We're hopeful that we're going to see an increase (in advertising) by late next year, but it could be early 2003.
There are opportunities to invest in these stocks even given the uncertainty because they're strong companies and they're poised to recover when things start to look better.
from a strategic standpoint the merger makes a lot of sense. It's combining strong content with a whole new means of distributing that content.
If Starbucks can get food right, it gives them a whole new leg of growth.
He's coming in at what I think is a very interesting time for this company because clearly in order to grow this company, broadband distribution is key.
We're now in a situation where demand is slowing, while there's a huge increase in supply, which is still moving higher.
He's held a lot of positions at the company and he's been Mr. Levin's top lieutenant for the past couple of years,
When negotiations come back up for affiliate agreements in January, it could very well be that UPN will lose that distribution,
We're paying very close attention to what's happening with AT&T because getting distribution in the broadband area is very important,
Viacom walked away from the deal on Friday ... because the price just got to the point where they didn't feel it was beneficial to shareholders,
Things look bleak. It's unclear when things are going to start to look better.
Now keep in mind, this network is not yet profitable for Viacom. So by shutting down the network, actually cash flow estimates will go up,
About 42 percent of the revenues are subscriptions, and only about 25 percent is ad-based, so they're more immune although not entirely, to the ad slowdown,
They've taken a step in the right direction, but we are not all the way there yet,
They will be the largest cable provider, ... They have the AT&T brand, which we think will mean a lot when trying to sell additional services to customers. That is ?a stock that we would buy today.
Their new products are doing well, and the company is on the right track to cut costs. They're making progress.