• by Wayne Friedman , May 6, 2011

Liberty Media's two main businesses -- those containing cable home shopping channel QVC and pay TV group Starz Entertainment -- had some mixed revenue and cash flow results for its first quarter.

Liberty Interactive Group (which houses QVC) had a 7% rise in revenue to $2.2 billion, but operating income dropped 2% to $213 million. Liberty executives said the disaster surrounding the earthquake in Japan is partially responsible for QVC's lower performance.

QVC's revenue improved 4% in the first quarter to $1.8 billion, with adjusted operated income declining less than 1% to $363 million. In analyzing the improving economy, executives say QVC's U.S. business climbed 3% in revenue growth in the first quarter, which contributed to a 14% two-year growth rate, placing it among the faster-growing large retailers in the country.

In Japan, QVC's revenue and adjusted operating income dropped 9% and 19%, respectively. Looking at its eCommerce efforts, revenue grew 21% to $324 million, with operating income improving 100% to $8 million.

At the Liberty Starz Group, revenue grew 28% to $391 million for the first quarter, an increase of $86 million. Starz's subscription units increased 10%, and Encore subscriptions increased 6% compared to the first quarter of 2010. There was approximately $11 million in additional ancillary revenue related to television rights and home video for Starz original content.

Starz's Media businesses had no theatrical film releases in the period versus two theatrical films in the first quarter of 2010. For home video, there was only one release, compared with three in the first quarter of 2010. Starz's operating income increased 25% to $124 million.

Liberty Capital group's revenue rose to $581 million, while operating income increased to $358 million and $343 million.

The company's equity and debt holding of other media companies -- including Expedia, HSN, Live Nation -- and SiriusXM, grew in value as of the December 2010 to $7.5 billion from $6.4 billion. SiriusXM holdings alone are now valued at $5.5 billion.