NSDTCM:COMPANY:VIVENDI/NBC UNIVERSAL (YES, THE COMPANY WHO OWNS TELEMUNDO...FOR THE SPANISH LANGUAGE SPEAKERS)

NBC Universal 4Q earnings up 10%

NBC Universal delivered the silver GE bullet of double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter and marked its fifth consecutive quarter of profit growth.

NBC U also logged strong full-year 2007 revenue and earnings, which were released Friday along with the rest of parent company General Electric's fourth quarter and full-year results.

The key drivers of NBC U's record revenue year were the cable nets and film unit. U's film group logged its "best year ever," as GE chief Jeff Immelt noted in the conglom's earnings release, with $2.1 billion in global B.O. revenue.

The '07 results underscore the transformation that NBC U prexy-CEO Jeff Zucker has been emphasizing ever since he took the reins in February 2007: namely, that the NBC broadcasting biz is now only a small portion of the overall picture at NBC U.

In large part, the 2007 growth was driven "by the tremendous performance of the cable division and the film groups, and they account for more than 75% of the company now," Zucker told Daily Variety. "Every one of our cable networks has had record performance: USA, Sci Fi, Bravo, Oxygen, CNBC.

More than one option

• (Co) Daily Variety
  Filmography, Year, Role
• (Co) Daily Variety

"There was so much attention to a new competitor coming in (with the debut of Fox Business Network), but the fact is CNBC had its highest ratings ever in the fourth quarter."

MSNBC is also on the rise, pulling its largest share of the cable news aud since 2001, Zucker added.

All told, NBC Universal generated $15.4 billion in revenue in '07, accounting for about 9% of GE's total haul of $172.7 billion. NBC U's earnings hit $3.5 billion, which repped about 10.7% of GE's $29 billion in earnings (GE claims $3.1 billion of those NBC U earnings, while the rest flows to 20% shareholder Vivendi).

SOURCE:VARIETY.COM

PHOTO LOGO: AFTERDAWN.COM

SOURCE:NBC UNIVERSAL

NSDTCM:NEWSPAPERS:L.A. TIMES
SOURCE:VARIETY.COM/BUSINESS STORIES

L.A. Times editor O'Shea ousted

Departure follows that of Dean Baquet

The L.A. Times newsroom was hoping for a honeymoon period under new Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell after two years of management turmoil, but word spread Sunday that editor James O'Shea had been fired after refusing to implement $4 million in budget cuts.

O'Shea, a 28-year Tribune veteran, was fired following a confrontation earlier this month with publisher David Hiller, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website Sunday. O'Shea's departure was expected to be announced this week, but the news broke Sunday on the Wall Street Journal's website.

L.A. Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan declined to comment on the matter, while a Tribune spokesman referred calls to Sullivan. The Times reported that O'Shea's dispute with Hiller over the order to slice $4 million out of the newsroom's $120 million budget came to a head on Jan. 7.

O'Shea's departure comes just a month after Chicago-based Tribune was taken private in a complex $8.2 billion employee-ownership deal led by real estate magnate Zell.

SOURCE:VARIETY.COM

P.S. TO MY FRIEND ALEX WHO WORKS AT L.A. TIMES