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 NEW YORK (AP) - Under other circumstances, 2006 might look like a pretty good year for the media industry. The Winter Olympics and a midterm election are sure to boost advertising spending, the economy is humming along and consumers seem to be spending.
But these are hardly normal circumstances. The broad shift of viewers and advertising dollars to the Internet is deeply troubling to many media companies, TV networks are grappling with the implications of ad-skipping technologies, and key advertisers like automakers and retailers are rethinking their ad budgets.
Meanwhile, cable companies like Comcast Corp. and satellite broadcast providers like EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc. are facing a new threat from phone companies who are laying down ultrahigh speed fiber optic cables that can carry high quality video as well as data and phone signals to the home.
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