Date: 10th November 2000

.....But Redstone Insists The Analysts Have It Wrong



While several analysts forecast a drastic downturn in advertising spending in the coming months, Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone insisted Thursday that he sees no sign of such a trend.

Appearing on CNBC's Faber Report, "We've had double digit advertising growth across all of our platforms. Our advertising growth is vibrant, the up-front market was great, the scatter market is great. We will have another great quarter." Program host David Faber observed that Time Warner's Gerald Levin and AOL's Robert Pittman have also recently voice similar bullish sentiments. He then added: "Wall Street, though, is clearly not a believer at this point." Separately, in a conference call, Disney chairman Michael Eisner said Thursday that analysts had adopted a "herd mentality" around the notion that ad sales are about to fall off significantly. "I just don't think that it's true," Eisner said.

Source: Studio Briefing