News Corp earnings warm up on Ice Age

NEW YORK: News Corp and Time Warner Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit as movie studios and cable network gains helped offset declines at their newspaper and magazine units.

Both News Corp and Time Warner, which have been cutting costs to keep ahead of falling revenue, raised their forecasts, and News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he expected 2010 to be a year of stability.

The results suggested that big media companies were recovering from the sharp decline in advertising revenue during the financial crisis, even though performance is still worsening at their newspaper and magazine publishing units.