If 'They Stop, We'll Stop,' Murdoch Says of MSNBC/Fox Feud

New York Times -

Nov-05-2009

If 'They Stop, We'll Stop,' Murdoch Says of MSNBC/Fox Feud

(topic overview)
CONTENTS:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as gains at its Fox cable network and film divisions, plus cost cuts, helped offset declines at its television stations and newspapers. (More...)
News Corp.' s net income climbed 11% in the latest quarter, as gains in its cable-television networks and film business offset declines at its newspaper and broadcast-TV divisions. (More...)
The Wall Street Journal, bought by News Corp in 2007, has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the U.S. and WSJ.com has more than one million paid subscribers. (More...)
News demonstrated yesterday that it was no exception. (More...)
News Corp. chairman and chief executive Murdoch admitted last night that the schedule was slipping. (More...)
'Operating income growth was led by gains at our worldwide cable network programming businesses and renewed momentum at our Filmed Entertainment segment, reflecting our strong slate of films at the global box office,'' Murdoch said. (More...)
Murdoch said the company was '''working very hard''' on the paywall system. (More...)
If the shares can build momentum on the earnings results, we see overhead resistance around the $15-$16 price levels. (More...)
Criminal charges have been filed against 14 people -- including lawyers and Wall Street traders -- in a widening $25 million. (More...)
I think you were too kind to Fox but that is because I think an honest news media is the backbone of democracy. (More...)
Reduced expenses could not offset steep ad declines but the Australian newspapers were performing much stronger than the U.S. and British counterparts, News executives said. (More...)
Murdoch added that comparisons should be made to two years ago rather than to last year when the company was in the grip of a financial crisis. (More...)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as gains at its Fox cable network and film divisions, plus cost cuts, helped offset declines at its television stations and newspapers. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he expected 2010 to be a year of stability and the company forecast its fiscal full- year operating income would grow in the high single to low double-digit percentage range. The international media conglomerate, whose shares rose almost 3 percent after the news, said on Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter net income was $571 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $515 million, or 20 cents a share last year. [1] NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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 on Wednesday 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. News Corp raised its fiscal year operating income forecast, saying profit would grow in the high single to low double-digit percentage range. It previously said profit would grow in the high single digits. Time Warner raised its 2009 profit outlook to $2.05 a share.[2]

The newspapers and information services group reported a precipitous 81% drop in operating income to $25 million from $109 million a year ago. Murdoch said that advertising was picking up "sooner than we anticipated," and that the company was finding ways to extract more money for digital content, including the Wall Street Journal's online site and news delivered via e-readers such as Amazon.com's Kindle. The group that includes MySpace and News Corp.' s other digital assets saw its losses deepen to $128 million from $101 million a year ago. News Corp. projects that MySpace will lose an estimated $100 million this year in revenue that it anticipated from its three-year, $900-million deal with Google that ends in June. MySpace failed to deliver enough ad impressions to collect its guarantee.[3] Rupert Murdoch, News Corp chairman and chief executive, surprised analysts and the media by admitting that plans to charge readers of newspaper websites by next June could be delayed. He gave no reason for the delay, but said he "can't promise" that he'll meet his own deadline. News Corp did not provide significant detail on the performance of its digital operations such as MySpace. It said revenue from its Digital Media Group, which houses its digital offerings, decreased $22mn from a year ago, "principally due to lower search and advertising revenue". News Corp reported Q3 pre-tax profit of $1.04bn, a year-on-year increase of 9%, on the back of double-digit percentage profit increases at its movie, U.S. cable programming and book publishing segments.[4] News Corp's move to charge people for its newspapers' online news ]] online news content may not happen by June next year, the group's boss Rupert Murdoch has indicated. In a conference call discussing his organisation's financial results, the media mogul revealed that the original June deadline for the paid-for format may not be met. He said that the company is "working very hard" on developing a plan that will see charges imposed for the website news of publications such as the Sunday Times and the Sun. Since Mr Murdoch announced that his newspapers would start to charge readers earlier this year, there has been much debate about the benefits of establishing such a format. Earlier this week, Dharmash Mistry, a partner at private equity firm Balderton Capital, told Media Guardian that papers will be able to cover digital marketing revenues if they can persuade three to four per cent of their web readers to pay to use their online news sites.[5] The weakness in advertising meant that News Corp's newspapers saw profits tumble by 77 per cent to $25 million. Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corp, said in August that he hoped to charge for all online newspaper content by the end of the financial year in June 2010.[6]

"We haven't really had any continuing problem there at all. We cover them, and they have said publicly that we are absolutely fair in our reporting of the White House. They just don't like one or two of our commentators, which we understand." Murdoch was also asked about a pledge he made on last quarter's earnings call that all News Corp. news websites would adopt pay models by the end of the company's fiscal year in July 2010. He took the opportunity to back down from that goal. "We are working all very, very hard at this, but I wouldn't promise we're going to meet that date," he said. It's a work in progress and there's a huge amount of work going on." The media conglomerate had a decent quarter, saying its quarterly profit rose 11 percent to $571 million, or 22 cents per share, from $515 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier, topping Wall Street's expectations.[7] The owner of 20th Century Fox and the Fox broadcast network reported net income of $571 million, or 22 cents a share, for the company's fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with $515 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier. News Corp. said the year-over-year gains reflected higher operating income and equity contributions because of the absence of a $422-million write-down of its investment in satellite broadcaster Sky Deutschland (formerly known as Premiere).[3] In television, the picture was similar, with the division making operating income of $38m in the first quarter, against $83m in the same period last year. Overall, News Corp's sales fell by 4.2pc to $7.2bn, while net profit rose 11pc to $571m largely as a result of cost-cutting in News Corp's various operating businesses and better-than-expected contributions from its cable networks and film studios.[8] A plunge in Murdoch's newspaper revenue was checked in the first quarter by strong results from News Corp.' s movie, cable television and book publishing divisions as the company posted an 11 percent rise in quarterly net profit, the report said.[9]

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch admits that plans to introduce paywalls to all his newspaper properties may be delayed past his June 2010 deadline, even though operating income at News Corp's newspaper division is down 81% year-on-year. He is yet to comment on the reasons for the delay. The company raised its overall expectations for 2010 with Murdoch saying he expects the year to bring stability. News Corp's fiscal Q1 profits beat expectations, as gains at the company's cable and film divisions offset sharp losses across its other divisions, including at its TV and online units.[10] Operating profit at News Corp's cable networks grew 41 percent, benefiting from the strong dual revenue stream of carriage fees and advertising. CEO Rupert Murdoch told reporters that he sees "marked improvement from last year" and that the company "appears to be emerging from the bottom of the cycle."[11] Chief Executive and lead shareholder Rupert Murdoch called the results "exceptionally strong" and said the company's businesses were improving. "The economies in which we do business are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago," he said in a statement. Citing better movie performance and a better market for local TV ads, News Corp. also raised its annual forecast for fiscal 2010 operating profits to growth in the "high single- to low double-digit" percentages from its 2009 level of $3.44 billion.[12] LONDON - News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch has said the planned paywall for its newspaper websites would be delayed, as the company reported a $109m fall in operating profits for the first quarter of the year.[13] All too often the market greets earnings announcements positively - not because the profits were good but because they outperformed expectations. The flip side of this is that good results can receive a poor reception because the market was expecting them to be better. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation released its first quarter financial report card yesterday and the news fell into the former camp. It wasn't a fabulous set of numbers but the investment community was expecting it to be worse. Investors had been bracing themselves for slightly negative earnings given the advertising slump that all media companies - particularly those in the U.S. - had been experiencing over the past year thanks to the worldwide economic malaise. What most analysts had not predicted was the extent to which Murdoch had addressed this revenue pressure by taking an axe to costs. In hindsight, this was a mistake by News experts.[14]

