MONTREAL – On Friday, Quebecor Media’s TVA Group announced a net loss of $2.7 million for the first quarter of 2006, well off its Q1 2005 result – net income of $2.9 million.
The decline was due in large part to the 7.3% decrease in advertising revenues for the company’s television sector and to the reduced profitability of its publishing sector, said the company’s press release.
TVA reported an operating loss of $400,000 for the quarter, against operating income of $6.8 million for the same year-ago period.
"Market fragmentation, the staging of the Winter Olympics and a difficult advertising market had a significant impact on TVA Network’s profitability during the quarter," said Pierre Dion, TVA Group’s president and CEO. "Despite this, the BBM ratings showed that TVA Network posted a 28.1% market share and broadcast eight of the ten most-watched shows during this period.
"Our specialty channels LCN, Mystere, Argent, as well as Prise 2, launched this past February, are continuing to show good progress. Prise 2 has posted very good audience ratings since its launch," continued Dion.
"Sun TV is also continuing to progress and later this month, in partnership with our sister companies the Toronto Sun and Canoe.ca, we will be launching an innovative, information-focused programming concept that will rely on new technologies. On the publishing side, while maintaining our strategy of preserving our market shares, we managed to significantly reduce the operating loss incurred by this sector in this quarter, compared with the preceding quarter.
"In light of this market fragmentation and changing consumer habits, we are resolutely engaged in the process of transforming TVA’s business model," he continued. "The fact is that TVA can no longer be solely a content broadcaster but must become a true creator, developer and provider of quality content, able to effectively deploy its content on all media platforms where, how and when the consumer wants, while at the same time meeting the needs of its advertisers."
