CBS Corp on Thursday reported fourth-quarter revenue below analysts` estimates due to a drop in content licensing and distribution sales, sending its shares down nearly 3 percent in after market trading.

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Revenue in its content licensing and distribution business fell 11.3 percent to $1.06 billion in the quarter.

The company pinned the blame on the timing of international licensing sales and several large domestic sales that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2017.

While media majors Walt Disney Co and AT&T Inc are tapping into their extensive film and TV libraries to launch streaming rivals to Netflix Inc and Amazon.com`s Prime video, smaller players CBS and sister company Viacom Inc are focused on providing original content to other distributors.

Both CBS and Viacom, controlled by National Amusements, are expected to rekindle merger talks in the coming months after attempts to combine the two fell apart last year.

CBS, home to popular shows such as the "Big Bang Theory," and "NCIS", said advertising revenue during the reported quarter rose 7.3 percent to $1.87 billion.

The company said affiliate and subscription fee revenue, which includes income from cable, satellite and streaming TV providers as well as its own All Access offering, rose to $1.03 billion from $923 million a year before.

Net income from continuing operations rose to $561 million, or $1.49 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31 from $40 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company recorded a $129 million charge related to the changes in the U.S. tax law last year.

CBS said total revenue rose 2.6 percent to $4.02 billion, below estimates of $4.13 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)