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21st Century Fox Inc. said its revenue fell 8.4% in its latest quarter, as stronger cable and television advertising revenue was offset by lower revenue at its film business and the effect of asset sales a year earlier.

For the period ended Dec. 31, revenue decreased to $7.38 billion from $8.06 billion a year earlier. The year-earlier period included $631 million of revenue from Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, which were sold in November 2014. Excluding revenue from those direct broadcast satellite businesses, revenue fell 1%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected revenue of $7.51 billion.

Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said the company's cable business continued to drive growth in the latest quarter, delivering sustained increases in domestic affiliate fees and growth in advertising revenue.

Cable network division revenue increased 9.4% to $3.7 billion. Domestic affiliate revenue improved by 10% and domestic advertising revenue grew 3%.

Television segment revenue increased 5.7% to $1.72 billion amid strong retransmission consent revenue growth and a 4% increase in advertising revenue.

But film studio revenue fell 14% to $2.36 billion, mostly on lower world-wide home entertainment revenues reflecting difficult comparisons to last year's strong performance of "X-Men: Days of Futures Past" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" with this year's home entertainment performance of "Spy" along with the absence of Shine Group.

Over all, 21st Century Fox reported a profit of $672 million, or 34 cents a share, down from $6.21 billion, or $2.88 a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier profit was boosted by certain one-time items, and excluding those, per-share earnings from continuing operations fell to 44 cents from 53 cents. Analysts expected per-share profit of 44 cents.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the media company was seeking to trim annual expenses by $250 million— mostly through voluntary buyouts, for the current fiscal year that ends in June. If the television group and movie studio doesn't meet its targets through voluntary buyouts, job cuts would be possible, the Journal reported. The company's earnings report didn't include any further details about its cost-cutting efforts.

The cost-cutting plan comes amid sweeping changes in the media landscape in which viewers have far more options beyond the small screen and the movie theater, changing the way audiences pay for and consume entertainment and news.

Last summer, Fox completed a transition that put media mogul Mr. Murdoch's sons at the helm of the media conglomerate, which includes the Fox broadcast network, cable channels in the U.S. and around the world, and one of the largest film and television studios. In September, Fox struck a deal to add National Geographic magazine and other assets to its media properties.

In July, Mr. Murdoch officially stepped down as chief executive of 21st Century Fox Inc., handing the title to his son James. The elder Mr. Murdoch stayed on as executive chairman at Fox. His older son, Lachlan Murdoch, was named executive co-chairman.

Mr. Murdoch split up his media empire in mid-2013, with the entertainment assets going to 21st Century Fox and the publishing assets, including The Wall Street Journal, going to News Corp.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 16:45 ET (21:45 GMT)

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