• by Wayne Friedman , February 25, 2010

Cablevision Systems Corp.'s cable networks showed a big 20% gain in advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The chief reason, according to the company, came from more pricey advertising commercial time sold at its AMC channel, which features top shows "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad."

Among its AMC, WE and IFC networks -- its Rainbow division -- overall net revenues grew 12.9% in the fourth quarter to $216.0 million. Affiliate revenues rose 7.6%. Net income for Rainbow in the fourth quarter posted an operating income of $36.5 million versus a $9.2 million loss.

Overall, Cablevision Systems was at $78.6 million net income -- but this was somewhat lower than analysts expected. This was against a $332.2 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenues were up a bit -- $2.14 billion versus $2.04 billion in the period before.

These results included Madison Square Garden, which is due to be spun off March 31, 2010. MSG's revenues were up 3.6% to $412 million.

Cablevision's newspaper operations, Newsday, sank 15.7% in revenue to $90 million. There was a 20.1% decline in advertising revenue and a 1.2% rise in circulation revenue. In recent months, the newspaper instituted a pay wall for its online content.

Concerning its main cable television business, net revenues improved 5.2% to $1.3 billion, with operating income up 22.5% to $359.4 million. The company's revenue per subscriber for its cable TV business was up 6.8% or $9.18 to $144.03, which includes its triple play of services -- video, broadband and phone.

Its basic video-customer business continued to drop -- down 1.5% from December 2008 or 45,000 subscribers. At the same time, its digital business continued to climb -- up 2.0%, or 55,900 from December 2008.

Broadband data business was up 4.6% in the fourth quarter, or 112,500 customers. Its phone business improved 9.3%, or 174,400.