• May 7, 2008

The Walt Disney Co.'s second-quarter net profit jumped 22% from the year-ago quarter on strong growth in film studios, theme parks and media networks, the company reported Tuesday. Earnings reached $1.13 billion, or 58 cents per share, on $8.71 billion--up 10% from a year ago, compared with 931 million, or 44 cents per share.

Operating income for the broadcasting division increased 17% to $223 million for the quarter primarily due to the strong performance of ABC Studios productions in international markets, led by "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost." This growth was offset, in part, by the impact of the Writer's Guild of America strike that limited the airing of original scripted programming in prime time on the ABC Television Network--resulting in lower ratings and advertising revenues. The negative impact of the strike on advertising revenue was offset by higher advertising rates and lower programming costs due to the reduction in hours of original scripted programming.

As for the Cable Networks division, operating income increased 14% to $1.1 billion for the quarter due to growth at ESPN--and to a lesser degree, higher income from cable equity investments. Growth at ESPN was driven by higher affiliate revenue primarily due to contractual rate increases and subscriber growth, and higher rates for advertising revenue partially offset higher programming, administrative and marketing costs.

Disney also reported that studio revenue rose 18% to 1.82 billion. Box office sales were boosted by "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets," and "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of both Worlds."

--Laurie Sullivan