CBS Corp. Q2 Profits Reach Record High

NEW YORK: Second quarter revenues of $3.7 billion show an 11-percent gain year on year for CBS Corporation, with growth led by a 22-percent increase in content licensing and distribution revenues.

Ad revenues were up 5 percent, partly due to the timing of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Affiliate and subscription fee revenues grew 18 percent, reflecting the impact of a pay-per-view boxing event and growth from retransmission revenues and fees from CBS Television Network affiliated stations.

OIBDA gained 5 percent in Q2 to $952 million, with growth in every operating segment. Operating income increased 6 percent to $838 million. Net earnings from continuing operations were $475 million for Q2, up from the $452 million for the same period the prior year.

Entertainment revenues—CBS, CBS Television Studios, CBS Global Distribution Group, CBS Films and CBS Interactive—increased 18 percent year on year to $2.01 billion. This was primarily due to higher revenues from the licensing of TV programming for digital streaming and international syndication, as well as higher ad revenues and growth in network affiliation fees.

At the Cable Networks—Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Networks—revenues gained 16 percent to $446 million. This was driven by a pay-per-view boxing event, but also higher revenues from licensing Showtime original series for digital streaming.

“CBS’s remarkable momentum continues to build,” said Sumner Redstone, executive chairman of CBS Corporation. “This is a Company built for long-term success, and I know Les and his team will continue to execute in the quarters and years to come.”

“Double-digit revenue growth—and the best quarterly profits we’ve ever had—add up to a phenomenal quarter for CBS,” added Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corporation. “Across the board, CBS’s world-class content continues to drive our results. From Under the Dome, which is changing the face of summer programming on network television, to Ray Donovan, which has refilled the pipeline at Showtime in a big way, new owned content continues to flourish throughout our company. As a result, our base business is thriving, and our non-advertising revenue sources are having a bigger impact on our results all the time. Looking ahead, the opportunities to monetize our content are more exciting than ever. In addition, we are well on our way to completing our strategic initiatives in our Outdoor segment—including the pending sale of our business in Europe and Asia and the separation of our Outdoor Americas business, which is right on track. All of this gives us great confidence in our future, and it’s why we announced last week our largest increase ever to our share repurchase program. We remain committed to returning value to our shareholders, and we are certain we can deliver lucrative results for the remainder of this year, next year, and beyond as well.”