MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom has reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended 30 September 2012, with bottom line growth and substantial increases in earnings per share.

Revenues for the full year were $13.89 billion, down seven per cent from the previous year, reflecting higher Media Networks revenues, more than offset by lower film revenues. Adjusted operating income grew by one per cent to $3.9 billion, principally reflecting higher Media Networks revenues.

Its full year adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom rose by one per cent to $2.26 billion and full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 11 per cent to $4.21 per diluted share, reflecting the impact of the company?s ongoing share repurchase program.

Its revenues in the fourth quarter declined 17 per cent to $3.36 billion, due to lower filmed revenues. Adjusted operating income of $1.05 billion was essentially flat compared to the prior year?s comparable quarter as the revenue decrease was substantially offset by lower expenses. Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom in the fourth quarter rose by two per cent to $626 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 14% to $1.21.

Viacom executive chairman Sumner M. Redstone said, "Viacom continues to create many of the world?s best known and most exciting media properties, and delights audiences across the globe with content for every screen imaginable. Our unparalleled creative minds and Philippe?s outstanding management position Viacom perfectly for long-term growth."

Viacom president, CEO Philippe Dauman said, "Viacom is executing on its goals of continued investment in great content, ongoing operational excellence and ever-increasing returns to shareholders. Our Media Networks drove value in the quarter and the year through steady growth in distribution revenues, and the production of new and engaging programming that connects with valuable audiences. Viacom?s media brands have built unrivaled connections with their fans, creating unique experiences and powerful opportunities for advertisers.

"We continue to invest in our future across all platforms and geographies. Paramount also continued to achieve solid margin growth in the fourth quarter and full year, and has an exciting pipeline in place with eight films in the first fiscal quarter, including Jack Reacher, DreamWorks Animation?s Rise of the Guardians and the recently released Flight.

"Viacom?s balance sheet remains strong, providing the flexibility to invest in our business while delivering capital directly to shareholders. Our shareholders received $3.4 billion in capital in fiscal 2012 through our share repurchase and dividends, and Viacom is firmly committed to achieving its strong capital return goals."

In the fourth quarter media networks revenues were flat at $2.29 billion, principally reflecting increased affiliate fees offset by lower advertising and ancillary revenues. Domestic affiliate revenues increased 12 per cent, driven by rate increases and higher digital revenues. Worldwide affiliate revenues increased 11 per cent. Domestic ad revenues declined by six per cent and worldwide advertising revenues decreased by seven per cent. Film revenues declined by 39 per cent to $1.09 billion, principally due to the number and mix of theatrical and home entertainment titles released in the quarter, and reflecting difficult comparisons with the significant impact of Transformers: Dark of the Moon in the fourth quarter of 2011. TV and ancillary revenues in the Filmed Entertainment segment rose by 19 and 21 per cent respectively.

For the year media networks revenues rose $49 million to $9.19 billion, reflecting an 11 per cent increase in affiliate revenue to $3.89 billion that was partially offset by a five per cent decrease in ad revenues to $4.76 billion. Domestic affiliate revenues increased by 10 per cent and domestic ad revenues declined by four per cent. Film revenues decreased by 19 per cent to $4.82 billion.

Quarterly adjusted operating income was essentially flat at $1.05 billion, due to a three per cent decline in the Media Networks segment partially offset by an increase in Filmed Entertainment. Media Networks results reflected a slight increase in expenses driven by higher operating costs associated with increased programming investment, substantially offset by lower selling, general and administrative expenses. The 5% growth at Filmed Entertainment was driven by higher TV and digital revenues and the beneficial impact of previously announced strategic cost savings initiatives.

Full-year adjusted operating income increased $47 million, or one per cent, to $3.90 billion from $3.85 billion last year. Media networks adjusted operating income increased $41 million, principally reflecting the net increase in revenues. Higher operating expenses driven by programming investment were substantially offset by decreases in selling, general and administrative expenses and lower depreciation and amortization. Film adjusted operating income decreased $16 million, principally reflecting a difficult comparison with the one-time benefit from the sale of certain Marvel distribution rights in the prior year, partially offset by this year?s increased digital revenues.

Quarterly adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom rose by two per cent to $626 million. The increase reflects gains from foreign exchange and a lower effective corporate tax rate. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the quarter were $1.21, a 14% increase from $1.06 in the prior year?s comparable quarter.

Full-year adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom rose to $2.264 billion, an increase of one per cent over the prior fiscal year. The improvement was principally due to growth in adjusted operating income. Full-year adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 11 per cent to $4.21, principally reflecting fewer outstanding shares.

