Big year for big four (or was it?); while 1996 revenue is up, ABC, CBS, Fox numbers are helped by creative accounting.

Broadcasting & Cable, March, 1997 by McClellan, Steve

While 1996 revenue is up, ABC, CBS, Fox numbers are helped by creative accounting NEW YORK Financially speaking, 1996 was a boffo year for NBC (see Chart). For CBS, ABC and Fox, the revenue picture was pretty solid, as the broadcast economy continued to hold up well. But all three used purchaseprice accounting benefits to make operating profits look significantly better on paper than the actual results.

Combined, the four networks generated $19 billion in revenue last year, up 23% over 1995. On paper, operating profits came to $3.36 billion, up 24% over the previous year. However, analysts say the paper profits are misleading because CBS, ABC and Fox added back hundreds of millions of dollars to their bottom lines in the form of...