Canadian media conglomerate Corus Entertainment, home to YTV, Treehouse and Teletoon, posted sharply higher third-quarter earnings Thursday, due largely to selling a stake in Food Network Canada. The broadcaster saw earnings for the three months to May 31 more than double to US$91.5 million, compared to a profit of US$45 million in the same period of 2012.

Overall Q3 revenue was US$200.06 million, against a year-earlier US$204 million.

The profit line was bolstered during the latest quarter by a one-time gain of US$55.4 milllion from selling Corus’ non-controlling stake in Food Network Canada.

On the revenue side, TV revenue came to US$153 million, just down from a year-earlier US$154.7 million.

Ad revenue was US$99 million, compared to US$97 million in 2012, while subscriber revenue was up slightly to US$76 million, against a year-earlier US$74.2 million.

Merchandising and distribution revenue, largely generated by Nelvana Enterprises, fell to US$25 million, against a US$32.7 million take in Q3 2012.

“The third quarter was challenging on a number of fronts, most notably, advertising softness in radio continued and our merchandising, production and distribution businesses faced tough year-over-year comparatives,”  John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment, said in a statement.

From Playback Online