CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- News Corp. said Wednesday it swung to a quarterly loss on $680 million in impairment, restructuring and other charges, most of them in their Fox Interactive Media unit, as the struggling worldwide economy held a firm grip on the media conglomerate.

Chairman Rupert Murdoch said that while economic downturn may have bottomed, "there are no clear signs of a fast recovery."

Murdoch, speaking to analysts and reporters during a conference call, said that advertising markets are showing "good signs of life" despite ongoing weakness in the automotive and financial categories.

Murdoch also said the company intends to charge for all of its news Web sites.

"Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting," Murdoch said.

Chief Financial Officer Dave De Voe said Wednesday that the media company expects fiscal 2010 operating income to rise by a "high single-digit" percentage from the fiscal 2009 total of $3.44 billion.

De Voe said the company will face a number of difficult comparisons in the quarter ended Sept. 30, and that most of the media company's growth will be seen in the three subsequent quarters.

News Corp. NWSA, +0.32% NWS, +0.79% (NWS) said it lost $203 million, or 8 cents a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter. In the comparable period a year ago, its profit was $1.1 billion, or 43 cents a share.

De Voe said the company's adjusted net income, excluding items, was 92 cents a share in the latest three months.

Revenue fell 10.5% in the latest fourth quarter to $7.67 billion.

Analysts had expected News Corp. to report revenue of $7.63 billion, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.

News Corp.'s many media properties include The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.

The company reported an operating loss of $136 million compared with a loss of $57 million a year earlier, as Fox Interactive Media was hit by a decrease in ad revenue and higher costs related to a MySpace music venture and the launch of new features.

At News Corp.'s film and television production studios, operating income fell to $203 million from $220 million, even as revenue rose to $1.72 billion from $1.52 billion. The decline primarily reflects decreased income from the library assets of Twentieth Century Fox Television, as well as higher marketing costs.

Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said on the call that Redbox DVD rental kiosks represent an "issue" for the entertainment conglomerate.

Redbox, owned by Coinstar CSTR, +1.14% has installed thousands of its kiosks, which charge $1 per day for movie rentals, at supermarkets, Wal-Mart WMT, +1.85% stores, 7-Eleven SVND (3382) outlets, and many other places with significant foot traffic.

"I think making our content available for $1 grossly undervalues it," Carey told analysts during a conference call, adding that that the company is "actively" seeking ways to address the issue.

Operating income at the TV division dropped 67% to $95 million due to ongoing advertising weakness at the company's wholly owned TV stations, the absence of eight stations that were sold in July 2008, and lower programming costs in the prior year due to the Writer's Guild of America strike.

Revenue fell to $1.08 billion from $1.33 billion.

Murdoch said News Corp. is "pleased" with the progress of advance ad sales for the fall season at Fox Broadcasting, but the network will probably hold back more inventory to sell during the season than it has in previous years.

Fourth-quarter cable-network operating income from such channels as FX, Fox News Channel and the regional Fox Sports networks, rose 39% to $434 million on increased advertising rates and fees paid by cable and satellite operators at Fox News Channel, FX, the Big Ten Network and the Fox International Channels.

Carey said Time Warner's TWX, "TV Everywhere" concept of tying the viewing of online television-show streams to a paid video subscription "has benefits," but is fundamentally a strategy aimed at "defending existing businesses."

What the industry needs is a "more offensive" solution to ensure that networks, studios and distributors are fairly paid for putting their television content on other platforms, Carey said.

Newspaper and information-services income fell 64% to $96 million on a steep decline in advertising revenues and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Australian dollar.

News Corp. also owns the New York Post, The Times of London, The Sun, The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph, The Australian, and the (Melbourne) Herald Sun.

Advertising revenues dropped 18% in both the U.K. and in Australia.

Dow Jones income declined on decreased advertising and information services revenues.

WSJ.com has been successful as a paid subscription site, Murdoch said, and the company plans to use its experience there as it expands the pay model to other news sites.

News Corp. still intends to make its content available via multiple platforms, the chairman said, but wants to make sure it gets fair compensation in any arrangements with hardware manufacturers and other parties.

WSJ.com is currently available on Amazon's AMZN, -0.18% Kindle device, and can be read on other mobile devices such as the Blackberry and Apple Inc.'s AAPL, +1.02% iPhone.

However, Murdoch said concerns about the way revenue and subscriber information are shared with Amazon could "eventually cause a break" between those two companies.