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CHICAGO (AFX) - Media and entertainment shares closed mixed Tuesday as the broader market advanced.
Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Belo Corp. said after the market closed Tuesday that it expects first-quarter earnings to be in the range of 13-15 cents a share, in line with the forecast it has given since December. "
Television Group advertising revenue growth has accelerated as the quarter has progressed while the advertising market has been more challenging for Belo's newspapers than originally anticipated," said Robert Decherd, chairman of Belo, in a statement.
In February, television advertising revenue rose 18% over the same month last year, thanks to Olympic-related advertising at its NBC stations.
Ad revenue is expected to be up by a low single-digit percentage in March, and by a high single-digit percentage in the first quarter.
At Belo's newspapers, ad revenue decreased slightly in February. In the first quarter, Belo expects ad revenue to be up by a low single-digit percentage.
The stock closed at $21.34, down 3 cents.
Comcast Corp. is in talks to buy the remainder of E! Entertainment Television Inc. from Walt Disney Co., according to Wall Street Journal report. Comcast , the largest cable TV distributor in the United States, is looking to acquire the remaining 40% interest in E! it doesn't already own. Comcast shares closed at $26.55, up 1.8%, while Disney rose 10 cents to close at $28.66.
Mike Wallace, whose often-confrontational interviews have been a hallmark of "60 Minutes" since the program's debut nearly 40 years ago, will limit his work on the broadcast to infrequent interviews after the current season, CBS said Tuesday. CBS Corp. fell 6 cents to close at $23.96.
E.W. Scripps Co. Tuesday reported revenue rose 23% for its Scripps Networks operations to $78.1 million in February, while revenue for its newspapers increased 5.2% to $58.9 million during the month. Revenue from the company's broadcast television stations jumped 34% to $30.2 million in February, but Shop At Home, the company's television retailing unit, saw a 27% decrease in revenue to $24.2 million in the period. The stock rose 1% to close at $47.80.
Dow Jones & Co. said Tuesday it agreed to pay $202 million to settle litigation with Market Data Corp. and Cantor Fitzgerald Securities over a contract guarantee it had issued to those companies in 1995. Dow Jones is the parent of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report. Dow Jones shares rose 1% to close at $41.03. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see
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