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Cox ends year as a loser

Cox posts a year-end loss, but says things will be different in 1997: Net access and telephony will be the golden eggs.

Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Paul Festa
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Paul Festa
Cable television operator Cox Communications (COX) reported losses for the fourth quarter amid slow revenue growth.

Net losses for the quarter were $57.8 million, or 21 cents per share, for the quarter ending December 31, compared with net income of $111 million or 41 cents per share for the year-ago quarter.

Despite the poor results, Cox president and CEO Jim Robbins sounded an optimistic note. "We expect 1997 to be an active year of new products and services with the continual rollout of high-speed Internet access and the launch of digital cable and wireline telephony in several of our large markets," he said in a statement.

Revenues for the quarter were $381.6 million, up eight percent from the fourth quarter of 1995.

Cox credited a Tyson-Holyfield boxing event for its increase in pay-per-view revenues. The company received $24 million in advertising revenues, down 2 percent from fourth-quarter 1995.

Satellite operations PrimeStar and Cox Satellite brought in $24.2 million, an increase of 81 percent from the same period in 1995.

Net losses for the year were $51.6 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with net gains of $101.2 million in 1995. Revenues for the year were $1.5 billion, up ten percent from $1.3 billion.