Liberty Media posts rise in operating profits

Liberty Media chairman John Malone talks to reports as he arrives at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho July 8, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp, the media conglomerate controlled by John Malone, on Monday posted an increase in aggregate operating profit across its three units.

Liberty's mix of assets include significant holdings in Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, leading U.S. satellite TV company DIRECTV Group and satellite radio company Sirius XM.

Liberty Media's operating income aggregated across its Liberty Interactive, Liberty Entertainment and Liberty Capital units rose 42 percent to $206 million in the third quarter from $145 million a year ago.

Liberty Interactive, which owns the QVC TV shopping channel, posted a posted an 11 percent increase in adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to $345 million on a revenue increase of 2 percent to $1.8 billion.

The company said the increases were primarily due to improved performance at QVC which had been hurt in recent quarters by the global consumer spending downturn. QVC's revenue rose by 2 percent to $1.7 billion.

Liberty Entertainment Group posted a 16 percent increase in adjusted OIBDA to $86 million while revenue rose 2 percent to $369 million helped by positive results at its Starz Entertainment pay-TV business.

Liberty Capital, the investment arm of Liberty Media, said its revenue decreased by 22 percent to $171 million due to a drop in theatrical and home video revenue at its Starz Media businesses.

Liberty is in the process of splitting off some of its assets under the Liberty Entertainment Inc banner to be combined with DirecTV to create a new larger company that will still be called DirecTV.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)