MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom which owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount has reported results for the second quarter ended 30 June 2005.
 

Revenues have increased by 10 per cent to $5.9 billion from $5.4 billion for the same quarter last year.
 
 

Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner M. Redstone also used the occasion to announce that once the media giant's spin-off into two companies was complete (expected in the first quarter of 2006), he would be relinquishing the CEO's post. Viacom co-COOs and co-presidents Tom Freston and Leslie Moonves would become CEOs of Viacom, Inc. and CBS Corporation respectively.

Viacom's was led by growth in nearly every business segment and including gains of 14 per cent in cable networks and 24 per cent in entertainment as well as increases in outdoor and radio. Viacom’s revenues from advertising climbed six per cent. Operating income increased by four per cent to $1.4 billion, paced by increases of 14 per cent in Cable Networks, five per cent in outdoor and two per cent in radio. These gains more than offset declines at entertainment, principally due to the timing and related advertising costs of theatrical releases, and at Television.

Net earnings from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2005 rose by six per cent to $762 million from $717 million. Viacom’s free cash flow was $889 million compared with $990 million for the same prior-year period, as higher earnings from continuing operations were more than offset by higher cash taxes and increases in capital expenditures.

For the six months ended 30 June 2005, revenues increased by eight per cent to $11.4 billion, with growth in nearly every segment. Operating income was up by five per cent to $2.6 billion, paced by Cable Networks and Outdoor. Operating income declines in the second quarter in entertainment and television, were due primarily to the timing of print and advertising costs associated with the movie War of the Worlds, which will record the bulk of its theatrical revenues in the third quarter and has already achieved worldwide box office grosses of $532 million, and lower television revenues, which did not match prior year licensing of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Frasier and
Hollywood Squares.