Cablevision 2Q profit up 9 percent

Cablevision Systems Corp. said on Tuesday second-quarter net income rose 9 percent but missed expectations.

The Bethpage-based company's net income was $87.8 million, or 31 cents per share, for the April-to-June period. That was up from $60.8 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier, when the company took a charge for the extinguishment of debt. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting higher earnings, at 42 cents per share.

Excluding its cable networks, which Cablevision spun off at the end of the quarter, revenue rose 9 percent to $1.69 billion. It was boosted chiefly by the acquisition of a smaller cable company in December.

Cablevision shares slid $2.50, or 12.81 percent, to $17.02.

Much of the stock decline compared to two years ago derives from the spinoff of AMC shares a month ago, which gave Cablevision shareholders one AMC share for every four Cablevision shares.

AMC Networks Inc. owns We TV, IFC and Sundance Channel in addition to AMC.

Cablevision lost 23,000 video subscribers, continuing a declining trend in the face of competition from Verizon Communications Inc.'s FiOS service, and Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said Verizon had been very aggressive in the quarter. The company also is seeing pressure from the weak economy in lower-income areas.

Cablevision, which owns Newsday, ended the quarter with 3.3 million video subscribers, making it the ninth-largest provider of pay-TV service in the country. The company added 5,000 broadband subscribers, the lowest number in at least three years. -- AP