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Cable TV Provides Most of Hollywood’s Profits

Jan 6, 2014  •  Post A Comment

A new analysis of financials at the giant media corporations reveals that the cable television segment accounts for more than 60% of Hollywood profits, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

THR crunched the numbers for the first three quarters of 2013 and found that Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, NBCUniversal and CBS Corp. all saw gains in cable stemming from ad growth and carriage fee negotiations.

Leading the way is Viacom, with 89% of its total operating profit coming from cable. Viacom’s cable properties include MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, Spike TV and CMT. The company’s 2013 operating profit from its cable TV operations, according to the analysis, was $3.1 billion, representing an increase of 11.2% from the previous year.

Time Warner was close behind in its percentage of profit from cable, with 86%. Key cable holdings for the company include HBO, CNN, HLN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network and TCM. The company had $3.9 billion in operating profit from cable in the period, up 10.4% from 2012.

Here’s how the other companies break down:

NBCUniversal: 76% of total operating profit from cable. (Key holdings include USA, Syfy, Bravo, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, Golf Channel.) 2013 operating profit from cable: $2.6 billion (up 6.6% from 2012).

21st Century Fox: 68.5% of total operating profit from cable. (Key holdings include Fox News Channel, Fox Business, FX, Fox Sports 1.) 2013 operating profit from cable: $3.1 billion (up 12.5% from 2012).

Walt Disney: 61% of total operating profit from cable. (Key holdings include ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family.) 2013 operating profit from cable: $5.1 billion (up 7.6% from 2012).

CBS Corp., with a much smaller cable portfolio, is cited as the exception to the rule of media giants receiving much of their profit from cable, but the company did see significant growth in its cable division. CBS Corp. received 25% of total operating profit from cable, with key holdings including Showtime, Smithsonian Networks and CBS Sports Network. The company had $699 million in 2013 operating profit from cable (up 11.7% from 2012).

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One Comment

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