CBS Corp. Returns to Profit

NEW YORK: CBS Corporation delivered a profit of $207.6 million in the third quarter, as compared with its $12.5 billion loss this time last year due to impairment charges, with revenues that were stable at $3.35 billion.

The Television segment, encompassing the CBS network and television stations, CBS Television Studios, the U.S. and international distribution arms, CBS College Sports Network, CBS Films and Showtime Networks, saw a 9-percent revenue gain to $2.27 billion thanks to higher television license fees and affiliate revenues partially offsetting lower local advertising sales. Ad sales, accounting for 44 percent of the TV revenues, fell 5 percent to t $1 billion, TV license fees were up 36 percent to $799.2 million, affiliate revenues increased 11 percent to $335.1 million and home entertainment revenues fell to $47 million. 

"Through this extraordinary time, Leslie and his team have managed CBS not simply to survive but to truly thrive," said Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of CBS Corporation. "The strong performance of the CBS content businesses continues to build audiences, as well as our value proposition for advertisers. At the same time we’ve further solidified our financial position. I feel very good about what the future holds for CBS, especially given the improving economic outlook."

"The operating environment for our businesses continues to improve and we are finishing the year with strong momentum," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO. "So far this year, each quarter has been better than the one before, with the third quarter showing significant improvement over the second, just as we expected. Going forward, we have many reasons for optimism as we look to 2010: In the new fall season, we are not only again the #1 television network, we have also grown our audience year-over-year. Our premium cable business continues to enhance its profile and once again added subscribers during the quarter. We’ve sold five series into domestic syndication this year, and global demand for our programming continues to grow. And on the local front, pacing continues rising steadily for TV, radio and outdoor, and we expect that with our new streamlined cost structure, margins will improve significantly going forward as well."

Moonves continued: "Over the long term, we continue to believe that great content is the best driver of growth in this industry, which is why we’ve been so focused on building our content businesses across the Company. To highlight this strategy, we are realigning our business segments beginning in the fourth quarter. Our aim is to offer greater transparency so others can continue to view CBS the way we do—as a collection of leading content businesses in all the right areas of distribution—and be better able to gauge our progress against our long-term goals going forward."