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LOS ANGELES — CBS Corp., the media company controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone, said Thursday it lost $55 million in the first quarter as advertising revenue fell sharply.
The results missed Wall Street expectations, but the company gave an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told analysts on a conference call that TV advertisers had increased purchases on the "scatter," or spot ad, market in the last four to six weeks at prices above the bulk bookings secured ahead of last year's TV season.
"We are seeing early signs of improvement in the advertising marketplace both locally and nationally," Moonves said. "It is premature to call it a full recovery, but the trends are encouraging."
The comments echoed the upbeat outlook given by Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday, who said "the worst is over" for the media giant he controls, News Corp.
New York-based CBS said its net loss amounted to 8 cents per share, down from a profit of $244 million, or 36 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue dropped 13 percent to $3.16 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $3.26 billion.
CBS shares fell 76 cents, or 9.4 percent, to $7.30 in after-hours trading after the earnings were released. Earlier, shares closed up 1 percent at $8.06.
CBS said it expected operating income before depreciation and amortization for the full year between $1.73 billion and $1.93 billion, down from an adjusted figure of $2.55 billion in 2008.
It said the second half of the year would also be bolstered by the sale of several shows to cable networks for reruns, including "Criminal Minds" to A&E and "Medium" to Lifetime.
"These titles have already been sold at attractive prices," Moonves said.
Operating income before depreciation and amortization fell 61 percent to $250 million. CBS said about a fifth of the drop was due to benefits in the previous year such as taking over international distribution of its "CSI" franchise and lower production costs due to last year's writers strike.
Television operating income fell 54 percent to $185 million as revenue fell 12 percent to $2.23 billion. Advertising revenue, which made up 58 percent of all TV revenues, fell 15 percent to $1.31 billion.
The TV segment saw its affiliate revenues grow 9 percent to $316 million, bolstered by its pay channel, Showtime, which added a million subscribers to more than 17 million.
Radio profits fell 62 percent to $44 million as revenue fell 29 percent to $260 million.
CBS' outdoor advertising business lost $38 million, reversing a $44 million profit from a year ago as sales shrank 24 percent to $380 million.
Its interactive online business losses widened to $12 million from $3 million despite the acquisition of CNet Networks Inc. in June of last year. Revenue more than doubled to $134 million because of the acquisition, but comparable revenues were down 5 percent.
The publishing division, including Simon & Schuster, posted an operating loss of $2 million, compared to a $15 million profit a year ago, on sales that fell 20 percent to $162 million.
