TORONTO – "We have no particular interest in the assets that have been publicly announced as being for sale, i.e. the A-Channels," Rogers Media president Tony Viner said this morning, addressing the CHUM Ltd. assets that will be divested, assuming the Bell Globemedia bid for the TV company passes regulatory tests.
As reported, BGM has said it will sell CHUM’s A-Channel mini-broadcast network after it purchases the company but while Viner isn’t interested in the TV assets, he did say he would look at any other assets that came up. "We’ll see if they fit our overall strategy," he said.
In the second quarter of the year, ended June 30th Rogers Media – which includes Rogers Broadcasting (Sportsnet, The Shopping Channel, OMNI, 46 radio stations), Rogers Publishing (Maclean’s Flare, Chatelaine, etc.) and Rogers Sports Entertainment (the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre, among other interests – posted a 13.8% increase in revenue to $333.8 million. Operating profit also jumped by 17.6% to $52 million. Profit margin went from 15.1% to 15.6%.
"The increases in Media revenues (as compared to Q2 ’05) reflect improvements across all of Media’s divisions, including Sportsnet, Sports Entertainment, The Shopping Channel, OMNI, Publishing and Radio. These increases reflect, amongst other things, the return of NHL hockey, World Cup Soccer and Blue Jays broadcasts at Sportsnet, continued strong demand for product lines at The Shopping Channel, and higher baseball ticket revenue and an increase in Major League Baseball revenue share at Sports Entertainment. The addition of OMNI BC and the launch of OMNI Manitoba also contributed to the increase in revenue.
The increases in Media operating expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2006 compared to the corresponding periods in 2005 "are primarily due to higher player payroll at Sports Entertainment, increased programming costs at Sportsnet associated with the return of NHL hockey and World Cup Soccer, costs associated with the launch of OMNI TV BC and OMNI TV Manitoba as well as three new FM radio stations in the Maritimes which did not exist in the prior year. Cost increases were partially offset by lower general and administrative costs across all divisions, says the release.
