• by Wayne Friedman , November 11, 2010

Viacom's troubled gaming unit, which includes its "Rock Band" video game, pulled down overall third-quarter company results. Net income sank by more than half -- 59% -- to $189 million from $463 million in the third quarter of 2009. Revenue did improve 5% to $3.33 billion.

Viacom let Wall Street analysts know it was selling its Harmonix gaming unit as it took a $299 million net loss on the division. This lifted Viacom's stock over 3% to over $44 a share in midday trading.

Better news came from its media networks unit -- witnessing 8% more domestic advertising sales and a 10% hike in worldwide affiliate fees. Worldwide advertising revenues improved 7% to $1.17 billion.

Domestic ad revenues benefited from a strong double-digit percentage increase in scatter-market pricing. Overall revenues were at $2.1 billion -- an 8% gain -- with operating income up 9% to $873 million.

Viacom's Film Entertainment division, which contains its Paramount Pictures brand, didn't help matters much. While revenues inched up 1% to $1.2 billion, operating income fell 29% to $52 million.

Paramount suffered because of a weak release schedule, especially from its home entertainment unit, where revenues sank 13% to $406 million. It also went backwards because of a strong theatrical release a year ago, with summer blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Viacom's Film Entertainment saw an 18% increase in television license fees to $372 million, as well as a 3% gain in theatrical revenues to $372 million.