News Corporation Reports First Quarter Operating Income of $1.05 Billion

NEW YORK, NY — News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) today reported first quarter consolidated operating income of $1.05 billion, up 23% as compared to the $851 million reported a year ago, primarily as a result of double-digit percentage increases at the Filmed Entertainment and Cable Network Programming segments and a $61 million improvement at the Direct Broadcast Satellite segment.

First quarter net income of $732 million ($0.23 per share), decreased versus net income of $843 million ($0.27 per share on a diluted combined basis1) reported in the first quarter a year ago. The year-on-year decline primarily reflects increased consolidated operating income more than offset by a decrease in Other income, mainly from the prior year inclusion of gains on the sale of shares in Sky Brasil and Phoenix.

Direct Broadcast Satellite Television

SKY Italia reported first quarter operating income of $48 million, an improvement of $61 million versus a loss of $13 million a year ago on local currency revenue growth of 11%. This improvement primarily reflects subscriber additions, with 410,000 net new subscribers added over the past 12 months, bringing SKY Italia’s subscriber base to 4.24 million at quarter-end. The revenue growth was partially offset by increased programming spending associated with the larger subscriber base as well as costs associated with the launch of new channels.