Univision Communications reported higher second-quarter profits as costs for sports and news coverage declined.
Net income rose 42% to $106.1 million from $74.7 million a year ago. This year’s net income includes a $16.6 million gain from the sale of a station in 2014. A year ago, the company took a $16.3 million charge to extinguish debt.
Revenue fell 4.4% to $764.9 million.
“I am very pleased with our quarterly results. Total revenue in the quarter was nearly $765 million and core revenue was up 5%. Net income increased $31 million, and we continue to deliver as evidenced by our reduction of net debt by approximately $200 million over the first half of the year,” said CEO Randy Falco.
Operating income at Univision’s media networks was up 2.6% to $335.5 million, as programming costs declined 15.5%, largely because of the expenses from televising the Copa América Centenario soccer tournament last year. News coverage costs were also lower. The cost of entertainment programming was up as the company added video content to the programming it gets from Televisa.
Total revenue was down 4.4%. Advertising revenues were down 18.1% to $404 million. Taking out revenue from soccer coverage and political ads, core advertising revenue was down 5.5%.
Non-advertising revenue for the media networks was up 26% to $296.6 million.
