NBC Universal revenues rose 10%, or $1.5 billion in 2006, primarily from the 2006 Olympic Games broadcasts ($0.7 billion), improvements in the entertainment cable business ($0.6 billion), improvements in the film business ($0.2 billion) and the effects of exiting a film distribution agreement ($0.2 billion), partially offset by the effects of lower ratings on network and station advertising sales ($0.1 billion) and the net effects of certain strategic actions in both years ($0.1 billion). Segment profit declined 6%, or $0.2 billion, in 2006 as lower earnings from network and station operations ($0.4 billion), the 2006 Olympic Games broadcasts ($0.1 billion), and the net effects of certain strategic actions in both years ($0.1 billion) were partially offset by higher earnings from the cable business ($0.2 billion) and the effects of exiting a film distribution agreement ($0.1 billion).
Revenues rose 14%, or $1.8 billion, to $14.7 billion in 2005, reflecting a number of factors, the largest of which was the full-year contribution from the May 2004 combination of NBC with VUE, which resulted in higher film revenues ($1.6 billion), growth of our entertainment cable business ($0.6 billion), and higher revenues from television production operations ($0.3 billion) and theme parks ($0.1 billion). Also contributing to the increase was $0.5 billion from the effects of certain strategic actions.
Partial offsets arose from the lack of a counterpart to the 2004 Olympic Games broadcasts ($0.9 billion) and the effects of lower ratings on network and station advertising sales ($0.4 billion). Segment profit rose 21%, or $0.5 billion, in 2005 as the full-year ownership of VUE contributed $0.6 billion, including improvements in the film ($0.3 billion), entertainment cable ($0.2 billion) and television production ($0.1 billion) businesses. The effects of certain strategic actions ($0.5 billion) were more than offset by lower earnings from network and station operations ($0.6 billion). See Corporate Items and Eliminations for a discussion of items not allocated to this segment.
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