Due to the lack of Olympic Games money last year, revenues for ABC, CBS and NBC were down 1% for the full year 2003 to $10.6 billion, according to numbers compiled by Ernst & Young and released by the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association.
The sports category was down 31%, or $787 million, which was just slightly more than NBC garnered from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
All other key dayparts were up, including prime time, up 8% for the year to $5.9 billion. Late night was up 17% to $642 million and early morning was up 13% to $704 million. The three evening newscasts posted a gain of 6% to $520 million.
In the fourth quarter, the big three posted a 3% gain to almost $3 billion, with increases across all dayparts.
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