By Tess Stynes And Keach Hagey 

CBS Corp. said its first-quarter earnings fell 19% on lower revenue that was hurt by the airing of fewer National Football League playoff games and a decline in advertising revenue at its local broadcasting business.

The shares still rose 1% to $61.85 in after-hours trading as results beat analysts' expectations.

Like other media companies, CBS has been aiming to reduce its reliance on advertising revenue to reflect shifts in how people consume television shows and movies.

On an earnings call with analysts, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said the company will be rolling out an Internet-delivered version of its premium channel Showtime "in the coming months." The online version of Showtime is aimed at reaching the 10 million broadband-only homes that can't currently get Showtime, as well as improve penetration in the 100 million households with TV subscriptions by tweaking "the historical way cable has been packaged."

Mr. Moonves noted that Time Warner Inc.'s similar HBO Now product, which launched last month, is proving the opportunity for premium channels to go over-the-top.

Mr. Moonves also said the company was "very encouraged by the early success" of CBS All Access, the CBS network's $6-a-month over-the-top subscription service, adding that he expected it to be rolled out to the whole country by year-end. The company declined to detail how many subscribers CBS All Access has, but Chief Operating Officer Joe Ianniello said the $6 price point "underscores our value in retrans and reverse comp negotiations"--meaning that it is being used as a tool to boost the fees that local CBS stations pay the network.

Separately, Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone earlier on Thursday denied media reports that any decisions had been made about who would succeed him as chairman of CBS and Viacom Inc. Mr. Redstone said any such decision would be made by the companies' boards, and not by any individuals.

He added that after his death, his stakes in the companies will be overseen by a group of seven trustees. "Until that time, I will continue to make all such decisions," he stated.

The New York Post on Wednesday reported that Mr. Redstone's daughter, Shari Redstone, is in-line to succeed her father at CBS and Viacom, and that her views likely will be supported by a majority of the trust's directors, citing people close to the situation.

Mr. Redstone, 91 years old, has made plans for how his roughly 80% voting stakes in both companies will be managed after his death. Those interests will pass to Mr. Redstone's grandchildren and their descendants, and will be managed by the seven-member trust.

The trust will be comprised of three family members and four nonfamily members and will include Mr. Redstone's daughter; her son Tyler Korff; Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman; David Andelman, a CBS board member; and George Abrams, a longtime Redstone family attorney. It is widely expected that Messrs. Moonves and Dauman would become chairmen of their respective companies after Mr. Redstone dies, because their contracts stipulated that they won't report to anyone other than Mr. Redstone.

Mr. Redstone wasn't on CBS's earnings call Thursday.

In the latest quarter, CBS reported that its advertising revenue fell 4.8% to $1.78 billion. Content licensing and distribution revenue decreased 4.2% to $1.03 billion, while affiliate and subscription fees increased 11% to $628 million, driven by growth in rates.

In the latest quarter, CBS's entertainment division--which includes the television network, CBS Television studios and CBS films--reported revenue fell 1.8% to $2.26 billion, from a year earlier when CBS aired an additional NFL playoff game. Segment operating earnings fell 18%, reflecting a higher investment in sports and entertainment programming.

Revenue at the cable networks unit--which includes Showtime, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Networks-- edged up 0.4% to $539 million and operating earnings fell 1.2%.

The company touted the strength of its prime-time TV lineup as the end of the 2014-2015 television season draws closer.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to build upon our position of great strength with a new prime-time lineup that we will announce next week, and we expect to be No. 1 in the upfront marketplace," Mr. Moonves said in a news release Thursday

Overall, CBS reported a profit of $394 million, down from $468 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings were flat at 78 cents on a decrease in shares outstanding. Revenue fell 2% to $3.5 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share earnings of 75 cents and revenue of $3.45 billion.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com and Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com

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