quarterly reports

The electronics and entertainment company, which also makes Spider-Man movies, reported Thursday a loss of 255 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the January-March period — its fifth straight quarterly net loss to round out a fiscal year that was the worst in its 66-year corporate history.

Excluding the absence of the NFL championship, advertising revenues at the television stations and broadcast network were essentially flat from a year earlier. Retrans revenue doubled.

Strong political money is a factor, along with local revenue growth of 16%, national up 4% and interactive 41% higher.

Strong advertising revenue growth continues for the likes of Walt Disney’s cable networks, as well as its broadcasting network for its fiscal second quarter. And more is coming. “We are anticipating a strong upfront,” says Disney CEO Bob Iger. ABC stations had lower programming costs during the period due to the syndicated Oprah Winfrey Show leaving the airwaves last September.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — DirecTV Inc. said Tuesday that its first-quarter net income rose 8.5 percent, driven by subscriber growth in Latin America. But the number of subscribers added […]

The Spanish-language media company says the increase is due to higher core advertising and retrans consent money.

Retrans money increases 37%, digital revenue up 20%, local revenue grows 7.4%, while national dips 4.6%. The numbers are higher when the results of its nine stations acquired last year are added in.

Record core TV advertising, e-Media and retransmission revenue drives record first quarter operating income of $17.5 million and free cash of $12.7 million.

The company’s profit dropped largely because the year-ago period got a boost from Dish settling a patent lawsuit with TiVo Inc.

The Washington Post Co. said the increase at its broadcast television division reflects improved advertising demand across many product categories, including a $2.2 million increase in political revenue.

In the first quarter, the Hispanic media commpany reported net revenue for its TV segment, which includes the national networks and TV stations, grew 10.4% to $449.5 million. The increase was a shade less when not counting political dollars.

Troubles in Europe hurt the company during the first three months of the year. GM said today it earned $1 billion, or 60 cents per share, in the quarter. That compared with $3.2 billion, or $1.77 per share, a year earlier, when earnings were boosted by the sale of GM’s stake in a parts company.

A soft national ad market offsets a 9% increase in developing media revenue and an 8% increase in retransmission revenue.

The increase to $7.9 million came from 15% gains in product revenue and a 34% gain in services revenue. Increases in expenses resulted in a net loss of $1.1 million.

Political ad money powers the gain, aided by a 26% increase in local revenue, including retrans.

Super Bowl drives performance, but even without it, revenues were up almost 18%.

The rise is fueled by a 259% jump in political advertising, a 67% increase in retransmission consent revenue and a 34% rise in Internet money.

Increased spending by automotive manufacturers and retailers as well as higher retransmission revenues were offset by lower advertising spending from the utilities and service industries. The company as a whole recorded revenue of almost $4 billion, a 12% increase over last year at this time, and its best 1Q since 2006.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect CBS to post net income of $288 million in the quarter through March after the market closes today, and an adjusted 44 cents per share of earnings, up from 29 cents a year ago. Revenue is seen at $3.78 billion, up from $3.51 billion.

Ford posted a decline in first-quarter earnings, strained by losses in Europe and Asia while North American profits rose. The company reported pre-tax operating profit of $2.3 billion, down $544 million from the first quarter of 2011. Operating profit in North America increased to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion a year earlier.

Chrysler Group said its first-quarter net income quadrupled on surging sales as the automaker set a profit target of $1.5 billion for the year. Chrysler earned $473 million in the January-March period, up from $116 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 25% to $16.4 billion as U.S. vehicle sales increased 39%.

The gains included an 18% rise in core national advertising and a 28% boost in retrans revenue.

Local spot was up 4%, national was down 5%. Total spot, including political, rose by 2%. Core spot revenue was powered by increases in automotive and retail.

The gain is driven by gains in automotive and professional services advertising and a 70% rise in digital revenue.

The gains are fueled by increased political revenues and higher retransmission fees.

Car advertising and Super Bowl spots drive the gain, aided by a 17% rise in retrans money.

Revenue dropped to $627.6 million last year from $630.5 million in 2010, the not-for-profit news cooperative said at its annual meeting on Tuesday. Before taxes, AP lost $23 million, compared with $22.5 million in 2010. AP Chief Financial Officer Ken Dale said he was encouraged that the revenue declines had slowed: “We feel good about the year in 2011.”