Its Sphere segment<\/strong>, which operates the Las Vegas Sphere, saw revenue decline by 1% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to $169.0 million<\/strong>, which the company said was due to lower average revenue per show and fewer performances of Postcard From Earth<\/em> and V-U2: An Immersive Concert Film<\/em>. There were 190 shows in Q4 2024, versus 192 shows in Q4 2023.<\/p>\n Revenue at MSG Networks<\/strong> fell 5% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to $139.3 million<\/strong>. While ad revenue at the regional sports TV and radio network rose by $1.8 million<\/strong>, distribution revenues fell by $8.7 million<\/strong>, or 11.5% YoY<\/strong><\/span>, due to a decrease in the total number of subscribers.<\/p>\n The segment is also burdened by $804.1 million<\/strong> of debt principal outstanding.<\/p>\n Sphere Entertainment said it had secured a forbearance agreement with some of its lenders last October, under which the lenders agreed not to exercise their remedies for non-payment until the end of the forbearance term. The term has been extended multiple times, and the current deadline is March 25, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cIf MSG Networks is not successful in negotiating a refinancing or work-out of its indebtedness, the company believes it is probable that MSG Networks and\/or its subsidiaries would seek bankruptcy protection or the lenders would foreclose on the MSG Networks collateral securing the credit facilities,\u201d Sphere Entertainment said in the earnings report.<\/p>\n The company is also carrying $534 million<\/strong> in debt related to the Sphere in Las Vegas, EVP, CFO and Treasurer Robert Langer<\/strong> said on the company\u2019s earnings call.<\/p>\n For the quarter, the company reported an operating loss of $142.9 million<\/strong>, a narrower loss than the $159.7 it reported in the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusted operating income came in at $32.9 million<\/strong>, versus $51.4 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n The Sphere segment posted an operating loss of $107.9 million<\/strong>, nearly half as large as the $193.9 million loss it posted a year earlier. MSG Networks posted an operating loss of $35.0 million<\/strong>, compared to an operating profit of $34.2 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n On the earnings call, Executive Chairman and CEO Jim Dolan<\/strong> focused on the company\u2019s drive to reduce operating costs and predicted 2025 would be the company\u2019s \u201cbest year yet\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n Sphere Entertainment last year gave up on plans<\/a> to build a Sphere in London, following Mayor Sadiq Khan<\/strong>\u2019s decision<\/a> to block construction over concerns about its potential \u201cnegative impact on residents.\u201d In October, the company confirmed<\/a> that Abu Dhabi would instead be the location of the second Sphere.<\/p>\n On the earnings call, Dolan said the company is \u201cworking on the architecture for a smaller sphere, which we think will be deployable to more markets.\u201d He envisions Spheres in the 5,000-seat range, compared to 17,600 seats at the Las Vegas venue.<\/p>\n Dolan also addressed the problems at MSG Networks, a regional cable and satellite TV and radio network that broadcasts games by New York professional sports teams in the mid-Atlantic US. He attributed the difficulties to declining cable TV subscriptions amid the growing popularity of streaming services.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in the end, it comes down to monetization of product and what\u2019s the best way to monetize the product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, the traditional methods, which really did a great job of monetizing the product, are no longer as viable as they used to be. So we do have to find another way, but I don\u2019t think that path is clear yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The company is forging ahead with a second Sphere in Abu Dhabi, and planning smaller Spheres for a wide range of markets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":225436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[133759,133758,133760,133757],"class_list":["post-225434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-jim-dolan","tag-msg-networks","tag-sphere-entertainment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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