Viacom Inc posted lower-than-expected profit on Friday, hurt by weak advertising sales at its U.S. cable networks and a poor showing at the box office for its movie studios.
The parent of cable channels MTV and Nickelodeon reported earnings for the fiscal third quarter, ended June 30, of $523 million, down from $574 million a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings per share were 97 cents, 3 cents below analysts' average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue was down 14 percent to $3.24 billion.
U.S. advertising revenue fell 7 percent and may have been impacted by ratings declines at its flagship children's cable network Nickelodeon. Some analysts have linked the ratings decline to the availability of some Nickelodeon programming on digital on-demand services such as Netflix Inc.
Revenue at its Paramount film studio fell 29 percent as three movies released during the quarter — "Madagascar 3," "The Dictator" and "Titanic 3D" — underperformed the year-ago schedule of four movies, including "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Thor."
