The major components of the writedown, he said, were AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - News) , $2.35 billion; News Corp. (NYSE:NWS - News) , $1.39 billion; and Sprint PCS Group (PCS) , $1.04 billion.

"These adjustments reflect the continued weakness, overall, in the stock market, and in the media and wireless sectors particularly," Mr. Bennett said. The charges "represent what we have determined to be other-than-temporary declines in value," and are noncash, he said.

The company's 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday goes into detail on the writedown, noting that the carrying amounts of the public investments were adjusted to their respective fair values.

As of Aug. 14, the value of Liberty's ownership in more than 15 public companies was $12.44 billion, plus another $4.77 billion of collar hedges that were put on the underlying securities, for a total value of $17.21 billion.

That compared with $23.46 billion in value, including $3.56 billion in collars, as of May 21, and $30.74 billion, including $2.47 billion in collars and exchangeables, as of Aug. 13 of last year.

AOL Tim Warner's share price, for example, was $42.99 on Aug. 13 of last year, and $11.05 on Aug. 14 of this year.

Mr. Bennett also said that Liberty's proposed acquisition of Dutch cable operator Casema Holding BV from France Telecom (NYSE:FTE - News) , announced Aug. 1, is an attractive purchase for Liberty. The purchase price is 750 million euros ($736.7 million) cash, and Mr. Bennett said the "valuation is about nine and a half times projected 2002 ]earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization]."

Casema's operations are contiguous with operations of Liberty affiliate United Pan-Europe Communications NV (UPCOY).

"The (Casema) network is substantially upgraded and there is little or no satellite competition," Mr. Bennett said. "While we don't have any immediate plans to merge this with UPC, we believe that the companies can work together and derive some synergies without being under common ownership."

Liberty is seeking regulatory approval for the Casema deal.

Mr. Bennett also said that Liberty is once again interested in buying into German cable-TV systems, even though it failed before in buying systems there because of demands from regulators.

"The German cable systems are back on the market, as you know. And we are looking at that with some other players. So we may well be back looking at those, but as part of a consortium and in a different price range," Mr. Bennett said.

During the second quarter, Liberty bought back 24.8 million of its own shares at an average cost of $10.92 per share, said Liberty Chief Executive Mr. Bennett. That translates to a total of $270.8 million. Liberty also sold put options on six million of its shares of which four million remain outstanding at an average strike price of $9, he said.

"We have not been aggressive in buying back stock," said Mr. Bennett. "This is partly due to a concern we have related to our agreement with the IRS."

As part of Liberty's agreement with the Internal Revenue Service when Liberty was spun off from AT&T Corp. (T) in August of last year, Liberty agreed to issue $500 million in stock. In May, the company said it had received one-year extensions from the IRS regarding the stock issue deadlines, Mr. Bennett said.

It remains unclear to Liberty whether the IRS would require Liberty to issue not only the $500 million in stock "but also anything else that we repurchased," Mr. Bennett said.

Given Liberty's current stock price, he said the company plans to hold discussions with the IRS in the near future to clarify that point. "But in the meantime, that is a constraint on our ability to buy back shares," he said.

As for second-quarter results, Mr. Bennett said, "We're quite pleased with the way things are operating in most of our businesses."

The Englewood, Colo.-based owner of programming and other communications assets has its privately owned assets in 50%-owned Discovery Communications Inc.; 100%-owned Starz Encore Group LLP; 42%-owned QVC Inc.; and its 100%-owned Liberty Media International.

Movie provider Starz Encore saw second-quarter revenue rise 11% versus a year ago, to $237 million, while operating cash flow rose 9%, to $75 million. For all of 2002, revenue for the unit is expected to rise 10% versus 2001, while operating cash flow is expected to have a percentage rise in the mid-teens, said the company's Thursday press release.

Programming company Discovery saw second-quarter revenue rise 4% to $426 million while operating cash flow rose 38% to $88 million. Aggregate attributed revenue for 2002 is expected to have a percentage increase in the high single digits while cash flow rises abut 40%. That's based on certain assumptions such as improvement in the domestic advertising sales market.

Home shopping company QVC Inc. saw revenue rise 11%, to $995 million, while operating cash flow rose 16%, to $195 million.

Liberty Media International was hurt in the second quarter by the devaluation of the Argentine peso and economic instability there. Attributed revenue in Latin America dropped 61% and cash flow dropped 71%. As a whole, Liberty Media International second-quarter revenue dropped 25%, to $173 million, and operating cash flow dropped 17%, to $30 million.

