Emmis Swings to Quarterly Loss
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: EMMS) is reporting a fiscal second quarter net loss of $373,000, compared to net income of $70 million during the same period last year. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smulyan also announced the company plans to “dramatically reduce” the operations of its NextRadio and TagStation businesses after failing to form a consortium to own and operate them.
NextRadio is a smartphone app that lets users listen to traditional over-the-air FM radio using the device’s FM chip. TagStation, billed as "the power behind NextRadio," is a cloud-based data system allowing radio stations to accurately play out their content, including commercial advertisements.
Smulyan says Emmis has been working to establish a consortium to run the businesses for the past several months.
“The participating companies envisioned using their collective scale and resources to build an attribution platform for the radio industry that would have provided the common language and measurement that radio advertisers are demanding," said Smulyan. "Unfortunately, the consortium has not been formed and these efforts appear to have been unsuccessful. Because Emmis is unwilling and unable to continue to fund the NextRadio and TagStation businesses as they are currently structured, we plan to dramatically reduce the operations of these businesses and explore other means of eliminating the operating losses from these businesses in the coming months."
Emmis says its reported results are not comparable year-over-year, due to the sales of its radio stations in Los Angeles and St. Louis. Smulyan says radio revenues were up in July, August, and September, while October is on pace to be the company’s strongest month in four years.
You can connect to the full fiscal second quarter results from Emmis by clicking here.