• by Wayne Friedman , November 3, 2016

Strong film entertainment and cable news network results were key to 21st Century Fox  grabbing high single-digit percentage gains in revenue results for its fiscal first-quarter period

Cable TV revenue -- largely coming from the Fox News Channel -- rose 10% to $3.81 billion due to higher affiliate and advertising revenues.

The company said there was 6% higher domestic advertising revenue from higher ratings and pricing at Fox News Channel. Domestic affiliate revenue for Fox’s cable networks increased 8%.

Broadcast TV revenue for the Fox network and its TV stations slipped 1% to $1.04 billion versus $1.05 billion due to lower advertising revenues, largely because of the Rio Olympics aired by NBCUniversal, its networks and TV stations.

In addition, there were unfavorable comparisons to the prior-year period -- when Fox aired the Emmy Awards and the FIFA Women’s World Cup final.

On the plus side, there were higher retransmission consent revenues, local political advertising spending at the Fox TV stations and better content revenues at the Fox TV Network.

Film Entertainment grew 7% to $1.91 billion as a result of the high theatrical box office performance of “Independence Day: Resurgence”, the home entertainment results of “Deadpool” and improved TV production content deals led by the subscription video-on-demand licensing of “Homeland” to Hulu.

Total company results had revenues up 7% to $6.51 billion with net income 20% higher to $888 million.

21st Century Fox stock closed down on Wednesday to 1.4% to $25.83.