• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 2, 2007

With the exception of a soft kids' marketplace negatively affecting the upfront take at the Cartoon Network, Time Warner COO Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday that the Turner network group turned in a strong performance, propelled by pricing and volume growth at TNT and TBS.

"Turner is leading the cable pack," he said, regarding the unit's relative performance versus the cable upfront market at-large. In a conference call to discuss TW's second-quarter results, he described that market as in the mid-single digits. TNT and TBS each were up in the high single digits, and even low double digits in both CPMs and volume.

Cartoon Network, however, will deliver lower results than in 2006, Bewkes said.

Commenting further on the Turner portfolio, he said CNN could benefit later this year from political advertising, although he was unaware of any plans to shorten pod lengths in order to boost commercial ratings as the industry adopts the new currency.

Overall in 2Q, the Turner networks posted a 6% gain in ad dollars--helping to offset a decrease of $98 million in total ad dollars in the networks group, due to decreases brought on by the dissolution of the WB.

Beyond ad dollars, the networks unit, which includes Turner and HBO, saw overall revenues drop 1% to $2.6 billion. However, its strong Time Warner Cable unit posted a 70% gain in ad dollars to $226 million, although that was mostly due to a distribution gain via the acquisition of new systems. MSOs are counting on boosting ad dollars as a way to diversify revenue streams.

On the whole for TW, the cable system operations drove a revenue jump of 6% in the second quarter to $11 billion.

While AOL saw revenue plummet as it shifts to an ad-supported model and loses subscription dollars, another segment with a much-discussed uncertain future--publishing--posted flat revenues overall and a $6 million rise in ad dollars. The ad increase came mostly from strength in digital properties, such as People.com, which offset drops in traditional print.

Time Warner also offered some insight into a settlement reached with former HBO head Chris Albrecht, who was forced out after a domestic dispute in Las Vegas. TW reported that it paid out $16 million in restructuring charges at HBO in the second quarter, including severance payments.