Boston, MA 05/14/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Last week, BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE) announced the extension of its TSN brand from two channels to five at its annual general meeting. The move comes as an attempt to counter its rival Rogers Communications Inc’s overpowering strategy.
Media Business Under Pressure
BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE)’s media business is certainly under pressure as soon Roger Communications will get hold of almost all of the national broadcast rights to the National Hockey League in its own hands. In today’s world, where Sports programming is considered as a big saviour for the television industry, such announcement was natural to come from BCE, which is trying hard to hold on to its sports business. The company’s CEO, George Cope said at the AGM that the customers will not have to pay anything extra, as it is just extension of content on TSN.
After the national rights went over to its rival, Roger Communications , in a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal last November, BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE)’s Bell Media has worked hard to retain its hold in Canadian sports coverage. Cope told the analysts on Tuesday that Bell Media still retain broadcast rights for several regional NHL hockey games in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg markets.
Q1 Results
Apart from this, the company reported its first quarter earnings last week, where it recorded a profit to the tune of $615 million, or $0.79 per share, higher than $566 million or $0.73 per share in the previous year. The adjusted net profit stood at $626 million, that is $0.81 per share. The company has successfully managed to surpass the analysts’ consensus expectation of $0.76 per share in the quarter. According to Barclays Capital Inc. analyst, Phillip Huang, the earnings per share improvement was majorly on account of boost in non-operating gains.
In the meanwhile, BCE Inc. (USA) (NYSE:BCE) has reiterated its revenue and profit guidance for the year 2014. Cope noted that the company is still focussing on losing the gap with its competitors. Additionally, the board of Directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6175 per share during the earnings call.
