• by Joe Mandese , November 2, 2006

CBS this morning reported strong third quarter results and announced it has signed agreements to sell 29 of its radio stations as part of a plan to strategically reduced the number of radio markets it operates in. In the earnings announcement, President-CEO Leslie Moonves implied the sales do not signal at retreat from the radio industry, noting, "We also believe that the growth we're seeing in key formats such as JACK, Spanish and Talk bodes well for improved performance at Radio in 2007."

Moonves also cited CBS' expansion in the "digital space," hailing recent deals with YouTube, Yahoo and others to distribute, promote and market CBS' content. CBS, however, does not break out revenues or profits for its digital operations.

Overall operations, however, had a relatively strong quarter, posting a profit from continuing operations of $323.6 million, up from $256.9 million last year. Revenues rose to $3.38 billion from $3.37 billion.

CBS' strongest sector continues to be its outdoor media operations, which increased revenues 9% to $536.2 million during the quarter, up from $493.5 million a year earlier.

CBS' radio operations were the laggard with revenues declining 6% to $508.1 million, down from $542.0 million a year earlier. CBS attributed the drop to the "impact of programming changes at 27 owned stations, coupled with "weakness in the radio advertising market."

CBS posted TV revenues of $2.2 billion, a slight decline from the prior year due to lower advertising and home entertainment sales.

"Advertising revenues decreased 3% primarily due to the shutdown of UPN in September of 2006 and the absence of the Primetime Emmy telecast in 2006, partially offset by strong political advertising sales at the television stations," the company said.