First-quarter revenue from the company's TV and cable networks, which include TNT, CNN and HBO, rose 3 percent to $2.6 billion.

Gabelli & Co. analyst Brett Harriss said the performance was weaker than expected. Subscription revenues increased 5 percent and advertising revenues rose 6 percent, below Harriss's estimates.

He said Time Warner, which owns a host of cable networks, premium TV services, magazines and a movie studio, reported a solid quarter but it was not as good as media peer CBS Corp.'s results which were released Tuesday.

CBS posted a better quarter than had been expected, driven by healthy advertising growth and increases in carriage fees at its cable and broadcast networks.

Net income for Time Warner amounted to $581 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $681 million, or 59 cents a share, a year before. Time Warner bought back about 24 million shares from Jan. 1 through April 27.

Adjusted for impairment charges, including a $35 million charge related to the cancellation of the HBO series "Luck," and a $52 million charge for shutting down a network in India, the company reported EPS of 67 cents. This came in 3 cents above Wall Street analysts' average estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Analysts had expected the company to take a charge related to the HBO show "Luck," which focused on the world of horse racing and gambling starring Dustin Hoffman. It was canceled when a third horse died during production for a second season.

The company's film division, which includes the Warner Brothers studio, saw its revenue rise 7 percent, lifted by the movie "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," which grossed about $535 million at the box office.

At its publishing unit, which owns "People," "Sports Illustrated" and "Time" magazines, revenue fell 3 percent to $773 million on declining advertising and subscription sales.

Total revenue for the company rose 4.4 percent to $6.98 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $6.8 billion.

The company reaffirmed its 2012 outlook on Wednesday.