Despite higher full year 2009 revenues, Entertainment One on Wednesday recorded a widened pre-tax loss due to higher operating costs and a steep non-cash impairment charge related to its faltering U.S. music business.

The indie studio saw its full-year loss climb to $57.4 million for the period ending March 31, against a year-earlier loss of $16.1 million, on overall revenue rising 30% to $565.3 million, against $436.3 million in 2008.

The ballooning full-year loss flowed from $56 million in total one-time charges for fiscal 2009, against $4.15 million in 2008, as E1 remains saddled with legacy businesses while it continues to pivot into filmed entertainment.

E1, which buys and distributes movie, TV and music content in North America, Britain and the Benelux, posted a $41 million non-cash charge to restructure its slumping U.S. music division.

The group’s biggest revenue generator remains wholesale distribution of CDs, DVDs and video games, a business bogged down by the current U.S. consumer slump.

But going forward, CEO Darren Throop insisted swift-rising film distribution and TV production divisions will turbo-charge E1.

‘We’re using our historical businesses to drive cash that we’re reinvesting in content and TV,’ he explained.

As part of that diversification strategy, E1 plans to invest $151 million in content and TV production, in part to produce the first seasons of The Bridge for CTV and CBS and Copper for Global Television and ABC.

Throop said steep upfront production costs will pay dividends down the road if E1’s expanding TV slate performs stateside and gets sold widely internationally.

Similarly, a rapidly expanding film slate at E1 — 110 titles were released in 2009 — produced a steep jump in film acquisition and P&A costs to market wide releases. Buoyed by the growing Blu-ray and digital markets, Throop projects positive cash spin-offs from the current theatrical film investment in 2010 and 2011.

Throop added his company will shortly return to the acquisition trail, and try once again to shore up a sagging share price after an earlier failure to secure a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Shares in E1 on Wednesday rose 1 pence, or 4%, to 24 pence (45 cents) on London’s AIM Exchange on news of its latest financial results.