TORONTO – The radio, TV, publishing and baseball division of Rogers Communications can get a little lost in the much larger cable, Internet, telecom and wireless assets, but Rogers Media is pulling its weight, too, the company said today.
In the third quarter, ended September 30th, operating revenue was up 12.2% to $319.3 million while operating profit jumped 17.1% to $39 million.
The increases in Media revenues… reflect growth across all of Media’s divisions," says the press release. "These increases include higher advertising revenue in Publishing and Radio, and at Sportsnet where the Toronto Blue Jays games and World Cup Soccer attracted large audiences and higher advertising," says the release.
The Shopping Channel continued to generate strong consumer demand for products, too Sports Entertainment revenue (The Jays) grew through higher baseball ticket sales. The addition of OMNI BC, the launch of OMNI Manitoba and consolidation of the Biography Channel and G4TechTV as a result of increased ownership in the second quarter of 2006 also contributed to the increase in revenue.
The increases in Media operating expenses during the year are primarily due to higher baseball player payroll, increased programming costs at Rogers Sportsnet associated with World Cup Soccer, as well as costs associated with Publishing’s launch of the Canadian edition of Hello! and Chocolat magazines. The return of NHL hockey also increased programming costs at Sportsnet for the nine months ended September 30, 2006. Cost increases were partially offset by lower general and administrative costs across all divisions.
Rogers Media owns Sportsnet, a number of radio stations, OMNI television, The Shopping Channel, Rogers Publishing (Maclean’s, Flare, Chatelaine, etc.) and The Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre, among other assets.
