The earnings reports for CBS keep getting stronger. Last Thursday, August 8th, was a big day for CBS, as it was the day they were due to announce their second-quarter earnings, and according to “sources”, it was also the day that we expected to hear more about a potential CBS/Viacom merger.

Well, there wasn’t any merger news on Thursday, but that doesn’t dampen the good news from the earnings call. The Hollywood Reporter summarized the results: “After the closing bell Thursday, CBS said it earned $1.17 per share on revenue of $3.8 billion as digital services Showtime and CBS All Access fueled 13 percent growth in affiliate and subscription revenue. CBS acting CEO Joe Ianniello said the two combined will reach 25 million subscribers by 2022, and he announced that CBS All Access will roll out children's programming this year with 1,000 episodes of library content that includes Inspector Gadget, The Adventures of Paddington Bear and Heathcliff from DHX Media.”

Among the other earnings call announcements were an accelerated rollout of the streaming CBSN Local service - which aims to be a direct streaming replacement for broadcast local news programming - and new seasons of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Danger Mouse.

CBS said that it set second-quarter records for revenue and adjusted operating income. Despite all the good news, however, shares of CBS remained roughly flat on the day.

The Hollywood Reporter, in its analysis, noted that in addition to the CBS earnings, Thursday also held news for Viacom and Paramount, saying, “Viacom said its channels improved their ad sales while its Paramount Pictures grew its bottom line for the 10th straight quarter, news that spurred a 4 percent rally of its shares.”