AT&T This fall: WarnerMedia Takes $1.2 Billion Hit on HBO Max Funding, Telco Loses 1.2 Million TV Subscribers
AT&T’s prime line was stung by its funding in HBO Max within the fourth quarter of 2019 to the tune of $1.2 billion in “foregone licensing revenues.” The telco additionally continued to see speedy deterioration in its pay-TV enterprise, shedding a complete of almost 1.2 million subscribers in This fall.
WarnerMedia — comprising Turner, HBO and Warner Bros. — noticed This fall income drop 3.3% to $8.9 billion, whereas working earnings fell 9.5% to $2.Four billion. That decline included an estimated $1.2 billion in foregone licensing income in the course of the quarter for content material earmarked for HBO Max, set to launch in Could 2020. Reveals coming to HBO Max embrace the complete run of “Buddies,” which left Netflix on the finish of 2019.
In This fall, AT&T’s DirecTV and different premium TV video subscribers had a web lack of 945,000 prospects, whereas the AT&T TV Now service (previously DirecTV Now) dropped a web 219,000 prospects. As of the tip of 2019, AT&T reported 20.Four million video connections (together with 926,000 AT&T TV Now subscribers) — down 20% from 24.5 million at Dec. 31, 2018.
General, AT&T posted income of $46.82 billion (down 2.4%) and adjusted earnings per share of 89 cents (up 3.5%). That missed Wall Avenue consensus expectations of $46.96 billion in income and beat EPS forecasts of 88 cents.
“We delivered what we promised in 2019 and we start this yr with robust momentum in wi-fi, with HBO Max set to launch in Could and our share retirement plan properly underway,” stated Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, in asserting the outcomes.
COPYRIGHT_BP: Published on https://bingepost.com/att-q4-warnermedia-takes-1-2-billion-hit-on-hbo-max-investment-telco-loses-1-2-million-tv-subscribers/13511/ by Cecilia Jones on 2020-01-29T12:33:38.000Z
In asserting the year-end 2019 earnings, AT&T boasted that it diminished web debt by $20.Three billion in the course of the yr, hitting its goal of sustaining a net-debt-to-adjusted-earnings ratio of two.5. The corporate reported $151.7 billion in long-term debt as of Dec. 31, 2019, a lot of it amassed as a part of buying Time Warner.
