Time Warner, the media company being bought by AT&T, has today reported a better than expected quarterly profit and revenue.
The results were helped by the box office success of superhero movie 'Suicide Squad'.
The company also owns HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network and the Warner Bros film studio.
AT&T said last month it would buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion in a bold move to acquire content. AT&T's offer valued Time Warner at $107.50 per share.
Revenue from Warner Bros, the company's biggest unit by revenue, rose 6.7% to $3.4 billion in the third quarter ended September 30, Time Warner said.
Until "Suicide Squad", which hit movie screens in early August, Warner Bros has had few hit releases in recent quarters. As of October 30, "Suicide Squad" had grossed about $325m, according to Box Office Mojo.
Revenue at Time Warner's HBO unit, home to "Game of Thrones" and "True Detective", rose 4.3% to $1.43 billion.
HBO faces stiff competition from streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon.com's Prime service.
Time Warner took a 10% stake in video streaming site Hulu in August, setting its sights on the web TV market.
The company said its net income rose to $1.47 billion, or $1.86 per share, in the third quarter from $1.04 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.
According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, Time Warner earned $1.55 per share, excluding a tax benefit of 28 cents per share and other items, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.37.
Its quarterly revenues rose 9.2% to $7.17 billion. Analysts on an average had expected revenues of $6.98 billion.
