Well, looks like the Parks division and Media Networks division saw good growth in the past quarter.
Walt Disney Co.’s (DIS) fiscal first-quarter profit rose a stronger-than-expected 12% as the company’s theme-park division benefited from higher spending and attendance.
Shares slid 2% to $40.16 after hours as revenue missed expectations. In March, the stock hit its highest level ever at $44.34.
Revenue from Disney’s television and theme-park businesses continued to drive its top-line growth over the past year, though the contribution from cable-TV juggernaut ESPN suffered in the latest quarter from a basketball strike and the late timing of two college football championships.
Studio-entertainment revenue faltered in the latest quarter as strong sales from the “The Lion King” franchise failed to match the revenue generated from DVD and Blu-ray sales of “Toy Story 3″ a year earlier.
More recently, the company last month moved to expand its international footprint by agreeing to take a controlling interest in UTV Software Communications Ltd. (532619.BY), one of India’s largest media and entertainment providers. The deal positioned Disney’s India unit as one of the country’s largest broadcasters and film studios, producing and distributing at least 20 titles a year.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Disney reported a profit of $1.46 billion, or 80 cents a share, up from $1.3 billion, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue edged up 0.6% to $10.78 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a profit of 71 cents a share on revenue of $11.18 billion.
Revenue from the company’s media networks–Disney’s biggest top-line contributor–rose 2.9%, while profit increased 12%. Its parks-and-resorts business generated 10% more revenue, on higher attendance at domestic properties as well as the Disney Cruise Line, pushing profit up 18%.
Revenue from the studio-entertainment business fell 16%, though earnings still climbed 10%.
-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909; Andrew.FitzGerald@dowjones.com
From the team at Disney Channel Fans and Nickelodeon Girls comes a new blog project saluting the hotties of the ABC Broadcast Network and ABC Family Channel. Especially the lovely Lucy Hale. <3
This new blog features many girls on the ABC network including my favorites Elisha Cuthbert and Sarah Hyland. On the ABC Family side we have the aforementioned Lucy Hale and her Pretty Little Liar costars like Miss Ashley Benson…
… and of course other sexy sweethearts like Meaghan Martin, Skyler Samuels, Vanessa Marano, Francia Raisa, Megan Park and many more.
I hope you enjoy the new site! We plan on updating it bi-weekly to tri-weekly for the time being so your best bet to stay up to date is to follow the site’s new twitter profile @MyABCGirls.
Oh, and if you want to see the rest of these new pics of Lucy Hale and Ashley Benson for Bongo’s 2012 photoshoot, you might want to click over to the new website. That’s MyABCGirls.com
Walt Disney Co. reported strong fourth-quarter earnings, buoyed by gains at Disney Channel and ESPN and at the Burbank company’s theme parks.
The entertainment giant reported net income of $1.08 billion for the quarter ending Oct. 1, a jump of 30% compared with a year earlier. Revenue also rose 7% to $10.4 billion.
Disney achieved record revenue, net income and earnings per share for fiscal 2011. Net income for the year reached $5.26 billion on revenue of nearly $41 billion.
“Given the challenging economic environment this year, I’m particularly proud of our excellent management team, which has consistently delivered on our strategy of creating high-quality content, expanding our platforms and growing our iconic brands and assets worldwide,” Disney President and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger said on a call with media analysts Thursday.
Disney’s media networks group, which includes the ABC television network, its collection of local TV stations and its cable channels, continues to be a profit engine for the company. Media networks posted operating income of $1.4 billion, a gain of 20% from a year earlier.
The TV group’s results were driven by sales of Disney Channel programming and higher fees paid by cable and satellite distributors, as well advertising growth internationally.
ESPN, which set viewership records for the fourth consecutive year, also benefited from fee increases and ad growth. Even the struggling ABC network is gaining traction with new dramas, including its modern-day take on fairy tales, “Once Upon a Time,” and its comedy about suburban life, “Suburgatory.”
Disney’s parks and resorts saw a 33% surge in operating income, which rose to $421 million for the quarter. The improved results at the company’s domestic parks, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris helped to partially offset costs associated with the September opening of the new Aulani hotel and vacation resort in Hawaii.
Iger said the company is beginning to reap the rewards of five years of investments in Disney’s theme parks. In the coming year, the company will open “Carsland,” which is the centerpiece of its $1-billion overhaul of California Adventure in Anaheim and the opening of Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Fla.
Walt Disney Studios reported operating income of $117 million in the fourth quarter, up 13% from a year earlier, even though revenue fell 8%.
The studio’s domestic movie ticket sales benefited from this fall’s 3-D re-release of the 17-year-old animated classic “The Lion King,” which grossed about $150 million in worldwide box office receipts, Iger said.
Pixar Animation Studio’s sequel, “Cars 2,” had $559 million in global ticket sales but compared unfavorably to the 2010 summer blockbuster “Toy Story 3.”
