TORONTO – Alliance Atlantis CEO Phyllis Yaffe said Tuesday that she expects the company’s digital specialty services to collectively add over five million new subscribers in the first half of 2007.
Thanks to several new long-term distribution deals signed in the past couple of months with most of the large Canadian BDUs, said Yaffe, its digi-nets BBC Canada, BBC Kids, Discovery Health, Fine Living, IFC Canada, National Geographic Canada, Showcase Action and Showcase Diva will benefit from far better packaging and promotion, leading to the dramatic swing in subscriber levels.
"You’re going to see an improved position for all of our digital channels," said Yaffe this morning in a conference call with financial analysts, later adding that the new subscribers: "I think you’ll see most of that happen in the first half of the year."
As for the results of the year ended December 31st, revenue and other growth metrics shows marked increases but thanks to a tax hit, the company reported a fourth quarter net loss of $16.6 million, compared to net earnings of $24.8 million for the prior year’s period.
Consolidated revenue increased 12% to $327.3 million for Q4 and 13% to $1.2 billion for the full year, while broadcasting EBITDA (excluding digital media costs) increased 7% to $37.5 million for Q4 and 10% to $99.9 million for the full year.
The company which produces all three CSI franchises said the show’s direct profit increased 9% to $32.6 million for Q4 and 45% to $162.6 million for the full year, thanks to second window sales around the world.
During the fourth quarter, Broadcasting recorded revenue growth of 5% to $88 million. For the full year, revenue increased 6% to $301.2 million. Of that, subscriber revenue grew by 2% to $34.5 million "as a result of steady growth in the number of subscribers to the company’s channels," says the press release.
The 2005 fourth quarter benefited from a retroactive payment of $2.3 million from one of our distributors. For the full year, subscriber revenue increased by 8% to $133.5 million in 2006, compared to ’05. Advertising revenue increased by 8% to $53.0 million for the quarter and by 5% to $164.4 million for the full year.
Results continue to improve in the early part of 2007, Yaffe told the conference call. With Slice replacing Life this week, there is substantial buzz around the re-branded channel and HGTV "continues to have phenomenal growth, particularly around its real estate shows," she said. Yaffe also singled out History Television for beating estimates.
Little was said about the planned purchase of the company by CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs as a special meeting of AA shareholders is planned for early April.
