"Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns MTV, VH1 and the Paramount movie studio, reported a big jump in earnings Wednesday on a tax gain, better results in movies and cable and adding the DreamWorks studio.

Viacom earned $437.3 million or 61 cents a share in the three months ending June 30, up from $353.9 million or 47 cents a share in the same period a year ago. Earnings from continuing operations were 58 cents a share, which included 10 cents from a tax benefit. Excluding that item, the 48 cents a share result was ahead of the estimate of 44 cents a share from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue rose 24% to $2.85 billion from $2.3 billion, helped largely by the addition of the DreamWorks movie studio, and also higher results from cable networks. Operating income rose 14% to $663.2 million due largely to better results in cable. Overall cable revenue gained 8% and operating earnings rose 12%, although overseas earnings were weak, with international cable advertising declining 2%, compared with a 13% decline in the first quarter, on weakness in the German and UK markets. Earnings from entertainment ? principally Paramount and DreamWorks ? swung to a profit of $6.4 million from a loss of $23 million in the year-ago period on higher revenue from TV and box office take."