Mexican media giant Televisa on Friday brushed off a surprise 8.6 percent fall in second-quarter profits as a temporary setback due to one-time expenses.
The world's top producer of Spanish-language television programming said net income fell to $180 million in the April-June period, down from $195 million in the same period last year.
Alfonso de Angoitia, executive vice president, blamed the drop on an increase in expenses at one of its U.S. television stations in San Diego and called it a one-time adjustment.
He emphasized that overall sales _ led by its cable service, Cablevision _ jumped by 17 percent to $1.1 billion in the second quarter, which ended June 30. Second-quarter sales at the pay-television unit swelled by 20 percent to $68.4 million.
"We delivered solid results during the second quarter," he told analysts in a conference call.
Televisa stock fell 25 cents to $23.66 in afternoon trading Friday.
Jose Antonio Baston, corporate vice president of television, said Televisa's soap operas, known as telenovelas, continue to drive strong ratings around the globe. The company exports its programs to 60 countries and has entered key markets, including China.
Baston said Televisa is in talks with TV Record, Brazil's second-largest television network, to produce programs for its 7 p.m. slot and help boost the company's Latin American viewers. He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, De Angoitia said the company expects sales to continue to improve in the second half of the year.
"We haven't felt a slowdown in the Mexican economy or in the TV broadcasting business yet, so things in the month of July have been strong," he said.
Televisa forecast 4.5 percent growth in net income for 2008. De Angoitia said the company is keeping its forecast conservative because of the sluggish U.S. economy.
Subscribers to Televisa's Sky Mexico satellite television service increased by 13 percent to 1.7 million from the year ago period, giving the unit a 12 percent increase in second-quarter sales to $223 million.
The company ended the quarter with 71,000 Sky subscribers in Central America and the Dominican Republic, and said it plans to extend satellite television service to Panama by the year's end.
Sales at Televisa's Mexico City-based publishing unit, which prints dozens of magazines including Mexican editions of Cosmopolitan, Men's Health and Marie Claire, rose by 17 percent to $90 million, from $77 million in the second quarter of 2007.
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