1) The big music companies continue to post crummy results.

2) Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, the biggest music label in the world, continues to post results that aren’t as bad as its competitors.

The newest data points come via Vivendi’s fourth-quarter earnings release, which announces that Universal’s sales declined six percent in the last three months of 2008. Strip out currency fluctuations and that number would have been minus 7.8 percent.

That’s bad, but not as bad as the 11 percent drop that Warner Music Group (WMG) reported during the same period, or the 22 percent decline that Sony’s Sony Music Entertainment (SNE) recorded. Universal says earnings (EBITDA, in this case), declined 3.6 percent for the quarter, or 6.6 percent if adjusted for currency fluctuations.

Per usual, Vivendi doesn’t provide much more in the way  of meaningful data about Universal’s performance–though it does say it sold a lot of Lil Wayne music last year. For what it’s worth, here’s what it said about UMG’s results for 2008:

Revenues: Down 4.5 percent (-0.2 percent after adjusting for currency).

Earnings (EBITDA): Up 9.9 percent (11.6 percent after adjusting for currency).

Recorded music sales: Down 8.8 percent, (-4.8 percent after adjusting for currency).

Digital sales: Up 31 percent (the company only provides a currency-adjusted number here). It says online sales were strong “in all large countries”–thank you, Apple (AAPL)–and that mobile sales were strong everywhere outside the U.S.

Obligatory YouTube clip: Here’s UMG star Lil Wayne having a giggle with Katie Couric about his marijuana intake.

Just like everyone else who racked up lots of loans when the banks were giving cash with almost no strings attached, big media have a debt hangover. Clear Channel, whose private equity owners took on $17 billion in debt to acquire it last year, is getting hammered by investors who think it won’t be able to pay that money back.

Next up for scrutiny: CBS, which has a big debt payment due next year and not that much cash on hand.

The Wall Street Journal outlines Clear Channel’s situation: The company’s debt is trading at pennies on the dollar because investors worry that its radio and billboard businesses won’t generate enough cash to satisfy certain loan covenants, which would then jack up the rates on the existing debt. The company tapped a credit line on Monday, but that’s not making anyone feel more comfortable:

Drawing down the remaining $1.6 billion in its $2 billion credit facility injects more cash into the struggling company’s balance sheet, but the move has analysts wondering whether Clear Channel may be choosing to access those funds now for fear it won’t be able to later. If the company trips certain financial covenants–conditions a company must meet to satisfy lenders–it may not be able to tap that credit, analysts say…

If the debt ratio worsens rapidly over the next few quarters, eventually hitting 9.5 or more, debt holders have the right to ask for higher interest payments or other fees from the company. They also could demand their funds back immediately, potentially sending the company into bankruptcy proceedings.”

No one is mentioning the B word in connection with CBS (CBS). But Barclays analyst Scott Shiffman, in a note published last week, does make ominous sounds (title of his report: “CBS–The Slippery Slope Has Begun”).

The gist: CBS has a $1.6 billion bond that matures next year, and about $500 million cash on hand. In order to make that payment, the broadcaster has several unappealing choices, including cutting its dividend or drawing down a revolver loan.

Any of those options, Shiffman argues, in conjunction with a weakened TV business, could prompt the newly vigilant credit rating agencies to downgrade CBS’s debt below investment grade–i.e., junk. S&P may be the first to make a call, perhaps by the end of the month, he says.

No comment from CBS. But the company does report earnings next week; expect to hear lots about this from Les Moonves and company during the Feb. 18 conference call.

By the way: I’d like to show you the CBS News interview of the month–not Katie Couric’s “60 Minutes” interview with Hudson hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger, but her pre-Grammy chat with Lil Wayne. Which included Couric’s instant classic line “You also, reportedly, like…like your weed.”

Alas, CBS has yanked all the usable versions off of YouTube and isn’t showing them anywhere on its vaunted CBS Audience Network. What gives Quincy?

Fortunately, Gawker Media’s Jezebel taped the thing, so you can head over here to watch it, as some 19,000 other people have. Well worth a couple minutes.

UPDATE: CBS Interactive head Quincy Smith graciously points out that his network does indeed have a short clip of Lil Wayne interview, and says that licensing issues prevent the network from letting us see the whole thing. But still–surely, there was some way to include the weed line in the excerpt! That’s the best part!

Here’s what they’ve got:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Portfolio.com media blogger Jeff Bercovici posted a short item about one of the panels yesterday afternoon; later that evening, the story had disappeared.

It should never have run in the first place, Portfolio.com managing editor Daniel Colarusso tells me. That’s because Portfolio magazine was a sponsor of the event (editor in chief Joanne Lipman moderated one panel; Washington editor Matt Cooper moderated the one that Bercovici wrote about) and is honoring its no-press rules.

Again, it’s Quadrangle’s conference, and they can run it however they’d like. But it seems particularly ironic that the one story that did get published, then pulled, was about a panel of professional communicators: CBS (CBS) news anchor Katie Couric, NBC anchor Brian Williams and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

Some MediaMemo readers have asked me to reprint all of Bercovici’s story, but I don’t have access to it. I can tell you, however, that is a very short story–maybe three or four paragraphs long–and that the text I quoted yesterday was the most interesting part. Here it is again:

Couric shed some light on her preparation for the interviews: Beforehand, she sought advice from former senator Sam Nunn and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haas. They told her to draw Palin out on her geopolitical worldview and urged her to let the governor speak at length without interrupting her. Maybe she should bring them along with her when she takes over at Meet the Press?”

