For the first time, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has made more money from its US cable TV businesses than from every other part in the business.

Forget newspapers, TV studios and stations, a solid Hollywood studio, News is a very profitable US cable network, with all those other business attached, especially newspapers.

But cable’s day in the News Corp sun may be brief, as every favourite son and daughter of the man dubbed The Sun King, finds eventually; cable will have a new rival at court in new York if Murdoch’s plans to buy all of BSkyB come to fruition next year.

Cable TV earned $US2.3 billion of News Corp’s $3.959 billion operating profit in the year to June this year, or 59%. That’s compared with $US1.653 billion of the $US3.58 billion operating profit for the year to June, 2009, or 46%.

So more than 50% of earnings are now coming from the cable TV entertainment, sport, business and other channels that make up the division, but especially the right-wing banner waver in America, Fox News.

The film studios made $US1.3 billion ($US848 million in 2009), thanks mostly to Avatar. It will be hard to see the film business repeating this performance. Already 4th quarter operating profit from the division was down on the 4th quarter of last year, thanks to fewer hits for the US summer season. Avatar has revitalised Fox’s DVD sales, but they are in a secular decline, thanks to the rise of online moves and the cheap-as-chips overnight rentals business that has spread across recessed American shopping malls.

If Murdoch succeeds in grabbing Sky, it will add its huge earnings and revenue heft to News Corp’s bottom line (and top line, for that matter) from some time towards the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Sky earned  an operating profit of just over $US1.8 billion in the latest year, on revenues that were about $US9.4 billion. As News Corp had revenues of $US32.4 billion in the 2010 financial, Sky and its near 10 million subscribers, are going to turbo boost news Corp revenues in earnings, when it come son board.

Murdoch has a £7 a share offer on the table for Sky, the independent directors want more than £8. It is now a question of how much Murdoch is willing to twist arms (aided by son James) in the UK with the new government to remove all impediments to a takeover, and then pressure the independent directors into folding as cheaply as possible.

And he can do it. Remember how he stormed the Wall Street Journal’s owners, the Journal Co and the Bancroft family, split them and then snatched the paper and other businesses for just under $US5.8 billion. He then got caught by GFC, which forced a 50% write down and loss. But they were mere bagatelles, other News Corp shareholders were forced to share the financial pain of his ambition. Murdoch has always played a much longer game than other media people and there’s no doubting his determination to get Sky.

And Sky managed to grow sales, profits and customers (and keep the churn low), during the terrible recession that hit Britain as a result of the GFC. Sky had a very good crisis. So there will be no repeat of the write-down we saw in new York after the Journal deal.

Murdoch started Sky and used it to assault a lazy, government-run broadcast media across Europe. He had the vision and the drive to take on the European broadcast media establishment and found talented people to allow him to realise his dreams, such as Sam Chisholm and current CEO Jeremy Darroch.

Murdoch will be staring down 80 years of age when it happens, but it will make him, son James, CEO Chase Carey and CFO David DeVoe much richer because of the enormous push to earnings and the share price that the Sky takeover will bring.

That now seems to be why the new remuneration system, detailed in Crikey yesterday, was established. Its not so much about maximising earnings this financial year, its all about the 2012 and 2013 financial years when, all being well, Sky will be in the books, boost profits, the share price, sales and every other metric. There is no discounting for the impact of takeovers under the new system and Sky is going to be a killer buy for the wallets of the Murdochs, Carey and DeVoe and for News Corp, of course.

And where were newspapers, Murdoch’s founding business and still his most powerful voice politically (except for Fox News and its cabal of right-wing talking heads)? Well, operating profit rose to $US530 million from $US466 million a year ago. The papers earned $US115 million in the final quarter ($US96 million a year ago). UK revenues rose, Australian circulation revenues fell as the news release explained:

“The UK newspaper group reported higher fourth quarter operating income contributions driven by 15% higher advertising revenues in local currency terms and lower newsprint  costs.

“For the full year, higher operating income contributions reflect lower operating expenses due to cost containment initiatives, partially offset by lower circulation revenue.

“The Australian newspaper group reported higher fourth quarter local currency operating income over the same period a year ago as a 10% advertising revenue increase was offset by lower circulation revenue and higher newsprint expenses and costs associated with various initiatives.

“For the full year, operating income declines, in local currency terms, reflect a 3% reduction in revenues, primarily from classified advertising.”

Just 12.5% or so of the group operating profit from newspapers in 2009-10. Nice, but not the future, despite earning more than the free-to-air broadcast TV business (which is US-based). Murdoch’s enthusiasm for the iPad and internet paywalls seem aimed at keeping morale high in a declining part of the empire which are now almost afterthoughts in the greater scheme of the things, especially if he can get all of Sky, now 39%-owned.