He’s probably being too conservative.

At least if you use Warner Music Group (WMG) as a comp. Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s music company is (very) roughly the size of Hands’s music company and was forever slated to buy, sell to, or merge with EMI. (In May 2006, EMI was willing to pay $26 a share in cash for Warner, but Bronfman rejected the deal; a year later, EMI rejected a Warner offer.)

Take a look: WMG, currently trading at $1.86 a share, is down 86 percent since Terra Firma bought EMI in August 2007. At what point will Hands have to fess up and take another write-down? (Click chart to enlarge).

Here’s an EMI employee with no complaints about the music business–Norah Jones, whose 2002 debut album was really EMI’s last super-huge success. Those days are gone, but she’s managed to hang on to her money–or at least enough to pay $5 million for a Brooklyn townhouse a couple months ago. Check out this excellent duet with Dolly Parton (yup, that Dolly Parton).

I don’t know all the legalese concerning this issue so I’ve had some very smart people inform me about the legalities here. I do know, however, that as a performer who tours much of the country throughout the year and is involved in several live entertainment ventures, I join with fellow producers and performers across the country in bringing this matter to your attention. I have deep concern over the Commission’s announcement that it intends to vote on an order allowing devices using spectrum sensing technology to occupy the ‘white space’ radio frequencies on November 4, 2008.”

– Excerpt from Dolly Parton’s Oct. 24 letter to the FCC

Over the objections of television broadcasters, theater producers and Dolly Parton, the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday approved a plan to open up unused frequencies between television channels–known as “white spaces”–for a national broadband network. This 300MHz to 400MHz range of unused spectrum lies between channels 2 to 51 on analog television sets and is perfect for offering wireless broadband services because it’s able to carry signals long distances and easily penetrate trees and walls. And while critics argue that using them in this way might interfere with TV signals or, heaven forbid, the wireless microphones in Dolly Parton’s Broadway production of “9 to 5,” the FCC felt such concerns to be overblown and ruled the country would be better served if the spectrum were opened up for free public use.

“The proponents have argued that we can enable a whole new generation of wireless devices–bringing new broadband connectivity to our rural and urban communities–without harming free, over-the-air TV,” Commissioner Michael J. Copps said Tuesday. “Does this seem almost too good to be true? Of course. But so did the modern cellular industry, the explosion of Wi-Fi devices and so many other innovations at comparable stages in their development. Even the notion of transmitting high-quality video through the air to millions of TV sets must have seemed pretty fantastical when it was first demonstrated decades ago. This is the history of wireless innovation in a nutshell–the nearly miraculous becomes commonplace.”

Google (GOOG), which had lobbied heavily for the move, applauded the FCC’s decision, saying it would spur massive technological innovation. “This is a clear victory for Internet users and anyone who wants good wireless communications,” Google co-founder Larry Page said in a post to the company blog. “We will soon have ‘Wi-Fi on steroids’ since these spectrum signals have much longer range than today’s Wi-Fi technology and broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations resulting in better coverage at lower cost. And it is wonderful that the FCC has adopted the same successful unlicensed model used for Wi-Fi, which has resulted in a projected 1 billion Wi-Fi chips being produced this year. Now that the FCC has set the rules, I’m sure that we’ll see similar growth in products to take advantage of this spectrum.”

Not if the National Association of Broadcasters has anything to do with it. In a statement the NAB said that “every American who values interference-free TV should be concerned by today’s Commission vote” and vowed to fight it “on behalf of the 110 million households that rely on television for news, entertainment and lifesaving emergency information.”

I don’t know all the legalese concerning this issue so I’ve had some very smart people inform me about the legalities here. I do know, however, that as a performer who tours much of the country throughout the year and is involved in several live entertainment ventures, I join with fellow producers and performers across the country in bringing this matter to your attention. I have deep concern over the Commission’s announcement that it intends to vote on an order allowing devices using spectrum sensing technology to occupy the ‘white space’ radio frequencies on November 4, 2008.”

– Excerpt from Dolly Parton’s Oct. 24 letter to the FCC

Over the objections of television broadcasters, theater producers and Dolly Parton, the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday approved a plan to open up unused frequencies between television channels–known as “white spaces”–for a national broadband network. This 300MHz to 400MHz range of unused spectrum lies between channels 2 to 51 on analog television sets and is perfect for offering wireless broadband services because it’s able to carry signals long distances and easily penetrate trees and walls. And while critics argue that using them in this way might interfere with TV signals or, heaven forbid, the wireless microphones in Dolly Parton’s Broadway production of “9 to 5,” the FCC felt such concerns to be overblown and ruled the country would be better served if the spectrum were opened up for free public use.

“The proponents have argued that we can enable a whole new generation of wireless devices–bringing new broadband connectivity to our rural and urban communities–without harming free, over-the-air TV,” Commissioner Michael J. Copps said Tuesday. “Does this seem almost too good to be true? Of course. But so did the modern cellular industry, the explosion of Wi-Fi devices and so many other innovations at comparable stages in their development. Even the notion of transmitting high-quality video through the air to millions of TV sets must have seemed pretty fantastical when it was first demonstrated decades ago. This is the history of wireless innovation in a nutshell–the nearly miraculous becomes commonplace.”

Google (GOOG), which had lobbied heavily for the move, applauded the FCC’s decision, saying it would spur massive technological innovation. “This is a clear victory for Internet users and anyone who wants good wireless communications,” Google co-founder Larry Page said in a post to the company blog. “We will soon have ‘Wi-Fi on steroids’ since these spectrum signals have much longer range than today’s Wi-Fi technology and broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations resulting in better coverage at lower cost. And it is wonderful that the FCC has adopted the same successful unlicensed model used for Wi-Fi, which has resulted in a projected 1 billion Wi-Fi chips being produced this year. Now that the FCC has set the rules, I’m sure that we’ll see similar growth in products to take advantage of this spectrum.”

Not if the National Association of Broadcasters has anything to do with it. In a statement the NAB said that “every American who values interference-free TV should be concerned by today’s Commission vote” and vowed to fight it “on behalf of the 110 million households that rely on television for news, entertainment and lifesaving emergency information.”