Iger said the “Cars” franchise continues to spur consumer product sales, noting that it has surpassed “Star Wars” and “Toy Story” in retail sales of movie-themed merchandise. The consumer products group reported operating income of $207 million for the quarter, up 13% from the same period a year ago.
The upcoming Thanksgiving release of “The Muppets” is expected to “rebuild another beloved franchise,” Iger said. He noted that the film cost “less than $50 million to produce” and illustrates Disney’s strategy of releasing a mix of expensive event films like Marvel Entertainment’s 2012 superhero picture “The Avengers” with lower-cost movies.
Disney’s long-struggling interactive group reported a 19% gain in revenue, which rose to $223 million. Operating losses for the group fell to $94 million, compared with $104 million in the same period last year.
Iger said the interactive unit plans to introduce eight social networking games in the coming year, taking advantage of established Disney and Marvel brands, as well as creating original characters.
The chief executive expects the group to post a profit in 2013.
Okay, so time for a quick introduction. Sarah Hyland is a 20 year old actress that is probably best known for her role as Haley on ABC’s Modern Family.
So why am I posting this now? Well, Sarah also happend to have a lead role in the new DCOM “Geek Charming” (more on that in a second).
Obviously, I found some sweet beach bikini pics of Sarah while I was looking her up so I figured I just had to post them.
The top set in the black bikini top are from Hawaii and were taken on March 8th 2010 (she was 19).
This second set from shortly thereafter show her in an animal print one piece, so no midriff I’m afraid.
Still, we get a pretty good look at her. She’s fairly cute I guess.
Personally, I think she looks a bit like Selena in that last pic above. If you were wondering like I was, IMDb reports she is of Irish/Scottish/Dutch/Welsh descent.
What follows is Disney’s oficial press release regarding her new movie “Geek Charming.” Just in case, you know, you were thinking of watching it now. You’re welcome.
SARAH HYLAND (“MODERN FAMILY”) AND MATT PROKOP STAR IN
“GEEK CHARMING,” A DISNEY CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE
PREMIERING FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) and Matt Prokop (“High School Musical 3: Senior Year”) star in the comedy “Geek Charming,” a Disney Channel Original Movie based on the popular young adult novel of the same name, premiering FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT). The story follows a snobby high school girl who has her perspective challenged when she becomes the subject of a self-proclaimed film geek’s documentary.
In the movie, spoiled Dylan Shoenfield (Hyland), Woodlands Academy’s most popular junior, accidentally drops her designer handbag into the mall fountain and the school’s film geek, Josh Rosen (Prokop) jumps in to retrieve it. Although Dylan would not usually interact with Josh, to return the favor, she agrees to be the subject of his documentary for the school film contest – with the hope that the film will help her win the coveted Blossom Queen crown. While Josh sets out to make a hard-hitting film about Dylan and her social hierarchy, once the cameras start rolling he sees there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Beginning October 11, visitors to DisneyChannel.com can take a personality quiz to see which “Geek Charming” character is the most like them. Users can also view images from the movie in “Geek or Chic” and designate what’s “geeky cool” or “totally chic.”
The multiplatform premiere schedule is as follows:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4
“Geek Charming” exclusive preview available via Disney Channel On Demand, a video-on-demand service available to a variety of affiliates including AT&T, Cablevision, Time Warner and Verizon FiOS TV customers.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Leading up to the movie premiere, Hyland and Prokop will give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Geek Charming” during Disney Channel’s “Geek Chic” week interstitials, featuring movies and episodes of hit series celebrating geek-dom (7:30 – 10:00 p.m., ET/PT).
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 The premiere of “Geek Charming” (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel with simulcasts on Sprint TV and MobiTV.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15
“Geek Charming” will be available on iTunes and Xbox Live.
Based on the book Geek Charming by Robin Palmer, the movie was written by Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy and was directed by Jeffrey Hornaday (choreographer of “A Chorus Line,” “Flashdance”). The executive producers are David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman (both of “The Muppets,” “The Fighter,” “The Proposal”) and Paul Shapiro (“Detroit 1-8-7″). Mona May (“Enchanted,” “Clueless”) is the movie’s costume designer. A production of Bad Angels Production Ltd., the movie was shot on location in Vancouver, Canada.
Rounding out the cast is Sasha Pieterse (“Pretty Little Liars”) as Amy Loubalu, Jordan Nichols (“Good Luck Charlie,” “Shake it Up”) as Asher, Vanessa Morgan (“My Babysitters a Vampire,” “Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars”) as Hannah; Lili Simmons (“Zeke and Luther”) as Lola, David Del Rio (“The Troop”) as Ari, Jimmy Bellinger (“An American Affair”) as Steven, Lilli Birdsell (“The Walking Dead”) as Sandy, Andrew Airlie (“50/50,” “Fantastic Four”) as Alan Schoenfield, Kacey Rohl (“Red Riding Hood,” “The Killing”) as Caitlin and Andrea Brooks (“The Troop”) as Nicole Paterson.
