Cable, Films Lead to Wonderful Disney 1Q

Disney reported strong fiscal-first-quarter results, driven largely by its film and cable-television units.

Revenue for the quarter was up 10% to $9.7 billion and operating income rose 45% to $1.99 billion.

Revenue at its Studio Entertainment division was up 29% to $2.6 billion, while operating income rose nearly fivefold from $128 million to $604 million, driven largely by box-office gains from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Cars.

At Media Networks -- which includes Disney’s cable channels and the ABC broadcast network -- revenue rose 6% and operating income was up 24%.

Cable networks had the strongest performance -- revenue rose 12% to $2.1 billion compared with a 1% increase for broadcast TV. Operating income at the broadcast unit rose 27% to $297 million while the cable networks saw a 24% gain to $453 million.