Liberty Media Corp. showed improved second-quarter operating results across its three portfolios of media and ecommerce businesses on Friday, with results at its struggling home-shopping network, QVC, posting a smaller drop in revenue than it did the past few quarters.

Its Starz Entertainment business continued to post strong results, but its subscriber count fell 3% from the first quarter, which the company said was partly a result of the weak economy.

Liberty, which is controlled by media mogul John Malone, didn't repurchase shares in any of its three business units, each with their own tracking stock.

Shares of Liberty Interactive (LINTA LINTB), which track QVC, rose 15.8% to $8.59 on hopes that the home shopping network is feeling the beginning of an economic recovery.

While Liberty doesn't report consolidated net income for the entire company, the company said its overall operating income, excluding depreciation and amortization, rose 17% to $505 million.

By that same measure, Liberty Interactive - which also tracks Backcountry.com, Bodybuilding.com and its holdings in IAC/InterActive Corp. (IACI), Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. (TKTM) and Expedia Inc. (EXPE) - posted a slight increase to $412 million. Revenue decreased 1% to $1.9 billion.

Liberty Entertainment (LMDIA LMDIB) - which tracks Starz Entertainment, Liberty Sports Group and its majority holdings in DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) - posted a 44% increase in operating income before depreciation and amortization to $89 million. Revenue gained 2% to $367 million.

Shares of Liberty Entertainment added 15 cents to $27.48.

Liberty Capital (LCAPA LCAPB) - which tracks Starz Media, TruePosition, the Atlanta Braves baseball team and holdings in Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI), Time Warner Inc. (TWX), Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) - posted operating income before depreciation and amortization of $4 million, reversing a loss of $40 million in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 14% to $199 million.

Shares of Liberty Capital added 4.6% to $16.85.

President and Chief Executive Greg Maffei said QVC, Liberty's largest business, which has been struggling with a slowdown in consumer spending, posted an "improved financial performance." Its second-quarter revenue fell 4.4% to $1.68 billion, including a 2% drop in the U.S. Excluding items, operating income before depreciation and amortization fell 3.6%.

The home-shopping company has been moving to cut inventory levels and limit extending credit to help lower bad-debt costs. Facing a cash shortage after the financial crisis, QVC renegotiated agreements with creditors on its $4.5 billion debt load in June. It retired $750 million in near-term maturities, using $250 million in cash from QVC and $500 million that it borrowed from Liberty's two other business units.

QVC President and CEO Mike George noted the U.S. results were an improvement over the last few quarters, when revenue had been down between 9% and 12%.

At Starz Entertainment, earnings before depreciation and amortization jumped 54% to $105 million as revenue grew 8% to $296 million on year-on-year subscription growth.

Fitch Ratings said in June that Liberty Media will be weaker when it splits off Liberty Entertainment, which also owns 56% of DirecTV, in the fourth quarter. DirecTV has said it will merge with majority shareholder Liberty Entertainment in a move that some analysts view as paving the way for a sale of the satellite TV provider.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; (212) 416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com

(Kerry Grace Benn contributed to this story)