning to ring again and that the traffic count has picked up a little.

“Everyone knows we have deals,” Fleming said. “We’re just getting our name out and letting (buyers) know we are here when they are ready.”

In California, car and light truck sales from both domestic and foreign manufacturers was down by 35 percent through Sept. 30 when compared with the same period in 2008, according to figures from the California New Car Dealers Association.

The association’s Director of government Affairs Brian Maas is of the opinion that gas prices will dictate where the car market goes this year.

When prices hit $4 a gallon in summer 2008 there was a dramatic change in the market with buyers going for smaller cars and hybrid vehicles with better gas mileage.

The challenge for the industry will be in having those types of vehicles available if gas prices skyrocket again.

“Over the long term the small car market is doing better,” Maas said.

Oren Weintraub agrees that gas prices will be a major factor for the auto industry this year.

But as president of Authority Auto, a car buying concierge service based in Sherman Oaks, Weintraub is more interested in the number of cars manufacturers will send off the assembly lines.

Adjusting to the poor market in 2009, the car companies made fewer vehicles. Fleming’s Acura dealership, for instance, went several weeks without any new cars coming in.

With fewer vehicles on the showroom floor the advantage goes to the sellers as the buyers will have difficulty getting a good price and having to spend more time going from dealer to dealer to get the car they want, Weintraub said.

This could be good news for Auto Authority and other car buying services. Weintraub expects that 2010 will be a challenging year in which he and his staff will have to work extra hard to get deals for their clients.

“We feel fortunate to have made the good connections and can get preferential pricing,” Weintraub said.

Also expected to draw customers back is a new product being offered, such as the Chevrolete Volt electric car to be made available later this year from General Motors.

At the recently concluded Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, Ford announced that its spring line up will include new features for its Sync in-car technology that includes voice commands, an 8-inch color touch-screen, and the ability to check tweets from Twitter, listen to Internet radio and get free maps. The car maker is also putting to market hatchback and sedan versions of its Focus model.

Those additions have one Valley Ford dealer expecting a brighter 2010.

“Ford will gain market share,” said Beau Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Ford in North Hills. “They have great new products.”

For the 20th year in a row, Galpin retained its title of the largest Ford dealer by volume in the world.

The family-owned dealership sold 12 more vehicles than its closest competitor Bill Brown Ford in Livonia Michigan. Woodhouse Ford in Blair, Neb. was the third dealership vying for the title.

“We see it as a market advantage to be number one,” Boeckmann said. “And it says something to our customers too. It is a good marketing message for us.”

As good as the year ended, however, the start had not been as rosy. Survival was more on the minds of the Boeckmann family as the recession caused vehicle sales to plummet at their dealerships as they did across the country.

But then came rumblings of the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program to spur auto sales. The dealership began to build up its inventory to get the right mix of vehicles that shoppers might buy.

In the final few months of 2009 Galpin still lagged behind Brown and Woodhouse in sales. So the dealership began a concerted effort to pull out all the stops to keep its title.

The dealer reached out to its customer base, sent letters to friends, and had a dinner for its vendors who in turn gave incentives to employees to buy a car. Even Galpin employees were buying cars.

Regular customers came by the dealership to purchase a vehicle so they could help in keeping the title in the San Fernando Valley.

“As crazy as that sounds I heard it over and over again,” Boeckmann said.

This is the Valley Industry & Commerce Association’s (VICA) monthly column for the business Journal. VICA is a business advocacy group representing the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas.

As news about the city’s budget deficit dominates headlines much of the buzz surrounds layoffs and cuts to city services. But savvy business leaders know that when times are tough creativity is needed to help overcome financial difficulties.

The City of Los Angeles faces a budget gap of more than $200 million and that number is anticipated to double in the following fiscal year. Unless city leaders make sustainable and systemic changes to the way the city operates, the budget crisis will remain chronic.

Significant cuts and layoffs are unavoidable at this point, but there are other ways the city can leverage its assets to help ease the budget shortfall. Over the next several weeks the Los Angeles City Council will consider public-private partnerships as one of the methods to help close the city’s budget deficit.

Public-private partnerships are beneficial to both the city and businesses. There are several types of services currently provided by the city that could be better offered by private companies or even nonprofits. The services would be improved and the city would reduce risks, contain its costs and be allowed to focus on its core functions.

The city is currently looking at two models for incorporating the private sector into city operations, according to reports from the city’s chief administrative officer (CAO). The CAO has identified several areas where the city could enter into public-private partnerships for the operation of parking garages, golf courses and parking meters. There have also been suggestions to privatize the management of the Convention Center, Zoo, El Pueblo de Los Angeles historical monument and Ontario Airport.

