NEW YORK CITY: 2010 was a good year for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which reported full year total segment operating income of $4.0 billion for FY2010, up 11 percent from 2009.
The Fox Television division reported 4Q operating income of $113 million, a 13 percent improvement over the 4Q2009 results. For the year, operating income for the division was $220 million, up 15 percent from FY2009. Fox attributed the results to improved local advertising markets, and they results would have been greater if they hadn’t been partially offset by higher programming expenses at the Fox Broadcast Network, including higher NASCAR fees, increased license fees for returning series and a decline in ratings.
For Fox stations, earnings contributions increased 45 percent during FY2010 versus the previous fiscal year. Local station advertising revenues improved 29 percent in the quarter and 8 percent on the year compared to the same periods, which Fox attributed to strength in the automobile and telecom sectors.
Cable remained the most profitable sector for Fox with a 4Q segment operating income of $563 million, driven by a 30 percent improvement in operating income for U.S. cable channels and 40 percent higher earnings from international cable channels.
"I am very pleased with the overall 30 percent increase, which is more than three times the growth we were projecting when we started the fiscal year,” stated News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.
In total, Fox reported net income for the full year of $2.5 billion ($0.97 per share), compared to a net loss of $3.4 billion ($1.29 per share) in FY2009. Fox opened trading at $16.24 on the NASDAQ on Aug. 5. It closed the previous day at $15.58.
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