Discovery Reports Full Year, Q4 Gains

SILVER SPRING: Gains in advertising and affiliate revenues drove Discovery Communications 2010 revenues up by 9 percent to $3.77 billion, while Q4 revenues were up 7 percent to $1 billion.

“Discovery delivered another year of strong and consistent growth in 2010 as we leveraged our diverse slate of quality content across our worldwide distribution platform in an improving global economic environment,” said David Zaslav, Discovery’s president and CEO. “We generated significant advertising and distribution revenue growth while thoughtfully managing our cost base. As a result, we were able to increase our margins and free cash flow growth while continuing to invest in content across our existing portfolio of assets and joint ventures. Our strong performance and financial position enabled us to begin returning capital to shareholders with the repurchase of over $600 million in stock this past year. As we move forward in 2011, we will continue to focus on creating high quality programming and expanding our market share globally as we deliver strong operating performance and enhance shareholder value.”

In the fourth quarter, U.S. revenues gained 9 percent to $561 million while international networks were up 4 percent to $612 million. Net income rose to $358 million. For the year, international networks growth outpaced U.S. gains at 11 percent to $1.25 billion (versus 9 percent domestically to $2.36 billion). Net income rose to $641 million, boosted in part by a $252 million pre-tax gain on the sale of Discovery Kids channel.