Principally due to lower search and advertising revenue, News Corp.' s Digital Media Group saw its earnings decrease by $22 million year-over-year, the company said during its fiscal first quarter earnings call Wednesday. NAI Beefs Up Consumers' BT Opt-Out Option The Network Advertising Initiative will unveil a new tool on Thursday that allows people who want to avoid behavioral targeting to permanently preserve their opt-out cookies.[15] Murdoch weighs in on the great Fox News-vs. -White House debate during the company's first quarter 2010 earnings call. Wall Street is keeping a close watch on News Corp. discussions on retransmission fees, for a sign that broadcast networks might finally be on the same path to a dual revenue stream as their much vaunted cable brethren.[16] An October 28 article in News Corp'''s Wall Street Journal said the company was asking Time Warner Cable for a dollar per household for Fox network. On the earnings call from Australia, Murdoch added, '''When you look at what ESPN gets and what its audience is and how many hours of viewing it gets at the average cable company and compare that with Fox; I'''m not suggesting we get $4 but we have to have some sense of relativity in values.'''[16]

Cable networks, including Fox News Channel, saw operating income grow 41 percent to $495 million, but newspaper earnings shrank more than 80 percent as lower ad revenue hurt The Wall Street Journal despite increases in circulation revenue from higher prices.[12] Operating income rose 9.3 percent to $1.04 billion. "Both the top line and bottom line were ahead of what we were looking for," said RBC analyst David Bank. News Corp's results echo those of Time Warner Inc and Viacom Inc, which also reported signs of recovery in their movie studios and cable networks. News Corp's cable programing unit recorded 41 percent growth in operating income, with better performance from its Fox News Channel.[1]

The cable networks, however, experienced a 41% jump in operating income to $495 million from $350 million a year ago. Fox News Channel achieved its highest quarterly profit and increased its operating income by 79% compared with a year earlier.[3] News said the increase was driven by the worldwide theatrical success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the highest international grossing film on record, which generated more than $US880m in worldwide box office receipts. The lift in consolidated operating income also reflected "double-digit percentage profit increases" in not only its filmed-entertainment division but its cable network and book-publishing segments. This result was offset by declines in the media group's television and newspaper segments.[17]

In an otherwise poor result for News's newspaper division - operating income plunging to $US25 million ($27.5m) for the September quarter from $US134m before - Mr Murdoch made a point of highlighting the experiences in the Australian market. "Here in Australia," he said from his Sydney office on a teleconference of analysts and journalists around the globe, "the economy is in markedly better shape than in the U.S., and newspaper advertising trends are picking up sooner than we anticipated just a few months ago." A News spokesman added: "It's fair to say that the results from Australian newspapers were better than for the company's U.S. or UK titles."[18] In the year-ago period, net income attri butable to the company's stockholders stood at $515 million, News Corp said in a statement. 'I am pleased that News Corp has delivered exceptionally strong results this quarter, despite continued macro-economic challenges,'' Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said.[19] Company's operating income soared 9.3 per cent to settle at $1.04 billion. News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said their efforts had started paying off.[20] News Corp said the 11 per cent lift in first quarter net income had been "largely driven by higher operating profit and equity contributions from affiliates" due to the absence of a $US422 million write-down of Sky Deutschland AG taken during the previous corresponding period.[21] NEW YORK: Global media giant News Corporation has reported 11 per cent growth in first quarter net income at $571 million, helped by gains in cable network programming businesses and filmed entertainment segment.[19] News Corp reported an 11 per cent rise in first quarter net income to $US571 million.[22]

In the U.S., News Corp recently announced a reported 11 perent rise in first quarter net income to $US571 million, with first quarter consolidated operating income, or earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), up nine percent.[23] First quarter consolidated operating income, or earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), was $US1.042 billion ($A1.15 billion), up nine per cent from the $US953 million ($A1.06 billion) reported a year ago.[24] The media group produced net income of $571 million (£345 million) in the quarter to September 30, compared with $515 million a year ago, despite a 4.1 per cent fall in revenues to $7.2 billion as television and newspaper advertising fell.[6] Analysts had projected net income of 18 cents per share. Media giant said its revenue dropped 4.1 per cent to settle at $7.20 billion, beating the average projection of $7.16 billion.[20]

Net income for the company's fiscal first quarter, which ended Sept. 30, increased 11 percent to $571 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with $515 million, or 20 cents per share, in the year-ago period.[12] The company said it earned $571 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a profit of $515 million, or 20 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. This was led by the company's film and television production studios, where operating income rose to a record $391 million from $251 million.[11] EPS of 22 cents a share beat the Street consensus estimate by four cents. It was an especially good quarter for the company's Filmed Entertainment unit, which posted operating income of $391 million, up from $251 million a year ago.[25]

Filmed entertainment posted operating income of $391 million compared with $251 million a year ago, thanks to the box-office performance of "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which News Corp. said was the highest-grossing film of all time internationally with more than $880 million in ticket sales.[3] News Corp.' s filmed-entertainment unit, which includes 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, generated $391 million in operating income, up 56% from operating income of $251 million during the comparable period the previous year.[26]

On the subject of M&A, News Corp. management declined to comment on continuing negotiations with Cox Communications on the Travel Channel, though Murdoch added: '''I think if you look historically, most of our best profit makers are things that we started from scratch or bought for peanuts.''' He went on to name The Sun newspaper in London and Fox Film acquired for $300 million and now making close to a billion dollars a year.[16] Rupert Murdoch's adventures in cyberspace have suffered a number of setbacks, the media mogul admitted to investors last night. Three months after declaring that all his newspapers would start to charge for their websites, the owner of The Sun, The Times and The Wall Street Journal sounded a retreat, saying that a June deadline for imposing fees was not now likely to be met. He was forced to admit that a much-vaunted tie-up between his social networking site MySpace and Google was going to fall far short of producing the $900m once expected. Mr Murdoch said in August that the journalism coming out of his newspapers and television news channels would be "platform neutral but never free" and said he was working on a project to put up a "pay wall" to protect the value of internet content which would be in place by the end of News Corp's financial year next June. Last night he said: "I wouldn't promise we're going to meet that date. It's a work in progress and there's a huge amount of work going on, not just at our sites but with other people." Because few news organisations have ever successfully charged for web content, executives are struggling to predict what might be the effect of imposing fees, particularly since there are always likely to be competitors who do not charge, such as the BBC. Mr Murdoch refused to comment any further on the reasons for the delay, or on whether he was rethinking the promise entirely.[27] Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, has admitted he '''can'''t promise''' he'''ll be able to hit the original deadline of June 2010 to introduce pay walls to the sites for his newspapers. News Corp first set out plans in August to charge for online news on sites for titles such as The Sun and The Times, and said it would come into effect within the next financial year ( nma.co.uk 6 August 2009 ).[28] Plans to introduce charges to read The Scottish Sun online, along with other News International titles, have been put on hold. News Corp chairman, Rupert Murdoch, conceded that his preferred date of next June to build a pay wall around the company's sites - which also include The Times and Wall Street Journal - is now unlikely.[29]

News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch has hinted at a possible delay in plans to charge online users for access to content on the company'''s newspaper websites, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. According to the reports, Murdoch ''' in a conference call with journalists ''' said they are '''working very very hard''' on the model but couldn'''t promise that the plan will be complete by the company'''s self-imposed deadline of the end of the current financial year.[23] Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch says the company delivered exceptionally strong results despite continued macro-economic challenges. Mr Murdoch says the strategic steps that the company took last year to ensure stability during the downturn have proven successful, with significant cost reductions offsetting much of the revenue declines in its Television and Newspapers and Information Services segments. Mr Murdoch says the economies in which News Corp does business are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago, and the company has further positioned its operations to take advantage of the improvements it is seeing globally.[30] The company's chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has described the results as exceptionally strong. He says strong performances by News Corp's film, book and pay-TV programming arms drove the improvement, offsetting revenue declines in the company's newspaper and television sectors.[31]

Unveiling its Q3 financial results, News Corp said its UK newspaper operation, News International - owner of The Sun, News of the World, The Times and Sunday Times - posted a fall in pre-tax profits, termed by the company as operating income, due to a 15% fall in ad revenue and a 6% decline in circulation revenue. It did not specify its actual ad or circulation revenue.[4] At News Corp's global newspapers and information services division, operating income slumped by $109m to $25m, with the company blaming lower advertising revenues.[13] The operating income at the UK newspaper arm of News Corp has slumped by $109m to $25m, which the company p[uts down to '''lower advertising revenues'''.[32]

