NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discovery Communications is looking to improve its international profit margins from about 16 percent in the third quarter by sharing content between regions and cutting spending, Chief Executive David Zaslav said on Wednesday.
The owner of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet said it was boosting margins by closing retail stores and offering the same shows to international audiences as U.S. viewers. It said it had closed all of its 120 stores.
"We think that there's meaningful opportunity to grow our international margins. We're going to share more content, look at how we do business in each of our regions," Zaslav told the Reuters Media Summit in New York.
Discovery's international business had operating cash flow of about $100 million in 2006 on revenue of nearly $900 million.
Spokesman David Leavy said companywide profit margins for the first three quarters of 2007 were 30.6 percent compared with 24.5 percent in the same time frame in 2006 as the company closed retail stores and cut costs.
Discovery Communications is owned by Discovery Holding Co (DISCA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, Discovery's founder and chairman.
(Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog)
(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Michele Gershberg; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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