The media conglomerate, whose shares rose 1.5 percent, posted earnings of $708.5 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $487.6 million, or 28 cents per share.
Revenue rose 10 percent to $5.9 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $5.8 billion. Driving the gain was a 54 percent jump in Paramount Pictures' revenue, which benefited from the "War of the Worlds" release and DVD sales.
"Given how concerned investors are in the media sector, Viacom's Excluding special items, the company's profit of 47 cents per share beat the analysts' average forecast by 2 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Viacom booked charges of $19 million from the sale of two TV stations and $17 million from previously announced plans to split itself part. It also recorded $22 million in expenses and lost revenue from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Revenue rose 15 percent at the cable networks, but fell 2 percent at the TV stations because of lower licensing sales. Radio station revenue rose 2 percent from growth in local and national advertising.
For the full year, Viacom backed its earlier forecast of mid-single-digit percentage growth in revenue and operating income and a high single-digit rise in earnings per share before special items.
Also on Tuesday, Viacom named veteran media consultant Michael Wolf as MTV Networks chief operating officer.