New York, February 3 (FinanceEnquiry.com) - Viacom Inc (NASDAQ: VIA) reported that its first-quarter net income dropped to $212 million or 38 cents a share, though its revenue went up 3 percent to $3.95 billion against analysts’ expectations of a little less profit and a little higher revenue. Low advertising sales at the New York media company’s cabletelevision networks contributed substantially to the drop in its profit by 65 percent. Moreover, there was a steep drop in advertising of its children’s channel Nickelodeon as its ratings dropped steeply.

The company's net income was $212 million or 38 cents a share, compared to $610 million or $1 a share a year earlier. The earnings of $3.95 billion slightly beat analysts’ expectations. The biggest impact of the company’s earnings came from a $383 million charge that it had to suffer with regard to payments to former shareholders of the company behind the Rock Band video game franchise, which is part of its long-running legal dispute over payments to former owner of Harmonix Music Systems.

Viacom depends for its income on its cable channels, including MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, VH1 and Comedy Central. Its advertising revenue slumped 3 percent to $1.35 billion for the quarter. The company's Media Networks unit, which is its cable channel division, brought in $2.44 billion, which was 3 percent higher over the same quarter in 2010. The media networks’ operating income went up 7 percent to $1.1 billion.