UPDATE 2-News Corp profit better than expected, shares up

* Fiscal Q1 EPS 22 cents vs Wall Street view 18 cents

* Q1 revenue $7.2 bln vs Wall Street view $7.16 bln

* Shares up 2.9 percent after hours (Adds analyst estimates, Murdoch comment)

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - News Corp (NWSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as gains at its Fox cable network and film divisions, plus cost cuts, helped offset declines at its television stations and newspapers.

Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he expected 2010 to be a year of stability and the company forecast its fiscal full- year operating income would grow in the high single to low double-digit percentage range.

The international media conglomerate, whose shares rose almost 3 percent after the news, said on Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter net income was $571 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $515 million, or 20 cents a share last year. Last year's net income included a writedown.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings per share of 18 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 4.1 percent to $7.20 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $7.16 billion. Operating income rose 9.3 percent to $1.04 billion.