LIONSGATE REVENUES FALL DUE TO PANDEMIC

Lionsgate Entertainment Corp., an entertainment company headquartered in California, reported a fiscal second-quarter revenue of $745 million, down more than 20 percent from 938 million the year earlier amid the ongoing pandemic, Xinhua news agency reported.

The company also reported a net loss of $18.4 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2020. Revenues of the company's Motion Picture segment declined to $257.6 million due to closing of theaters associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by the performance of titles in the premium video-on-demand (PVOD) market and digital home entertainment platforms. But the segment's profit grew 63 percent to $83 million, thanks to strong demand for library content and lower distribution and marketing costs.

Lionsgate also said that its television production segment revenue declined to $197.2 million compared to $274 million dollars in the same period last year, primarily due to the timing of production schedules and episodic deliveries.

Meanwhile, STARZ, a premium cable and satellite television network owned by the company, reported its best domestic over-the-top (OTT) subscriber growth quarter ever as domestic OTT subscribers increased to 9.2 million, up from 7.4 million in the prior sequential quarter. The company's media networks segment revenue of $388.3 million was up 3.8 percent year-o- year while segment profit was $92.9 million. Revenues were driven by strong growth in the number of streaming subscribers.