Digital sales boost CBS Q2
August 3, 2011
New deals with digital distributors helped CBS increase its second quarter revenues and profits. The US TV group’s revenues from content licensing and distribution were $889 million for the three months ended June 30, a 21 per cent rise from the same time a year earlier.
CBS is receiving about $200 million from Netflix over two years, and last week it also struck a deal with Amazon that will allow the online retailer to stream the network’s content online. Amazon is expected to pay CBS $100 million over less than two years.
“We are capitalising on the value of our content by selling it to new distributors without taking away from established revenue streams,” said Leslie Moonves, CBS chief executive. “New entrants are coming into the marketplace all the time and we will look to negotiate additional prudent, online distribution deals going forward.”