CBS Posts Positive Q1 Results

NEW YORK: CBS Corporation returned to profit in the first quarter, reporting a net income of $202 million as compared with the year-ago loss of $26 million.

Revenues at the company were flat at $3.5 billion. This includes $1.99 billion from the Entertainment segment, which covers the CBS network, production studios, distribution, feature films and interactive. Entertainment revenues were down 4 percent on the year-ago quarter, which included the 2010 Super Bowl on CBS. Cable networks revenues, meanwhile, rose 7 percent to $393 million. Local broadcasting (U.S. TV and radio stations) delivered $621 million in revenues, a 2-percent gain.

“Across the board, this was an exceptionally strong quarter for CBS, giving us a tremendous start in 2011,” said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO. “Our first quarter performance was driven by strong underlying advertising revenue growth and increases in non-advertising revenue streams, as we continue to maximize the value of CBS’s world-class content. In addition, the strategic actions taken to strengthen our business model, including CBS Television’s new NCAA agreement, have helped deliver yet another consecutive quarter of year-over-year margin expansion. We are particularly pleased with our substantial free cash flow generation, and we remain committed to returning a substantial portion of this cash to shareholders through the combination of share repurchases and dividends. Looking ahead, we have great momentum heading into this year’s Upfront marketplace, and we continue to enter into lucrative retransmission, syndication and online distribution deals. As we increasingly capitalize on these opportunities, we are confident that we will drive growth over the long term by focusing on our strategy to drive higher recurring revenue streams and diversify our businesses while delivering value to our shareholders.”