Markets
U.S. open in 5 hrs, 57 mins
BUSINESS NEWS
- Market News
- Earnings
- Recalls
- Recession Watch
- Tech News
- Madoff Scandal
- BloggingStocks
- Luxist
- Money Videos
INVESTING
- Stock Quotes
- Stock Charts
- Stock Ticker
- Currencies
- Portfolio
- Stock Screener
- Broker Center
- Mutual Fund Center
- ETF Center
- Money
- 24/7 Wall St.
- Financial Glossary
PERSONAL FINANCE AT WALLETPOP
- Bargains
- Banking
- Budget
- Calculators
- College Finance
- Community
- Credit
- Deals
- Debt
- Economizer
- Food
- Home
- Fraud
- Insurance
- Interest Rates
- Loans
- Mortgages
- Real Estate
- Recalls
- Recession
- Retirement
- Saving
- Simplification
- Specials
- Taxes
SMALL BUSINESS
Viacom 3Q profit jumps 15 pct on strong box office
By ANDREW VANACORE
, AP
NEW YORK -G.I. Joe and the Transformers came to Viacom Inc.'s rescue in the third quarter, helping boost the company's earnings 15 percent with strong box office returns.
Viacom, the media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone, owns a wide range of media properties including the MTV and BET cable networks and the "Rock Band" video-game franchise.
The industrywide advertising slump and shifting consumer habits have hurt the company as it takes in less money from selling commercial time and DVDs.
But Viacom's film studio, Paramount Pictures, has been slashing costs and focusing on a smaller slate of films. It also saw strong ticket sales for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra."
That helped Viacom's filmed entertainment segment earn $69 million during the third quarter, compared with a loss of $19 million in the year-ago quarter.
The horror film "Paranormal Activity" also provided a surprise boost to earnings, an unexpected box office success despite a small budget and relatively little marketing. "Every once in a while you get a miracle," CEO Philippe Dauman said.
The film segment's overall revenue fell 6 percent, pulled down by weak DVD sales.
Revenue was flat in the segment that includes Viacom's cable networks and video games. DVD sales related to the cable networks hurt the segment as well, even as Viacom's much-awaited "The Beatles: Rock Band" got a strong start. It appeared among the top 10 best-selling games in September, according to market research firm NPD Group.
Overall, Viacom said it earned $463 million, or 76 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $401 million, or 65 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding a one-time gain from a favorable tax adjustment and a charge for paying down debt, earnings came to 69 cents a share. That beat estimates of 57 cents among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue slipped 3 percent to $3.3 billion, in line with estimates.
Viacom, which draws nearly a third of its revenue from advertising, offered a guarded outlook for the rest of the year, waiting to see how the crucial holiday season plays out.
During the annual "upfronts," in which advertisers bid on commercial time ahead of the fall television season, Viacom and other TV studios held on to a bigger chunk of inventory. They hoped that by waiting for an improving economy later in the year, they could sell ad slots closer to air time for more money.
Dauman said the strategy has paid off in part, with advertisers during some recent weeks paying 10 percent or more above ad rates earlier in the year.
But he said ad prices remain volatile and uncertainty remains about whether advertisers will buy up all of the extra time, making predictions for the rest of 2009 difficult.
"The tone is feeling better," Dauman said. "But we have to be cautious. We're just at the early stage of a recovery."
Viacom shares fell 2 cents to $28.03 in midday trading Tuesday.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2009-11-03 11:34:29
COMMENTS ( 5 )
Page 1 of
1
1
colcam
11:51AM Jul 28 2009
Okay, the second word is watch, and the second word is must. This is the strangest automatic censoring function I have seen.
REPLY
RATING
(1 RATINGS)
colcam
11:50AM Jul 28 2009
it just did it again-- spaced out, the censored term is m u s ******** c h (something I would not consider profanity)
REPLY
RATING
(1 RATINGS)
colcam
11:49AM Jul 28 2009
Interesting. "**********" got turned into "********* for some reason.
REPLY
RATING
(1 RATINGS)
colcam
11:47AM Jul 28 2009
To a very large extent the issue is "demand of scale" in terms of how many people ********** a given episode of a given show to cover the production and distribution costs. Too much of the way "Hollywood" and the corporate world views things is based on big numbers, big bucks, and a demand for big returns quickly. If you remember the New Coke fiasco, you'll see how "big numbers up front" affects the corporate planning, and how it backfires on them. Once upon a time there was a low rated, "would have hit the cancel button in a minute" show that the new, fledgling network just did not have a replacement for, so they kept playing it, even though the ratings were so bad it was the butt of jokes. It slowly began finding its audience, and now people think of The X-Files as a monster hit. Corporate reasoning does not allow things time to grow, to find their audience-- it demands an audience now, in BIG numbers, and leads to this kind of spiral where you just cannot get the numbers, not because other shows are getting them, but because people are finding the off button and walking away. It will not change soon, so be prepared for more doom and gloom corporate issues to hit the news, be it in entertainment or the auto industry. Building and growing a product has been replaced by "either it's a hit or it's history."
REPLY
RATING
(1 RATINGS)
PLesWay
9:55AM Jul 28 2009
THAT'S GREAT CONSIDERING HOW THEY'RE TRYING TO CONTROL EVERYONE'S MINDS.TO HELL WITH MONEY AND THOSE THAT PLACE VALUE TO IT !!! I PRAY STEADFASTTHAT ALL AMERICAN MEDIA COMPANIES FALL TO THEIR KNEES BEGGING FOR GOD'S MERCY TO CONTINUE MAKING MONEY OFF OF INDIVIDUALS' IGNORANCE.LET 'EM ALL FALL---PRAISE MOSES !!!!!
REPLY
RATING
(1 RATINGS)
Page 1 of
1
1