Fox dampens higher profit, revenue at News Corp
Revenue up 5% to $9.43 billion on strength of cable networks, beats estimates
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. on Wednesday reported higher quarterly revenue and profit on strong growth at its cable assets including its Regional Sports and FX networks.
“It’s no secret (Fox) had a tough fall," said News Corp. president and chief operating officer Chase Carey on a call with analysts, pinning the blame on both programming and a sports line up that fell short of expectations.
News Corp.’s other trouble spots were overseas, with SKY Italia experiencing a drop off in subscribers because of that tough economy and declines at its Australian newspapers—the early seeds of the News Corp. empire.
Some details about the new publishing operations have been released, including naming Robert Thomson, a Murdoch confidant and the former top editor at The Wall Street Journal, as CEO. More financial information is expected to be released in the next month or so and the split is still on track to be completed by the end of the year, News Corp. executives said on the call. Beyond that, however, no other information about the split was provided and analysts did not ask any questions about it.
Rupert Murdoch’s long-time rival John Malone on Tuesday inked a deal through his Liberty Global to buy British cable group Virgin Media—a potential threat to News Corp.’s dominance in pay-TV in Europe and its BSkyB network in the UK
But James, who also serves as a director at BSkyB, downplayed any competitive threat.
“You are getting a massive out performance of growth at the cable group and we think that is compelling," said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank.
Carey also took the opportunity to take a shot at Time Warner Cable, saying that company’s recent deal for the television rights to the LA Dodgers, reportedly valued at $6 billion-$7 billion, was “too rich for our blood."
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