Broadcast and cable have been sniping at each other for at least 25 years. But two paragraph in the New York Times today discussing broadcast losses and cable gains put the relationship in an entirely different context:
Reflecting a sharp downturn in advertising across the broadcast television industry, the company had its steepest drop in the television unit, where income fell to $18 million, from $245 million a year earlier. The company’s television stations had a 44 percent decline, “reflecting a significant overall weakening of the local advertising markets despite increased political advertising revenues,” the company said in a statement. The film division had income of $112 million compared with $403 million a year earlier.
One bright spot was cable networks, including Fox News. The division reported income of $428 million, up $91 million from the period a year earlier. Fox News increased its operating income by 32 percent.
When a division drops from $245 million to $18 million it’s more than a rounding error.
Yes, this is apples and oranges, comparing FOX’s owned broadcast stations to the cable networks like FOX News Channel, FX, Speed and Fuel. And alot of FOX News’ success has to do with that presidential election thing that happened last Fall. Spot cable, which Fox has less exposure to through its regional sports businesses, is surely suffering as much if not more than broadcast.
But imagine how dismal media corporate quarterly results would be if Fox didn’t have their News, NBC Universal didn’t have their welcome characters on USA, and Disney didn’t have ESPN’s sports fans and Disney Channel’s teens and tweens.
Source: New York Times