August 04, 2009
On her Twitter feed, Paula Abdul says she's not returning to "American Idol."
Her messages:
"With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to #IDOL.
I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all ...I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent,but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon ...
What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me ...
It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month ... I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all."
Sources say Abdul was made an offer to return to the show....
Statement from Fox and 19 Entertainment coming shortly ...
News comes on heels of newest judge Kara DioGuardi being re-signed to the show.
Stay tuned...
Discovery quadruples Q2 profit
Revenue and ad income down slightly
By Georg Szalai
Aug 4, 2009, 08:16 AM ET
Updated: Aug 4, 2009, 08:36 PM ET
NEW YORK --
Discovery Communications more than quadrupled its second-quarter profit as higher U.S. ratings, increased international subscribers, cost controls and a special gain offset a slight advertising decline.
The company Tuesday reported a profit of $183 million for the period, including a $46 million tax gain from the partial sale of Discovery Kids, compared with $43 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue fell by $4 million to $881 million.
Ad revenue declined slightly to $368 million, but U.S. advertising rose 1%, which UBS analyst Michael Morris said "outperformed peers."
Viacom's cable networks unit, for example, posted a 6% domestic ad revenue decline in the latest period.
"Discovery's second-quarter results demonstrate our ability to execute on our business plan and strategic initiatives in a difficult operating environment," president and CEO David Zaslav said.
In a conference call, management said the ad market likely will remain challenging for the rest of the year.
"Scatter visibility remains limited" as ads often are booked just days ahead of time, Zaslav said.
Discussing upfront ad sales, he said Discovery is "still in the middle of our sales process," forecasting that the company will sell less inventory this year to hold back ads for scatter, where prices have remained strong.
"This strategy ... is often a worthwhile risk to take for programmers with strong ratings," Barrington Research analyst James Goss said.
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