MUMBAI: US media conglomerate CBS has posted operating income of $771 million in the third quarter of this fiscal, up 10 per cent. Revenues were $3.4 billion, up by two per cent, while OIBDA grew seven per cent to $898 million.

Revenue growth was led by an eight per cent increase in content licensing and distribution revenues, which were driven by higher domestic and international television license fees. Affiliate and subscription fee revenues rose by 12 per cent, reflecting growth at Cable Networks, higher retransmission revenues, and fees received from CBS Network affiliated television stations.

Advertising revenues were down by three per cent, primarily driven by lower advertising for CBS Radio, the impact of foreign exchange rate changes, and the impact of pre-emptions for the Republican and Democratic national conventions on six nights of the CBS Television Network?s primetime schedule.

CBS Corporation executive chairman Sumner Redstone said,"CBS has continued its remarkable run with yet another record quarter. Our world-class content and multiplatform distribution strategy remain at the center of our success."

CBS Corporation president, CEO Leslie Moonves said,"The transformation of CBS continues as reflected in these record third quarter results. We have taken a number of significant steps during the last several months to execute our strategy and grow the company. These include three major retransmission consent agreements, an important reverse compensation deal, new international and domestic streaming contracts, and the sale of our two new hit dramas, ?Vegas? and ?Elementary?, into international syndication. As we continue to take actions like these, we are increasing our recurring revenue from non-advertising sources and setting ourselves up for even more record results in the future. Going forward, we will continue to expand the ways we achieve value for our content, and we are confident we will hit our goal of a record 2012 and an even better 2013."

The growth in OIBDA and operating income was primarily driven by higher revenues and increased profits on television licensing revenues.

Free cash flow was $163 million for the third quarter of 2012, compared with $29 million for the third quarter a year ago. Free cash flow for the third quarter of 2012 included payments of approximately $60 million associated with the early extinguishment of debt, primarily for make-whole premiums. As of 30 September, 2012, the company?s debt outstanding was $5.93 billion and its cash balance was $947 million, which was $287 million higher than 31 December 2011.

Entertainment revenues of $1.68 billion for the third quarter of 2012 grew by three per cent from $1.63 billion in the same prior-year period, driven by increased domestic and international television license fees and higher retransmission revenues.

Advertising revenues were down from last year?s third quarter, primarily resulting from the broadcast of summer programming against the highly rated 2012 Summer Olympics and the impact of pre-emptions for the Republican and Democratic national conventions on six nights of the CBS Television Network?s primetime schedule.

Entertainment OIBDA for the third quarter of 2012 decreased 5 per cent to $384 million from $405 million driven by costs associated with the timing of theatrical releases and the mix of revenues.

Cable Networks (Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network, and Smithsonian Networks) revenues for the third quarter of 2012 increased by four per cent to $436 million from $420 million for the same prior-year period driven by higher affiliate fee revenues, which reflect increases in rates and subscriptions at Showtime Networks (which includes Showtime, The Movie Channel, and Flix), CBS Sports Network, and Smithsonian Networks. Licensing revenues were down from the third quarter of 2011 reflecting the timing of digital streaming revenues. For the first nine months of 2012, streaming revenues increased significantly from the same prior-year period.

Cable Networks OIBDA for the third quarter of 2012 grew 12 per cent to $227 million from $203 million for the same prior-year period. This increase reflects the growth in affiliate revenues.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate CBS has reported an eight per cent jump in revenue to $3.6 billion for the fiscal second-quarter ended June.

The revenue increase was driven by 21 per cent growth in content licensing and distribution revenues, which benefited from a new licensing agreement for the digital streaming of select library titles.

Revenues were also boosted by 12 per cent growth in affiliate and subscription fee revenues, reflecting rate increases and subscription growth as well as higher retransmission revenues.

Ad revenues increased by three per cent despite a difficult comparison to last year‘s second quarter, which posted higher political advertising and higher revenue for the NCAA Division I Men‘s Basketball Championship ("NCAA Tournament"). CBS‘s new programming agreement for the NCAA Tournament results in lower revenues, but higher profits.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization ("OIBDA") of $873 million for the second quarter of 2011 increased by 51 per cent from $579 million for the same prior-year period, driven by strong growth and margin expansion in every segment.

The OIBDA margin increased seven percentage points to 24 per cent compared to last year‘s second quarter. The Company‘s strong growth and margin expansion was driven by higher margin revenue streams, as well as lower sports programming costs resulting from the new programming agreement for the NCAA Tournament.

Operating income for the second quarter of 2011 increased 69 per cent to $734 million from $435 million for the same quarter last year. Net earnings were $395 million for the second quarter of 2011, up from net earnings of $150 million and adjusted net earnings of $176 million,, for the same quarter last year due to the aforementioned OIBDA growth and a decrease to interest expense of $24 million, driven by the company‘s 2010 debt reduction activities.

Free cash flow for the second quarter of 2011 increased by 32 per cent to $646 million from $491 million for the second quarter of 2010 and for the first half of 2011 increased 30 per cent to 1.50 billion from $1.15 billion for the first half of 2010, principally driven by the OIBDA increase.

Entertainment (CBS Television Network, CBS Television Studios, CBS Studios International, CBS Television Distribution, CBS Films and CBS Interactive) revenues for the second quarter of 2011 increased by 10 per cent to $1.84 billion from $1.67 billion for the same prior-year period, driven by the new licensing agreement for the digital streaming of select library titles, the third-cycle domestic syndication sale of Frasier, higher retransmission revenues and growth in Network primetime advertising.
 
These increases were partially offset by the impact of the new programming agreement for the NCAA Tournament, which resulted in lower revenues but higher profits. Entertainment OIBDA for the second quarter of 2011 increased 97 per cent to $440 million from $223 million for the same prior-year period with an 11 percentage point improvement in the margin to 24 per cent.

The strong margin growth reflects increases in higher margin revenues as well as lower sports programming costs resulting from the new programming agreement for the NCAA Tournament.

Cable Networks (Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Networks) revenues for the second quarter of 2011 increased by 12 per cent to $413 million from $369 million for the same prior-year period driven by rate increases and growth in subscriptions at both Showtime Networks and CBS Sports Network, as well as higher international syndication and home entertainment revenues for Showtime original series.

Showtime Networks (which includes Showtime, The Movie Channel and Flix) subscriptions totaled 70 million as of June 30, 2011, up by 6 million from the same time last year, due to higher cable, direct broadcast satellite and telco subscriptions.

CBS Sports Network subscriptions of 44 million were up by eight million compared to the prior year, resulting from increased cable subscriptions, driven by the company‘s ten year carriage agreement with Comcast entered into in 2010, and higher direct broadcast satellite subscriptions. Smithsonian Networks subscriptions of eight million as of 30 June, 2011 were up by three million from the same time last year.

Cable Networks OIBDA for the second quarter of 2011 increased by 36 per cent to $176 million from $129 million for the same prior-year period, reflecting revenue growth as well as lower theatrical programming costs, partially offset by higher programming costs for original series.