A drop in revenue, a $US280 million hit from a law suit, and currency headwinds have pushed Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation into the red.
News Corp made a loss of $US149 million ($A200 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared to a net profit of $US23 million a year earlier.
Revenue fell 7.3 per cent to $US1.89 billion due primarily to a weaker contributions from its US marketing and book publishing operations.
However a rise in digital subscribers for The Wall Street Journal and its Australian mastheads, plus higher prices, helped offset falling sales of newspapers.
Currency movements cut $US72 million from total revenue, while News Corp incurred a $US280 million pre-tax charge for the settlement of litigation and related claims in its US marketing business.
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Chief executive Robert Thomson said the fall in revenue and earnings was disappointing.
"We believe, however, that the company is on track to see improvements in the fourth quarter, with the expansion of our digital real estate business, foreign currency comparisons hopefully beginning to ease, and cost saving initiatives taking firmer root," he said.
The company's digital real estate business continued to grow, adding the iProperty business in southeast Asia and lifting revenue by 14 per cent.
Revenue at Foxtel, which is jointly owned by News Corp and Telstra, rose two per cent due to customer numbers rising to about 2.9 million.
But earnings were weaker because of increased subscriber acquisition costs, increases in programming costs, and continued investment in its streaming service Presto.
News Corp shares dropped 48 cents, or 2.8 per cent, to $16.50.