MUMBAI: Viacom?s channel Comedy Central has created Comedy Central Enterprises, a new business division that will focus on building the brand through consumer products, home video, CDs and digital downloads, publishing, and live touring.

The announcement was made by Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless. Mitch Fried has been promoted to the newly formed position of Comedy Central Enterprises executive VP and will head up the new business division, reporting to Ganeless. Fried was formerly Comedy Central Live Entertainment senior VP.

Ganeless said, "In the increasingly fractured world of content distribution, success today means reaching fans everywhere. The formation of Comedy Central Enterprises strengthens our relationship with our fans. It?s another example of the kind of extension that keeps Comedy Central the number one brand in comedy. Mitch Fried is an experienced and innovative executive with a long history at Comedy Central. Respected and well-liked throughout the industry, he knows the brand intimately and is the perfect person to spearhead our efforts under the new Enterprises banner."

Comedy Central Enterprises will bring together a number of brand extensions under Fried?s oversight, including the previously independent Consumer Products, Home Entertainment, Records, Live Entertainment and Publishing divisions.

Under Fried?s leadership, Comedy Central Enterprises will incorporate everything from negotiating with talent representation to execution, distribution, production and marketing support of these ancillary businesses. He will seek to expand the network?s business partnerships with the talent community through omni-platform deals, which will encompass any combination of the division?s brand extensions.

Fried said, "By consolidating these brand extensions into a single business division with a common goal, we are in a better position to grow and strengthen the brand and provide our fans with what they want most, easily-accessible, high-quality comedy, both on screens and off. Forming the Enterprises division also provides benefits to our talent partners by offering them massive exposure to our fans and a multitude of opportunities and points of distribution to increase their own following and generate revenue by getting their content in front of an ever-widening consumer base."

Reporting to Fried are vice presidents Steve Raizes and Jack Vaughn, who will be charged with developing and maximising the synergistic elements of the new Enterprises division.

 
The businesses now reporting to Fried under the Enterprises banner include:

• Comedy Central Consumer Products - generating $2 billion at retail since its inception, the Consumer Products division negotiates with third parties to translate Comedy Central shows, personalities and characters into consumer goods including apparel, social expressions, toys, games, electronics and consumables. Recent highlights include a partnership with Frito Lay and Wal-Mart to introduce "Cheesy Poofs" to the market in celebration of the 15th anniversary of ?South Park?, as well as a licensing programme surrounding ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?, ?The Colbert Report? and the brand?s own ?Indecision? political coverage. Additional programs launching in 2012/2013 include efforts around ?Tosh.0?, ?Workaholics? and stand-up comedy.
• Comedy Central Home Entertainment - responsible for over $500 million in sales since its creation, the Home Entertainment division includes DVD and digital on demand releases of the Comedy Central series and stand-up specials distributed through Paramount Home Entertainment, including four of the top five stand-up DVD releases of 2011. Recent releases from Jeff Dunham and Gabriel Iglesias have sold a combined one million units in only six months. The upcoming slate includes artists such as Demetri Martin, Chris Hardwick and Patton Oswalt.
• Comedy Central Live Entertainment - with over $100 million in box office receipts and over 2.7 million tickets sold, Comedy Central Live Entertainment is one of the dominant players in live stand-up touring. In 2012 alone, Comedy Central partnered with Daniel Tosh, Gabriel Iglesias and Jim Gaffigan on their respective tours, generating 375,000 tickets sold and $15 million in box office receipts. In addition to bringing major headliners to the masses, Comedy Central Live has a college touring program that brings younger comedians to campuses across the country and produces a free, annual event in New York City, ?Comedy Central Park?, which this year featured correspondents, contributors and producers from ?The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?. Comedy Central is also in its seventh year partnering with Live Nation in the South Beach Comedy Festival and will continue its partnership in the eight Annual New York Comedy Festival with Caroline?s Comedy Club, taking over New York City each November.
• Comedy Central Records - the world?s largest comedy label as well as one of the largest independent labels in the country, Comedy Central Records? catalog includes both spoken word and music from top comedic talent including Comedy Central series and standup specials. Released via traditional CD and via digital download-to-own, the label has received eight Grammy Award nominations since its launch in 2002, winning "Best Comedy Album" for the last three years. Along with critical acclaim, the Records division has produced numerous Gold, Platinum and Double-Platinum albums.
• Publishing - Comedy Central recently announced a new publishing relationship with Running Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group, and will release its first title, a holiday-themed novelty book from Denis Leary, later this year.

MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl is restructuring his media and entertainment companies under three operational heads as he gears up for expansion after getting Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to indirectly invest in it.

