21st Century Fox TV Rev Dips 1.1%

21st Century Fox on Wednesday reported fiscal first quarter Television Segment revenues totaled $1.038 billion, down 1.1% from $1.049 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company said the decrease reflected “a market shift in advertising spending towards the Rio Olympics and the absence of the prior year broadcasts of the Emmy Awards and the FIFA Women’s World Cup final” that weren’t offset by higher retransmission consent revenues, higher local political advertising spending at the television stations and higher content revenues at the Fox Broadcast Network.

Television generated quarterly segment OIBDA of $191 million, a 2.6% decrease from the $196 million reported in the prior year quarter.

Cable Network Programming quarterly revenue totaled $3.8 billion, a 9.9% boost from the year-ago $3.5 billion. Cable Network Programming quarterly segment OIBDA increased 6% to $1.38 billion, driven by a 10% revenue increase on higher affiliate and advertising revenues partially offset by a 12% increase in expenses. 

The increase in expenses was primarily due to higher international sports programming costs in Latin America and India due to the broadcast of the Rio Olympics, higher Major League Baseball sports rights costs at the regional sports networks and higher entertainment programming costs at FX Networks.

The Cable Network Programming segment first quarter results also included revenue and costs of approximately $85 million related to the inclusion of results from the National Geographic non-channels businesses, which were acquired in November 2015. Foreign exchange fluctuations, primarily in Latin America, adversely impacted segment OIBDA growth by 2%.

The company as a whole reported quarterly revenues $6.51 billion, a $429 million, or 7%, increase from the $6.08 billion of revenues reported in the prior year quarter. This increase primarily reflects higher affiliate and advertising revenues generated at our Cable Network Programming segment and higher content revenues generated at the Filmed Entertainment segment. The adverse impact of foreign exchange rates impacted quarterly revenue growth by $77 million.  

Quarterly total segment OIBDA of $1.79 billion increased by $256 million, or 17%, from the $1.54 billion reported in the prior year quarter. This increase was due to higher contributions from both the company’s Filmed Entertainment and Cable Network Programming segments. The adverse impact of foreign exchange rates impacted quarterly OIBDA growth by $42 million, or 3% in total.

Commenting on the results, Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said: “We delivered a strong quarter, growing our earnings by double digits on solid revenue gains. Whether it was Fox News rating #1 in basic cable, the 27 primetime Emmy Awards between FX Networks and Fox Broadcasting, producing three of the top five scripted shows on television, or our robust international growth, we demonstrated strong operational momentum across our global businesses.”