Pay TV, radio stocks fall in third quarter

The index, which fell a dismal 9 percent in the quarter, nevertheless still performed better than many companies in these two industries.

The worst performance came from Sirius XM Radio Inc. in New York, down 70 percent in the quarter. The satellite radio company has $1.05 billion of debt coming due in 2009, which it has to refinance or replace at a time when banks are increasingly stingy with loans.

Debt was also a factor in the third-quarter performance of Charter Communications Inc. of St. Louis, which was down 30 percent. The cable operator posted long-term debt of $20.5 billion in the quarter ended June 30. Charter, which is controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, hasn't made a profit since it went public in 1999.

Dish Network Corp., based in Englewood, Colo., had the third worst showing, down 28 percent. Shares of Dish were hammered this week after AT&T Inc. officially dumped the satellite TV operator for rival DirecTV Group Inc. The marketing deal lets AT&T market DirecTV video with the phone company's voice and Internet services.

Dish shares also struggled after posting a net loss of 25,000 subscribers in the second quarter, the first in the company's history.

Best performers in the third quarter were Cablevision Systems Corp., Atlanta-based Cumulus Media Inc. and Comcast Corp., in Philadelphia, whose free cash flow remains robust.

Cablevision was up 11 percent in the third quarter, Cumulus rose by 8 percent and Comcast tacked on 3.5 percent.

Cablevision, a cable operator based in Bethpage, N.Y., is considering selling or spinning off assets to boost shareholder value.

Radio station owner Cumulus was helped by better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter of $30.3 million, or 70 cents per share, compared with $2.5 million, or 6 cents, in the same period last year. Revenue, however, fell 4.2 percent to $83.6 million.