Can anyone explain to me why the EBITDA-margin in Television is only around 8%? Is it because sports rights are incurred here and in such case, what are the EBITDA-margins on the TV-stations? Afaik sports rights costs are incurred in the cable segment, right? So what is putting so much pressure on Television EBITDA?
Sports rights are incurred primarily in the Television segment (Fox Network), not the Cable Segment (primarily Fox News). See, e.g., this description of the Television segment results in the Q4 2019 earnings release:
Television reported full year segment revenues of $5.98 billion, an increase of $873 million or 17% from the amount in the prior year. Advertising revenues increased $394 million or 11%, primarily due to the addition of
Thursday Night Football and the broadcast of one additional NFL Divisional Playoff game, record cyclical political advertising revenues at the FOX Television Stations and additional FIFA World Cup matches in the current year. The increase in advertising revenues was partially offset by the broadcast of
two fewer MLB World Series games in the current year compared with the prior year. Affiliate revenues increased $326 million or 24% led by an increase in programming fees from third-party FOX affiliates. Other revenues increased $153 million or 62%, primarily due to higher digital content licensing revenues.
That is why Cable earnings are so much higher than Television earnings. To be sure, Fox does show sports on some of its other cable networks, but those sports rights (NASCAR, college sports, etc.) do not compare to the rights fees Fox TV pays to the NFL, which airs only on Fox Network, not any of the Fox sports cable channels.
