Media Q2 results: Discovery Communications Q2 revenue grew...

Media Q2 results: Discovery Communications Q2 revenue grew 30 percent to $1.47 billion from the same period last year, said the company in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1e8R67D). “Our sustained commitment to producing captivating content and the further expansion of global pay-tv markets combined to once again drive audience and revenue growth across our unique distribution platform,” said CEO David Zaslav. Net income rose to $300 million from $293 million. Last quarter’s growth was led by a 61 percent revenue increase from international networks to $652 million, and a 13 percent revenue increase in the cable programmer’s U.S. networks to $793 million. The international increase comes from increased subscribership, particularly in Latin America, it said. Ad revenue was up on the international side, “primarily due to higher pricing and delivery in Latin America and increased viewership and higher pricing in Western Europe,” said the company. U.S. network revenue rose primarily on “advertising and distribution revenue growth,” the release said. Discovery expects 2013 revenue of $5.55 billion to $5.63 billion and net income available to stockholders of $1.1 billion to $1.15 billion. Discovery stock closed down 4 percent to $81 on Tuesday. ... LIN Media revenue rose 36 percent to $164.3 million from Q2 2012, a release said (http://bit.ly/17eR5eD). “Our results were driven by our recent television station acquisitions, higher pay TV subscriber fees and significant growth in our digital business,” said CEO Vincent Sandusky. LIN sales from ads, retransmission consent and TV station websites rose 44 percent to $107.1 million. Political ad revenue dropped by $6.1 million to $1.5 million. Net income fell from $27 million to $7.2 million. “Looking ahead, the absence of political revenues and the slow economic recovery will negatively impact growth for the remainder of 2013,” said Sandusky. ... Belo, being acquired by Gannett (CD July 26 p6), said in a release (http://bit.ly/157H9b0) that the deal led to a $4.1 million increase in corporate operating costs and a $2.7 million increase in share-based compensation expense due to Belo’s rising stock price. Belo also reported a decrease in profit to $21.8 million from $25.8 million in Q2 2012. Revenue fell 2.3 percent to $174 million. Belo blamed the drop on the decrease in political revenue, which totaled $1.2 million, compared to $9.5 million in Q2 2012. But Belo said Internet ads were up by about 21 percent and retrans consent revenue grew 10 percent.