Cable television propelled Time Warner to a 51-percent increase in net income during the final quarter of 2012, offsetting weaknesses in magazine publishing and movies, Amy Chozick reports. Revenue rose 5 percent for the company’s television networks, which include TNT, TBS and CNN, even as Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher, prepared to lay off 6 percent of its work force. Revenue at the Warner Brothers studio fell 4 percent, despite strong performances by “Argo” and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” The results point to a widening gap between the rapidly growing cable television industry and the troubled magazine and, to a lesser extent, movie businesses.
News Corporation also grew through its cable offerings, though perhaps for different reasons, Amy Chozick writes. Growth at the company’s cable channels like FX, Fox News and regional sports channels helped News Corp. more than double its net income in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, offsetting lingering costs from the phone hacking scandal and the expense of a planned split of the media conglomerate into two companies. Fox Group will include the company’s cable channels, while the company’s newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, and the Harper Collins publishing and Australian pay-TV assets will become a new company called News Corporation. The results highlight how disparate Rupert Murdoch’s empire has become: Cable channels now make up more than 60 percent of the company’s overall profit, while publishing, though stronger than last year, continues to struggle.
Barbie has listed the mansion she has lived in since 1971 in the imaginations of millions, perhaps in response to the rising housing market. Mattel, the company that owns the Barbie brand, announced that her home is available for an asking price of $25 million, as part of an ad campaign that will combine actual and imaginary elements, Stuart Elliot explains. For instance, a section of Trulia, the real estate Web site, will carry a listing. The campaign is intended to rejuvenate Barbie sales, which flagged about 4 percent in the last quarter, the third quarterly decline in 2012.
Steven Spielberg’s fascination with Abraham Lincoln began with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial when he was six years old, the director told Melena Ryzik. “Lincoln,” which now leads the Oscar nominations with a dozen nominations, was the final result. But it did not come easily — the film took more than 12 years to come together, involved multiple script rewrites and required a reverential respect for detail.
“Community,” one of NBC’s quirkiest and most original comedy shows, returns for its fourth season this evening without the guiding hand of Dan Harmon, the show’s creator, who was let go last season. Fans of the show can expect a sad simulacrum of “Community” that lacks the dense, fast-paced humor that required careful attention, Mike Hale writes.