• by Wayne Friedman , February 8, 2007

Low ratings from Fox's post-season baseball last fall hit News Corp.'s television earnings like a fastball in the back. Profits dropped some 39% in the company's second fiscal quarter, versus the same period a year before.

Fox's television business was also hit hard from start-up costs of News Corp.'s new network, MyNetworkTV, helping contribute to the drop.

During an earnings call with analysts, CEO Rupert Murdoch said ratings results at the new network have been "far below expectations." He noted that new management has been added, and the network will cut back its all-telenovela prime-time lineup to just two nights a week.

Overall, the company dropped to $822 million earnings for the News Corp.'s second fiscal quarter, from $1.08 billion a year ago. Last year, it had an unusual rise from selling its educational publishing business.

News Corp.'s fast-growing social-networking site MySpace is on the verge of becoming profitable during fiscal 2007, with even better results to occur in future years, says News Corp. COO Peter Chernin.

Fox's long-awaited business news cable channel was set to launch soon, said Murdoch, although he didn't reveal details. In other cable network news, profits improved 5% from Fox's cable channels, including Fox News Channel. News Corp.'s revenues during the quarter, which ended Dec. 31, rose 18% to $7.84 billion from $6.67 billion.