Joining other media companies in reaping the benefits of a rebounding advertising market, the News Corporation said Wednesday that it had more than doubled its net income in the quarter that ended Dec. 31.
The News Corporation reported net income of $642 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with $254 million, or 10 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. The company registered a $275 million charge related to the layoffs and changes at MySpace, the beleaguered social networking site that it is trying to sell.
As in previous quarters, cable networks like Fox News Channel and FX were the company’s profit center, generating nearly 60 percent of its overall operating income, the chief operating officer, David F. DeVoe, said on a conference call with analysts. Advertising revenue at the cable networks gained 17 percent over year-ago levels, and affiliate fee revenue was up 11 percent. Another media conglomerate, Time Warner, reported on Wednesday a 21 percent rise in ad revenue in the quarter.
Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation’s chief executive, did not participate in the conference call, but he said in a news release that the earnings “demonstrate the mounting vigor of our global channels business.”
Foreshadowing future gains in affiliate fees, Chase Carey, the president and chief operating officer, said the company expected “appropriate increases” for Fox News in future negotiations with cable and satellite distributors. More broadly, Mr. Carey forecast “at least solid double-digit earnings growth for the next several years” for the company’s cable networks.
Executives of the News Corporation were similarly bullish about fees for the retransmission of local television stations. They acknowledged, however, that the company took a temporary hit late last year when there were much-publicized blackouts of programming. The two-week blackout of the Fox network in Cablevision households cost News Corporation about $17 million in operating income, and the nearly monthlong blackout of some sports and entertainment channels in Dish Network households cost the company about $30 million.
