Media conglomerate News Corp. (NWSA) on Wednesday reported an 11% jump in first quarter profits due primarily to gains in its movie, cable television and book divisions.

The company, which owns a wide range of globe-spanning media properties, including this Web site, reported first quarter net income of $571 million, or 22 cents per share, versus net income of $515 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.

During the same period, News Corp. reported consolidated operating income of $1.04 billion, a 9% increase, compared with operating income of $953 million a year ago.

Overall revenue dipped 4.1% to $7.2 billion, but still beat analysts' predictions of $7.16 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

The results reflect double-digit percentage profit increases at News Corp.’s Filmed Entertainment, Cable Network Programming and Book Publishing segments. Profit in the film studio, 20th Century Fox, surged 56% to $391 million thanks to the success of "Ice Age" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

But earnings were partially offset by decreases at the Television, Direct Broadcast Satellite Television, Newspapers and Information Services and other units, the company said in a statement.

Cable networks, including Fox News Channel, saw operating income grow 41% to $495 million, but newspaper earnings shrank more than 80% as lower ad revenue hurt The Wall Street Journal despite increases in circulation revenue from higher prices.

The results come as News Corp. and all media companies try to stem the bleeding in advertising revenue at their newspapers and TV stations.

News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said in a statement:

“I am pleased that News Corporation has delivered exceptionally strong results this quarter, despite continued macro-economic challenges.”

Murdoch continued: “The strategic steps we took last year to ensure stability during the downturn have proven successful, with significant cost reductions offsetting much of the revenue declines in our Television and Newspapers and Information Services segments. The economies in which we do business are clearly in better shape than they were a year ago, and we have further positioned our operations to take advantage of the improvements we are seeing globally. We will continue to manage our businesses smartly and confidently under the security of a strong balance sheet.”

News Corp. is the parent company of the FOX Business Network and FOXBusiness.com.