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The media conglomerate inadvertently released its results before the closing bell, spooking some investors. Disney's shares ended Thursday down 3.1 percent, and dipped further in after-hours trade. Executives said they were investigating the matter.

Wall Street had expected better numbers from a company that has exceeded earnings expectations in each of the past six quarters, hoping that an improving economy boosted advertising, parks, consumer products and its other businesses.

"There's disappointment for the bulls in the stock," said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst with Wunderlich Securities.

"People had expected stronger numbers in this quarter with somewhat of an uptick in the economy, and we didn't get that."

"The studio, for all the success of 'Toy Story 3,' had a number of movies that didn't work that pulled it back down," he said, citing "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Prince of Persia" as underperformers.

Weak broadcasting results were impacted by a calendar shift, resulting in one fewer week in the reporting period, and a programing writedown in its media networks. Also, ESPN had already recognized a significant amount of revenue from affiliates in the fiscal third quarter of this year, as opposed to the fourth quarter of last year.

Analysts said ESPN recognized $354 million less deferred revenue than it recognized in the same period a year ago, noting the amount was equal to earnings of about 9 cents per share.

MOUSE HOUSE FAILS TO DELIVER

Disney's shares have risen about 15 percent this year amid perceptions an advertising recovery was taking hold. But its lower earnings stood in stark contrast to strong showings by Time Warner Inc (TWX.N), CBS Corp (CBS.N) and News Corp, which posted strong profits on the advertising rebound.

Disney's fourth-quarter net income fell to $835 million, or 43 cents per share, compared with $895 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue fell 1 percent to $9.7 billion from $9.9 billion. Analysts on average had forecast revenue of $9.95 billion, according to ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue at the flagship media networks division fell, with the company citing programing writeoffs at A&E/Lifetime as well as the fact that ESPN had already recognized a significant amount of revenue from affiliates after hitting a targeted number of key sporting events in the third quarter as opposed to the fourth quarter last year.

Revenue at its media networks arm, home to sports cable network ESPN and broadcaster ABC, fell 7 percent to $4.4 billion. Operating income in media networks fell 18 percent to $1.2 billion, missing analysts' forecasts for about $1.37 billion, due to programing writeoffs.

Parks and resorts revenue slipped 1 percent to $2.82 billion and operating income slid 8 percent to $316 million, as domestic park attendance fell and it faced higher costs.