quarterly report

A drop in national and political ad revenue from the same period in 2010 was offset by a 4% gain in local advertising, an 8% gain in retransmission consent money and a 56% gain in Internet ad revenue.

Increases in TV core advertising, retransmission revenue and Internet revenue offset the expected decrease in political revenue. Excluding political resulted in a 4% gain in net revenue. The company also announces promotions for Hassan Natha and Sherry Pelletier.

The drop in political advertising held back performance. Taken out of the equation, non-political ad revenues were up 3%.

Increases in retransmission consent revenue can’t offset the decrease in political ad money compared to the year-ago quarter.

If online video really is taking TV service subscribers from cable, satellite and phone providers, it’s not just bad news for those companies. Analysts also see it leading to more restrictions and higher prices for online video and broadband access, a trend that has already started.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. sank to a 15.5 billion yen ($199 million) quarterly loss, hurt by the disasters in northeastern Japan, a massive online security breach and plunging TV […]

While core revenues were flat, Internet and retransmission consent money grew by 50%

Excluding political and issue ad money from the year-ago period, that number changes to a 1.3% increase. Local ad revenue is up, while national suffers from a drop in auto spending.

Despite strong performances by its TV and website operations, the multimedia company posted a 6.8% decrease in revenues and a 58% drop in operating income.

The increase comes despite a decrease in political ad money. Retrnas revenue was up 24% to $19.4 million and digital revenue grew by 29%.

The broadcast group posts gains in revenues and broadcast cash flow as it continues liquidating its assets. Its net loss for the first quarter of 2011 was $1.7 million compared to a $1.9 million net loss for the first quarter of 2010. The board approves a 35-cents-per-share distribution.

Six years after taking the helm of Sony in a surprise appointment, Howard Stringer has yet to show much more than a glimmer of a turnaround at the troubled company he inherited. On Thursday, the company, which is based in Tokyo, confirmed that the damage from Japan’s natural disasters in March — and the havoc dealt to Sony’s supply chains in their aftermath — had forced it to take tax-credit provisions that resulted in a $3.2 billion net loss for the business year just ended. The loss was Sony’s biggest deficit in 16 years, and its third in a row.

Big drops in political revenue and network comp from the year-ago quarter are offset by gains in core revenue, retrans and e-Media money.

Operating income at Disney’s media networks, including ESPN and ABC, rose 17% to $1.5 billion; revenues rose 12% to $4.3 billion. At the cable networks, operating income rose 15% to $1.357 billion as revenues rose 17% to $2.8 billion. At its broadcasting operations, operating income rose 36% to $167 million as revenues rose 4% to $1.5 billion.

The increase is driven by a 12.4% rise in national revenue and a 20.3% jump in retrans money.

Core ad revenue grows 9%, retrans is up 25%, while Internet revenue jumps 89%.

But excluding Olympics dollars, it records a 4.4% rise. Local was up 3.5%, national dipped 1%, retrans grew 47%, while digital revenue was up 29%.

Performance is pulled down because of lack of political and Olympics advertising. Local, retrans and Internet money all posted gains.

The drop is attributed to lack of Olympics and political advertising compared to the first quarter of 2010.

In line with other major media companies, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. witnessed big advertising growth recently from its TV businesses during its fiscal second-quarter period. U.S. advertising revenues gained 12% during the period, while News Corp.’s international cable networks climbed 27%.

A boost from the Super Bowl, broadcast by the company’s Fox network this year, wasn’t enough to offset declines at its movie studio, even though the football game ranked as the most-watched TV program in U.S. history. The company’s cable TV channels such as Fox News Channel continued to shine. Domestic ad revenue grew 14%. The company also got more money from pay-TV providers such as DirecTV for retrans rights.

Excluding political revenues, local net broadcast revenues were up 7.6% and national net broadcast revenues were up 1.2%. Strong performances came from the automotive, schools, pharmaceuticals, and furniture ad categories.