Cable Show 2013: Analysts Say Malone, Price Power Drive Optimism

But programming costs drag sector

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/11/2013 9:35:13 AM

Complete Coverage: Cable Show 2013

Washington, D.C. - John Malone and broadband pricing power are some of the biggest positives in the cable industry today, while rising programming costs and regulatory uncertainty continue to be the biggest drags on stocks, according to an analyst panel at the Cable Show Monday.  

Kicking off "The Macro View: Investment Analysts on Cable's Economic Outlook," panel, Bank of America Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said the return of Liberty Media chairman Malone, after a $2.6 billion investment in Charter Communications, has been a "big boost of confidence" for the industry," and it has restarted consolidation talk. She added that the continued strong pricing power of cable broadband service, despite its maturity, is an added boon.

But Reif Cohen said increased programming costs continue to drag on the stocks.

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