Discovery profit misses on Scripps acquisition costs

(Reuters) - Discovery Inc missed analyst estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the owner of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet took on more costs related to integration of the recently acquired Scripps network.

The company's shares fell 3.4 percent to $26 in premarket trading.

Discovery completed the $11.9 billion acquisition of Scripps in March integrating Scripps' largely female-focused lifestyle channels such as HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network with Discovery's channels, whose viewers are primarily male.

Net income available to Discovery fell to $216 million, or 30 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $374 million, or 64 cents per share, a year earlier.

Advertising revenue from the company's U.S. networks more than doubled to $1.1 billion, while ad revenue from its international networks also rose about 42 percent to $473 million.

However, profit fell as Discovery's costs nearly doubled and restructuring charges related to Scripps piled up.

Excluding items, the company earned 66 cents per share, missing the average analysts' estimate of 86 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 63 percent to $2.85 billion, in line with estimates.

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)