(Reuters) - Time Warner Inc, which is being bought by AT&T Inc, reported a better-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday as the airing of the college basketball games helped Turner attract advertisers.
The company said the increase in advertising revenue was mainly due to the airing of the final four games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on Turner.
Like other media companies, Time Warner has been struggling to keep viewers hooked to its channels as they flock to online streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc's Prime, which in turn is taking a toll on the ad revenue.
Warner Bros revenue fell 4 percent to $3.2 billion, primarily due to weakness in its television and theatrical businesses, the company said in a statement.
Net income attributable to shareholders increased to $1.64 billion, or $2.07 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.42 billion, or $1.80 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 3 percent to $8 billion.
The company's shares fell about 1 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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