Backchannelmedia

Cincinnati Post

Time Warner Inc. reported a 27 percent decline in net earnings for the second quarter today compared with the same period a year ago, when it recorded large gains from the sale of Comedy Central and a settlement with Microsoft Corp.

But profits still came in ahead of expectations.

The giant media conglomerate, whose operations include CNN, Warner Bros., HBO and cable television in Greater Cincinnati, earned $777 million, or 17 cents a share, in the three months ending in June, versus $1.06 billion, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenues rose a robust 10 percent to $10.89 billion from $9.92 billion, fattened by receipts from the latest "Harry Potter" movie, cable TV services and cable networks.

The long-troubled America Online service continued to lose dialup customers, but revenues and profitability both increased thanks to higher advertising.

The results were well ahead of analysts' expectations. Excluding a loss of 2 cents per share from its Warner Bros. music business, which was sold to an investor group in March, the company had earnings of 19 cents per share versus an estimate of 15 cents per share by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.