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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tech101 who wrote (13256)	1/30/2006 8:35:12 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 46821

The marketing boys are gonna try and work their evil tricks again! =DJ Cable Industry Hopes To Rework Image With New Ad Campaign . By Ellen Sheng Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Feeling under attack, the cable industry is striking back with a new campaign to improve its image. In a new multi-million dollar campaign, the industry is presenting itself as an "honorable American success story" that came to its current prosperous state from humble, entrepreneurial roots. Starting this week, the industry's trade association, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, will be posting ads in newspapers, magazines and billboards. It will also include TV commercials. The ad campaign will focus primarily on the capitol area "for obvious reasons" but will be expanded to other markets in the coming months. "Lots of people love to beat up on cable," said Kyle McSlarrow, president and chief executive of the NCTA. "This industry has been too modest...I think that we should be shouting from the rooftops how proud we are," he continued. The cable industry's new image campaign - its first in a number of years - is being hatched as companies are getting hit by new competition and regulatory pressures. Phone carriers are investing billions into new networks to launch competing television services. Meanwhile satellite continues to poach subscribers and sometimes launches anti-cable ad campaigns. On the regulatory front, the industry is also facing a number of issues. Cable companies have faced pressure from the Federal Communications Commission to do something for family-friendly programming. Starting with Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK), a number of cable companies have introduced a new tier of family-friendly TV channels in recent weeks. Cable has also tried to stop the approval of statewide franchises, which permit phone carriers to roll out TV service throughout a state. Cable companies have had to gain permission to offer its service one district at a time in the past few decades - a much more costly and time-consuming task. Yet another issue troubling the industry is "net neutrality." Public interest groups and companies such as Google Inc. (GOOG) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) have been pushing regulators to make sure carriers and cable companies can't discriminate or charge more for certain services or Web sites. Cable companies have argued against this, saying they should be able to charge more for quality of service or for heavier usage. Cable's new ad campaign is but the first phase of a multi-phase campaign. "Before we dive into an issue-specific campaign, which will come, we felt it was important to give background and lay the foundation for the coming year," McSlarrow said. -By Ellen Sheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5863; ellen.sheng@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires January 30, 2006 19:18 ET (00:18 GMT)

To: tech101 who wrote (13256)	1/30/2006 9:01:02 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 46821

=DJ Sen. Commerce Committee Postpones Video-Franchise Hearing . WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Senate Commerce Committee postponed a Tuesday hearing on the granting by municipalities of video-service franchises, citing a scheduling conflict. The panel said that its 10 a.m. hearing would have conflicted with an 11 a.m. Senate vote on the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to be a justice on the Supreme Court. The committee also noted that it hoped to accommodate Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who has helped write video-franchise legislation. Ensign was in a car accident on Monday and could not have attended a Tuesday hearing, the committee said. The panel said it hopes to reschedule the hearing "for a date in the near future." -By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires

To: tech101 who wrote (13256)	1/30/2006 9:02:41 PM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Frank what sectors should we invest in over the next year? What sector index funds do you like best? =DJ Tech Sector Expected To Make Waves In High-Yield Market . By Liz Rappaport Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Using the phrase "high-tech" garnered blank stares at corporate bond offering road shows only a decade ago. Now, the once risky, cutting edge technology industry has segmented itself, and its parts are seen as mature cash flow generating companies that the leveraged buyout world is ready to pounce on, say analysts and bankers. That means the high-yield market can expect to absorb more of them. "You're going to see the tech sector grow in high yield," said Conrad Smith, technology analyst at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which has over $3 billion in high-yield assets under management. "Anyone (tech company) whose market cap is under $20 billion could be an LBO candidate." Some private equity firms have already tapped into the sector. Silver Lake Partners (SVL.XX), Bain Capital (BCI.XX), The Blackstone Group (BGP.XX), Goldman Sachs Capital Partners (GS), Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group (TPG.XX) led the $11.3 billion leveraged buyout of Wayne, Pa.-based SunGard Data Systems Inc. (SDS) last July. Since then the high-yield market has been acutely tuned to speculation that at least a handful of copycats are circling the wagons. Deals for Dallas, Texas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) and El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) recently fell through, but market participants have mentioned Electronic Data Systems Corp as a likely target. "Five years ago, you could say there were a few early adopters of tech investing among private equity firms," said a New York-based high-yield banker who declined to be named. "Now you've got all the biggies involved." Michael Marks left his post this month as chief executive officer of Singapore electronics manufacturing services company Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) to join Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a member. This highlights the legendary buyout firm's focus on the tech space, said the banker. Positive Precedent The SunGard deal has performed well. Its 9.125% bonds due 2013, sold as part of the deal, are currently trading at a premium, fetching a bid-offer midpoint of 104 cents on the dollar, according to Thrivent's Smith. Its senior subordinated 10.25% bonds due 2015, also sold in the transaction, are trading at 100.5. This success has helped prove to high-yield bond investors that buying technology firms' bonds isn't a losing proposition. Monday's drive-by refinancing deal by San Jose, Calif.-based Sanmina-Sci Corp. (SANM) electronics contract manufacturing services company is a perfect example, said investors. Sanmina-Sci Monday priced its $600 million offering at par to yield 8.125% via Banc of America Securities, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank. This debt will help replace bonds the company sold in 2003 at 10.25%, when conditions were rougher for tech companies in the high-yield sector. These older bonds were trading at 110 cents on the dollar. "It is hard to think of a tech deal that has done poorly," said Margaret Patel, portfolio manager at Pioneer High Yield Fund in Boston, which has $6 billion in assets under management. She referred also to Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (FSL), which was spun off from Motorola in June 2004. Bonds sold as part of that deal trade at 106 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess, an electronic trading platform for corporate bonds. Nonetheless, there are still some that shy away from technology investments. The notion of a fixed cost saddled onto a company whose product could slip into obsolescence at any moment has not faded in some circles. Technology companies have traditionally been viewed as high-growth companies with unpredictable cash-flows that typically tap the equity markets and sometimes the convertibles markets to raise funds. Private equity firms have huge amounts of cash on hand to invest, and LBO deals have been increasing in size of late. July 2005's SunGard deal stood briefly as the second-largest LBO next to the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco orchestrated by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1989. It was quickly replaced by the $15 billion leveraged buyout of Hertz Corp. (HERTZ.XX) done in December 2005 by Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc., The Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. Tech Deluge May Shock Junk Market The high-yield market has not had to contend with much volume from the tech sector. It only comprises about 4.19% of the overall high-yield market as of the end of December, according to Lehman Brothers. That is a market valuation of about $25 billion. If more SunGard-size deals come into the market, there could be upwards of $5 billion to $10 billion of technology issuance. And while some investors have warmed to the tech sector there are still some high-yield bond fund managers that adopt the mentality that technology companies shouldn't have leverage at all, said Thrivent's Smith. "If a bunch of these companies get bought out, it may be too much for the market to handle," said Smith. In the investment-grade market, evidence that investors are accepting of more leverage on once taboo tech companies is easy to find in this month's $5.75 billion first-time bond sale by Redwood Shores, Calif.-based software giant Oracle Corp. (ORCL). The company sold the bonds to strong demand, and used the proceeds of the offering to help fund its pending $5.85 billion acquisition of Siebel Systems (SEBL). -By Liz Rappaport, Dow Jones Newswires, 201 938 2087; liz.rappaport@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires January 30, 2006 17:57 ET (22:57 GMT)

To: tech101 who wrote (13256)	1/30/2006 9:18:20 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 46821

I guess I will have to keep an eye on C-span - hehe - they still advertising this: inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=192722155 Senate Committee Video Content Commerce, Science and Transportation Washington, District of Columbia (United States) ID: 190974 - 01/31/2006 - 2:00 - No Sale Inouye, Daniel K., U.S. Senator, D-HI Stevens, Ted, U.S. Senator, R-AK Waz, Joseph, Vice President, Comcast Corporation, External Affairs Fawcett, Dan, Executive Vice President, DirecTV, Business and Legal Affairs Gorshein, Doron, President and CEO, America Channel Polka, Matt, President and CEO, American Cable Association