CBS Show Sales Help Offset Drop In 3Q Ad Revenue

RYAN NAKASHIMA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The sale of popular TV shows partly offset a drop in third-quarter advertising revenue at CBS Corp. but the company said ad trends are improving in the final three months of the year.

"The light at the end of the tunnel continues each day to get brighter," Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman and controlling shareholder at CBS, told analysts on a conference call Thursday. "As the economy recovers, CBS will be a leading beneficiary in the upturn."

CBS, which is based in New York, posted net income of $208 million, reversing a $12.5 billion loss a year ago in a quarter that was marred by impairment charges.

Adjusted for one-time items, the earnings came to 25 cents per share, cruising past analyst expectations for 22 cents per share.

Revenue fell less than 1 percent to $3.35 billion, also handily beating forecasts of $3.20 billion.

Sales of shows "Medium," ''Criminal Minds," ''Ghost Whisperer," ''Everybody Hates Chris," and "Numb3rs," to other networks as well as rate increases for pay-TV service Showtime more than offset a 5 percent drop in advertising sales.