Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation yesterday reported a return to profit as the media mogul boasted that his global empire was "a company firing on all cylinders".

For the three months to the end of June - the final quarter of its financial year - News Corp reported a 26 per cent rise in operating profits, driven by a rebound in ratings at its Fox Broadcasting network and growing audiences for its US cable channels.

The results underlined News Corp's financial strength as Mr Murdoch prepares to take control of DirecTV, the country's largest satellite broadcaster. Mr Murdoch said he was "very hopeful" that regulators would approve the deal by the end of the year.

While the US television and film operations accounted for much of the profit growth, investors were upbeat about the prospects of News Corp's non-US assets, including British Sky Broadcasting in the UK and Star TV in Asia.

"The non-Fox assets are going to have stronger growth than Fox," according to Mr Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners.

Mr Murdoch also touted the prospects of Sky Italia, the satellite TV venture created by merging Stream and Telepiu, the rival broadcasters.

The venture lost $68 million (€60.26 million) in the two months since News Corp took full control.

The fastest profit growth was in News Corp's television division.

The success of reality shows such as American Idol and Joe Millionaire rubbed off on other programming and boosted ratings at Fox, which reported a fourth-quarter profit of $29 million, compared with a $60 million loss in the same period of last year.

Mr Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer, called Fox's revival the "single most dramatic turnaround in our history" and said the ultimate aim was to overtake rival NBC as the leading network in the 18-49 age bracket.

By the New York Stock Exchange close yesterday, News Corp was up one cent at $32.59, while Fox also rose one cent to $29.80.