That doesn't justify trashing consistency, which used to be a cardinal rule of securities analysis. Worse than mere inconsistency is the outright anarchy created by analysts' indiscrimate acceptance of companies' homemade definitions of earnings. Analysts could send to the tracking services figures that adjust companies' aggressive claims. That they don't makes them most to blame. The news release and conference call emphasized the smaller loss, and that's how the analysts pegged the actual earnings.
Marketing is an ordinary business expense.
But OpenTV's payment was cash. The accounting itself was okay. BskyB, which runs the campaign, controls actual outlays. But declaring OpenTV's contribution excludable from expenses is bizarre. Indeed, most promotional campaigns are budgeted for relatively short periods, and co-op deals are routine.