| all the right chemistry
For full-year 2007 the network averaged 201,000 primetime viewers 18-49, a 2 percent boost versus 197,000 in 2006, as well as 246,000 viewers 25-54, up 6 percent from 233,000 in 2006. AMC also averaged 119,000 male viewers 18-49 in primetime last year, up 5 percent from 113,000 in 2006, and 148,000 males 25-54, a 9 percent increase from 136,000 a year earlier. The network says "Breaking" targets mainly the 25-54 demographic. Network's signature show “Mad Men," the ad-agency drama set in 1960, is smart, topical and unlike anything else on cable. The show averaged 1.6 million total viewers for its first-season premiere last July en route to becoming the network's No. 1 show and earning loads of positive buzz among critics. Though viewership had dipped below 1 million by the October season finale, it recently got a big publicity push that will help in season two.
BankUnited reports quarterly losses of $25.5 million
BankUnited Financial reported steep losses in its first quarter Thursday as problems in the housing sector took a toll on its mortgage portfolio. The Coral Gables-based company, the parent of its namesake bank, reported a loss of $25.5 million, or 73 cents per share, in its first quarter ending Dec. 31. That compared to earnings of $27.4 million, or 71 cents per share, in the same quarter in 2006. The quarterly loss was the result of a $65 million provision for loan losses the bank took, bringing the total set aside to cover potential bad loans to $118 million, compared to $39 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Without this provision, operating earnings were $17.3 million. Calling the results ''disappointing,'' BankUnited's Chairman and Chief Executive Alfred R.
Insurgency in Afghanistan
Despite his many meetings with Mr. Musharraf, President Hamid Karzai continues to maintain that not much has been done to tackle the Taliban and Al Qaeda proliferating in the tribal areas in Pakistan and their capacity to mobilize, train and arm mercenaries and send them across the border remains undiminished. "Terrorism is like a spring. It is better to go to the main source than to fight the water's flow," says Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman. The chief of Afghanistan's Intelligence Service Amrullah Saleh says that defeat of terrorism requires that either Afghanistan's borders be settled "or the strategy of the coalition forces towards Pakistan changes." He believes that the war on terror should know no borders. "This was the slogan given by the US and NATO-led international force.
Blow the house down
The crisis in US residential real estate appears to be spilling over into commercial construction. Money on the US commercial mortgage backed securities market has become far more expensive, with even the best securities attracting a risk premium of 1.25 percentage points over the inter-bank swap rate. Closer to home, the US debt crisis has already bitten deep, with shopping centre giant Centro struggling to refinance $3.9 billion in current debt. And Gold Coast property financier MFS has revealed its total debt has blown out to nearly $1.7 billion and suspended itself from the stock exchange. The pain from the apparent collapse of MFS has spilled over into the wider market, with the company forced to sell its 3.5 per cent stake in retirement home outfit Babcock & Brown Communities at a knock-down price of $16.65 million.
Playhouse drafts comeback plan
Twenty months after South Florida's oldest regional theater abruptly shut down during its 50th anniversary season, the company's board has crafted a vision for a reborn Coconut Grove Playhouse. Working with Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs and consultants at Connecticut-based AMS Planning and Research, board leaders have a draft plan that they will take to theater ''stakeholders'' -- former subscribers and patrons, business and government leaders, members of the theater community, Coconut Grove activists, historic preservationists and the public -- in a series of meetings aimed at getting reaction and sharpening the proposal. The rebuilding plan would bring together three partners: the playhouse, a local college or university and a commercial developer.
Holden Lewis chat transcript
Holden Lewis is a senior reporter at Bankrate.com. His blog, Mortgage Matters, discusses how economic and political developments affect mortgage rates and real estate. He joined Bankrate.com in 1999, after working for the Associated Press and The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. He chatted about mortgages on Thursday, Jan. 24. .
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