Liberty Media revenue up at 2 biggest businesses

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – Liberty Media Corp., the conglomerate controlled by John Malone, posted a rise in third-quarter revenue at its two largest businesses Monday, helped by better home-shopping sales and results from the Starz cable channels.

At Liberty's biggest segment, which includes the QVC Shopping Network and Web properties, revenue climbed 2 percent to $1.8 billion.

Liberty Entertainment group revenue climbed 2 percent to $369 million, helped by an 8 percent increase at Starz Entertainment.

Liberty Capital, which owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team and interests in Time Warner Inc . and Sprint Nextel Corp., among other properties, saw revenue drop 22 percent to $171 million. The company blamed the decline on slower movie ticket and DVD sales.

Liberty plans to split off its entertainment group and merge it with another company under its control, satellite TV provider DirecTV Group Inc. The new public company will continue to trade under the DirecTV symbol "DTV."

Liberty Media Corp. shares rose $1.32, or 5.8 percent, to $23.97 in morning trading.

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