TF1 sees pay revenue down but profit up

France’s TF1 Group said it saw an improved result from its pay TV offering last year, with operating profit reaching €33.7 million following the sale of Eurosport, up from €1.5 million in 2014.

TF1 said that the improvement was due to the sale of Eurosport and improvement in profitability of its other pay TV channels, which compensated from losses incurred by news channel LCI.

Revenue from pay TV activities fell from €125.2 million to €72.6 million as a result of the Eurosport sale and the closing of its Stylia channel.

Overall, TF1 reported revenues of €2 billion for the year, down by €87.5 million thanks in part to the Eurosport sale and the loss of Stylia, and operating profit of €158 million, up by €41.5 million.

The group said that the outlook for this year remained unclear thanks to the lack of durable improvement in France’s economic performance, leading to the likelihood that the advertising market would be flat year-on-year.