quarterly reports

Station acquisitions drive up broadcasting revenue, but even on a same-station basis the gains are strong, helped by political, retrans and digital.

Viacom unveiled its quarterly financials on Thursday morning before the stock market officially opened, missing the mark on its revenue forecast, though hitting earnings per share more or less on the nose.

The company attributes the growth to contributions from recent acquisitions (KMOV St. Louis and KTVK Phoenix), record political advertising and a 22% jump in core (non-political) revenue boosted by strong digital and retrans performance.

Netflix Inc. added 13 million worldwide subscribers last year, including 4.3 million during the final three months, according to figures released Tuesday in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. It marked Netflix’s biggest quarter of subscriber gains ever. Earnings also rose to a new quarterly high of $83.4 million, or $1.35 per share, a 72% increase from the same time last year.

Retransmission consent fees led the increase, they were up 70% to $58.1 million. Political ad gains were offset by lower core ad revenue.

The $2 million increase to $16 million was primarily driven by the revenues associated with its tracking and sports solutions.

The increase to $160.2 million comes despite a decline in a number of national ad categories including auto. The boost was driven by political, retrans and digital sales.

The increase to $121 million was fueled by higher local, political and digital revenue as well as a 46% rise in retrans money.

The boost to $154.7 million is driven by increases in every area except national, with big percentage gains from political, digital and retrans.

The increase to $41.3 million is driven by higher retransmission consent money as well as political and World Cup advertising.

DirecTV slightly topped revenue estimates for 2014’s third quarter, despite losing U.S. customers during the three-month period. The company reported EPS of $1.21 — which adjusts up to $1.33 per share — on a rounded $8.4 billion in revenue. Wall Street analysts had forecasted earnings per share of $1.30 on revenue of $8.3 billion.

Local revenues, which include net local advertising revenues, retransmission consent fee revenues and TV station website revenues, increased 6% to $111.9 million compared to $105.5 million in the third quarter of 2013.

The increase was due in part to political money and retransmission consent revenue.

Excluding political, the station group reported local core broadcast revenue was up 42%, while national net broadcast revenues climbed 23%.

Higher advertising from station acquisitions as well as increased local, national, Internet, political and retrans money boost total 49% to $132 million.

The drop is blamed on lower ratings and higher expenses at the Fox Broadcast Network that weren’t offset by higher retrans money.

The boost to $87.4 million is driven by political advertising dollars and increased retransmission consent revenue.

The poor result released Friday — a $1.2 billion loss — was despite a 7% increase in quarterly sales to $17.3 billion as performance improved in cameras, TVs and game businesses.

The steady increase indicates that Facebook has succeeded in steering advertisers to its mobile platform at a time when most of its users are using Facebook on phones and tablets. Investors were initially worried about the desktop Web era-born company’s ability to succeed in mobile advertising, but those concerns are long gone.

The company attributes the growth to contributions from recent acquisitions (KMOV St. Louis and KTVK Phoenix), “strong” digital sales and the surge in political advertising. But core (non-political) spot revenue on a same-station basis dropped 3%.

Higher retransmission consent fees are a driver of the gains to $1.8 billion.

The 105% increase to $416 million comes from the purchases of Belo and London Broadcasting stations. Minus those deals, revenue rose 19%, driven mostly by higher retransmission consent money.

Tribune Media’s second quarter earnings report underscores the importance of growing retransmission consent revenues to broadcast groups at a time when advertising remains soft. Retrans revenue alone spiked 78% to $57.1 million, while advertising revenue declined 2.2% to $336.6 million. It was the last quarter the company formerly known as Tribune Co. housed its broadcasting and publishing assets under one roof.

The company’s four full-power and four low-power stations account for $4.5 million.

The $4 million increase to $14.7 million stems from last year’s merger.

The increase to $116 million was fueled by higher local, political and digital revenue as well as a 21% rise in retrans money.

The decrease was due in part to the nonrenewal of a sports programming contract and the absence of the broadcast of the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Retransmission consent money was the big driver, climbing 80.7% to $9.8 million.

The record revenue of $146.9 million is driven by increases in every area except national, with big percentage gains from political, digital and retrans.