Market Decline Clips Cable
Dow Drops 370 Points With Most Of Sector In Tow
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 10/6/2008 2:56:00 PM
Cable stocks were hit Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 369.88 points to 9955.50.
The final Dow tally actually represented positive news of sorts as the average was at one point down more than 
800 points. Still, those expecting a “bail-out bump” on the first full day of trading following last Friday's approval of the $700 billion Wall Street recovery package were sadly mistaken -- Oct. 6 marked the first time since October 2004 that the measure closed below 10,000.
All five of the publicly traded U.S. cable companies closed down on Monday. Cablevision was hurt the most, losing $1.57 each to close at $20.07 per share. Time Warner Cable fell 55 cents per share to $21.91, while Comcast dropped 28 cents per share to $18.42 each.
Mediacom Communications was down 31 cents per share to $5.33. For its part, Charter Communication dipped 4 cents to finish at 62 cents per share.
The declines were steeper for the satellite providers. Dish Network had a 74-cents per share drop to finish at $18.06 each. Sector leader DirecTV Group's shares lost $1.11 each to close at $23.65.
There were some small gains in the programmers’ court. Viacom saw its shares increase 17 cents each to $23.57 per share, while former sister company CBS was up 4 cents per share to $12.93 each. Outdoor Channel Holdings also advanced by 4 cents to $8.93 each.
Scripps Network Interactive and The Walt Disney Co. declined the most, falling $1.29 per share to $34.54, and $1.28 to $28.26 per share, respectively.
Elsewhere, World Wrestling Entertainment was pinned with a 51-cent per-share decline to $14.48 each. Crown Media Holdings, the parent of Hallmark Channel, declined 27 cents per share to $4.03 each, while News Corp.’s stock sustained a 23-cents per-share hit to finish at $10.80 each.
