CABLE TALKS, WALL STREET LISTENS

摘要

After nearly three hours of fielding questions about new phone, data and video services at the industry's annual trade show last week, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was surprised when he finally got a question on cash flow. All through his talk on new voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) telephone services, more-advanced video-on-demand services and the continued successful rollout of cable modems, few listeners had any direct questions about finances. It was only at the very end that one institutional investor inquired, in effect, "Will these new services crunch cash-flow margins?" "I think that's the first 'numbers' question to me," Roberts said. "That speaks volumes. People are coming to this show and trying to 'look out' a little bit, which is what we try to do as business people."