The success of American Idol and cult drama series 24, combined with the huge popularity of the Fox News Channel during the war in Iraq to push profits at the Fox Entertainment Network up by more than 150% in the first quarter of 2003.
Fox Entertainment Group, the News Corp subsidiary that oversees all the company's US film and TV businesses, posted profits of £171.7m for the first three months of the year.
This was an increase of more than 150% on the £67m profit figure in the same period of 2002 for the company, in which News Corp holds an 80.6% stake.
FEN's revenue rose by 9%, from £1.56bn to £1.68bn, year on year.
Fox Network was one of FEN's star performers, with first quarter operating profit around £53m higher than during the same period of 2002.
This commercial success came on the back of a 32% year on year ratings boost for Fox, which was fuelled by the success of reality shows such as American Idol and Joe Millionaire and real-time political thriller 24.
Fox News Channel also contributed, as it finished the first quarter of 2003 as the highest rated basic cable channel in primetime - the first news service to take the top cable spot since CNN in the first Gulf war.
Viewing of the channel grew by 80% in prime time and 92% in all hours, year on year, because of the Iraq war.
Increased advertising sales was the main contributor to double digit revenue growth for Fox News during the quarter, which helped offset the extra Iraq war costs from some advertisers pulling campaigns and the newsgathering effort in the Gulf.
