• by Wayne Friedman , July 31, 2012

Discovery Communications witnessed steady gains in advertising sales for its U.S. networks in the second quarter.

Advertising sales climbed 6% to $387 million -- which was slightly lower than the 9% gains made in the second quarter of 2011. Marching to the same beat, U.S. distribution revenue grew 8% to $297 million from higher rates and subscriber growth.

International distribution revenues were 8% higher to $243 million, with ad revenues 11% higher to $147 million.

Overall, second-quarter revenues climbed 7% to $1.1 billion for the period, with net income inching up to $293 million from $254 million in the second quarter of 2011.

The one negative appears to be Discovery's small education unit, which reported lower revenues and operating income. Revenues were down 5% to $37 million with operating income declining to $2 million from $5 million. Discovery said this came from less business at its Creative Sound Services company, as well as higher costs associated with digital textbook efforts.

David Zaslav, president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, stated that the efforts to "broaden our international content offerings, along with the continued evolution of pay-TV globally, are driving international expansion." On the domestic front, he noted that the company was "generating significant returns from the sustained programming initiatives and audience growth across our younger networks."

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