Radio flat, but TV boosts Q3 for SBS

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Wall Street may not like Spanish Broadcasting System’s move into television, but it was Mega TV that accounted for a 2% increase in Q3 revenues to 46.8 million, while radio revenues were essentially flat. Look for more of the same for Q4.


Mega TV, which is still a start-up, saw Q3 revenues shoot up 82% to 2.4 million. The TV operating loss improved by 1.5 million, but was still slightly over three million for the quarter. CEO Raul Alarcon said Q4 TV revenues were pacing up 81%. He noted that Nielsen Household ratings for Miami-based Mega TV had doubled from July 2006 to ’07.

In the company’s conference call, SBS executives said the company’s radio stations were key to building the TV operation, and Alarcon said it was crucial in getting DirecTV to give the channel national distribution.

Nearly flat radio revenues of 44.3 million (a decline of 219K) in Q3 beat what SBS had told Wall Street to expect, but Alarcon is not satisfied. He insisted, though, that the company is well positioned to return radio to growth. And he noted that SBS still has four of the top seven Spanish radio stations in the US.