Disney Reports Media Revenue Increases Five Percent

Walt Disney Co.'s fiscal third-quarter profit inched up 0.9% as growth from the media giant's parks and resorts and ESPN network more than offset weakness for the studio division, which was weighed by marketing costs for "The Lone Ranger."

According to Marketwatch, Disney has reaped the benefits of recent multibillion-dollar investments in its domestic theme parks, including the launch of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, as well as investments abroad that have helped the division's growth. The company's cable-networks business has also performed well, mostly due to the strength of the ESPN sports network and ad growth, though ratings have been down at its ABC network.

The media networks division, Disney's largest business segment, posted a 8% increase in operating income as revenue climbed 5%. Parks and resorts revenue grew 7%, while profit for the business increased 9%. Guest spending at the company's parks and resorts increased due to higher average ticket prices and food and beverage spending.

The studio division's sales slid 2%, though profit dropped 36% due to pre-release marketing costs for "The Lone Ranger." Though "Monsters University" had a better performance than "Brave" a year ago, the performance of "Iron Man 3" in the latest quarter wasn't as strong as "The Avengers" last year.

For the quarter ended June 29, Disney reported a profit of $1.85 billion, up from $1.83 billion the prior year. Per-share earnings were flat at $1.01. The latest period included a charge of two cents a share tied to restructuring and impairment costs.

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