Meanwhile, Quadrangle really has bigger problems on its mind these days than unauthorized blog posts. It is shutting down its media hedge fund after sustaining losses of 25 percent year-to-date.

So who said what at Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference, and was any of it interesting?

You got me. The media and tech confab is off the record. And so far, the members of the fourth estate who attended the event yesterday seem to be keeping their mouths shut.

But I did talk briefly with an attendee, who told me that the most interesting panel was the one that Portfolio’s Matt Cooper conducted this afternoon with television personalities Katie Couric, Brian Williams and George Stephanopoulos.

That would be an interesting group under any circumstance, but even more so since Couric’s interview of Republican VP candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin for CBS (CBS) is now considered to be a turning point in the 2008 election.

And while Couric hasn’t talked publicly about the interviews yet, she apparently did dish a bit today, according to a source who talked to Portfolio.com’s Jeff Bercovici:

Couric shed some light on her preparation for the interviews: Beforehand, she sought advice from former senator Sam Nunn and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haas. They told her to draw Palin out on her geopolitical worldview and urged her to let the governor speak at length without interrupting her. Maybe she should bring them along with her when she takes over at Meet the Press?”

UPDATE: Bercovici’s report has been pulled. Details here.

One newsworthy item not covered in Bercovici’s account: After the event, Couric gave Twitter correspondent MC Hammer a smooch, which was apparently well-received.

And who knows? Maybe John Chambers, Steve Ballmer and Brian Roberts will indeed say something important today and tomorrow at Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference. Chrysler’s Robert Nardelli is speaking too. He might have something newsworthy to say.

But you are unlikely to read about it.

That’s because there’s no press allowed at the private equity shop’s annual conference, which starts this afternoon at New York’s Plaza Hotel.

Or rather, there’s some press at the event. But they’ll be on stage. And they won’t be telling their readers and listeners what they saw and heard.

CNBC’s David Faber, Becky Quick and Maria Bartiromo, for instance, will be moderating panels over the next few days. So will the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin. And network TV news bigshots Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos and Brian Williams will answer questions themselves (Portfolio’s Matt Cooper will be moderating that one).

Am I crabby because I asked (nicely) and couldn’t get in myself? Nah. It’s Quadrangle’s event, and they can run it any way they want. But it does look like a pretty good gathering of worthies. Maybe I’ll park myself in the Plaza’s lobby and see if I can bump into some of them.

Want to join me? Here’s the agenda for next two days:

Tuesday 11/11
2:00 PM WELCOME
Joshua L. Steiner (Quadrangle)

ONE ON ONE WITH JOHN CHAMBERS (Cisco)
Moderated by Jim Citrin (Spencer Stuart)

WHO DO YOU TRUST: INFORMATION AND NEWS IN AN  OPEN WORLD
Tom Glocer (Thomson Reuters), Nancy McKinstry (Wolters Kluwer) and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook)
Moderated by David Faber (CNBC)

ALL ABOUT WIRELESS
Jean-Bernard Lévy (Vivendi), Naguib Sawiris (Orascom Telecom) and Ben Wolff (Clearwire)
Moderated by Steven Rattner

4:15 PM BREAK

GOING IT ALONE IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORLD
Philippe Dauman (Viacom), Charlie Ergen (EchoStar) and Robert Kotick (Activision)
Moderated by Becky Quick (CNBC)

GLOBAL E-COMMERCE: $500 BILLION AND GROWING
Barry Diller (IAC) and Hiroshi Mikitani (Rakuten)
Moderated by Steve Hasker (McKinsey)

6:15 PM COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Grand Ballroom Foyer
The Plaza

Wednesday 11/12
8:30 AM WELCOME
ONE ON ONE WITH STEVE BALLMER (Microsoft)
Moderated by Ken Auletta (The New Yorker)

INNOVATION AND THE NEXT BIG IDEA
Jean-François Decaux (JC Decaux) Robert Stephens (Geek Squad founder?) and Jim Wiatt (William Morris)
Moderated by Andrew Ross Sorkin (New York Times)

A CONVERSATION WITH SAM ZELL (Equity Group, Tribune Co.)
Moderated by Joanne Lipman (Portfolio)

10:00 AM BREAK

COOP-ER-TITION: A CONVERSATION WITH PETER CHERNIN (News Corp.) AND BRIAN ROBERTS (Comcast)
Moderated by Ken Auletta

REBUILDING A BRAND FROM THE TOP DOWN
Dan Hesse (Sprint) and Robert Nardelli (Chrysler)
Moderated by Maria Bartiromo

NOON Concluding Luncheon
CAMPAIGN 2008: IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA AND BEHIND THE SCENES
Katie Couric (CBS), George Stephanopoulos (ABC) and Brian Williams (NBC)
Moderated by Matt Cooper (Portfolio)

[Image Credit: PinkMoose]