Forming IndiaCast, a distribution company that houses content syndication as well, Bahl has got individual heads to shepherd the entertainment, news and distribution businesses that are entering a new growth phase.

Bahl‘s broad plan could be to bring the ETV regional entertainment channels under Viacom18 operational management while its news entities will be under TV18, a source familiar with the development says.

It is not clear yet if this operational structure will be allowed to transition into an equity arrangement. For this to happen, media conglomerate Viacom will have to agree to invest and induct the ETV entertainment channels into the joint venture company, Viacom18, where it holds 50 per cent stake.

"Nothing has been finalised yet. Viacom, no doubt, will be happy to have the regional GECs under Viacom18. A lot will also depend on how RIL wants the structure to evolve. But there are other issues as well," the source says.

As part of the plan to fortify its regional presence, TV18 acquired partial ownership in the broadcasting assets of Eenadu after valuing it at Rs 21 billion. With the purchase, the company has got 100 per cent stake in 5 regional news channels of ETV (where RIL has 100% interest), 50 per cent stake in 5 regional GEC channels excluding Telugu (where RIL has 100% interest) and 24.5 per cent stake in ETV Telugu channels (where RIL has 49% interest). The news channels include ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Rajasthan, ETV Bihar, and ETV Urdu. The regional GECs are ETV Marathi, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla, ETV Gujarati and ETV Oriya.

The restructuring exercise comes in the wake of these developments and the exit of Haresh Chawla who functioned as Network18 and Viacom18 Group CEO.

"The role of Chawla was too unwieldy as he had full control of all the group companies . After his exit, a restructuring was needed keeping in mind the growth plans," the source explains.

Network18 Group has a combined turnover of Rs 19.52 billion that includes 50 per cent of Viacom18 (Colors, MTV, etc), the news channels under TV18 (CNBC TV18, CNN IBN, IBN7, etc), the web properties and HomeShop18. As the company gears up to launch a Hindi movie channel (put on hold) and regional-language channels, a breakup in roles is the need of the hour.

"It wasn‘t practical for Chawla to oversee the whole of Bahl‘s empire. His operational role at Viacom18 at times was uncalled for and led to a quiet unrest," says a senior executive who has left the company on condition of anonymity.

Bahl Wednesday announced the hiring of Sudhanshu Vats, a senior executive at HUL, as the group CEO of Viacom18 Media. Under
 him will fall Colors, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, Sonic, Vh1 and Viacom18 Motion Pictures. He has already recruited Anuj Gandhi, an industry veteran, to spearhead IndiaCast‘s growth.

Bahl‘s new structure will mean that the non-ad sales business falls under the care of Gandhi while Vats gets to groom the entertainment networks and Sai Kumar to directly nurse the news and web businesses while continuing his role as Network18 and TV18 Group CEO.

"Earlier, everybody was reporting to Chawla. Now the reality is that each of these lines of businesses need individual management and are too expanded to be operationally under one CEO," the source says.

Take IndiaCast, for example. The new distribution company, under which also resides the syndication business, is already having a turnover of Rs 4.30 billion. Bahl‘s ambition is to scale this up to the size of the biggies, particularly in a digital environment where there is going to be exponential growth in subscription revenues. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) reported domestic subscription of Rs 9.22 billion in FY‘12 and Rs 1.32 billion through other sales and services (syndication sales, playout & transmission services and facility usage income).

Bahl has given IndiaCast a wider playground, bringing under its umbrella content asset monetisation across geographies, platforms and mediums. The other channel distribution companies do not have such a broad canvass and content syndication falls outside their functional zones.

"Bahl believes that IndiaCast has enough leg room to grow and become a Rs 10 billion company over the next few years after digitisation of cable TV spreads," a media analyst at a broking firm says.

Vats will also have his plate full as the group expands its regional footprint and comes out with a Hindi movie channel and other entertainment products that are sure to launch in a digitised environment.

Kumar will have a tough task cut out for him as he tries to beat slow revenue growth for news channels. The web properties will 

also have to be guided to a scale that will make it comfortable for Bahl to tap the American market for raising capital through a public float.

After being rescued from a debt overhang by RIL, Bahl is laying out the new leadership structure that will provide fertile ground for new growth.

Also Read:

Sudhanshu Vats joins Viacom18 as Group CEO

MUMBAI: CBS Broadcasting, the most watched television network in US, has finalised its upfront deals for 2012-13 attracting $2.7 billion in ad sales.

The broadcasting network sold its primetime ad inventory at a 9 per cent premium versus last year?s rates, thereby missing analyst projection of 10 per cent growth.

Closely following CBS at the second spot is News?owned Fox Network with 8 to 9 per cent growth over the year ago period.

