• by Wayne Friedman , April 16, 2008

CBS will get hit in its latest earning period with lower revenues--but it will also gain some as a result of the writers' strike. Because of difficult comparisons to the first quarter of 2007, JPMorgan expects CBS's first quarter 2008 to witness a 4% drop in revenue to some $3.5 billion.

Much of this comes from the impact of the writers' strike--which resulted in lower advertising revenue, as well as the absence of the Super Bowl, which ran on the network a year ago. The network's gains from the big NCAA College Basketball NCAA tournament will appear in the second-quarter results.

One little benefit: JPMorgan analyst John Blackledge expects EBITDA to increase 4%, due to lower programming costs as a result of inexpensive scripted show repeats and reality programs that aired during the writers' strike. Overall, EBITDA will still be down 2% during the period to $622 million.

The shining star at CBS continues to be outdoor advertising. JPMorgan expects revenue increases of 7% and cash flow (EBITDA) to rise 12% over the first quarter of 2007.

Radio will perk up a bit at CBS, but overall the industry still represents a drag on the company. JPMorgan expects revenue to sink 8% and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to fall 20% versus the same period of a year ago.