THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 1996 TAG: 9611120220
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 32 lines
International Family Entertainment Inc. coasted to higher third-quarter earnings, the company said Monday, largely due to the continuing strong performance of its Family Channel cable-TV network.
IFE said it earned $7.23 million, or 15 cents a share, in the most recent quarter - up from $6.23 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues for the latest quarter climbed to $78.7 million, up about $700,000 from the same period last year.
The Family Channel was IFE's only profit contributor in the latest period - an operating profit of $23.3 million, up from $12.2 million in the 1995 third quarter.
But the earnings for that network were great enough to easily offset losses in all other IFE segments: its MTM production and syndication unit, FiT TV health and fitness network, chain of live-music theaters, and international TV networks group.
Timothy B. Robertson, IFE's president and chief executive, said the Family Channel rang up 24 percent gains in both ad revenues and cable-system subscriber fees in the most recent quarter. The network's prime-time ratings were up 25 percent in the period, he noted.
Poorer results at MTM were expected, Robertson said. The production unit had a drop in revenues of about $4.5 million and a 26 percent rise in expenses largely because it has more TV series in production than last year.
The company said it expects to record gains from its more active production of series in later periods. by CNB