The other approach to privatization the CAO has proposed is managed competition. This strategy would create even more opportunities for improved service delivery and efficiency, because businesses would provide the city with competition that it currently lacks being the sole service provider. Services currently under consideration for managed competition include: landscaping, publishing, street and fleet repair, ambulance billings, multi-family trash pick-up, the animal services canvassing function, and operations of cultural affairs theaters and centers.

Under these public-private agreements the city is forced to give up some control, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. The cost savings of privatization alone are too significant to ignore in the midst of this budget crisis.

Under the partnerships proposed by the CAO the city would decrease expenses for operations, maintenance and pension obligations. There are also several cases where privatization would eliminate the city’s debt obligations.

City revenues would be increased by leasing facilities to private entities to operate, and in several instances the revenue would be sustainable. In addition to direct income, handing over control of certain city services transfers the city’s risk to private companies. For example, typical liabilities for parking structure operators, such as injuries to patrons of the lot, would no longer be the city’s responsibility.

The concepts of public-private partnerships and managed competition offer the city effective and long-term solutions for fixing the city budget. Under these agreements the city has the opportunity for significant savings and increased revenues, and businesses are presented with new entrepreneurial ventures.

City officials must face the reality that now is the time for tough decisions and strong leadership. There will always be opposition to innovation, but they must remember that they were elected to make the decisions that are best for all Angelenos.

The trade organization for the adult entertainment industry is putting the final touches on guidelines to ensure safety on film shoots and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The adult industry has long been self-policing with monthly tests when it comes to safety but the disclosure last summer of a performer testing positive for HIV brought more scrutiny by the state Division of Occupational Safety and health and led to a petition to force Los Angeles County to require condoms in adult productions.

Now the Free Speech Coalition pins hopes that new guidelines will put the matter to rest for an industry that has already seen a decline in the number of films made in the past year and driven some producers to other states.

With a bloodborne pathogen plan in place, the state will be able to enforce its provisions for protecting performers, crew members and others on film shoots. Critical to the coalition is that guidelines are specific for adult productions.

“We want to work with (Cal/OSHA) on the plan and on standards that are realistic for the industry,” said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, based in Canoga Park.

Companies signing on to the guidelines would, among other precautions, provide closable, puncture-resistant biohazard waste containers; require the washing of body parts after the filming of each scene; have performers sign a document acknowledging the risks involved; provide training for employees and contractors and strict record-keeping of the training; and to make condoms and disposable latex gloves available at filming locations.

The guidelines at times go into detailed descriptions, such as the dilution of bleach to hot water in order to clean chairs, bedding, tables, stools, work surfaces, sex toys used in filming.

“It’s only a 10 page document but it’s not easy to get there,” Duke said. “You have to take a lot into account.”

The industry has been through health scares before.

Filming came to a halt for a month in 2004 after it became known that a male performer tested positive for HIV and had infected three actresses. A fifth, unrelated performer also tested positive.

Last June, it was a single female performer testing positive although it was determined it was not a workplace exposure.

Still, the industry as a whole received a black eye with the Adult Industry Medical healthcare Foundation in Sherman Oaks taking much of the heat. Cal/OSHA later sprung a surprise inspection on the facility and attempted unsuccessfully to get access to patient records. (Attempts to reach AIM Executive Director Sharon Mitchell were not successful.)

Pushing for stricter standards in adult films is the AIDS healthcare Foundation, which went to court to force Los Angeles County to require condoms usage and filed complaints against 16 adult production companies, all but one located in the San Fernando Valley, with Cal/OSHA.

An avid cyclist, Jeff Ross can ride between 80 miles to 120 miles a week.

The long-time entertainment industry executive also finds in cycling a metaphor for business: that one needs to keep up the momentum and always move forward.

In his own career Ross recently moved forward by leaving a vice president position with a visual effects house to start his own consulting company.

For his new venture Ross turned to a favorite outdoor activity for the name – Pedal Faster.

Ross will provide his services to mainly medium and small visual effects and post-production companies. He has two clients lined up so far and is getting the Pedal Faster name out through brochures and e-mails.

Having held many senior level positions Ross can go into a company that may be struggling with clarity and experience and see what needs to be changed and how to change it.

“As a consultant I can do that effectively by not being a part of the company,” Ross said.

Pedal Faster will offer marketing and public relations expertise, operational evaluation, and how to break into new markets.

One area that Ross can be of assistance is in showing the right way for effects and post-production houses to grow. These companies are started by creative people with limited business experience and as their companies grow the find less and less time to be creative.

That’s where Ross can come in.

“I can help them with infrastructure and help with that growth,” Ross said.