Viacom Profit Rises 80% on Cable Ads and Music publishing business sale

Viacom Inc., owner of MTV and the Paramount film studio, said third-quarter profit rose 80 percent, fueled by cable advertising, the film “Transformers” and the sale of its Famous Music publishing business.

The stock advanced as much as 5.1 percent after sales and profit beat analysts’ estimates. Net income increased to $641.6 million, or 96 cents a share, from $356.8 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Viacom said today.

Sales advanced 24 percent to $3.27 billion, prompting Chairman Sumner Redstone to say on a conference call that the rewards of replacing Tom Freston with Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman last year are “becoming more and more apparent.” The film “Transformers” helped spark a return to profit at Paramount, the top studio in ticket sales this year.