A story on All Things D’s MediaMemo points to General Electric’s 4th quarter earnings report in which things look gray for NBC’s local stations.
GE says NBC Universal profits fell 6% in the 4th quarter “as strong cable earnings were offset by declines in the local stations.”
PaidContent notes that in the earnings call GE’s chief financial officer said local stations revenues were down 25% and operating profit was down 55%
Compare that with NBC’s cable channels which had 11% revenue growth and 22% increase in operating profit.
Of course cable and satellite companies (DirecTV, Dish, Comcast etc.) pay a set fee, per subscriber, for the rights to carry those channels. In turn passing most or all of the costs to subscribers as part of tiered package pricing and local ad breaks.
/thanks to Gabriel who left the tip on our Facebook wall /
