Paramount’s Channel 5 Increases Operating Profit In 2023 But Takes Hit On Huge $200M Payment To Viacom Interactive Subsidiary

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Paramount UK network Channel 5 saw turnover and operating profit rise last year but made an overall loss of £159.5M ($200M) due to a one-off payment to a Paramount Global subsidiary.

According to its full-year 2023 results posted on Companies House, the loss was solely down to an investment in Viacom Interactive Limited, which totalled a whopping £273M. That subsidiary, which is “unrelated to Channel 5’s trading business,” made an even bigger loss of more than £300M over the same period. The results cited “adverse global market conditions.” A Channel 5 spokesman declined further comment.

The Channel 5 results noted that the loss came “despite” the All Creatures Great and Small network’s operating profit of £112.4M, which actually increased by 40% during what was a tough economic year for the wider industry.

Turnover rose by 7.5% to just shy of £400M. Notably, this revenue boost was aided by an £80.9M one-off payment from Channel 5’s ad partner Sky, which was “due to a correction in the sales partners’ internal reporting” for the period from 2017 to 2023. It was reported last month that Sky had been hit with a hefty bill of hundreds of millions of pounds to the likes of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery following the error.

Despite the huge one-off payment to Viacom Interactive, Channel 5’s positive figures and a fifth consecutive year of ratings share growth were put down to “a combination of new and returning acclaimed drama commissions, factual favourites and agenda-driving documentaries.” The results pointed to the success of dramas including All Creatures Great and Small, which airs on PBS in the States, and factual shows like Captain Tom: Where Did The Money Go?. The report also flagged the network’s ongoing commitment to news, kids programs and commissioning production companies outside of London.

Under content boss Ben Frow, Channel 5 has performed well over the past few years.

Its future has been under discussion amid the Paramount sale to David Ellison’s Skydance, which should complete in the first half of next year. Attempting to calm the chatter, C5 President and Paramount UK Regional Lead Sarah Rose recently told a TV conference: “Paramount is being sold to another owner and therefore Channel 5 is being sold with it, we are part of that ecosystem.”

“It has massively helped that we return profits to them and they are about to get some more,” Rose told last month’s VLV conference. “I’m not losing sleep about being left by the wayside.”