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Cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted Q3 numbers earlier today. It seems like the company is doing well with earnings growth and cash flow, even if revenues moved up a meager 3%.

Adjusted earnings per share grew over 20% to 28 cents per share. According to our earnings preview, the market was looking for 25 cents per share. Operating cash flow increased a little under 3%, but free cash flow went up almost 20%, aided by a smaller amount of capital expenditures compared to the previous year's similar quarter. I'm sure shareholders are more than satisfied with the growth rate of the green stuff over the past three months. Comcast saw excellent expansion of free cash over the last nine months, too.

Viacom (NYSE: VIA), a content player in competition with News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, issued Q3 numbers today. If we had a different market on our hands, I think the stock would have reacted better to the news. Revenues were down 3%, but adjusted income rose 25% to 69 cents per share. According to Bloomberg, the bottom line came in well ahead of estimates, which were pegged at 57 cents per share.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, the company's A shares are down slightly as I write this by about 0.6%, and the B shares are just about flat. Like I say, if the broader indexes were in an uptrend this afternoon, we probably would have seen a pop in the stock.

The housing bubble and subsequent "Great Recession" have tarnished the stars of a good many of the world's financial wizards, such as the former heads at Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. But one respected image remains -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- on top: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A).

That's according to a recent quarterly poll of investors, traders, and analysts who subscribe to Bloomberg terminals, those somewhat cryptic news and data computers that are ubiquitous on Wall Street. Buffett, who received favorable nods from 25% of those participating in the poll, walked away with a plurality of the vote, Bloomberg News reported.

I don't believe it. I never thought it could happen. Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF) released Saw VI this past weekend. Surely the latest cinematic celebration of cruelty would be the number-one picture at domestic theaters, right? Saw is a big brand when it comes to torture movies. Jigsaw is a Freddy Krueger (and beyond) for the new generation. The teens would be out in full force to support all the latest traps and sequences of dismemberment and bloodletting for sure.

Well, Saw VI didn't come out on top. Instead, Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paranormal Activity made the most money in the race for domination at the multiplex, scoring approximately $22 million according to early estimates from Box Office Mojo. The new Saw did come in second, though, so that was at least some consolation, correct?

A new executive team is trying to bring MySpace back to its former glory. By focusing on music, videos and games, it hopes to recapture some of its luster. With the MySpace refugees mounting, it's time for some new blood to make some brilliant, future-changing decisions. This week, the company is holding a conference for its global ad sales team to explore ways to bring in traffic and beef up ad spending.

MySpace is poised to haul in $495 million in ad revenue this year, down 15% from last year's $585 million, according to research firm eMarketer. In August, MySpace attracted 64.2 million unique visitors from the United States, off 15% from August 2008, according to comScore, while Facebook pulled in 92.2 million unique U.S. visitors – up more than 100% year-over-year.

Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Where the Wild Things Are was number one over the past weekend at domestic theaters as of early estimates from Box Office Mojo. The film grossed well over $30 million. Coming in second was Law Abiding Citizen. If Wild Things wasn't in the market this weekend, that one definitely would have been tops at the multiplex. The revenge fest, from Liberty Capital Group's (NASDAQ: LCAPA) Overture Films, brought in $21 million.

Right on the heels of that project is the very cheaply made Paranormal Activity, courtesy of Viacom (NYSE: VIA). It made about $20 million. So far, Activity has generated over $30 million in total. And they say the little horror extravaganza cost less than $20,000 to produce!

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) higher Q3 earnings topped expectations but revenue was in line.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) posted better-than-expected Q3 results, but shares sold off.
• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) was downgraded on concerns about its Q4 guidance.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) shares fell after it posted a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) fell victim to profit taking despite reporting better-than-expected earnings.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) better-than-expected Q3 earnings sent shares higher, despite a decline in revenue.

Today's earnings were deemed a disappointment despite some bottom-line comfort here. A weaker University of Michigan Consumer Survey report kept the DJIA muted, and whether we'd close above or under the 10,000 mark was something that wasn't known until the final hour of trading.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,996.21 -66.73 (-0.66%)
S&P 500 1,087.71 -8.85 (-0.81%)
Nasdaq 2,156.80 -16.49 (-0.76%)

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General Electric (NYSE: GE - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported earnings this morning, posting a third-quarter profit of $2.41 billion, or 23 cents per share, on revenue of $37.80 billion. This beat analysts' forecasts of 20 cents EPS but missed the consensus revenue number of $40.03 billion. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GE.

This morning, GE opened at $16.35. So far today the stock has hit a high of $16.41 and a low of $15.85. As of 11:30, GE is trading at $15.95, down 84 cents (-5.0%). The chart for GE looks neutral and S&P gives GE a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For the past 48 hours people have been asking me if I thought the market would pull back after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed the milestone of 10,000. Business journalist's and guru's alike have suggested that there might be some profit taking or "selling into strength" and the recent highs would not hold.

As the market proved yesterday, up about a half percent across the board, with the Dow closing at 10,062.94, up 47.08 in last-minute buying -- that is just a lot of noise.

U.S. stock futures were mixed and barely moved Friday morning after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) beat analyst estimates late Thursday and as results came in this morning from General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), with the first also surpassing Wall Street expectations. [Update 8:45 a.m.: Futures turned negative after the large Dow companies didn't perform quite as well.]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to close above the 10,000 mark Thursday, for the second day in a row, despite earlier weakness following some financial sector results. But a jump in oil prices helped oil stocks move higher and the Dow maintain that important psychological mark.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the advertising market could be ready for an upswing. Michael Morris, an analyst at UBS, is making a connection between improved sales at retail stores and a robust environment for commercials and the like. His reasoning is sound: if retail businesses are doing better, then they might want want to take advantage of new cash levels to invest in marketing initiatives aimed at bringing in traffic.

Indeed, the advertising industry has been in the dumps. Any good news is welcome. Media entities such as Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), CBS (NYSE: CBS), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, are counting on increased opportunities to sell their respective inventories at better prices.

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) studio division didn't have a great summer at the box office. This past weekend, though, the company's new comedy made waves at the box office.

According to Box Office Mojo, Universal's Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn, took in about $35 million at domestic theaters as of early estimates, more than enough to capture the top slot. Sony (NYSE: SNE) took the next two spots on the chart with Zombieland, and the resilient cartoon Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, respectively. Don't get too cocky, though, Sony, because Disney (NYSE: DIS) was right behind you with its Toy Story 3D special release.

Last week's sleeping bull market was brought back to a woken bull market. Despite warnings from Nouriel Roubini that things were up too much too fast, the services sector actually came in above the expansion line after 11 straight months of contraction. This caused most of the excitement for the day.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

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Printers of the world unite! Feeling the squeeze from the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), a group of magazine publishers is forming an industrywide joint venture ... for protection.

Led by Time Inc., a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), participating companies would create a digital storefront for their content. In this way, they could peddle their goods without the hefty carve-outs that come with Amazon and Apple deals.