News Corp sees fall in DTH revenues

News Corp’s DTH operations contributed revenues of US$927m (€625m) during the quarter ending September 30, down from US$969m a year earlier.

Sky Italia reported first quarter operating income of US$128m, a $37m year-on-year decrease, driven by programming costs reflecting a larger average subscriber base, higher soccer costs and the addition of 16 new channels over the previous 12 months.  Sky Italia’s 4.8m quarter-end subscriber base remained unchanged compared to the previous quarter.

News Corp reported net income of $571m during the quarter ending September 30, up 11% year-on-year, largely driven by higher operating profit and equity contributions from affiliates due to the absence of a US$422m write-down of the company’s investment in Sky Deutschland. News Corp didn’t reveal further financial details relating to Sky Deutschland.

Total News Corp revenues reached US$7.2bn up from US$7.5bn a year earlier.