Steve Tomsic
Chief Financial Officer at FOX
Thanks, Lachlan, and good morning, everyone.
Fox once again delivered financially in fiscal 2024 with total company revenues of almost $14 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $2.88 billion. We successfully completed approximately 1/3 of our affiliate renewals this year, with the financial benefits of these renewals driving 4% growth in total company affiliate fee revenues, led by 9% growth at the television segment. Our fiscal 2024 results compare against the prior year of marquee events, including the record-breaking Super Bowl 57, the FIFA Men's World Cup and the midterm election cycle. As anticipated, the comparison to these cyclical events contributed to an 18% decline in total company advertising revenues. Total company other revenues were down 4% year-over-year, with higher sports sublicensing revenues, more than offset by lower content revenues impacted by the SAG and WGA labor disputes.
Total company expenses decreased 5%, largely due to the absence of costs associated with the Super Bowl and Men's World Cup in the prior year. However, this was partially offset by the first year step-up under our new NFL rights agreement. Also contributing to this overall decrease in expenses were lower entertainment programming costs due to the strikes.
Net income attributable to stockholders was $1.5 billion or $3.13 per share, up versus the $1.24 billion or $2.33 per share reported in fiscal 2023. Restructuring, impairment and other corporate matters was impacted by charges associated with the Fox News Media litigation last year and non-operating other net was impacted by the change in the fair value of the company's investment in Flutter, partially offset by the book gain on USFL assets contributed to the United Football League joint venture. Excluding non-core items, full year adjusted net income was $1.65 billion and adjusted EPS was $3.43 a share.
Turning to our fiscal fourth quarter. Fox delivered total revenues of $3.09 billion, up 2% from the prior year quarter and quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $773 million, up 5% from the prior year quarter. Total company affiliate fee revenues grew 5% over the prior year, with growth at both our television and cable segments supported by our recent cycle of affiliate renewals. Total company advertising revenues were flat as the revenue generated from our Summer of Soccer and growth at Tubi was offset by lower ratings and pricing of the Fox Network.
Total company other revenues were down 11% primarily due to a lower volume of third-party content sales in the current year quarter. Growth in total company expenses was held to 1%. Here, costs associated with the broadcast of the UEFA, Euro and Copa America along with digital investments at Tubi were partially offset by the deconsolidation of the USFL and lower programming and production costs at Fox Entertainment from the higher mix of unscripted versus scripted content.
Net income attributable to stockholders of $319 million or $0.68 per share was down versus the $375 million or $0.74 per share reported in the prior year quarter. Excluding non-core items, adjusted net income in the quarter increased to $423 million, while adjusted EPS grew 2% to $0.90 a share.
Now turning to the quarterly results of our main operating segment. Our Cable Networks fourth quarter revenue grew 2% year-over-year. Cable affiliate fee revenues increased 2% with growth in pricing from our affiliate renewals, outpacing the impact from industry subscriber declines running in the mid-8% range. Cable advertising revenues grew 3% at the at the national sports networks advertising benefited from the broadcast of CONMEBOL Copa America and the UEFA European Championship. At Fox News, ad revenues benefited from higher pricing, improved ratings and slightly lower preemptions. Cable other revenues were essentially unchanged from the prior year quarter. Cable expenses were 11% lower than the prior year quarter, primarily due to the deconsolidation of the USFL and lower programming costs at Fox News, partially offset by the UEFA Euro and Copa America. All-in, quarterly adjusted EBITDA at the Cable segment grew 20% over the prior year quarter to reach $703 million.
Turning to our Television segment, where we delivered 2% growth in quarterly revenues. This was led by 9% growth in television affiliate fee revenues as price increases across Fox owned and operated and Fox-affiliated stations continue to outpace the impact from subscriber declines. Television advertising revenues fell 1% as the broadcast of the UEFA, Euros and Copa America and growth at Tubi were offset by lower ratings and pricing at the Fox Network. Television other revenues fell 19% in the quarter, primarily a result of a lower volume of third-party content sales. Expenses of the television segment grew 8% over the prior year quarter primarily due to costs associated with UEFA, Euro and Copa America and digital investment at Tubi, partially offset by lower programming and production costs at Fox Entertainment. Taking the lease factors into account, quarterly adjusted EBITDA at the Television segment declined 35% against the prior year quarter to $148 million.
During the full year, we generated free cash flow, which we define as net cash provided by operating activities less capex of $1.5 billion. Before we get to capital allocation and balance sheet, it's worth noting some key items for this coming fiscal year. Most notably, we returned to another major event cycle in fiscal 2025, led by Super Bowl 59, which we expect will drive significant growth in both advertising revenues and free cash flow. However, this is the first Super Bowl under our new NFL contract, and accordingly, we'll have elevated rights amortization. We continue to expect strong political advertising in the first half of the fiscal year from the election cycle, which will particularly benefit our Stations Group.
From an affiliate revenue perspective, we have a relatively light year of renewals with approximately 1/4 of our total company distribution revenues up for renewal, which are more weighted to our cable segment. We expect to continue to invest in our digital-led growth initiatives. Here, Tubi will continue to be the focus of investment spend with the collective digital portfolio expected to deliver improved EBITDA relative to 2024. We also look forward to the expected launch of Venu Sports this fall. As a reminder, our share of ownership results from Venu will be recorded below EBITDA in equity earnings.
Returning to capital allocation. Over the course of the fiscal year, we returned $1 billion of capital through the repurchase of $40 million Class A shares and a further $250 million in dividend payments. Underlining our continued commitment to shareholder returns, today, we announced an increase in our semi-annual dividend to $0.27 per share. With the payment of this dividend and taking into account share repurchase activity since year end, we've cumulatively returned over $7.25 billion of capital to our shareholders since the spin in 2019. This includes $5.65 billion of share repurchases, representing over 27% of our total shares outstanding since the launch of the buyback program in November 2019. This is all supported by the strength of our balance sheet, where we ended the quarter with $4.3 billion in cash and approximately $7.2 billion in debt.
And with that, I'll turn the call back to Gabby to get started with Q&A.
