The advertising recovery at CBS' local radio and TV stations led the overall growth at the media giant, which reported second-quarter revenue of $3.33 billion, a gain of 11 percent compared to a year ago.
Local broadcasting increased 17 percent to $678.2 million, with TV stations up a whopping 31 percent to $337.9 million, driven by categories such as auto, telecom, retail and entertainment. Radio revenue gained 6 percent to $322 million, with stations in the top 10 markets up 10 percent.
What's more, there doesn't seem to be any slowdown for the rest of the year, with advertisers booking dollars further in advance of campaign airdates. CBS expects political to approach $200 million for the year.
"Third-quarter pacing is as good as second quarter, if not better," said Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS.
The media titan enjoyed increases across all its segments, with entertainment up 10 percent to $1.67 billion, cable networks ahead 12 percent to $368.8 million and publishing (Simon & Schuster) up 5 percent to $189.7 million. CBS Outdoor revenues grew 5 percent to $456.3 million, led by a 9 percent increase in the U.S. and a 14 percent gain in the United Kingdom.
Moonves touted two recent deals that will shape the media company's fortunes: CBS' retransmission deal with Comcast; and the company's long-term agreement to carry the NCAA.
"We'll be trying lots of things with Comcast to put our media online," Moonves said.
With the Comcast agreement signed and sealed, Moonves reiterated the company's progress towards delivering north of $250 million in retransmission revenue by 2012.
In fact, Moonves was bullish about getting paid for the company's content not just from cable, but also from the company's affiliates. "We're spending a lot of money on our content and we feel it is appropriate, as affiliate contracts come up, that we get paid," he said. "We've successfully negotiated with all of them as contracts come up, without any threats of pulling the plug [on any content]."
