• by Wayne Friedman , November 5, 2015

Amid continued concerns over industrywide cable network subscriber losses, Walt Disney revenues benefited from higher advertising revenues at ESPN and the ABC Television Network.

Walt Disney said ESPN’s advertising revenues were up 5% for the its fiscal fourth-quarter reporting period ending October 3, with ABC advertising revenue gaining mid-single-digit percentages. Pricing for ABC’s scatter TV ad market inventory is 16% higher over upfront levels.

Overall revenues for its media networks climbed 12% to $5.8 billion. At its cable networks, Disney says there were more advertising units sold, offset by lower ratings.

Disney also had an increase in programming and production costs at ESPN -- and to a lesser extent, the Disney Channels and the ABC Television Network. Both ESPN and Disney benefited from higher affiliate fees.

Although subscribers overall grew at ESPN -- particulary because of a full quarter for the SEC Network -- Disney said it lost some ground in other areas. There was “a decline in subscribers at certain of our networks,” the company said in a release.

During its the fiscal third-quarter results financial call in August, Disney executives said some financial results would come in lower than expected as a result of declining pay TV subscribers. ESPN lost around 3.2 million subscribers in the past year and 7.2 million over the last four years. ESPN now has around 91.5 million subscribers.

With regard to its dramatic remarks over ESPN last quarter -- which revealed some declining subscriber numbers -- Bob Iger, chairman/chief executive officer of Walt Disney, told CNBC on Thursday “we wanted to be candid to what we were seeing.”

Taking a positive outlook, Iger did say, as he had in the past, that the TV marketplace is transitioning -- that the opportunities to distribute its content have never been as high and that demand for Disney’s programming continues to grow.

Disney’s broadcasting business -- its ABC Television Network and its stations -- rose 10% in revenues to $1.6 billion in the period, due to the higher number of advertising units sold at higher prices.

Cable networks continue to carry most of the operating income growth for Disney’s media networks segment-- up 30% during the period to $1.7 billion, while broadcasting has risen 1% to $164 million.

Parks and resorts also posted double-digit percent gains -- 10% more to $4.4 billion -- from increased guest spending as well as attendance -- but were partially offset by higher costs.

Studio entertainment revenue is flat at $1.8 billion. The current year included no Disney feature animation or DreamWorks titles in release. Consumer products are 11% higher at $1.2 billion with particularly strong results coming from the “Frozen” merchandise.

Disney’s Interactive business dropped 4% in revenue to $347 million -- but there was an improvement in operating income primarily due to higher sales of Disney Infinity, the action-adventure video game, and lower costs at Disney's mobile businesses.