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Stifel Nicolaus Investor Forum

This is a NXTcomm08 Special Interest Session. This is free to all NXTcomm08 and InfoComm 08 attendees.

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 - Room S228 

11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Capital Structures and M&A Opportunities in Today’s Telecom Industry

As the state of capital markets and the broader US economy appear to be as challenging as they have been in many years, this panel will discuss the current state of the mergers and acquisitions environment in today’s ever-changing telecom industry, as well as examine the impact on the industry’s capital structures and how investors view opportunities across the telecom landscape.

12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Lunch: 2008 and Beyond: Norm Ornstein on a Big Election and Mandates for Action

Our lunch time panel will the nation’s leading expert on Congress previewing how a new administration and Congress will likely address some big ticket items, such as taxes, health care, energy, climate change, and infrastructure needs.  The panel will also look at how those actions may affect telecommunications companies. Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He also serves as an election analyst for CBS News and writes a weekly column called "Congress Inside Out" for Roll Call newspaper. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and other major publications, and regularly appears on television programs like The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and Charlie Rose. He serves as senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission, working to ensure that our institutions of government can be maintained in the event of a terrorist attack on Washington; his efforts in this area are recounted in a profile of him in the June 2003 Atlantic Monthly. His campaign finance working group of scholars and practitioners helped shape the major law, known as McCain/Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system. Legal Times referred to him as "a principal drafter of the law" and his role in its design and enactment was profiled in the February 2004 issue of Washington Lawyer. He is also co-directing a multi-year effort, called the Transition to Governing Project, to create a better climate for governing in the era of the permanent campaign. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Campaign Legal Center and of the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. His many books include The Permanent Campaign and Its Future; Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy, both with Thomas E. Mann; and Debt and Taxes: How America Got Into Its Budget Mess and What to Do About It, with John H. Makin. The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and What Can Be Done about It, co-authored by Thomas E. Mann, is published by Oxford University Press. He will be joined by Blair Levin, Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus Equity Research, who follows government actions affecting telecommunications, media and technology companies. Mr. Levin served as chief of staff to Chairman Reed Hundt at the Federal Communications Commission from December 1993 through October 1997. Mr. Levin’s time at the Commission included the most productive and important period in the Commission’s history. Described by Broadcast and Cable Magazine as “The Sixth Commissioner,” Mr. Levin oversaw, among other matters, the implementation of the historic 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, the first spectrum auctions, the development of digital television standards, and the Commission’s Internet initiative. Prior to his position with the FCC, Mr. Levin was a partner in the North Carolina law firm of Parker Poe, Poe, Adams and Bernstein, where he represented new communications ventures, as well as numerous local governments on public financing issues. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

The Next Commission:  Unresolved Issues Teed up for Whatever is Next.

While the work of the Martin Commission continues, it is almost inevitable that much will remain on the plate for the next Commission, including such issues as universal service reform, intercarrier compensation, more forbearance petitions, disputes over marketing tactics, special access, as well as new market realities affecting the way the government looks at mergers and acquisition reviews.  This panel will discuss what is likely to happen in the final months of the Martin Commission as well as how the issues will be teed up for the next Commission, whoever will be on it.

2:45 p.m. - 3:45p.m.

What is Considered Reasonable Network Management?

The discussion around Network Management and Net Neutrality has gained steam over the past few months.  Comcast has said that there is nothing ‘neutral’ about a network that is not managed. An unmanaged network simply means that users who make disproportionately resource-intensive demands on the network can crowd out fellow users.  FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said that traffic management practices needed to be done in a reasonable, open, and transparent way where consumers would "know if and how network management practices distinguish between different applications, so that consumers can configure their own applications and systems properly."  This panel will discuss the benefits and risks of network management.

This is a NXTcomm08 Special Interest Session. This is free to all NXTcomm08 and InfoComm 08 attendees.

Schedule subject to change. Please check back often for updates.