In after-hours trading Thursday, Liberty Media shares were down 10 cents, or 1.2%, at $8, as of 6:26 p.m. EDT, compared with a 4 p.m. EDT closing price of $ 8.10, according to Nasdaq.com.

The major components of the writedown, he said, were AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - News) , $2.35 billion; News Corp. (NYSE:NWS - News) , $1.39 billion; and Sprint PCS Group (PCS) , $1.04 billion.

"These adjustments reflect the continued weakness, overall, in the stock market, and in the media and wireless sectors particularly," Mr. Bennett said. The charges "represent what we have determined to be other-than-temporary declines in value," and are noncash, he said.

The company's 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday goes into detail on the writedown, noting that the carrying amounts of the public investments were adjusted to their respective fair values.

As of Aug. 14, the value of Liberty's ownership in more than 15 public companies was $12.44 billion, plus another $4.77 billion of collar hedges that were put on the underlying securities, for a total value of $17.21 billion.

That compared with $23.46 billion in value, including $3.56 billion in collars, as of May 21, and $30.74 billion, including $2.47 billion in collars and exchangeables, as of Aug. 13 of last year.

AOL Tim Warner's share price, for example, was $42.99 on Aug. 13 of last year, and $11.05 on Aug. 14 of this year.

Mr. Bennett also said that Liberty's proposed acquisition of Dutch cable operator Casema Holding BV from France Telecom (NYSE:FTE - News) , announced Aug. 1, is an attractive purchase for Liberty. The purchase price is 750 million euros ($736.7 million) cash, and Mr. Bennett said the "valuation is about nine and a half times projected 2002 ]earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization]."

Casema's operations are contiguous with operations of Liberty affiliate United Pan-Europe Communications NV (UPCOY).

"The (Casema) network is substantially upgraded and there is little or no satellite competition," Mr. Bennett said. "While we don't have any immediate plans to merge this with UPC, we believe that the companies can work together and derive some synergies without being under common ownership."

Liberty is seeking regulatory approval for the Casema deal.

Mr. Bennett also said that Liberty is once again interested in buying into German cable-TV systems, even though it failed before in buying systems there because of demands from regulators.

"The German cable systems are back on the market, as you know. And we are looking at that with some other players. So we may well be back looking at those, but as part of a consortium and in a different price range," Mr. Bennett said.

During the second quarter, Liberty bought back 24.8 million of its own shares at an average cost of $10.92 per share, said Liberty Chief Executive Mr. Bennett. That translates to a total of $270.8 million. Liberty also sold put options on six million of its shares of which four million remain outstanding at an average strike price of $9, he said.

"We have not been aggressive in buying back stock," said Mr. Bennett. "This is partly due to a concern we have related to our agreement with the IRS."

As part of Liberty's agreement with the Internal Revenue Service when Liberty was spun off from AT&T Corp. (T) in August of last year, Liberty agreed to issue $500 million in stock. In May, the company said it had received one-year extensions from the IRS regarding the stock issue deadlines, Mr. Bennett said.

It remains unclear to Liberty whether the IRS would require Liberty to issue not only the $500 million in stock "but also anything else that we repurchased," Mr. Bennett said.

Given Liberty's current stock price, he said the company plans to hold discussions with the IRS in the near future to clarify that point. "But in the meantime, that is a constraint on our ability to buy back shares," he said.

As for second-quarter results, Mr. Bennett said, "We're quite pleased with the way things are operating in most of our businesses."

The Englewood, Colo.-based owner of programming and other communications assets has its privately owned assets in 50%-owned Discovery Communications Inc.; 100%-owned Starz Encore Group LLP; 42%-owned QVC Inc.; and its 100%-owned Liberty Media International.

Movie provider Starz Encore saw second-quarter revenue rise 11% versus a year ago, to $237 million, while operating cash flow rose 9%, to $75 million. For all of 2002, revenue for the unit is expected to rise 10% versus 2001, while operating cash flow is expected to have a percentage rise in the mid-teens, said the company's Thursday press release.

Programming company Discovery saw second-quarter revenue rise 4% to $426 million while operating cash flow rose 38% to $88 million. Aggregate attributed revenue for 2002 is expected to have a percentage increase in the high single digits while cash flow rises abut 40%. That's based on certain assumptions such as improvement in the domestic advertising sales market.

Home shopping company QVC Inc. saw revenue rise 11%, to $995 million, while operating cash flow rose 16%, to $195 million.

Liberty Media International was hurt in the second quarter by the devaluation of the Argentine peso and economic instability there. Attributed revenue in Latin America dropped 61% and cash flow dropped 71%. As a whole, Liberty Media International second-quarter revenue dropped 25%, to $173 million, and operating cash flow dropped 17%, to $30 million.