RBC's Bank said the movie was one of the most successful international box office hits ever. The results come as News Corp tries to stem advertising revenue declines at its newspapers and local U.S. TV stations. News Corp's newspaper unit posted an 81 percent decline in operating income as people gave up their print editions and went online.[1]

News Corp. executives bandied about three different estimates of how much of the Google's $900 million MySpace will not take in, due to the shortfall, but a consensus emerged that the penalty will be in the neighborhood of $100 million. As the Financial Times points out, this Google ad deal covered News Corp.' s estimated $580 million purchase of MySpace. The site's failure to provide the deal's minimum traffic level is bad news for News Corp., which otherwise reported a generally positive outlook due to its movie studio and cable channels, which currently generate 85 percent of the company's revenue. MySpace knows as much as anyone that its traffic is dwindling as users continue their migration to Facebook and Twitter to do their social networking.[33] We've not been making our minimum guarantees so our search revenue will not be what our revenue was." It's worth noting that Murdoch didn't appear to be losing sleep over the development. He wasn't even keeping close tabs on it. Staci D. Kramer reported, "When I asked during the press part of the call how far short of the $900 million the deal would run, Murdoch at first guessed it would come in as much as $300 million short but other News Corp. execs on the call tried to reign that in, saying more like $100 million or maybe 10 percent, which would be $90 million." It doesn't look like this represents as big a blow to MySpace as one might expect, then, which may mean its other revenue sources are proving more than productive.[34]

MySpace has lost ground in recent years, and News Corp. disclosed Wednesday that it was expecting to fall $100 million short in revenue under a contract with Google Inc. News Corp. discussed the difficulties in turning around MySpace during a conference call with analysts to discuss its fiscal first-quarter results.[3]

By comparison, News Corp's Australian newspaper group reported a 17% decline in ad revenue. News Corp's newspapers division - which houses News International, its Australian newspapers and Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones - posted Q3 pre-tax profit of $25m, a decrease of $109m compared with the same period a year ago.[4] We've gone through significant changes in terms of layoffs and restructuring and new management, that have been in place for a quarter plus. I think they've done a good job getting it in the right direction, but I think it is still very much a work in progress." Though News Corp's overall profits rose more than 10% to USD571m in its fiscal Q1, revenues from its digital media group fell by USD22m year-on-year. Overall, MySpace's 'other' division, which includes all its online properties, made an operating loss of USD128m.[35]

Murdoch didn't go into any detail about where the company cut $US400 million ($441 million) in costs but, given the size of News, it probably wasn't that difficult to achieve. In the current (second quarter) there is no reason to expect that this process won't continue. This allowed News to post an 11 per cent rise in quarterly profit in an environment where revenue was in decline.[14] GLOBAL media giant News Corporation has reported a 11 per cent rise in first quarter net profit and says its operations are "well placed" to take advantage of improving global conditions. The company also upgraded its guidance for 2009/10 on the back of an encouraging outlook for the year ahead.[21] The media giant, News Corporation, has reported an 11 per cent increase in its first quarter net profit, but says plans to charge for online news content may be delayed.[31] Media giant News Corporation Ltd (ASX:NWS) has reported an 11 per cent rise in first quarter net profit today.[30]

News Corporation, the parent company of The Times, reported an 11 per cent improvement in fiscal first-quarter net profit, helped by the box-office success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and fast growth in cable television in the United States.[6] On the positive side of the ledger, the company's cable business demonstrated that it was able to take advantage of growth opportunities in the relatively infant overseas pay television markets. With properties like Fox Sports, Fox News and National Geographic, News Corporation is continuing to colonise markets and receive a growing and more stable income stream to offset the more cyclical advertising income. (Murdoch also hinted yesterday that if Telstra was forced to sell its 50 per cent interest in Foxtel he could be interested.) Murdoch was particularly bullish about the medium- to long-term prospects for this division, saying yesterday: ''As strong as our cable channel business is today, it still has a lot of room for expansion In fact, I believe the longer-term opportunity for growth will dwarf what we have accomplished thus far.''[14]

Fox News and the company's other cable channels earned $495 million, an improvement of 41 per cent.[6]

The MySpace social media network's traffic has dropped so much that it will fail to satisfy a minimum traffic level crucial to parent company News Corp's three-year $900 million advertising deal with Google, inked in 2006, that made Google the exclusive search advertiser on MySpace then the world's most popular social network.[33] During the News Corp ( NWS ) earnings call, CEO Rupert Murdoch and COO Chase Carey both mentioned that the entertainment company's deal with Google ( GOOG ) to deliver ad space to social network MySpace was in trouble. Murdoch said, "It's quite simple.[36] Rupert Murdoch wants everyone to know that Fox News doesn't start playground fights -- but it's not afraid of them, either. On a conference call to discuss News Corp.' s ( NWS ) fiscal first-quarter earnings, the 78-year-old chairman, dialing in from Sydney, Australia, was asked about reports that Fox News had agreed to a "cease-fire" in its war of words with MSNBC, and about a recent White House effort to isolate and discredit his network. "We did not start this abuse, which we thought went way beyond," Murdoch said about the hostilities with MSNBC, implying that it was the rival network's commentator Keith Olbermann and colleagues who had initiated them. "It was personal and went way beyond -- not on me but on others.[7] During a conference call with News Corp. investors Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch was asked about the reports of a truce between Fox News and MSNBC, and if the war between the White House and Fox News Channel has been good for business. "We did not start this abuse," Murdoch said.[37]

Murdoch said Comcast'''s pending acquisition of NBC Universal wouldn'''t change how News Corp. deals with the company. '''We'''ll treat them as competitors, where as a cable company in a sense they'''re our distribution partners. We have good relations with them and with NBC, but we compete very vigorously in the marketplace.''' Touching on the spat between Fox News and the White House, Murdoch said, '''When they tried to bar us from a pool press conference, all our competitors immediately complained that is not the way to treat anybody in the media, I suppose they thought they might be next.''' Murdoch said that the White House has no beef with the Fox News reporters and that the spat arose from the fact that, '''They just don'''t like one or two of our commentators, I understand.'''[16]

News Corp.' s net income climbed 11% in the latest quarter, as gains in its cable-television networks and film business offset declines at its newspaper and broadcast-TV divisions. Reflecting what media executives say are improving but still cautious conditions in advertising spending and the economy, News Corp. expanded the range of its earnings guidance for its full year, ending next June. [38] LOS ANGELES — Media conglomerate News Corp. said Wednesday its net income for the latest quarter grew despite analysts' expectations of a decline, thanks to strength at its cable networks and the box-office success of "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."[12]

Higher theatrical and cable TV financial results lifted News Corp. net income 11% to $571 million in the third quarter.[15] News Corp. reported an 11% increase in net income to $571 million, for the fiscal first quarter 2010, or the period ended September 30, 2009.[16]

News Corp's first-quarter net income was $571 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $515 million, or 20 cents a share last year.[2] Time Warner's third-quarter net income fell to $661 million, or 55 cents a share, from $1.07 billion, or 89 cents a share, a year before.[2]

Net income rose to 571 million U.S. dollars, or 22 cents a share, from 515 million dollars, or 20 cents, a year earlier, the company said.[39]

Per share net income stood at 22 cents, up from 20 cents in the previous year.[20]

News Corp reported total profits of USD571m (USD0.22 per share) for the quarter ending September 30. This was up from USD515m (USD0.20 per share) for the same period last year and beat Thomson Reuters estimates of USD0.18 in per-share earnings.[10] LONDON - News International's ad revenues fell 15% year on year in Q3, although parent News Corp returned to profit growth in the quarter.[4] It was a good quarter for the home team. News Corp. (NWS), publisher of this blog, posted revenue for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30 of $7.2 billion, down from $7.5 billion a year ago, and a bit ahead of the Street at $7.16 billion.[25] In its statement on the results, News said the first-quarter result in Australia - which it does not break out separately - fell against what was a strong first quarter a year ago. It said the fall was primarily due to "a 17 per cent decline in local currency advertising revenues, reflecting reduced classified, national and real estate advertising".[18]

News Corp reported revenues of $US7.199 billion for the three months to September 30, down 4.1 per cent from the $US7.509 billion recorded in the prior corresponding period.[21]

