Playboy’s Online, TV Units Help Boost Results

Adult entertainment company Playboy Enterprises Inc. reported its first-quarter net loss narrowed, helped by improved results in its online and television divisions.

The Chicago-based publisher of Playboy magazine, which also has cable-TV channels, a home video division and Web programming, reported a net loss of $9.4 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with a loss of $11.8 million, or 49 cents, the year before. This year’s results included a charge of $5.8 million related to a change in accounting rules. Revenue rose slightly to $66.1 million from $65.4 million. The company reported that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a common measure of operating performance, nearly doubled to $14.6 million in the first quarter.

Another potentially positive development for Playboy involves debt-laden cable television provider Adelphia Communications Corp., the nation’s only major carrier that does not carry adult channels. If Adelphia goes through with plans to sell some of its subscriber base, the buyer probably would add Playboy channels to some of those accounts, Playboy said.

Playboy rose 63 cents to $13.80 on the New York Stock Exchange.