Los Angeles - Third quarter profits fell 26 per cent at Disney, as the global recession hit the world's largest media company at its theme parks, television stations and film studio.

The Los Angeles-based company said Thursday that it earned 954 million dollars compared to 1.28 billion dollars in the year-ago period. Sales declined 7 per cent to 8.6 billion dollars from 9.2 billion dollars in the same period last year.

The company's television sector saw income slide 8 per cent while parks and resorts saw a 9 per cent drop in revenue and movie studio revenue fell 12 per cent as Disney's film studio registered a loss of 12 million dollars compared to a 97 million dollar profit last year.(dpa)