• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 5, 2010

Cablevision's Rainbow unit, which posted a gain in ad revenue during the economic doldrums last summer, saw accelerated 18% growth at its AMC, We and IFC networks in the April-July quarter. That came after the 2% increase a year ago in the period.

Total revenue for the programming segment, which also includes the Sundance Channel, was $281 million; the company does not break out ad dollars.

Rainbow had an 18% increase in profit, which might have been higher without greater programming and marketing expenses with shows such as AMC's "Mad Men" and new launch "Rubicon" on the channel.

AMC had strong ratings for the fourth-season premiere of "Mad Men" two weeks ago. But the network and We channel have experienced slight 2% drops in prime-time ratings, by one measure, since September 2009 in the 18-to-49 demo.

Rainbow was about 16% of Cablevision's $1.8 billion in revenues in the second quarter, which was up 6%.

Newsday continued to struggle, with a revenue drop of 10% to $81 million and a $1.3 million loss, although that was less than a year ago.

Cablevision said advertising at its MSO business is improving and company COO Tom Rutledge said advanced advertising offerings are a "driver," but he declined to be specific.

"The interactive platform that we built is driving utilization and pricing power," Rutledge said on an earnings call.