The NY Times is reporting that Viacom's profits are up thanks in large part to video games.

Viacom, the media company controlled by Sumner M. Redstone, said on Friday that its first-quarter profit rose 33 percent on sales of the video game Rock Band and higher ratings at its cable channels.

Net income increased to $270 million, or 42 cents a share, from $203 million, or 29 cents, a year earlier, Viacom said. Sales gained 15 percent, to $3.12 billion, exceeding the $2.96 billion average of 18 analysts’ estimates, compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding one-time items, profit of 44 cents a share topped their estimate of 41 cents.

Rock Band, a game involving players emulating rock ’n’ rollers with toy instruments, helped increase revenue by 16 percent at Viacom’s media networks business.  MTV and Nickelodeon shows attracted more advertising with improved ratings, while box-office receipts for “Cloverfield” and “The Spiderwick Chronicles” helped narrow losses at the film unit.

Viacom reiterated its forecast of at least 10 percent annual growth through 2010 in earnings from continuing operations.

Profit at the media networks unit rose 15 percent, to $694 million, on $2.02 billion in sales. The group benefited from audiences’ shifting to cable from broadcast networks during the 100-day writers’ strike that halted production and resulted in rerun-dominated schedules.

Cable channels, which rely more on unscripted reality programs and animated shows, were not as affected by the strike.

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Posted at 07:12AM May 04, 2008 by Kevin P McAuliffe in Inform  |  Comments[0]