5/4 – Time Warner Takes Loss on NCAA Hoops, But Ads Sales Up

Time Warner posted better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday, with revenue rising 6 percent alongside a surge in advertising sales at its cable TV networks. Time Warner, which owns cable networks such as CNN and TBS, as well as magazines and a movie studio, reported net income of $651 million, or 59 cents per diluted common share. This compares to net income in the prior year quarter of $725 million, or 62 cents per diluted common share. First-quarter adjusted earnings of 58 cents a share came in 2 cents above analyst consensus expectations. The decline in profit was largely due to higher programming costs, specifically those related to its deal with CBS Corp. to share coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, which carries costly rights fees. But the flip side to the deal is it helped drive a big jump in advertising sales at its cable networks at a time when corporations appears willing to spend more on national campaigns, particularly when it comes to so-called event programming.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *