WarnerMedia Delivers Revenue Growth for AT&T

AT&T reported subscriber losses at DIRECTV while its WarnerMedia segment posted revenue growth in Q1 2019.

Total revenues at AT&T rose by 18 percent from $38 billion to $44.8 billion, primarily due to the Time Warner acquisition.

At WarnerMedia, revenues were up 3.3 percent to $8.4 billion and EBITDA up 9.4 percent to $2.4 billion. Turner revenues were flat at $3.4 billion, with ad revenues down 5.9 percent but subscription revenues up 4.1 percent. HBO revenues were down by 6.7 percent to $1.5 billion on the heels of its blackout on DISH. Warner Bros. revenues rose 8.6 percent to $3.5 billion due to 12.7 percent growth in theatrical product revenues and 7.7 percent growth in television product revenues.

In the Entertainment segment, including DIRECTV and DIRECTV Now, revenues were flat at $11.3 billion. The segment lost 544,000 premium video customers and DIRECTV Now lost 83,000 customers. Video revenues fell by 1.8 percent but IP broadband revenues rose by 10.2 percent.

“Our first-quarter results show that we’re delivering on what we promised,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO. “We’re on plan to meet our de-leveraging goals with strong free cash flow and asset sales. We grew Entertainment Group EBITDA in the quarter and are confident we’ll meet or exceed our full-year target. FirstNet deployment continues ahead of schedule. And we are recognized for having the nation’s best wireless network, as well as the fastest network. All this speaks volumes about our focus on our strategic priorities and our ability to grow our Mobility, WarnerMedia and emerging Xandr businesses. Our teams are executing well and have turned in a good performance to start the year.”