Newspapers are struggling with plunging print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. Murdoch, who controls the Times, the Sun, the New York Post and the Australian, had previously outlined plans to erect pay walls around his vast newspaper empire by the end of News Corp.' s current fiscal year in June but he indicated that was now unlikely.[9] Rupert Murdoch has said the schedule for introducing pay walls to newspaper website including the Sun, the Times and the New York Post is'slipping'. According to this MediaGuardian report, the News Corp owner said he couldn't promise to meet the original date of before June next year (the end of News Corp's financial year).[40]

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, gave no reason for delaying plans to charges online readers of his newspaper websites. Mr Murdoch, chairman of the media conglomerate whose British newspapers include the Sunday Times and the Sun, said that he "can't promise" that he'll meet his own deadline.[8] Rupert Murdoch has revealed that he will likely miss his own deadline for charging readers for online news coverage. The chairman of the media conglomerate whose British titles include the Sun and the Sunday Times revealed he '''can'''t promise''' to meet the deadline set at the end of the fiscal year. He did not give a reason for the delay, but asserted his team '''are all working very hard''' to deliver the paid content solution and it remains a '''work in progress'''.[41] News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch says the media group might not start charging readers this financial year to access content on the company's newspaper websites. Mr Murdoch said the goal of having users pay for content on the media company's newspaper websites by the end of this financial year may not be met.[22] Rupert Murdoch says News Corporation will resume its truce with General Electric if MSNBC stops slinging mud at Mr. Murdoch's Fox News Channel. This contest needs a referee, stat. The two media companies reached a fragile pact to halt personal attacks between the two cable news channels earlier this year. The feud between those two men sparked a broader rivalry between the top-rated Fox News and the lower-rated MSNBC.[42]

News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch described the results as "exceptionally strong". "I am pleased that News Corporation has delivered exceptionally strong results this quarter, despite continued macro-economic challenges," Mr Murdoch said.[21] Speaking during News Corp's fiscal Q1 earnings, News Corp's top execs admitted MySpace is not hitting the traffic commitments required to receive the agreed minimum revenue of USD900m. "It was tied to very high guarantees which we have not met," said News Corp CEO, Rupert Murdoch.[35] News Corp. said MySpace -- whose 2005 acquisition was once considered so pivotal that it landed Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on the cover of Wired magazine -- has undergone layoffs and a massive restructuring but continues to lose revenue.[3]

The deal was intended to pay News Corp USD900m in revenue share payments between Q1 2007 and Q2 2010 and seemed to validate News Corp'''s USD580m acquisition of MySpace. MySpace is likely to miss this target by a wide margin, hinting at deep problems at the social network.[35] Though results for News Corp's MySpace division was not reported separately, operating income at News Corp's 'other' division slipped to losses of USD128m. The social network is expected to make USD100m less than expected from its USD900m three-year ad deal with Google.[10] Operating income at News Corp's newspaper division slipped to a mere USD25m, due to lower ad revenues.[10] Time Warner and News Corp are grappling with problems in publishing. News Corp's newspaper unit posted an 81 percent decline in operating income as ad sales fell and people gave up their print editions and went online.[2]

News Corp has upgraded its guidance for operating income for 2009/10. During a briefing for its first quarter results on Thursday, the company said its annual operating income was now expected to grow in the high single to low double-digits above its fiscal 2009 adjusted result.[24] The company's newspapers and information services segment reported a $US109 million ($A119.52 million) fall in first quarter operating income.[22] At the television segment, first quarter operating income was down to $38 million, a decline of $45 million on the prior period because of lower contributions from Fox TV Stations and the Fox Broadcasting Company.[16]

Book publishing operating income also did better, with operating income of $20 million, up from $3 million. The AP notes that CEO Rupert Murdoch told investors on a conference call this afternoon that plans to charge for access to the company's newspaper sites could take longer than previously anticipated.[25] The media magnate did not give a reason for the delay, but said that "we are all working very hard" on delivering the pay solution, and that it remains a "work in progress". The surprise answer came during a conference call to discuss the company’s first-quarter results, not least the dramatic fall in operating income in its newspaper division, falling to $25m in the three months to September from $134m in the same period a year ago.[8]

Operating income from the division categorised as ''other'' included the contributions from the Digital Media Group, which fell by $US22 million. This division houses MySpace, the social networking site whose revenues are being undercut by more recent entrants Facebook and Twitter.[14] Cable Network Programming saw a 41% jump in operating income to $495 million, up $145 million on the prior period. FNC turned in its highest ever quarterly profit, largely due to higher affiliate revenue and lower political coverage costs.[16] Cable network operating income -- the biggest contributor to operating income -- rose to $495 million from $350 million a year ago. Chrysler, under the aegis of Fiat since early this year, revealed its five-year plan during an all-day event at its Auburn Hills, Mich. headquarters on Nov. 4.[15]

In cable, operating income rose 41 per cent to $US495m, with cable channels benefiting from higher fees paid by cable and satellite-TV companies. Advertising sales slipped for the cable channels from a year earlier, however, as they did in the previous quarter.[17] Media firm posted an operating income of $1.04 billion, an increase of nine per cent from year-ago period.[19] First-quarter consolidated operating income, or earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), rose 9 per cent to $US1.042bn, beating analysts' forecasts.[17]

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which has grossed $880 million to date, helped Twentieth Century Fox to produce $391 million in operating profit, up 55 per cent.[6] The mogul was speaking after News Corp produced a 9 per cent increase in quarterly profits but revealed disappointing figures at MySpace.[27]

In the same call, News Corp said that lower than expected traffic at MySpace was putting in jeopardy a $900m deal with Google. That deal, signed in 2006, gave Google exclusive rights to put search advertising on MySpace and should essentially have paid for MySpace, for which News Corp paid $580m. It was based on a guaranteed level of traffic, however, and MySpace has not delivered enough visitors.[13] News Corp says traffic to MySpace is declining and admits revenue from the network'''s three-year advertising deal with Google is likely to fall at least USD100m short of the expected USD900m payout.[35]

The deal with Google, which runs from the first quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2010, was expected to bring News Corp $900 million.[36] The market consensus was for News Corp to report EBIT in the vicinity of $US929 million for the first quarter of 2009/10.[21]

The revelation came as News Corp'''s first quarter results have, expectedly, reported a further dip in profits.[41] "In fact, I believe the longer term opportunity for growth will dwarf what we have accomplished thus far." The company earlier reported an 11 per cent rise in first quarter net profit and said its operations are "well placed" to take advantage of improving global conditions.[24] Mr Murdoch was speaking in Sydney at the release of News's first-quarter results. The company, publisher of The Australian, reported an 11 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit and tweaked its profit guidance upwards for 2009-10.[17] Quizzed on that target during a conference call to announce an 11 per cent rise in group net profit, Murdoch is reported to have said: '''I wouldn'''t promise that we are going to meet that deadline.'''[32]

The company reported earnings before interest and tax of US$1.04 billion a 9 per cent increase compared with US$953 million reported a year ago.[30] Shares in the New York-based company were flat at $11.56 in after-hours trading following the earnings release Wednesday, after closing up 12 cents.[12]

The result underlines News's push to create a paid content model for news on the internet, which the company hopes will offset what some worry is a secular decline in advertising in newspapers. Mr Murdoch has started to push a plan to charge readers of News's products online, such as The Australian, but the details remain a work in progress. Mr Murdoch has previously said the pricing model would be up and running by the end of this financial year. "We are working very, very hard at it, but I wouldn't promise that we are going to meet that date," he said.[18] "We are working all very, very hard at it but I wouldn't promise that we are going to meet that date," Mr Murdoch said during a conference call with journalists on Thursday (AEDT). "It's a work in progress and there is a huge amount of work going on, not just with our sites but with other people." Asked about the delay, Mr Murdoch said he was "not prepared to comment on that at all". News Corp, which owns local newspapers such as The Australian, The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph, had flagged in August plans to charge users of the group's newspaper websites. Other newspapers in News Corp's global stable include the New York Post, the UK's The Sun and The Times.[22] "We are working all very, very hard at it but I wouldn't promise that we're going to meet that date. It's a work in progress and there's a huge amount of work going on." The Wall Street Journal is the only News Corp news publication currently charging for access to its online content, but Mr Murdoch has said that charges are the only way to keep paying for quality journalism.[31] Mr Murdoch says that News Corp is moving ahead with plans to charge for online content, but will probably not have the system in place by the end of June, as previously flagged.[31]

