Thursday, May 3, 2012

Viacom quarterly profit beats Wall St view


Q1 EPS $.098 vs Street view $0.89

* Rev up 2 pct to $3.33 billion

* Cable network revenue up 5 pct

May 2 (Reuters) - Viacom Inc posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, boosted by an increase in revenue from its cable networks, which include MTV and Comedy Central.

Income from continuing operations rose to $588 million, or $1.08 per share, from $376 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings from continuing operations were 98 cents a share. Analysts on average expected 89 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $3.33 billion.

Cable network revenue rose 5 percent, primarily because of an increase in money from fees from cable and satellite TV distributors.

Those fees rose 15 percent in the United States and 17 percent worldwide, also benefiting from digital distribution deals.

Advertising revenue rose by 1 percent in the United States and was flat internationally.

At Viacom's Paramount movie studio, revenue decreased by 5 percent to $1.17 billion due to a relatively weak box office performance at the theaters.

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