Spanish Broadcasting System is growing its still-young TV business, but the much larger radio segment was down in Q2. All in all, revenues were down 1% to $35.6 million, but operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) gained 3% to $13.1 million.
“During the second quarter, we continued seeing a gradual improvement in the advertising environment across select markets, including notable strength in our national sales performance. Our station brands remain very strong and continue to deliver leading rating shares across key Hispanic demographics. As we invest in our content and strategically expand our footprint, we are also continuing to carefully manage our operating costs, resulting in improved profitability across our stations. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on strengthening our assets, maximizing our performance and capitalizing on the tremendous growth of the Hispanic population,” said CEO Raul Alarcón in his quarterly release. The company no longer conducts conference calls for investors Wall Street analysts.
Radio net revenues were down 2% to $31/2 million and OIBDA was flat (down a few thousand bucks) at $17 million. Local was the culprit, with national up. “The decrease in local sales occurred in all of our markets, with the exception of our New York market. The increase in national sales occurred in our New York, Chicago and Puerto Rico markets. The increase in network sales occurred in all of our markets,” the company said.
Net revenues for Mega TV gained 10% to $4.4 million and the TV division cut its OIBDA loss by 7% to $1.9 million. “Our television segment net revenue increased $0.4 million or 10%, primarily due to increases in national spot sales and paid programming sales, offset by a decrease in local spot sales,” said SBS. The company recently added a TV O&O in Houston.