News Corp'''s chief exec Rupert Murdoch has admitted that plans to begin charging for online news sites could be delayed.[32] From a local perspective, News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch says the media group's newspaper business in Australia is improving faster than expected.[21] News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch said the outlook for the business was encouraging. "As we look ahead I am seeing some encouraging trends in most of our businesses," he said during a teleconference.[24]

News Corp. execs admitted to analysts yesterday, a significant amount of cash is going to stay with Google. Rupert Murdoch said, "It's quite simple.[34]

Who says corporate Q1 2009 earnings calls can't make for a riveting show? In an earnings call regarding News Corporation's performance this past quarter, Rupert Murdoch went beyond the balance sheet, opening up to shareholders and reporters about the broken truce with MSNBC and the battle with the White House.[43] Rupert Murdoch warned that his plans to charge readers of News Corporation's newspaper websites by the end of next June could be delayed.[8] THE Australian newspaper market is performing much better than those in the U.S. and Britain, according to News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch.[18]

NEWS Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch has offered a cautious outlook for the economic recovery, saying things were still fragile, and indicated the company was prepared to sit on the sidelines and preserve cash rather than look for acquisitions.[17]

Rupert Murdoch's new second-in-command at News Corp., Chase Carey, essentially admitted defeat in the social networking arena: "We're not trying to beat Facebook.[33] News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said the studio has high hopes for the James Cameron's 3D theatrical release Avatar, which bows Dec. 18.[26]

News Corp will need to get a new search engine partner when the current deal runs out. It's unlikely that it will get anything close to the financial terms of the partnership it struck with Google, undermining Murdoch's dreams of having a great online empire.[36] Described by News Corp as a "landmark deal", the arrangement made Google the default search browser on most of Fox Interactive Media's properties. In return, Google got to serve targeted ads on those sites.[35]

Figures for News Corp's online business Fox Interactive, which includes MySpace, were only 85.6 million. Global Comscore data from the beginning of this year showed an even wider advantage for Facebook.[36] Film-unit profit rose 56 percent to 391 million dollars while profit at the TV unit that includes stations and the Fox broadcast network declined 54 percent to 38 million dollars. "The economies in which we do business are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago," Murdoch said in the statement. "We have further positioned our operations to take advantage of the improvements we are seeing globally," he added.[39] Looking forward, Murdoch said U.S. TV ad revenue was seeing marked improvement and that the December quarter looked promising. Fox is seeing its best results in seven quarters, said management adding that Fox was the only broadcast network to see audience gains over last season and that Fox had never been number one in the key 18-49 year old advertiser demographic so early in the season before. Chief Finance Officer David DeVoe characterized cable ad sales as down '''a bit,''' for the quarter but said they were up mid-to-high single digits for the year. It was a tough quarter for ad sales on sports properties given weakness in autos.[16]

The results also include the home entertainment release of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The television group reported a 54% drop in operating income to $38 million, largely due to lower revenue from its local stations, which have been hit hard by a decline in automotive, movie and political advertising.[3] The company's filmed entertainment segment reported operating income of $US391 million. It was the highest fiscal fist quarter income for this segment and up from the $US251 million in the prior corresponding period.[21]

Hollywood's boom helped News post a record first-quarter result with operating income of $US391m, up from $US251m the previous September quarter.[17] At News's broadcast television division, which includes the Fox network and local TV stations affiliated with Fox, operating income dropped by about half to $US38m in the quarter.[17] Operating income at News Corp's cable division also jumped by USD145m, coming in at USD495m, thanks to the success of Fox News and Fox's international channels.[10] Harper Collins, News Corp's books division, also saw a rise, with operating income coming in at USD20m, compared with USD3m for the same period last year.[10] Hollywood continued to buck ongoing recessionary trends as News Corp.' s filmed-entertainment division reported its highest-ever first-quarter (ended Sept. 30) operating income.[26] Operating income at News Corp's film division jumped 56% to a record USD391m. This was thanks to the box-office success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which grossed USD880m worldwide.[10]

The company's chief financial officer, David DeVoe, said on a conference call with analysts following the release that News Corp. now expects operating income, excluding one-time charges, to increase in a percentage range from high single-digits to low double-digits.[44]

UK newspapers, which also include The Sun and the News of the World, saw a drop in operating income after ad revenues fell by 15%.[13] Less impressive was the television segment, down to operating income of $38 million from $83 million; satellite TV, down to $128 million from $165 million; and newspapers and information services (gulp!), which fell to $25 million in operating income, from $134 million.[25] Strong sales of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are," and of L.J. Smith's "The Vampire Diaries" helped fuel HarperCollins' operating income, which rose to $20 million from $3 million a year ago.[3] Cable programming also improved, growing operating income to $495 million, from $350 million.[25]

"We will continue to manage our businesses smartly and confidently under the security of a strong balance sheet." The company said the lift in consolidated operating income reflected "double-digit percentage profit increases" at its filmed entertainment, cable network and book publishing segments.[21] The company reported net income (net profit) was $US571 million ($632.13 million) for the three months to September 30, compared with $US515 million in the prior corresponding period, the company said in a statement today.[21] In the quarter reported yesterday the Fox film division provided just the kicker needed to get profit into respectable territory: the enormous success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which grossed more than $US880 million and which should keep on giving in the DVD market.[14] Quarterly profit in the studio, 20th Century Fox, surged 56 percent to $391 million thanks to the theatrical success of "Ice Age" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" on home video.[12]

The guidance is based off of News Corp.' s fiscal 2009 operating profit of $3.44 billion, excluding one-time items.[44] NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- News Corp., the New York-based media giant, reported on Wednesday an 11 percent increase in third-quarter profit, beating analysts' estimates on box-office gains from films including "Ice Age."[39]

Lucrative cable networks helped News Corp and Time Warner surpass Wall Street forecasts. Earlier this week, Discovery Communications and Viacom Inc reported that advertising sales and distribution at their cable networks had performed well.[2] The tone was in stark contrast to the Time Warner earnings call earlier in the day, where CEO Jeff Bewkes mentioned the inability of broadcast networks to sustain that top notch programming that Warner Bros. produces. Carey also said that while he didn'''t see News Corp. expanding its station business outside of the big markets, there is, '''still an opportunity to build this model.[16] "We're still losing traffic," Chase Carey, chief operating officer of News Corp told the Financial Times. "It's a business in transition."[36]

Media Decoder is an insider'''s guide to the media industry that tracks the transformation of the movie business, television, print, advertising, marketing and new media. It's a showcase for the extensive media coverage throughout The New York Times and a window on how the business of connecting with consumers is changing in the digital age.[42] Jeff Zucker Is Not Going Anywhere Jeff Zucker, CEO and president of NBC Universal, has been trying to turn digital dimes into digital dollars for years. Currently he's delivering tv programs online through Hulu, transforming nbc tv stations into hyper local Web destinations, and selling tv advertising based on the Internet's automated, targeted model. Jonathan Miller Preaches the Agnostic Gospel of the Cloud Jonathan Miller is more determined than ever to crack interactive media's money-making code in his new job as News Corp.' s digital chief. He's got plenty of learning experience to draw from, both as a partner at venture capital firm Fuse Capital and as the chairman and CEO of.[15]

News Corp made $632 million after taxes from July to September, compared with $565 million for the same period last year.[31] Weaker traffic means the News Corp division is now expected to receive about $100m less from a deal that had underpinned investors' confidence in the MySpace acquisition, executives revealed.[45] Way back in 2006, MySpace and Google signed a three-year deal that was supposed to have the search giant become the social network's exclusive search provider in exchange for $900 million.[34] AllThingsD's Peter Kafka points out that MySpace continues to struggle; revenue at the digital media group was down 26%. He notes that the site is no longer generating enough traffic to trigger the maximum payments under its advertising outsourcing deal with Google (GOOG).[25]

