Cable, Film Lead 21st Century Fox Gains

Fourth-quarter revenues at 21st Century Fox saw an 18-percent increase to $7.9 billion as net income climbed to $920 million from $476 million in the year-ago period.

“Our strategic plan over the last decade has been built on a singular focus on creative excellence to power our world-class video brands,” said Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.”The outstanding shareholder value created this year through our proposed transactions recognizes the work we have done to position our businesses to succeed during a time of great change. We continued to make progress this past fiscal year. We delivered financial and operational momentum, including four consecutive quarters of double-digit domestic affiliate gains, one of the strongest six-month periods ever for our film studio, and continued dominance in live sports and news. We start a new fiscal year with tailwinds from last quarter’s double-digit topline growth across our business segments. As we move closer to combining our businesses with Disney and establishing new ‘Fox,’ we are convinced that the paths we are creating for our iconic businesses will drive enduring and growing value for our shareholders.”

Cable networks remains the biggest segment, with quarterly revenues rising to $4.9 billion and an OIBDA of $1.6 billion, up 12 percent. Gains were driven by higher affiliate and advertising revenues, partially offset by increased expenses from sports broadcasts—IPL in India and the World Cup in the U.S.—and programming costs at FX.

Television revenues increased to $1.1 billion from $1 billion, but OIBDA dropped to $106 million as a result of a 20-percent increase in expenses from the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup and increased entertainment programming costs.

Filmed entertainment revenues in the period were up to $2.3 billion, boosted by higher SVOD revenue at the television studio and higher home entertainment, television and theatrical revenues at the film studio, with the segment posting an OIBDA of $289 million versus the $22 million loss in the year-ago period.