Cablevision’s Cable Ad Revs Up 35 Percent, Newsday Down But Losses Narrow

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Cablevision’s Cable Ad Revs Up 35 Percent, Newsday Down But Losses Narrow

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Post-MSG Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) turned in another strong quarter, defining why analyst Craig Moffet calls it a “cash machine. Profit for Q1 more than tripled to $74.1 million, with a 5 percent increase in revenue to led by increases in nearly every major cable category. Advertising results were mixed across the company—increases of 35 percent and 11.6 percent for cable and programming respectively, with a drop of 12.7 percent at Newsday. The decreased advertising revenue sent the newspaper’s overall revenue down 10.4 percent but Cablevision still managed to narrow the losses there aided through cost cutting. No digital results broken out for Newsday.

Cablevision’s steady increase in broadband subs of 42,600 broadband subs—it’s now the broadband provider for more than 53 percent of the homes in its service area—added revenue, but it also underscored the potential impact from the FCC’s plans to change how it regulates ISPs. COO Tom Rutledge said responded to a question by explaining, “We don’t think there’s a real problem but we have some sympathy for the objectives the FCC has in ensuring the internet continues to function well. It’s a difficult situation for them [but] we don’t think operating under 1930 laws makes any kind of sense for any length of time so that’s disappointing…. I think it’s harder to regulate under these rules than operate by them so I do have some sympathy for him.”