Viacom Inc on Thursday posted a better-than-expected profit, boosted by DVD sales and the box office hit Shrek The Third.

The film division helped second quarter results with a string of theatrical hits that also included Blades of Glory and Disturbia.

The New York-based owner of MTV Networks, Paramount movie studios and Nickelodeon cable channels said its second quarter profit fell less than 1 percent to $434 million down from $437.3 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share rose to 63 cents from 61 cents, as a result of a lower share count from a buyback authorization.

Excluding items, Viacom's profit was 54 cents per share, beating Wall Street estimates of 50 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $3.19 billion also ahead of Wall Street expectations of revenue of $3.06 billion.

Global advertising revenue rose 6 percent to $1.15 billion.

Gabelli & Co. analyst Christopher Marangi said quarterly results were strong and global ad growth met expectations. Wall Street will be keen to hear updates on the growth of its digital business.

Revenue from its cable networks divisions including MTV Networks rose 10 percent. Profit rose 3 percent, hurt by $11 million in restructuring charges and higher programming expenses as it invested in new shows.

Movie studio revenue rose 20 percent to $1.3 billion and profit rose $17 million to $21.4 million.

Viacom attracted an average of 85 million unique visitors to its Web sites in the past quarter, up 68 percent from last year.

Founder Sumner Redstone, who split off the company's broadcast divisions into the separately traded CBS Corp in 2006, has publicly said the company has not ruled out taking either Viacom or CBS private.

The company will record a third quarter gain from the $370 million sale of music publisher Famous Music LLC to Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li)

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