Wearing the undergarments present some practical problems, Rachel Dodes. Unilever Price Cuts Surprise Analysts; Soap Deal Lifts Costs Bloomberg When Paul Polman became CEO of Unilever at the beginning of the year, he promised to stoke sales growth. He's done so by boosting advertising, accelerating the introduction of new products and, it turns out, by cutting prices by as. After Mickey's Makeover, Less Mr. Nice Guy New York Times Concerned that Mickey Mouse has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character, Disney is re-imagining him for the future, Brooks Barnes reports.[15] After The New York Times reported on the attempts to ease tensions in August, the sniping resumed, but some executives at the companies are still seeking to keep the invective at a minimum. Asked about the feud on a conference call Wednesday, Mr. Murdoch pointed a finger at MSNBC, saying "we did not start this abuse." He said the fighting became "personal" and "finally we had to allow people to retaliate." Then Mr. Murdoch proposed a peace treaty of sorts: "The moment they stop, we'll stop."[42]

Fox is self a proclaimed vehicle for commentary, opinions, and right wing agendas. The only problem in this, America the land of the free and the First Ammendment, is that people actually think it is news when O'Reilly and others state their opinions and GOP presented talking points. It's not Murdoch's fault, or Fox's fault. it is the fault of the uneducated fools we call the American public.[7] Murdoch noted that other news networks voiced support for Fox after Obama Administration officials attempted to bar the channel from a pool interview with executive pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. "All our competitors. immediately went to the White House and complained and said, 'This is not the way to treat anybody in the media,'" Murdoch said.[7] As we pointed out before, in the two weeks prior to October 11 -- when White House communications director Anita Dunn appeared on CNN declaring the administration's renewed war against Fox - Fox News Channel programs averaged 1,206,000 total viewers, and 323,000 in the 25-54 demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. Between October 12 and October 23, they averaged 1,312,000 and 368,000 among the 25-54 set - increases of 9 percent and 14 percent, respectively.[37]

News operates across all facets of media, including Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, MySpace, 20th Century Fox movie studios, Foxtel in Australia, Fox in the U.S., cable TV in Europe and Asia and newspapers in Australia and Britain.[17] The media group owns news agency Dow Jones, MySpace, 20th Century Fox movie studios, Sky Italia and newspapers in Australia, the UK and the U.S., and elsewhere.[21]

The Wall Street Journal, bought by News Corp in 2007, has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the U.S. and WSJ.com has more than one million paid subscribers. [22] Even at the flagship Wall Street Journal advertising fell, although the slump here was offset by an increase in price at the business newspaper which Mr Murdoch said remains "barely profitable". It is known that work is in progress for a separate website for the Sunday Times - whose content is currently housed on The Times' site - which was likely to be the test-bed for his charging mechanism, details of which remain scant.[8] The proposed move has been watched with keen interest by other content publishers as the industry looks to break from the free-viewing model that has been blamed for declining sales of the print editions of most major newspapers. However Murdoch admitted: "Its a work in progress and theres a huge amount of work going on, not just at our sites but with other people."[29]

As media companies around the globe welcome a bounceback in advertising from almost a standstill late last year to a recovery that has accelerated in the past month - prompting a sharp re-rating of media stocks - Mr Murdoch's comments were a cautionary tale that the market should not get ahead of itself. "All of our worldwide newspaper and television businesses are having a great November," he said. "Our industry and the economy we are operating in are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago.[17] "The strategic steps we took last year to ensure stability during the downturn have proven successful, with significant cost reductions offsetting much of the revenue declines in our television and newspapers and information services segments." Mr Murdoch said the economies in which the company operated were "clearly in better shape than they were a year ago".[21]

Television revenue fell 22 per cent and newspapers 18 per cent. Its a fair effort but if News had at least held the revenue line it would have been a lot better.[14] Top line revenues were $US7.2 billion, off 4.2 per cent from $US7.5bn for the quarter.[17] Time Warner's total revenues, including its TV, filmed entertainment, publishing and AOL divisions, fell 6% in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, declining from $7.58 billion to $7.13 billion.[15] Revenue for the quarter fell 4% to $7.2 billion from $7.5 billion, mostly reflecting the downturn in television and print advertising.[3]

Kraft Foods Inc.' s Q3 '09 net revenues declined 5.7% to $9.8 billion, as a result of unfavorable currency effects and divestitures. For the same reasons, the company lowered its organic net revenue growth projection for the full year from 3% to 2%.[15] The question still lingers as to whether social networks will ever be a good medium for advertisers. Industry experts believe that Facebook will only have revenue of $500 million this year.[36]

Scripps Networks Interactive is nearing an agreement to buy a majority stake in the Travel Channel for a pricey $975 million from Cox Communications, forming a new programming venture which will include the Food Network, DIY and HGTV.[15] Ivanka Trump reached a quarter of a million followers on Twitter in less than three months during a promotion for her latest venture (of course, during this period she also had a highly publicized engagement to New York Observer publisher and fellow real-estate royal Jared Kushner going for her). Halogen Network created a microsite and Twitter campaign for the Donald Trump-scion to promote her Trump SoHo, a luxury hotel scheduled to open in February.[15] NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--News Corp. (NWSA, NWS) raised its fiscal 2010 earnings outlook Wednesday after posting better-than-expected results for the first quarter amid signs of recovery in the global economy.[44] Sinclair Broadcast Group witnessed lower revenues in the third quarter -- with expectations that the fourth quarter will see a similar decline. ABC Spells 'V' For Ratings Victory ABC took a big V-swing out of CBS' strong Tuesday lineup with its new "V" limited sci-fi series, earning a massive 5.0 in prelim Nielsen results.[15]

News demonstrated yesterday that it was no exception. In the previous quarter (the last quarter of the 2009 financial year) News had already begun this process. The company would have needed for it to put the costs back in for this cost-cutting not to have counted again in the first quarter of 2010. [14] The company'''s first quarter 2010 earnings call was peppered with analysts''' questions on the issue.[16]

MySpace's new strategy, already known before the earnings call, will be to realign the site as an entertainment destination rather than a place where people keep up with friends and family.[33] Emphasizing a major shift in strategy, News Corp. all but conceded Wednesday that its once-dominant social network MySpace is no longer competitive with rival Facebook or micro-blogging service Twitter and will seek to rebuild the site around entertainment.[3] Once the centrepiece of News Corp'''s digital strategy and the site that brought social networking to the masses, the site is '''still losing traffic''', according to chief operating officer, Chase Carey.[32]

Shares of News Corp ( ]] ) are higher in the early going on the back of the company's strong gains in its cable channels and movie studio.[11] News Corp shares rose 3.4 percent in after-hours trading while Time Warner's were flat.[2]

It'''s a business in transition.''' News Corp has already cut 30% of its U.S. workforce and two-thirds of its international staff in a bid to reduce costs ( nma.co.uk 23 June 2009 ). It announced quarterly results today with an 11% increase in profits for the three months to September.[28] His comments came after a better than expected first-quarter result from News Corporation and a slightly upgraded profit forecast for the year ahead.[17]

This a long way from his line in May this year when, speaking after the last results of the 2009 fiscal year, Murdoch claimed that moves to add a paywall to news sites could begin '''within the next 12 months''', adding that '''the current days of internet will soon be over'''.[32] News executives said trends for local television stations were improving from a year earlier, when Mr Murdoch said "business just stopped" at the height of the financial crisis.[17] Q&A With Simon Applebaum Simon Applebaum is a media veteran whose work reporting television news and trends spans over 30 years.[15] Q+A Douglas Ferguson How will we consume media in five and 10 years' time? Ferguson: When everything is digitized and libraries offer materials, we will have access to anything and everything whenever we choose, at a trivial long-tail price. Q+A Lance Broumand How will get your news in a few years? Broumand: I think it's one page that looks a lot like what the Drudge Report looks like right now.[15] From time to time, we will send you e-mail announcements on new features and special offers from The Wall Street Journal Online.[44] Startup Plans to Sell Magazines, Piece by Piece New York Observer A trio of under-30 former Wall Street analysts -- Ryan Klenovich, Jian Chai, and Steve DeWald -- plan to save the magazine business with a Web site called Maggwire.com.[15] THE FBI has arrested 14 people for alleged involvement in what prosecutors say was the largest hedge-fund insider trading scheme ever on Wall Street, prosecutors in New York said.[21]

