TORONTO – A strong CTV schedule helped Bell Canada Enterprises division Bell Globemedia to a strong first quarter, the company said today.
Revenues for Globemedia (whose assets include CTV, and CTV specialties such as TSN, TDS, ROBTv and others, along with the Globe and Mail newspaper) in the first quarter increased by 4.1% compared to the same period last year, reaching $356 million. Improved profitability both at CTV, thanks to high ratings, and The Globe and Mail, delivered a 60% increase in operating income over the same period last year.
“CTV’s strong schedule continued to lead the way in Canada with 18 of the top 20 regularly scheduled programs among all viewers in the September 2004 to March 2005 time period. This was a major factor driving an increase of 5.7% in television advertising revenues compared to the first quarter of last year,” said the company in it’s first quarter release today.
With the broadband world ever-evolving, with customers wanting more and more from their wireless, web and TV experiences, is Bell Globemedia – once considered “non-core” and expendable by telco company executives – perhaps off the sales block? Maybe, said BCE CEO Michael Sabia.
“Ongoing access to elements of the content that exist today at Bell Globemedia is something we believe is important today,” said Sabia in a conference call. “(That content) is important to what people will be doing and how they will be communicating in the next while. It’s a helpful addition to the overall quality of the information and entertainment services we will be delivering.”
While he was non-committal about keeping the TV and newspaper company of which it owns 70% (Thomson Corp. and subsidiary Woodbridge own the rest), Sabia added: “We believe that (Bell Globemedia) does have some role to play in the future of our business.”
As for the rest of the numbers at Globemedia, strong growth in advertising revenues in conventional and specialty television helped offset the loss of advertising on hockey broadcasts on the sports specialty channels TSN and RDS, to say nothing of the NHL Network.
Bell Globemedia overall subscriber revenues grew by 4.1% this quarter reflecting specialty channel growth and online subscription growth at The Globe and Mail. According to the latest NADBank and PMB statistics, The Globe and Mail continues to lead its national competitor in readership by 60% on weekdays and 78% on Saturdays.
