quarterly reports

Viacom had a rough fiscal first-quarter 2013 down 16% in revenue — mostly due to lower film entertainment results. Its media/TV networks witnessed a 6% decline in domestic and worldwide advertising revenues.

The total of $108.7 million was driven by political, rebounding automotive and a 84% increase in retrans fees. Core local and national advertising revenues, excluding political, increased 4%.

The total during the company’s fiscal 2Q rose to $111 million, while the group’s operating profit climbed 65% from a year ago to $45 million.

Apple Inc. may still make products customers love, but its latest earnings report appears to have broken investors’ hearts. For the third quarter in a row, Apple reported revenue and profit that were impressive by normal standards, but short of what analysts had expected. Investors reacted harshly, driving Apple’s stock price down more than 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

Netflix Inc. ended a volatile year on a high note, beating expectations for revenue and subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31 — sparking a nearly 35% spike in the company’s stock in after-hours trading.

Strong political advertising, double-digit rises in local, national and retrans fueled the best third quarter ever reported by the company’s TV operations.

SVP-CFO Jay Rasulo told analysts Thursday that “at the ABC Network, quarter-to-date scatter pricing is pacing in mid-teens above upfront levels. ESPN ad sales are pacing down modestly and ABC Family ad sales are pacing up high single digits. TV station ad sales are pacing up in single digits as well.”

In addition to $20 million in political money, local advertising revenues, retransmission consent fees and station website revenues increased 17% to $73 million, while national revenue was up 11% to $26 million.

Political ad money and retransmission consent increases power the increase. Overall, the company’s revenues were up 2% to $3.42 billion from the same period a year ago.

Television networks such as HBO and TBS saw 7% growth in the fees paid by cable and satellite distributors to carry the channels. The company said last month’s extension of rights to carry Major League Baseball games will help it command higher fees as existing deals expire.

Service revenue was up 13% in the quarter, while product revenue was down 9%. The company reported a net loss of  $700,000 as compared to a net loss of $3.49 million in the third quarter of 2011

Growth in the pay-television market was anemic in the third quarter, fueling the debate about whether subscribers are starting to cut the cord. Charter Communications, -1.80% Cablevision Systems Corp. -6.29% and Dish Network Corp. +3.36% collectively lost 102,000 video customers in the latest quarter, based on information contained in their quarterly reports on Tuesday. That is better than their combined loss of 193,000 a year earlier, but it isn’t a reversal.

“At our broadcast business, our results were mixed this fall,” said President-COO Chase Carey in Tuesday’s conference call with Wall Street analysts. “On the positive side, we continue to be on track with our goal of building a dual revenue stream business through both retransmission and reverse compensation with our affiliates. However, our fall entertainment launches have been below our expectations and a four-game World Series was clearly not what we had hoped for.”

Cablevision Systems Corp reported a third-quarter loss today and its shares fell over 5% as investors worried about a decline in video customers and the financial impact of Hurricane Sandy. The cable provider said costs from Sandy, which knocked out service for as many as half its customers, would be substantially higher than its $16 million bill from hurricane Irene in 2011.

Dish Network Corp, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV company after DirecTV, reported a third-quarter loss due to high litigation costs and said it was prepared to raise prices next year after a one-year freeze. Dish shares rose 2.7% today.

Time Warner Cable Inc, the second largest U.S. cable operator, reported a quarterly profit that missed estimates as the company lost more video subscribers than expected, sending its shares down more than 6% today.

The company’s five full-power and four low-power stations account for $4.9 million, up from $4.1 a year ago.

Political revenue of $10.5 million and solid increases in core local and national ad dollars plus a 54% gain in retans pushes net revenue to almost $90 million.

The increase from last year’s quarter to $106.4 million comes from stronger advertising demand, including political and Olympics, plus retransmission consent gains.

Gains in political, core and retransmission consent boost numbers for the Hispanic broadcaster.

$27.8 million in political ad money, as well as strong gains in local, national and retrans, account for the increase.

A political ad revenue increase of 367% pushes the rise to $103 million, aided by retrans (+65%), local and national (both +4) and Internet (+22%).