Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has reported lower quarterly results on a weaker performance at its Fox television unit, reflecting the advertising slump affecting most media companies.
The company, which owns the Fox Television Network, 20th Century Fox film studios, a host of cable networks and newspapers, reported a profit of $145 million for the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30th.
In the same period a year earlier it earned $184 million.
News Corp, which is negotiating to gain control of General Motor's Hughes Electronics satellite television unit, saw its operating revenues fall 11.6 per cent, to $3.44 billion from $3.9 billion.
Including one-time items, such as write-downs of the value of several investments and a gain from the sale of its investment in the Golf Channel, News Corp reported a loss of $265 million.
The company's full-year operating income, excluding earnings from its associated entities, interest and dividends, was $1.67 billion, at the low end of its forecast range of $1.65 billion to $1.7 billion.