Microsoft has been part of the problem in cable. In the last few years, Microsoft made a disastrous bet on cable, a $9 billion lost bet out of a total of $12.4 billion invested, and everyone just kind of ignores it. Microsoft had as much to do with the inflation of the "convergence" thesis as everyone else in the sector did, if not more so. We are now seeing the lack of return from those investments and it is extraordinarily bleak. Take a look at this chart and see for yourself. The charts is a compilation of the return on investments in cable and television by Microsoft, compiled from public documents by my research associate, David Peltier.
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