$55.3 Million Loss for CBS Corp.

NEW YORK: With its TV ad sales down 15 percent, CBS Corporation saw its total revenues in the first quarter fall 13.5 percent to $3.16 billion and posted a net loss of $55.3 million, versus its $244.3 million profit a year ago.

Operating income at the company, meanwhile, plummeted from $524.2 million in Q1 2008 to $107.5 million. Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corp., noted: "Like other companies, our results were affected by the economic downturn that continued during the first quarter. In addition, there were a number of factors that had an impact on comparability. The advertising marketplace remained relatively robust through the first half of last year. And last year’s first quarter benefited from several special items, including the shift to self-distribution of our CSI franchise internationally, significantly lower production costs as a result of the writers’ strike, and record political advertising revenues, which were not repeated this year. We are confident that the second half of the year will bring improved results due to a strong slate of syndication releases, the effect of cost reductions that were made last year and early signs of an improving local advertising marketplace."

Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of CBS Corp., added: "I have no doubt that the actions we are taking today, together with the strength of our industry-leading content, will translate to significantly better results once the economy improves."

Television revenues, including the CBS network, local stations, TV distribution, the CBS College Sports Network and Showtime, fell 12 percent to $2.23 billion, principally due to lower advertising sales and television license fees, partially offset by higher affiliate and home entertainment revenues. Ad sales, accounting for 58 percent of all TV revenues, fell 15 percent to $1.3 billion. TV license fees, taking a 21-percent share of revenues, fell 24 percent to $462.7 million. Affiliate revenues gained 9 percent to $316 million, and home entertainment revenues were up by 69 percent to $62.7 million.