NEWS CORP. SALES UP 6.3% TO $7.5B

News Corp.’s fiscal first-quarter revenue jumped 6.3 percent to $7.5 billion driven by gains in its cable, satellite, newspaper and online operations.

Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $515 million, or 20 cents per share, from $732 million, or 23 cents per share a year ago, partially reflecting the sale of the DirecTV Group in February. (News Corp. owns The Post).

Cable operating income rose 31 percent to $379 million, driven by increased affiliate and advertising revenue from Fox News Channel, the Regional Sports Networks, the Big Ten Network and the Fox International Channels.

Leading the satellite business, SKY Italia’s operating income soared $117 million to $165 million on revenue from expanded soccer programming and net subscriber additions of 359,000.

Newspaper and Information Services’ operating income gained 46 percent to $134 million driven by lower depreciation expenses, while revenue at Fox Interactive Media rose 17 percent to $220 million.

“I’m pleased that our cable group continues to perform extremely well, SKY Italia remains a top performer and Fox Interactive Media is seeing revenue growth even in the face of negative macroeconomic conditions around the globe, including weak advertising markets,” said News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Profits were hurt by weakness in TV advertising. There also were tough comparisons in the film business, which didn’t deliver summer hits with the box-office numbers of last year’s “The Simpsons Movie” and “Live Free or Die Hard.”

News Corp. shares fell 9.7 percent, or $1.06, to $9.93 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.