Walt Disney-owned ABC Network has secured 6 to 8 per cent higher ad rates while NBC witnessed the slowest growth among the four networks with a 5.5 to 6.5 per cent increase in ad rates.

ABC is reported to have sold about $2.5 billion in upfront ad sales which is the same as previous year.

The CW Networks and Viacom cable networks have already finished their upfront sales while Turner Broadcasting is said to be 70 per cent sold.

The upfront sales process for the period began in May with all television networks showcasing their content line-up to advertisers.

Sectors like retail, financial services, technology, telecom and quick-service restaurants are believed to have saved the day for US broadcasters with an economy which is looking less than buoyant.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom?s cable network Spike TV has announced a new competition reality show, ?Last Family on Earth?. Families vie for a spot in an underground state-of-the-art Vivos bunker that is fortified to withstand nearly any end-of-days disaster scenario.

Produced by Pilgrim Studios, the six-episodic one-hour series will premiere on Spike TV later this year, with the finale airing just in time for the family to move into their bunker, built by Vivos, the leader in this type of structure construction, and await the world?s potential cataclysmic demise on December 21, as predicted by the Mayan calendar.

The families chosen to participate come from a wide variety of backgrounds and are among the 15 per cent of the world?s population, according to a recent Reuters poll, who believe the end of civilization is near.

The competition will showcase survival techniques and provide key information that like-minded viewers may also use in preparation for doomsday. In addition to endurance and physical skills, challenges will test the contestants? leadership abilities, integrity and character. A panel of three survivalist-expert judges, along with viewer input via social media, will help determine which family is eliminated each week.

?Last Family On Earth? will not only focus on the Mayan interpretation of the Apocalypse; the show will help prime contestants for a wide range of annihilation scenarios, including a pandemic, global government or economic collapse, nuclear war, reactor meltdowns, solar flares, massive asteroids, lethal climactic change, a pole shift, calamitous earthquakes, and even widespread anarchy.

A reserved spot in an impervious Vivos underground bunker, the show?s grand prize, was conceived and developed by Robert Keith Vicino, CEO and Founder of The Vivos Group, whose goal is to provide a long-term shelter for 1 in every 1 million people on Earth to whatever lies ahead in 2012... or beyond.

MUMBAI: Viacom, the owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Nickelodeon, has reported consolidated revenues of $3.33 billion for the fiscal second quarter ending 31 March driven primarily by higher Media Networks affiliate revenues.

Quarterly operating income increased 23 per cent to $932 million in the quarter. Media Networks adjusted operating income increased 11 per cent to $893 million, principally reflecting the increase in affiliate revenues. Adjusted operating income in the Filmed Entertainment segment increased 195 per cent to $115 million, driven principally by lower distribution costs, which more than offset lower revenues.

Quarterly adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom rose $105 million to $535 million, a gain of 24 per cent over the same period last year.

The increase is principally due to the growth in operating income across the company. Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom rose 24 per cent in the quarter to $535 million.

Viacom executive chairman Sumner M. Redstone said, "Viacom continues its strong track record of growth and innovation, creating the world?s best entertainment content and operating more efficiently every day. Throughout the Company, our leaders tirelessly build Viacom?s
outstanding global properties in order to drive superior value for shareholders."

Media Networks revenue growth of five per cent was driven by an increase in affiliate fee revenues, partially offset by a decrease in ancillary revenues. Domestic affiliate revenues increased 15 per cent and worldwide affiliate revenues grew 17 per cent in the quarter, in each case reflecting higher revenues from digital distribution agreements, as well as rate increases.

Domestic advertising revenues increased one per cent, while worldwide advertising revenues remained flat at $1.07 billion for the quarter.

Filmed Entertainment revenues decreased five per cent, to $1.17 billion, reflecting lower theatrical and television license fee revenues, partially offset by higher ancillary revenues. Worldwide theatrical revenues decreased 19 per cent in the quarter, as the mix of films, which generally were less widely distributed, did not match the performance of releases in the same period last year.

The current quarter releases were The Devil Inside, A Thousand Words, and Jeff, Who Lives at Home, and the year prior featured significant hits Rango, No Strings Attached and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Worldwide Filmed Entertainment ancillary revenues increased 41 per cent to $111 million in the quarter, principally driven by higher digital revenues. Home Entertainment revenues were up slightly.

At the end of the current quarter, the total debt outstanding, including capital lease obligations, was $7.78 billion, compared with$7.37 billion at 30 September 2011. The company?s cash balances were $1.14 billion at 31 March 2012, an increase from $1.02 billion at 30 September 2011.