Late Breaking News

Cable World,  Nov 11, 2002  

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Slowdown in Local Ad Sales

Local cable advertising sales for the top eight cable operators rose 8% to $648.8 million in the third quarter, a slower rate of growth than the previous two quarters, according to a Media Markets Daily analysis. Steve Litwer, corporate sales director of advertising sales for Mediacom, said that the third quarter is typically the second-weakest sales quarter of the year. Mediacom's ad revenue grew the most - 18% - in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, due to political and automotive advertising, among other things. AOL Time Warner, on the other hand, posted a 5% rate of growth for the third quarter.

Donahue Looks to His Past

Phil Donahue's show on MSNBC this week will cover single topics and be shot with a studio audience, recalling his successful syndicated talk show. The program has been finishing behind Fox News and CNN in the time slot, but an MSNBC spokesperson said that while episodes of Donahue shot with a studio audience have been among the highest-rated, no decision to change the format permanently has been made.

Dutch Ponder Liberty Purchase

Dutch regulators are extending their inquiry into Liberty Media's planned purchase of Casema, France Telecom's Netherlands-based cable television unit. Liberty had agreed to pay $751 million for Casema, but Dutch regulators are afraid the deal will give Liberty an unfair competitive advantage in the country. The purchase of Casema would give Liberty a 60% market share in the Netherlands. Liberty Media CEO Dob Bennett told analysts and investors at a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms conference in Barcelona last week that he hopes to work something out in the Netherlands but declined to say what the company might do to appease regulators.

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