CBS rocks Q3 with double-digit revenue gain

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CBSThe numbers look good at CBS – very good – and it has company leaders Sumner Redstone and Les Moonves singing a happy tune. Moonves says this is a sign of more to come.


Revenue was $3.63B, an 11% increase over the $3.27B collected in Q3 2012. The surge was led by an 18% increase in content licensing.
OIBDA increased 4% to $941M and operating income was up 5% to $828M.

CBS Television Network and other Entetainment division assets were up 12.8% to $1.88B in terms of revenue and also increased 12% in OIBDA to $431M.

Local broadcasting did not take part in the black-ink part of the report – and the culprit was what you’d expect – lack of political this year. Overall, local broadcast revenues were down 3% to $641M and OIBDA was down 15% to $181M.

On the TV side, the loss was offset to an extent by increased retransmission consent income.

Radio enjoyed a modest 1% increase, which was attributed in part to the new CBS Sports radio net.

“CBS’s third quarter proves once again why content is king,” said Sumner Redstone, Executive Chairman, CBS Corporation. “Our programming is becoming more valuable all the time as we continue to take advantage of the ever-expanding multiplatform world. With Les and his team leading the way, I know that CBS is poised for continued success for many years to come.”

“Our record third-quarter results—driven by double-digit revenue growth—are the continuation of a phenomenal first half, and provide more clarity on what will be another amazing full year for the CBS Corporation,” said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation. “We continue to launch new hits—from Under the Dome and Ray Donovan this summer to the top three new comedies on television this fall. Through our studio, we have an ownership interest in most of these shows, meaning that their success not only boosts our base business, but also our newer revenue streams as well, including very strong growth in retransmission consent fees, reverse compensation, international sales and all the opportunities afforded to us by exploding advances in technology. Plus, we are working toward a new advertising model in which we get paid for the significant, additional viewing that is increasingly taking place after a show first airs.”

Moonves continued, “In addition to all of this, we closed on the sale of our Outdoor business in Europe and Asia during the quarter, and the separation of our Outdoor Americas business is expected to be completed next year. As a result, about half of our revenue will be coming from fast-growing, non-advertising revenue sources going forward. And our strategic Outdoor initiatives are enabling us to return tremendous value to our shareholders. So clearly we are on track to close out the year in terrific shape, and we have great confidence in our ability to execute for our investors in 2014 as well.”