Another explanation for the economic gloom may be the sharp advertising downturn that started in early 2001.

In an advertising downturn, special-interest magazines could get hurt even more than their general-interest counterparts, Mr. Capell said.

Common sense would suggest that during the biggest advertising downturn in more than a decade, publishers would ask consumers to pay a bigger share.

Still, many outside Miramax were skeptical that Talk could have continued in any event in the advertising downturn and the difficult market for general-interest magazines.

The advertising downturn and a tougher investment climate have hit digital TV broadcasters hard this year, dragging suppliers such as Pace down in turn.

Have the advertising downturn and the worries about accounting turned them into value stocks?

The auction of his assets, conducted amid one of the worst advertising downturns in postwar German history, has been tortuous.

ProSiebenSat.1, which owns news, sports and entertainment channels, has languished without direction amid one of the deepest advertising downturns in recent German history.

Over the last 18 months, the worst advertising downturn in decades has hurt media companies.

He said he was drawn to the German television market because of its size and its potential to rebound from an advertising downturn.