A big drop in income from Australian newspapers has left News Corporation with a revenue slump during its first three months of operating after a major restructure.

Rupert Murdoch’s global media company recorded revenue of $2.2 billion in the first quarter, compared with $2.3 billion during the same period last year.

Income from its Australian newspapers fell by 22 per cent, dragging its overall income from news services down by 10 per cent, to $1.6 billion.

News Corporation’s net profit was $41 million.

Its chief executive Robert Thompson blamed some of the revenue fall on currency fluctuations, and what he described as “headwinds” in the Australian newspaper market.

“We have been consistently cost conscious and are transforming our publishing operations longer-term into multi-platform businesses,” he said in a statement to the share market.

“We are vigorously pursuing a strategy to improve out revenue prospects and we look forward to updating all in future quarters.”

In June, News Corporation announced plans split into two new businesses.

Its more profitable film and television operations are now part of at company called 21 Century Fox, while its news divisions review remain part of News Corporation.

News Corp in talks about broadband service

The company also says it is making steps towards offering broadband and telephone services in Australia.

It has been in negotiations with Telstra about a Foxtel-branded broadband service for more than a year.

Mr Thomson declined to go into detail on the detail about the talks.

“We’re not going to do into specifics on our negotiations with Telstra, who are great partners,” he said during an analyst briefing.

“Clearly, it’s in the interest of all involved to increase loyalty and also increase the attractiveness of the Foxtel package and through that our revenues from Fox Sports.”