Tribune Media reported its second quarter earnings before the stock market opened on Thursday, falling shy of earnings and revenue expectations.
The media company reported a loss of $0.04 per share on revenue of $501.5 million.
Wall Street analysts forecasted earnings of $0.32 per share on $503.24 million in revenue, according to Yahoo Finance.
Profit fell 39 percent $19.8 million with higher production costs in the company’s broadcast division affecting the bottomline (shows like “Manhattan” having high production costs). Other higher expenses and a one-time loss on its debt extinguishment had a negative impact on sales.
Digital revenue was up 24 percent, retransmission revenues was up 23 percent. Although the company missed projections, TV and enterainment revenue rose four percent off of “higher advertising revenues and increased carriage and retransmission fees, the company said.
“We are making noticeable progress against our strategy to build Tribune Media for sustainable, long-term, profitable growth,” said Peter Liguori, Tribune Media’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Our strategy is gaining momentum and accelerating top-line growth. Today’s results reinforce our confidence that our strategy is the right one to drive long-term value for our shareholders.”
On the company’s earnings call, Liguori took on the media “noise” of “cord-shaving,” saying Tribune is thriving and bucking the trend with a focus on local news, live sports, digital investment and managing expenses wisely while also making strategic investments.
“Our programming strategies are working,” he said of the company’s TV stations, noting many of its local markets had strong May Sweeps ratings.