Private First Class
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 24
|
Internet Customers and Advertising Sales Bolster Comcast’s Profits
Comcast, the country’s largest cable operator, reported 14.3 billion in revenue in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, a 51 percent increase <a href="http://zhengxing.99mr.com/caiguangqudou/"><strong>冰点激光脱毛</strong></a> over the same period last year. Net income rose 4.7 percent to 908 million and operating income rose 35 percent to 2.6 billion, driven by 261,000 new high-speed Internet subscribers. The company reported earnings of 33 cents a share. The company said 165,000 customers cut their pay television service, a 40 percent improvement from the 275,000 customers Comcast lost in the third quarter of 2010. Comcast executives said the numbers were proof that viewers were not “cord cutting” and watching television entirely online. Nine months after Comcast took over majority ownership in NBC Universal from General Electric, renaming it NBCUniversal, the acquisition appears to have had mixed impact on earnings. Over all, the division had 5.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter, a 4.6 percent increase, with cable companies like USA, Syfy, CNBC and Bravo providing profit. Revenue at NBCUniversal’s cable division rose 12 percent, to 2.1 billion, while advertising revenue at those networks grew 9.5 percent to 803 million, compared with flat advertising revenue at the broadcast network. The results were not as buoying at NBC, which despite an aggressive fall slate of new shows still ranks as the fourth-most-watched broadcast network in total prime-time viewers. Its revenue rose 2.9 percent, to 1.5 billion. But operating cash flow at NBC, which spent heavily on new shows like the 1960s period drama “The Playboy Club,” dropped 75 percent to 17 million. A Comcast spokeswoman said the drop was because of a bigger investment in prime-time shows, news and local television stations. Comcast’s film unit, Universal Studios, also suffered in the third quarter. Weak box-office sales led to a 7.8 percent decrease in revenue and a 17 percent drop in operating cash flow. Time Warner, which also posted earnings on Wednesday, had better news to report on the film front. The final installment of “Harry Potter” helped the company report a sharp rise in quarterly earnings. In the third quarter of the year, Time Warner’s net income was 822 million, <a href="http://zhengxing.99mr.com/maigemaomianjiati/"><strong>隆胸效果</strong></a> or 78 cents a share, a 57 percent increase over the same quarter last year, when it was 522 million, or 46 cents <a href="http://zhengxing.99mr.com/quxiagejiao/"><strong>祛下颌角</strong></a> a share. Total revenue rose 11 percent to 7.07 billion, from 6.38 billion, which the company said represented its highest rate of growth in four years. The July release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the highest-grossing film of the year and one of the highest on record, received much of the credit for the gains. The film was the last of eight in the “Harry Potter” series, which Time Warner’s chief executive, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, said had enjoyed an “unprecedented franchise run.” Warner Brothers reported a 19 percent overall rise in revenue, to 3.3 billion, over the same quarter last year. The unit also includes television production. In a conference call with investors on Wednesday, Time Warner executives singled out the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” produced by Warner Brothers and televised by CBS, as a profit center. In September, the show started replaying in syndication on Time Warner’s comedy-oriented cable channel TBS and performed solidly. “We expect it’ll be a strong contributor to the profitability of the division for years to come,” said John K. Martin, the chief financial officer of Time Warner, referring to the Warner Brothers division. The television networks unit, normally the company’s biggest, reported a 7 percent increase in revenue, to 3.2 billion. But operating income dipped 4 percent in the quarter, in part because the company spent more on new shows, on sports rights and on marketing. The company’s smaller publishing unit, Time Inc., reported a 1 percent decline in revenue, to 889 million. The print ad market “appears to have stabilized,” Mr. Martin said. Underperformers in the quarter included the big cable channels TNT and TBS, and the film “Green Lantern.” Despite a dour economic <a href="http://inbookmark.com/mybookmark.php"><strong>隆下巴</strong></a> backdrop, the company raised its full-year outlook for the second time this year. In August, it projected that adjusted earnings, 2.41 a share last year, would grow by “at least low teens;” on Wednesday it said those earnings would grow by the “high teens.” Analysts expect 15 percent growth, to 2.78 a share.
|