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Sky had to write down its £940m investment in ITV by £343m as a result of ITV's falling share price, with a knock-on effect on News Corp, which has a 39% shareholding in Sky. News Corp suffered a $50m net loss from its affiliates compared with a $249m net gain a year ago.

The Murdoch media empire grew in all but two of its eight operating divisions, filmed entertainment and television.

Group revenues grew 9.5% year-on-year to $8.59bn, with cable network programming revenues up by a third to $1.24bn.

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp, said: "Domestically, the strength of our broadcast network and cable assets has enabled us to capitalise on the current advertising market, while at the same time we continue to ramp up affiliate revenues across our cable channels.

"And our internet platform is now delivering real profits from locked in search revenues as well as from advertising revenue growth as a result of our hyper-targeting initiatives."

The company's UK newspaper division reported a decrease in operating income partly due to accelerated depreciation on its printing presses. Ad revenues were slightly above last year and circulation revenues declined slightly.

With its Australian newspapers enjoying ad revenue growth, News Corp's Newspapers and Information Services division reported a 15% increase in operating income to $196m.

The film division was the only one to suffer a drop in operating income, from last year's record $470m to $403m, despite hits such as 'The Simpsons Movie' and 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'.

The "Other" division containing MySpace and other mainly online assets reported an increase in operating income from $1m to $23m on revenues up from $518m to $798m.