Corus Entertainment's revenue misses, shares hit all-time low

By Laharee Chatterjee

(Reuters) - Canadian media company Corus Entertainment Inc on Wednesday reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts' estimates, hit by weakness in its television and advertising businesses, sending its shares to a record low.

Revenue from the two businesses fell as the company continues to face stiff competition from Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and streaming companies such as Netflix Inc.

Chief Executive Officer Doug Murphy said Corus also did not see the much anticipated benefits from Ontario election campaigns in the third quarter as most advertisers chose to partner with local media.

"The truth is, there is no magic bullet to address our industry changes and challenges, and the necessary shifts cannot happen overnight," Murphy said on a post-earnings call.

The company said its content partners for the Winter Olympics in February, CBS and NVC, have pushed some of the content into the fourth quarter and that could raise programming costs in the quarter.

Revenue from Corus's television business, which includes brands such as Shaw Media and HistoryGo, fell nearly 5 percent in the third quarter, while that from advertising dropped 4.4 percent.

Net loss attributable to Corus was C$936 million for the quarter ended May 31 as the company booked a charge of C$1.01 billion ($760.71 million) related to broadcast license and goodwill impairment. It posted a profit of C$66.7 million in the year-ago period.

Excluding the charge, the company earned 37 Canadian cents per share, edging past analysts' average estimate by 1 Canadian cent.

Total revenue fell 4.4 percent to C$441.4 million, missing the average analyst estimate of C$452.4 million.

The company's shares fell as much as 14.7 percent to C$5.33 in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1 = C$1.33)

(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Sweta Singh)