MySpace has 'quarters...not years' to rebound, News Corp. exec says

News Corp. COO Chase Carey has put executives at MySpace on notice: Get the social network business fixed fast, or else.

"We've been clear that MySpace is a problem," Carey told Wall Street analysts in an earnings call. "The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable."

He says he's optimistic about MySpace's new focus on social entertainment.

But with traffic numbers that "are not going in the right direction," Carey wants to see "a clear path to profitability" on a timetable measured "in quarters, not in years."

The company doesn't say how much MySpace makes. But the category in News Corp.'s financial report that's dominated by MySpace lost $156 million in the quarter that ended in September vs. a loss of $126 million in the same period last year, on revenues of $298 million, down 25.5%.

News Corp. paid about $327 million for MySpace in 2005 -- before Facebook took off to become the No. 1 social network business.

Carey pooh-poohed speculation that News Corp. might be interested in buying parts of Yahoo, although he didn't rule anything out. "Our general preference is to build businesses, not buy businesses," he said. "We're not shopping for anything."

Separately, Carey wouldn't say how much Cablevision finally agreed to pay to resolve the contract dispute that left its 3.1 million subscribers unable to see Fox programming -- including some World Series games -- for two weeks.

But Carey said that the Federal Communications Commission made a bad situation worse by failing to say from the start that it wouldn't become involved -- and hinting that it might act if the standoff lasted too long.

"It was clear (Cablevision) wanted to drag the government in," Carey said.

By David Lieberman