A 3% decline in CBS TV revenues contributed to a year-to-year drop of more than 14% in earnings for CBS Corp. for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, the company reported Tuesday.
Revenues fell to $3.76 billion for the fourth quarter from $3.88 billion a year ago.
CBS reported a $286.2 million quarterly profit, or 42 cents per share, down from $335 million or 43 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Radio and publishing losses, down 21% and 24%, respectively, also weighed on CBS earnings.
Outdoor advertising, with earnings up 19% on a 7% rise in revenues, remained a bright spot. The gain was largely due to favorable foreign exchange rates; without the currency gains, revenues were up 2%.
CBS’ fourth-quarter profits from TV fell 6%, from $2.86 million from $3.35 million, after revenues dipped 4%, from $2.6 million to $2.5 million. The dip was due partly to lower political radvertising compared to a record in fourth quarter 2006 and partly to the sale of 11 TV stations.
During a conference call with analysts, CBS Corp. President and CEO Leslie Moonves said the recently settled Writers Guild of America strike had not had a negative impact on the company’s financial picture, But he said it had helped reduce programming costs and led to a pared-down approach to the way CBS does business, including having fewer producers and writers on retainer and making fewer pilots.
11:55: Updated to remove reference to affiliates convention