Dylan Stableford is a veteran media reporter based in New York. Most recently, he served as senior editor, digital at FOLIO: magazine. He was formerly the managing editor of Mediabistro.com, including its popular network of media blogs, an editor at MTV.com during the dotcom boom and served briefly as an associate producer of the "Howard Stern Show" on E! He writes regularly about music and culture for several publications, including Rolling Stone, New York and Salon.[37]

A strong summer at the box office and a healthy cable TV business contributed to an 11% increase in profit for the company, offsetting decreases in the media giant's broadcast television, newspaper and digital businesses.[3] The New York-based media company said it expects profits to increase in a percentage range from the high single digits to the low double digits, excluding special items.[38]

The increase was attributed to higher operating profit and the absence of a $422 million write-down of the company'''s German pay-TV company.[16] The company said the film, which has generated more than $US880 million ($A974.21 million) in box office receipts to date, was the highest international grossing animated film of all time and the third highest international grossing film ever.[21]

In a statement, Mr Murdoch described the result as "exceptionally strong. despite continued macro-economic challenges". While cost-cutting helped the bottom line - more than $US400m lower this quarter than the previous corresponding period - the company's filmed-entertainment division underlines the role of Hollywood as a seemingly recession-proof medium.[17] News also acknowledged it had preliminary discussions about a deal to buy at least parts of NBC Universal, an alternative to U.S. cable company Comcast's negotiations to acquire a controlling stake in the TV and movie company from General Electric. Mr Murdoch said the company was not interested in NBC "as such". "When things come around, we'll kick the tyres, but we're not in any talks with anybody at the moment," he said.[17] "Rupert Murdoch warned that his plans to charge readers of News Corporations newspaper websites by the end of next June could be delayed" Shoot.there I was, just buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm about paying to read the Sun online.[8] Media Moghul Rupert Murdoch is finding it harder than expected to introduce "pay walls", a business model to charge readers for browsing his newspaper websites in a bid to shore up revenue for the struggling print media.[9]

MySpace, once the centerpiece of Rupert Murdoch's digital strategy, has fallen "significantly" short of expectations and is jeopardising a critical $900m internet search agreement with Google.[45] Google had guaranteed to pay the company $900m over three years in order to place adverts against search queries on the site, but the amount of traffic has fallen below the promises MySpace made to Google and the $900m figure is no longer guaranteed.[27] Now, unfortunately for MySpace, around $100 million of that amount isn't going to change hands. The amount of money Google was supposed to pay MySpace was in part dependent on traffic levels, and it's no secret that those are in iffy shape.[34] Murdoch indicated that the payments might come up as much as $100 million short because of traffic shortfalls at MySpace.[36]

News Corp. chairman and chief executive Murdoch admitted last night that the schedule was slipping. "I wouldn't promise that we're going to meet that date," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper on Thursday. [9] The beleaguered state of the newspaper industry was reflected in News Corp.' s earnings.[3] News Corp said the television, satellite television, newspaper, information services and "other" segments were weaker.[21] MySpace Video currently boasts over 20,000 music videos, television shows and other videos, but faces entrenched competition from YouTube that could be even fiercer than Facebook and Twitter are on the social networking side. News Corp's strong television and film properties could give MySpace a leg up on the competition, at least when it comes to its own titles.[33] Carey's comments are the most pronounced yet from News Corp. that it sees a need to change course with MySpace, a pioneer of social networking that was supposed to burnish the media giant's tech-savvy credentials.[3] After losing substantial ground to Facebook in the U.S. market, News Corp recently pledged to narrow MySpace's focus and establish it as an entertainment portal.[35] When asked how far short MySpace would fall on the USD900m target, News Corp's executive board were split.[35]

News Corp has said it is working on a separate website to house content from the Sunday Times, and it is thought that this could be used to trial the paid-for system.[13] We would remain on the sidelines for now. News Corp ( NWS ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.[11]

Data Novice: Google Proves Peace On Earth New York Times Writing in the Times, author and analytics novice Colson Whitehead employs Google search data to prove his theory that our country has officially entered an era of "postraciality." Noting that journalists, in his opinion, employ Google searches to lend credence. Expert: Windows 7 More Prone To Malware ComputerWorld At least one researcher is saying that Microsoft's decision to reduce the number of security messages that its new operating system, Windows 7, delivers when users install software makes its more vulnerable to "malware" infection[15] News chief financial officer David DeVoe said operating income should be up a few percentage points, and the growth rate range was "high single to low double-digits above the fiscal 2009 adjusted result".[17] The company's chief financial officer, David DeVoe, said guidance for operating income to high single digit to low double digit for the 2010 year. If the advertising market continues to improve this may prove conservative.[14] The company's movie operations posted a 56 percent gain in operating income.[1] Operating income soared 56 percent in the film division to 391 million dollars largely on the strength of 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which has grossed more than 880 million dollars at the box office, the report said.[9] Operating income rose 9.3 percent to $1.04 billion. "Both the top line and bottom line were ahead of what we were looking for," said RBC analyst David Bank.[2]

Marketwatch points out that CFO Dave De Voe said on the call that the company now sees FY 2010 operating income up by a high-single-digit to low-double-digit percentage; the previous forecast had been for a high-single-digit increase.[25] Revenue fell 4.1% to USD7.2bn but also came in higher than expectations, while operating income rose 9.3%.[10]

In the UK, ad revenues slipped 15% in the quarter, and circulation was down 6%. Though Murdoch says introducing paywalls for online content is a "work in progress" he adds that "he can't promise" to meet his own deadline.[10] The real reason for celebration from the investors' perspective is that Murdoch said yesterday in Sydney in the month of September revenue was flat and in November it had started to turn up reasonably strongly. This equates to a very positive outlook. If a company can improve its earnings when revenue is falling then a boost in revenue is a real bonus.[14] We had to allow people to retaliate. The moment they stop, we'll stop. We don't believe in it, and we don't think it's good business." ""As for the tensions with the White House, I think they overplayed it. It's probably been good for us in terms of ratings ''We haven't really had any continuing problem there at all. We cover them, and they have said publicly that we are absolutely fair in our reporting of the White House. They just don't like one or two of our commentators, which we understand." "All our competitorsimmediately went to the White House and complained and said, 'This is not the way to treat anybody in the media.'" Apart from spicing up what could be a dry bit of business procedure in more cautious hands, Murdoch's outspokenness during earnings calls is smart media strategy: It allows him to get out of the trap of speaking to reporters who might be hostile or reporters who might be accused of being too sympathetic (odds are, many of whom are his employees) and to simply get his message out to the public.[43] "At our U.S. television operations, we're seeing marked improvement from last year when we experienced the largest ever year-over-year drop in earnings in our history," Murdoch said.[3]

'Operating income growth was led by gains at our worldwide cable network programming businesses and renewed momentum at our Filmed Entertainment segment, reflecting our strong slate of films at the global box office,'' Murdoch said. [19] "Operating income growth renewed momentum at our filmed-entertainment segment, reflecting our strong slate of films at the global box office," Murdoch said. That said, Chase Carey, president and COO, said physical media continues to mature and is in decline. He lauded Blu-ray and VOD as important growth opportunities for home entertainment with immediate focus on the high-definition packaged-media format.[26]

Murdoch said the company was '''working very hard''' on the paywall system. Another area of the business requiring similarly hard work is MySpace. [32] The Age of Consent Consumers may find it intrusive if not downright creepy, but marketers, under immense pressure to meet quarterly goals, depend on behavioral targeting to squeeze digital dollars out of dimes. The question is: Can it be done in such a way that is beneficial to everyone? DOA Q&A: Philip K. Dick At a time when the whole world feels like it's falling apart, who better to talk to than someone who suggested that might be the case? Church & State Can the news business survive once-sacred walls toppling? Work with me on this, because you, the reader, are an integral part of this story. I want you to pick up this magazine.[15] Close on the heels of the announcement of a new round of layoffs, Time Inc. is also closing Fortune Small Business.[15]

