News Corp mixed bag
February 4, 2009
News Corp's DTH pay-TV and TV networks boosted an otherwise lacklustre set of results that saw $953m operating income for the first quarter against $1.05bn a year ago.
SKY Italia generated operating income of $165 million, an improvement of $117
million versus a year ago with net subscriber additions of 359,000 over the past 12
months. Cable Network Programming operating income was up 31% led by affiliate and
advertising revenue gains at the Fox News Channel, FX and the Big Ten Network, as
well as continued expansion of the Fox International Channels.
Fox Interactive Media grows revenues 17% on strength of advertising and search
revenue growth at MySpace.Television operating income declined due to lower advertising revenues at the Television Stations and the sale of eight television stations.
Commenting on the results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch said:
"I'm pleased that our cable group continues to perform extremely well, SKY Italia
remains a top performer and Fox Interactive Media is seeing revenue growth even in the
face of negative macroeconomic conditions around the globe, including weak advertising
markets. All media companies are being tested and the year ahead will be difficult. I am
confident that our long-term strategy of cultivating diversified assets at different stages of
development, judicious investment of our capital and a strong balance sheet will guide
us through these difficult times."
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