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BUSINESS
Viacom

Viacom Q3 profit falls on film unit weakness

Roger Yu
USA TODAY
The Viacom logo is seen outside company headquarters in New York City.

Viacom said Wednesday its fiscal third quarter net income fell 6% from a year ago to $611 million as a moderate gain in its cable networks' revenues couldn't sufficiently offset a steeper drop in the film business.

Adjusted earnings per share for the New York-based media company, whose assets include Paramount Pictures, BET, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, totaled $1.42. It was a penny short of the average estimate from analysts queried by Bloomberg.

Revenues fell 7% to $3.42 billion, mainly due to the film studio unit's tepid performance during the quarter.

Shares of Viacom fell 1.38% to $80.64 on Wednesday.

The media networks division, which operates cable networks, reported a 1% gain in revenue, totaling $2.59 billion. Ad sales rose 1% domestically and 2% worldwide versus a year ago. Worldwide affiliate fee revenues -- paid by pay-TV companies -- were flat as rate increases were offset by lower revenues related to "the timing of available programming," Viacom said.

Revenues for the filmed entertainment division, which operates the film studio, fell 26% to $856 million as its theatrical revenues plummeted 43% "due to the number and timing of releases," it said. Worldwide home entertainment revenues were down 24%.

Still, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, said Paramount is "poised for an outstanding summer," citing the kickoff of Transformers: Age of Extinction that he says is already the number one film of all time in China. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premieres Friday.

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