Q+A: Adam L. Penenberg Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor and assistant director of the Business and Economics program at New York University. His latest book, Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Companies Grow Themselves (Hyperion), will be on shelves in October. In the book, he explores trends. Q+A Lloyd Braun Who controls the media, and how (if it changes at all) does this control change? Braun: The consumer controls media.[15] Jenn-Air will. N.Y. AG Hits Intel With Antitrust Suit; Says It Bribed And Coerced Los Angeles Times Following a nearly two-year investigation, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Intel saying that it, "used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market."[15] In the UK, News International, publisher of The Times and the Sun among others, saw advertising sales fall by 15pc and circulation sales by 6pc.[8]

Kellogg Removing Some Claims; FDA Plans New Labeling System Ad Age Kellogg said yesterday that it would discontinue marketing Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies as products that could boost a child's immunity but would continue to provide the increased amounts of vitamins A, B, C and E that it added to. Manufacturer Responding To Complaints About Shapewear Wall Street Journal Sales for "shapewear" -- undergarments that aim to give women wearing tight clothes a bulge-free silhouette -- have skyrocketed since Oprah put her imprimatur on Spanx nearly a decade ago.[15] On The Wall Street Journal, now the largest-circulation newspaper in the U.S., it said lower advertising revenue had affected the profits but the declines were partially offset by cost-cutting and increased circulation revenues thanks to price increases at the Journal.[18] The profit was significantly buoyed by Twentieth Century Fox, offsetting a decline in profits from newspapers, which plunged from $134m to $25m.[28] News's net profit for the three months ended September 30 was $US571m ($632m), compared with $US515m in the previous corresponding period.[17] Net profit for the three months to September 30 came to US$571 million compared to US$515 million recorded for the same period a year ago.[30]

Murdoch said "the strategic steps we took last year to ensure stability during the downturn have proven successful". He added: "The economies in which we do business are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago and we have further positioned our operations to take advantage of the improvements we are seeing globally."[4] '''It'''s not a one note song, we need to attack the cost of content, change the value of reruns, look at digital distribution of content''' Though you have to invest in content, you can'''t survive in the middle. Retrans is a building block to address those things.''' While praising the growth opportunities for cable businesses such as National Geographic internationally, Carey also gave a booster to the broadcast business describing it as, '''The pinnacle of the content world, whether it is sport or American Ido l it is a great launching platform for the best content.''' He added the video on demand would emerge as a growth opportunity in a few years.[16] In this week's edition of Broadcasting & Cable TechTalk, senior editor Glen Dickson shines the spotlight on some'' of the vendors at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver. Companies such as SeaChange and Clearlap are showing new ways to both bring content to cable operator's video-on-demand platforms and deliver VOD content to multiple screens, including PCs and mobile devices.[16] Commenting on the site's new focus, Chase says: "We're trying to create unique expertise in terms of social networking around key content sites - particularly around music, video and gaming.[35]

Deutsche Bank analyst Doug Mitchelson suggested News Corp. might ask for 75 cents a subscriber.[16] News Corporation is the parent company of News Limited, which owns the publisher of news.com.au.[21]

Yep, Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt tell author and New Yorker scribe Ken Auletta that the search giant took a serious gander at the Grey. Microsoft Announces Third Round Of Cuts TechFlash et al. Marking the software giant's third round of layoffs this year, Microsoft is cutting another 800 jobs company-wide.[15] Studio revenue toped $1.5 billion, compared to $1.2 billion last year.[26] Revenue fell 4.1 percent to $7.20 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $7.16 billion.[1]

If the shares can build momentum on the earnings results, we see overhead resistance around the $15-$16 price levels. [11] Comcast: Net Earnings Soar 22%, Digital Growth Up To no one's surprise, Comcast Corp. executives would not discuss a possible multibillion deal for NBC Universal during in its third-quarter earnings call.[15] The decline in traffic for MySpace has also put a $900m deal with Google in jeopardy.[32] Given that it hasn'''t delivered, MySpace could now lose $100m on the deal.[32]

Criminal charges have been filed against 14 people -- including lawyers and Wall Street traders -- in a widening $25 million. [46] The increase was driven by the worldwide theatrical success of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which is the highest international-grossing (non-domestic) animated film of all time and the third-highest international-grossing ever, having generated $878.6 million in worldwide box-office receipts to date, with $682.2 million of that generated by foreign markets.[26]

I think you were too kind to Fox but that is because I think an honest news media is the backbone of democracy. [7] I dare you! I watch all the news stations and listen to all the BS. I can tell you first hand that Fox is the most balanced news on the planet. It may not meet your agenda but YOU will not find a lie.[7]

Reduced expenses could not offset steep ad declines but the Australian newspapers were performing much stronger than the U.S. and British counterparts, News executives said. [17] Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms.[2]

Murdoch added that comparisons should be made to two years ago rather than to last year when the company was in the grip of a financial crisis. [16] The company is facing multiple challenges, including an advertising downturn and the shift of readers to the Internet. Newspaper and TV station earnings fell but they were more than offset by cost-cutting and gains elsewhere.[12]

SOURCES

1. News Corp Profit Better Than Expected, Shares Up - ABC News
2. News Corp, Time Warner helped by movies, cable | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
3. News Corp. seeks new focus for MySpace -- latimes.com
4. Ad revenues drop at Sun and Times owner - Media news - Media Week
5. Paid-for online news in 2010 | DirectNews | News story
6. News Corp's net profit rises on film success - Times Online
7. Murdoch dishes on Fox News feuds with White House, MSNBC -- DailyFinance
8. Rupert Murdoch delays plans to charge for online news - Telegraph
9. Murdoch finds it tough to operationalise 'pay walls'
10. StrategyEye
11. Dividend Stocks The Dividend Daily » Blog Archive » News Corp Beats Estimates, Film and TV Studios Hit Record Profits (NWS)
12. The Associated Press: News Corp. 1Q income posts surprising growth
13. Murdoch reveals delay in switch to paid-for content - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic
14. It's good News week for Murdoch and co
15. MediaPost Publications - Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines
16. News Corp. Girds For Retrans Talks - 2009-11-04 19:12:15 EST | Broadcasting & Cable
17. Murdoch cautious on recovery | The Australian
18. Aussie papers lead the way | The Australian
19. The Hindu Business Line : News Corp Q1 net income up 11%
20. News Corp posts 11% rise in 1Q earnings | TopNews United Kingdom
21. News Corp net profit rises by 11pc | Breaking News | News.com.au
22. Murdoch hints at online charging delay
23. Murdoch's online charge plan may be delayed | Dynamic Business
24. News Corp upgrades guidance for 2009/10
25. News Corp. FY Q1 Tops Estimates; Stock Rises - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com
26. Fox Studios Post Record Q1 Operating Income | homemediamagazine.com
27. Murdoch puts back plan to charge for websites - Business News, Business - The Independent
28. Murdoch admits delays to charging for online news | News | New Media Age
29. allmediascotland
30. News Corporation Ltd (ASX:NWS) Q1 profit up 11 per cent
31. News Corp profits rise, online charges delayed - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
32. Murdoch says delay to plans for online payments
33. MySpace Traffic Drop Costs News Corp About $100 Million | Epicenter | Wired.com
34. MySpace To Miss $100 Million From Google Search Deal | WebProNews
35. StrategyEye
36. MySpace in trouble on $900 million Google deal -- DailyFinance
37. Murdoch Weighs in on Wars With MSNBC, White House | The Wrap
38. News Corp. Profit Buoyed by Cable-TV, Film - WSJ.com
39. News Corp.'s profits rise in third quarter_English_Xinhua
40. MediaGuardian: New pay walls will be delayed, says Murdoch | Journalism.co.uk Editors Blog
41. Paid Online News Content Murdoch Misses Deadline | geeks.co.uk
42. If 'They Stop, We'll Stop,' Murdoch Says of MSNBC/Fox Feud - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com
43. Good For Business: Rupert Murdoch Opines On Fox News Feuds | Print | Mediaite
44. News Corp. Sees Yr Op Net Up High Single-Digit To Low Double-Digit - WSJ.com
45. FT.com / UK - News Corp says sluggish MySpace jeopardises $900m Google deal
46. New York Post

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