LOS ANGELES (AP) -- CBS Corp., the media company controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone, said Thursday it lost $55 million in the first quarter as advertising revenue fell sharply.

The results missed Wall Street expectations, but the company gave an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves told analysts on a conference call that TV advertisers had increased purchases on the “scatter,” or spot ad, market in the last four to six weeks at prices above the bulk bookings secured ahead of last year's TV season.
“We are seeing early signs of improvement in the advertising marketplace both locally and nationally,” Moonves said. “It is premature to call it a full recovery, but the trends are encouraging.”
The comments echoed the upbeat outlook given by Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday, who said “the worst is over” for the media giant he controls, News Corp.
New York-based CBS said its net loss amounted to 8 cents per share, down from a profit of $244 million, or 36 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue dropped 13 percent to $3.16 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $3.26 billion.
CBS shares fell 76 cents, or 9.4 percent, to $7.30 in after-hours trading after the earnings were released. Earlier, shares closed up 1 percent at $8.06.
CBS said it expected operating income before depreciation and amortization for the full year between $1.73 billion and $1.93 billion, down from an adjusted figure of $2.55 billion in 2008.