Q4 2007 Spanish Broadcasting System Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Spanish Broadcasting fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 teleconference. Hosting the call today from Spanish Broadcasting is Ral Alarcn, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be conducting a question-and-answer session later in the conference. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) The conference is being recorded.

At this time I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Alarcn. Sir, you may begin your conference.

RAL ALARCN, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, SPANISH BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC.: Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 earnings results conference call. Joining me on today's call are Joseph Garcia, our Chief Financial Officer; Marko Radlovic, our Chief Operating Officer; Pio Ferro, our national program director; and Cynthia Hudson-Fernandez, our Chief Creative Officer.

Before I begin let me remind you that today's conference call may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ. Please refer to our most recent prospectus for a list of those factors that could impact actual results.

This afternoon I'm going to provide a brief review of our strategic and operating developments since our last call in November and then Joe will review our fourth quarter and year end financial results and comment on our first quarter expectations. We will then be happy to take any questions that you may have.

Starting with our fourth quarter results consolidated net revenue was $46.2 million compared to $44.4 million in the year-ago period, an increase of 4%. We performed within our guidance and well ahead of the majority of our peers, despite facing a continued challenging advertising environment. Once again our top-line results were primarily driven by revenue gains at Mega.TV, our television network, which is now broadcasting nationally through DIRECTV, in addition to our over-the-air stations in Miami.

During the quarter Mega.TV generated revenues of $3.5 million, an 84% gain over the fourth quarter of 2006, a significant consistent increase since launch. As we have noted on previous calls Mega.TV's growth has been nothing short of exceptional. In less than two years Mega.TV has become the fastest-growing television station in South Florida, achieving unprecedented recognition from viewers in record time. Now, with our national distribution via DIRECTV, we have a very attractive opportunity to cross-promote our assets and expand our audience.

Our radio net revenues increased 1% in the fourth quarter, ahead of the overall industry, which was down approximately 4%. Further, our second half revenue trends improved over the first half and we have outperformed the overall U.S. radio market for both the third and fourth quarters. We believe our outperformance is attributable to our ability to deliver consistently strong audience shares in the nation's largest Hispanic media markets.

Finally, our online properties turned in a strong performance during the fourth quarter and full year from an audience standpoint and we are pleased with how our web presence is growing. We continue to believe our multiplatform business strategy will allow us to maximize our relationship with our listeners and viewers and our website, LaMusica.com and Mega.TV, which have evolved into major destinations in their own right, are also helping us to cross-promote our assets and better engage our audiences.

Through the depth and quality of our content and the popularity of our diversified media brands, we believe we are building the foundation for our Company's future success. The U.S. Hispanic market, which as you know, represents the foundation of our Company's strategic initiatives, will continue to expand in terms of both population and consumer spending power.

We believe our diversified platform has tremendous long-term growth potential. We are delivering attractive and growing audiences to our advertisers. Our combined asset base spanning TV, radio and the internet now reaches over 11 million Spanish-speaking people across the nation. We have grown our total audience by over 77% in the past two years, while our advertiser base has expanded by 50% during the same period. In the year ahead we'll remain focused on further building our audience shares and better monetizing our reach.

Now let me provide some details on operating performance at each of our divisions during the quarter, beginning with television. In 2007, Mega.TV continued to achieve outstanding audience traction. In the most recent sweeps period, the station delivered the largest audience growth in the market among the coveted 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 demos, with a 99% increase and 128% increase respectively in the November sweeps from the prior year. In addition, WSBS-TV delivered a 10% share of voice in November '07, among the 18+ audience in the 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. prime time period.

We have been able to deliver rapid audience growth at Mega.TV, principally because our programming strategy is working. As we have outlined on past calls, Mega.TV offers viewers a quality mix of informational entertainment content that contrasts with our Hispanic TV peers. Viewers like what they see and they're tuning to Mega.TV because we are entertaining and informing them in a unique way.

In turn, we have moved aggressively to convert these viewership …