Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp., owner of the Twentieth Century Fox film studio, raised its full-year forecast after reporting first-quarter profit gained 11 percent, driven by box- office gains from films including “Ice Age.”

Net income increased to $571 million, or 22 cents a share, from $515 million, or 20 cents, a year earlier, the New York- based company said today in a statement. That beat the 18 cents projected by analysts, the average of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue dropped 4.1 percent to $7.2 billion, compared with estimates of $7.21 billion.

Fox News, the Big Ten Network and News Corp.’s regional sports networks on cable all took in higher affiliate fees. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch is seeking to be paid more for content. He’s planning to charge for news on the company’s Web sites, and is asking for retransmission fees from television providers that carry the Fox broadcast network.

“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.”

Adjusted operating profit will increase in the “high single to low double digits” on a percentage basis in fiscal 2010, Chief Financial Officer David DeVoe said on a conference call today. That’s up from an Aug. 5 projection of growth in the “high single digits.” The forecast is based on adjusted operating income of $3.44 billion for fiscal 2009, DeVoe said.

‘Ice Age’

News Corp., also the owner of the FX cable channel and HarperCollins book publishing, rose 3.4 percent to $11.95 in extended trading, after climbing 12 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $11.56 in regular Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The Class A shares have advanced 27 percent this year, compared with 16 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Film-unit profit rose 56 percent to $391 million. Twentieth Century Fox is the fourth-highest grossing studio in the U.S. this year, according to Box Office Mojo. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” released on July 1, has taken in $880 million worldwide.

“The contribution of ‘Ice Age’ was certainly meaningful. It was one of the more successful animated international box- office performers we’ve ever seen,” David Bank, a New York- based analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in an interview. “They’re producing good content. They operated with better expense discipline than we expected in cable and TV.”

At the cable unit, operating income rose 41 percent to $495 million, bolstered by Fox News, the leader in prime-time cable news. Fox News had its highest-ever quarterly profit, increasing operating income by 79 percent, News Corp. said.

‘Fair Compensation’

Profit at the TV unit that includes stations and the Fox broadcast network declined 54 percent to $38 million. Murdoch said at the company’s Oct. 16 annual meeting that he’s seeking “fair compensation” from the cable and satellite-TV providers that carry Fox.

In the past, fees have only been paid to cable channels. Fox, the network most-watched among the 18-to-49 age group, is leading in ratings this season, helped by the medical-drama “House” and Major League Baseball’s World Series.

The Wall Street Journal in October began charging for access on mobile devices such as the Blackberry and announced plans for a higher-priced WSJ Professional Web site.

MySpace

News Corp. is reshaping its MySpace Web site around music, videos and games. The site’s revenue from a search deal with Google Inc. may fall short by about $100 million this year as traffic to the site declines, Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said.

A three-year, $900 million advertising agreement with Mountain View, California-based Google expires next year.

News Corp. isn’t interested in buying NBC Universal, Murdoch said on the call. Comcast Corp. is in talks for a 51 percent stake in a venture that would own General Electric Co.’s NBC, people familiar with the talks said last month.

“We’re not interested in NBC as such,” Murdoch said today on a conference call. “When things come around we kick the tires, but we’re not in talks with anyone at the moment.”

News Corp. and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. have been the frontrunners in the bidding for the Travel Channel, people familiar with the process said last week. News Corp. was considering dropping out because it wasn’t willing to pay the $1.1 billion being sought by owner Cox Communications Inc., a person with knowledge of the company’s plans said Nov. 2.

Carey declined to comment on the Travel Channel on the call. The quarter ended Sept. 30 was the first for Carey since he rejoined News Corp. as deputy chairman and COO.

Travel Channel

In an interview last month, Carey said News Corp. is “uniquely capable” of developing the Travel Channel.

News Corp. hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help evaluate a sale of Dow Jones & Co.’s stock-index business, a person familiar with the matter said in August.

“We intend to keep absolute control of the name and the content of the index,” Murdoch said on today’s call. “Whether we merge it with another index company or companies is another matter and certainly something I can’t comment on at the moment.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 19:07 EST