News Corp beats estimates despite hacking charges

LOS ANGELES - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) says net income grew by nearly two-thirds in the final quarter of 2011, thanks to growth at pay TV channels like Fox News and FX and better results from its movie studio.

Net income in the three months to Dec. 31 rose to $1.06 billion, or 42 cents per share, from $642 million, or 24 cents per share in the same period a year earlier.

Excluding one-time benefits and charges it took related to an investigation of phone hacking at its U.K. newspaper unit, adjusted earnings came to 39 cents per share. That topped the 34 cents per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $8.98 billion from $8.76 billion a year ago, slightly higher than the $8.94 billion expected by analysts.