• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 3, 2007

Time Warner's first-quarter revenues took a hit due to the shutdown of the WB, but showed an impressive rise in cable's performance.

Closing WB network led to an $88 million drop in ad revenue in the first quarter, the company said Wednesday. TW said its network group saw a 12% decrease to $655 million because of the WB, which ceased operations in September. The good news: Time Warner Cable revenues increased 61% to $3.9 billion, partly due to new systems acquired.

Despite the WB decline, the company's Turner networks saw a 6% increase--largely because of a strong performance in its news group headlined by CNN, the company said as it announced its 1Q results. The company didn't release any results for the first-year CW, in which it owns a 50% interest. Its figures also include Court TV, which it owns in full--up from 50% a year ago.

Time Warner COO Jeff Bewkes said a strong scatter market--with prices up in the mid- to high-single-digit range over the upfront--usually "portends a strong upfront." Speaking on the conference call to discuss the 1Q results, he said the Turner group isn't concerned that contentious issues surrounding commercial ratings and payment for DVR-enabled viewing will have much of a negative impact.

Overall, Time Warner's first-quarter revenues rose 9% versus the same period a year ago to $11.2 billion, propelled by its Time Warner Cable operations. On the online front, the AOL unit saw a 25% revenue decline to $1.5 billion as subscription revenues decreased. But AOL shifted the focus last August to an ad-supported model; revenues jumped 40% to $157 million. The ad growth was partly due to sales on partner sites.

The Warner Bros./filmed entertainment unit saw a 1% revenue decline of $36 million to $2.7 billion, partly the result of a drop in home video sales.

And as might be expected, the Time Inc. publishing unit's revenues decreased 1% to $1 billion, although ad revenues were up $16 million.