Time Warner Sees Q1 Profit Dip

NEW YORK: A boost in ad revenues at Turner Broadcasting helped boost Time Warner’s first quarter revenues by 6 percent to $6.7 billion, but its net profit slipped by 9.9 percent to $653 million.

“We’re off to a solid start this year," said Jeffrey Bewkes, chairman and CEO. "We’re on track to meet our financial goals for 2011 and making a lot of progress toward our longer-term objectives. For instance, our continued investment in the highest-quality content is paying off: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on TBS, TNT and truTV performed even better than we expected and Game of Thrones debuted on HBO to critical acclaim and strong viewership. We are also very excited about the progress we are making across the company in introducing and expanding our digital offerings to allow consumers to enjoy our content sooner and on more platforms and devices than ever before…. We’ve also bought back $1.3 billion of our shares so far this year, double the pace of last year. That reflects our confidence in our competitive position and growth prospects and our commitment to continue improving shareholder returns.”

Revenues from Turner Broadcasting and HBO were up 18 percent to $3.5 billion, with sub revenues up 9 percent, ad revenues up 31 percent and content revenues up 48 percent. Operating income at the Networks division was down 3 percent to $1.2 billion.

At Warner Bros., revenues fell by 3 percent to $2.6 billion, largely as a result of difficult prior-year comparisons. Filmed Entertainment operating income dropped 49 percent to $158 million,