News Corp and Time Warner both posted higher revenue and profit in the December quarter, boosted by surging advertising revenue at their cable network units.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said profit rose to $642 million, or 24 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter from $254 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier.

After adjusting for one-time charges primarily related to restructuring of MySpace its social networking business, News Corp's profit was 29 cents. That was a penny better than analysts' average forecast of profit of 28 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

News Corp, which owns broadcaster Fox and publishes newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and the UK's News of the World, said revenue was flat at $8.76 billion.

Time Warner Inc forecast better-than-expected 2011 earnings, pointing to the same surge in advertising sales for cable TV programs that powered its fourth-quarter results. (Graphic on media market cap: http://r.reuters.com/kus77r)

Alongside its earnings, Time Warner also raised its quarterly dividend by 11 percent and increased its stock buyback plan to $5 billion.

(Additional reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Derek Caney, Phil Berlowitz)

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