News Corporation’s American television network shrugged off the writers’ strike to double profits and help its parent company, the owner of The Times, to a better-than-expected 24 per cent growth in operating profits.

That gain to $1.4 billion (£709 million), was dragged down, however, by a $299 million write-down on the investment made by News Corp’s affiliate, British satellite broadcaster, BSkyB, on its holding in ITV. Net profits, after the charge, were up $10 million to $832 million.

News Corp also ruled out a counter bid for Yahoo!. Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive, said: “We are definitely not going to make a bid for Yahoo!.” News Corp had been touted as a potential bidder, after last year holding talks about merging MySpace in return for a stake in Yahoo!, but Mr Murdoch said that “those days are past”.

Profits at Fox Television, and the company’s other network television operations jumped to $245 million from $112 million, as the company benefited from resilient prime-time ratings at a time when rivals suffered amid a writers’ strike that has affected popular programmes and led to declining audiences.

Fox was able to increase advertising revenue in the quarter, a period in which one of its competitors, NBC, handed $12 million back to advertisers as compensation for disappointing audiences. The network was also helped by the $250 million generated in advertising from broadcasting the Super Bowl at the weekend after the financial quarter ended.

Ahead of the results, Wall Street analysts had expected News Corp to unveil operating income growth in the range of 10 per cent to 15 per cent, although the company’s final 27 cents earnings figure — after the ITV hit — wasshy of the 28 cents expected.

News Corp’s newspaper division, which includes the recently acquired Dow Jones, improved profits by $26 million to $196 million. However, the company’s British newspapers, which also include The Sun, The Sunday Times and the News of the World, saw profits fall by an unspecified amount, primarily as a result of depreciation costs related to an investment in new printing presses.

Elsewhere, a weaker release slate meant that film profits were down 14 per cent to $403 million, while Sky Italia posted a $62 million profit compared to a $12 million loss a year ago.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive