Media General loss is linked to impairment charge

A deep slump in advertising sales that has battered many media companies is showing signs of easing, Richmond-based Media General Inc. said yesterday after posting a third-quarter loss.

The company, which owns the Richmond Times-Dispatch, took an $84 million noncash write-down on the value of some assets. That contributed to a loss of $62.5 million, or $2.80 per share, for the third quarter, compared with a profit of $6.1 million, or 27 cents, in the same period last year.

Excluding the special item, the company said, its profit from continuing operations was $4.4 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $5.7 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier.

Declines in ad sales pushed the company's revenue down 18 percent to $158 million in the third quarter compared with the 2008 period. The third-quarter decline was an improvement from a 20 percent drop in the second quarter, and the company said its revenue decline in September was the smallest of the year, at 12 percent.

A major factor in the year-over-year decline was less Olympic and political advertising revenue, which accounted for about $18.5 million a year ago.

"Nonetheless, the advertising environment in the third quarter remained challenging, and we experienced lower classified, local and national revenues overall," said Marshall N. Morton, the company's president and CEO.

Morton added that the company has seen "signs of strengthening in advertiser spending" in the fourth quarter, especially in national and local advertising in broadcasting.

Like other newspaper and television companies, Media General has been cutting costs as ad revenue dropped. In the third quarter, the company cut operating costs by 18 percent through employee furloughs, reductions in newsprint consumption and other cost-containment measures. The company has 770 fewer full-time employees this year than in 2008.

It also is finding new sources of revenue through new products and services, especially in digital media.

Media General owns 18 television stations, 21 daily newspapers, more than 200 specialty publications including weekly newspapers, and Web sites associated with its print and broadcast operations.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or .