Earnings: CBS Q4 Revs Down 3 Percent; Income Down On Investment Loss; $21M From March Madness Online

CBS (NYSE: CBS) has announced Q4 revenue of $3.76 billion, down 3 percent year-over-year from $3.88 billion. Net income fell 18 percent to $273.1 million, from $335 million, however this year's quarter included significant declines in the value of certain CBS investment. The decrease in the top-line was partly attributable to asset divestitures and lower political spend. Some highlights:

-- Television: Revenue fell 4 percent to $2.46 billion in the quarter. While overall ad spending fell for the above noted reasons, the decline was offset, in part, due to strength at Showtime and CSTV.

-- Radio: Factoring out divestitures, same-station revenue fell 7 percent due to an overall weak ad market.

Release | Webcast (8:30 AM ET)

Conference call: The first big matter of business CEO Leslie Moonves addressed on the call was the economy: "At CBS, we are not seeing a recession in our day-to-day operations." Sectors that have been hit the hardest have not been big CBS advertisers, he noted. As for the concluded strike, the company says it's come out of it unscathed: "Our financial pictures was not effected by the strike in any shape or form." There will be some changes to business though. This year's upfronts won't be as garish as in past years, although they'll still be held at Carnegie Hall. And the company will attempt to maintain some of the lower cost structure that the strike instigated. Much of the call was spent restating the argument that the network business remains strong, and that "the internet is truly an extension of (the) existing network business." The thesis is that good TV content will be the backbone of digital success.

-- Last.fm: In the company's earnings release, this was the only digital property that got a mention. On the call, the company also touted it as an example of its success in the online space, noting that usage is up 92 percent since it adopted limited full streaming.

-- NCAA Tournament: CBS is projecting digital revenues form the tournament of $21 million, up from $10 million last year. In 2005, using a pay model, the company generated revenue of $250k. Moonves noted that the cost structure of the operations has been the same throughout.

Earnings: DirecTV Q4 Revs Up 17 Percent; Interest Expenses Up; Latin America, HD, DVRs Provide Boost

DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) reported Q4 revenue of $4.9 billion, a 17 percent year-on-year increase from $4.18 billion. Net income declined slightly to $348 million ($.30 per share) from $356 million (.29 per share). The company attributed the top-line growth to increased subscribers, higher average revenue per user (ARPU) and better performance at its Latin America unit. Meanwhile, the FCC has still not given an official ruling on Liberty's acquisition of News Corp's stake in the company. Some highlights:

-- ARPU was up 8.3 percent in the quarter to $87.40. The company attributed this to the popularity of DVRs, HD and an increased number of receivers per household.

-- Net subscribers adds of 275,000 at DirecTV US was flat year-over-year. Total subscribers now stand at 16.83 million, 5.4 percent more than what the company had a year ago.

-- Op profit before depreciation and amortization was up 21 percent, with income lowered by higher interest expenses.

Release | Webcast (2:00 PM ET)

CNN Readies All Citizen Journalism News Site

CNN is preparing to unveil a news site made up entirely of news gathered by users, Mediaweek reports. An offshoot of its iReport citizen journalism feature, which the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) cable net launched in August. 2006. Since that time, CNN has received roughly 100,000 news photos and videos from viewers. The pickup in activity has been gaining lately, as CNN said it has received nearly 10,000 viewer-submissions just last month to iReport.com. more to come

WGA Strike: Ad Agency React: ‘The Aftermath Begins’; Upfront Presentations Remain In Doubt

While broadcast media buyers and marketers are likely to feel relieved by the end of the work stoppage, some contend that too much damage has been done for things to return to normal. Chris Boothe, a president at Publicis Groupe's Starcom USA, tells AdAge that "the aftermath begins" once the strike is completely wrapped up, adding that repercussions to the TV ad business will continue to be felt for some time. Some effects stemming from the way the labor action will permanently affect the way TV ad time is bought. Among the immediate expectations are:

-- There will be less original programming overall, with reality TV assuming a greater share of prime-time.

-- Rather than schedule most of the new season for a big fall opening, many new shows will see staggered debuts. Networks will likely begin to roll out more shows during Q4.

-- Audience erosion has been a fact of life for the networks the past few years. But the strike may have sped up that trend. According to Sanford Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson, live prime-time audiences between the ages of 18 and 49 fell 11 percent through Jan. 27, with CBS (NYSE: CBS) down 19.6 percent, while ABC dropped 15.2 percent and NBC saw a decrease 13.8 percent. Thanks to popular unscripted shows like American Idol, Fox was the only one to gain, albeit a modest 3.7 percent. Cable has grown and as more people by DVRs, live prime-time ratings might not be able to make a comeback.

-- Development of new shows have been held up during the strike. Therefore, the networks might not have a reason to hold the annual bombast that is the upfront. Between the start of the negotiations in May and the end in end in early summer, marketers placed $9.2 billion in advertising for the 2007 fall season. With some networks left wondering whether they will have to produce "make-goods" - returning advertisers' money for shows that failed to hit guaranteed ratings points - the shape of this year's upfront is very much in doubt.

B&C: Only Fox appears committed to hosting its major upfront presentation this year. NBC continues to waver on its upfront plans. The way it looks right now, the network's fall preview will have a decidedly more scaled back quality.

MyNetflix (beta) Vista Media Center plugin with Watch Now streaming

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Anthony Park just released his MyNetflix Media Center plugin. The application lets you add/remove movies from your Netflix queue, browse for movies, and view history and recommendations. The part that will tempt you into installing the beta software however is the ability to stream "Watch Now" movies from the warm comforts of your Media Center. You do have a Netflix account don't you?

[Via Chris Lanier's Blog, thanks Matt]

 

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