ViacomCBS's first-quarter net income beat expectations on strong streaming revenue during a quarter when the company aired the Super Bowl and introduced its rebranded streaming service.
ViacomCBS rebranded its streaming service formerly called CBS All Access to Paramount+ in March.
ViacomCBS added 6 million global streaming subscribers in the quarter, for a total of 36 million across all of its streaming services, Paramount+, Showtime and BET+. ViacomCBS has projected that those services will reach 65 million subscribers by 2024, with most of the growth coming from Paramount+.
Paramount+ costs $6 a month with ads and $10 a month without. It joins an increasingly crowded fray of services from Netflix, Hulu, Disney, AT&T and NBCUniversal, among others.
ViacomCBS said sign-ups for its streaming services were driven by live sports and specials, including the Super Bowl (which aired on CBS All Access before it was rebranded), the NCAA basketball tournament, UEFA Champions League, its Oprah interview with Meghan and Harry and the Grammy Awards.
The New York-based company said it earned net income of $911 million, or $1.44 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.52 per share.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.22 per share.
The company posted revenue of $7.41 billion in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $7.46 billion.
Streaming revenue jumped 65% to $816 million, boosted by higher advertising and subscription revenue.
ViacomCBS shares have climbed almost 5% since the beginning of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months. Shares rose 45 cents to $39.55 in morning trading.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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