Economic slowdown hits Hollywood

March 21, 2008 "If there's a downturn in the economy -- and clearly there is -- and it affects some of our businesses at their fringe, with radio and TV stations, we do things to change it," Moonves said. Conventional wisdom used to be that content companies were recession-resistant, except perhaps for ad-driven businesses like network TV. [...] the current economic sluggishness could bring with it a decline in consumer spending on entertainment, especially after years of ballooning movie ticket prices, increasing studio dependence on consumer products like DVDs and cable bills that often top $100 a month.

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