21st Century Fox Revenue Up in Q1

NEW YORK: 21st Century Fox reported a 12 percent increase in quarterly revenue, driven by growth in its cable network and film studio businesses.

Net income attributable to shareholders was down, dipping from Q1 2013's $1.26 billion to $1.09 billion for the quarter ended September 30. The company saw first-quarter revenue rise to $7.89 billion, compared to the $7.06 billion a year ago.

Cable Network Programming quarterly segment OIBDA increased 5 percent to $1.04 billion, driven by a 15 percent revenue increase on strong affiliate and advertising revenue growth. The revenue improvement was partially offset by a 21 percent increase in segment expenses, a large part of which reflected the combined impact of the planned investments in the new sports channels launched in the prior year and the consolidation of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. Domestic affiliate revenue grew 18 percent, while domestic ad revenue gained 10 percent.

Television delivered quarterly segment OIBDA of $174 million compared with the $231 million reported in the prior year quarter. Quarterly segment revenues were relatively flat in comparison to the prior year, as strong retransmission consent revenue growth was offset by a 5 percent decline in advertising revenues, primarily reflecting the impact from lower ratings at FOX. The decline in segment OIBDA was partially from higher expenses, driven by higher programming costs at FOX from the investment in additional hours of original scripted content, higher program cancelation costs and higher rights fees related to the new NFL contract.

Filmed Entertainment generated record first-quarter segment OIBDA of $458 million, a 40 percent increase. This was due to several successful worldwide theatrical releases in the quarter, among them Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Maze Runner. The Fault in Our Stars continues to contribute both from worldwide theatrical and domestic home entertainment.

Direct Broadcast Satellite Television generated quarterly segment OIBDA of $207 million, compared with the $190 million reported in the same period a year ago. This increase reflects a 4 percent revenue increase, primarily due to Sky Deutschland subscriber growth, which was partially offset by higher sports programming costs, including SKY Italia’s broadcast of the World Cup.