FOR WALL ST., BELO HIGHLIGHTS WEB INVESTMENTS

By: Lucia Moses Technology Will Link Print, TV, Desktop



Belo has made a string of Internet investments lately to extend its core
brands, but called its investment in technology to link TV and print
properties to desktop computers its most significant one yet.



Belo - through a $37.5 million investment in DigitalConvergence.com
- will license software that lets readers jump from ad and
editorial content in the newspaper to related Web sites by waving a
handscanner across bar codes in the paper. Another type of software
linking the TV and computer takes viewers to related Web sites.



The technology will give people detailed news and information quickly
while letting Belo charge premium rates of 10% or more for bar-coded
ads, opening up a potential new revenue source for the company, Belo
executives told a gathering of investors and analysts in New York City
Monday.



'A 10-to-15% premium is a big deal,' said Chairman, President, and CEO
Robert Decherd.



Belo expects the service to roll out at its flagship Dallas Morning
News in August and at its seven other newspapers and 18 TV stations
later in the year.



The company also highlighted some of its other recent Internet
investments, including:



? A $10 million investment in Geocast Network Systems Inc., which will
deliver television quality-broadcast news to Internet users. The
service, now limited to use on desktop computers, rolls out in the
Dallas-Fort Worth market in the first quarter of 2001.



? An agreement with 1stUp.com Corp. to offer free Internet access
through Belo's Web sites. Users get the service free in exchange for
keeping IstUp.Com's navigation bar on the screen; Belo can sell ads on
the toolbar and draw traffic to its sites.



? An alliance with Strategy.com to provide personalized news and
information to wireless devices.



? A $6 million investment in Digital Cyclone My-Cast to deliver
personalized weather forecasts via e-mail or the Internet.



In other company news, Decherd predicted a 'record year' for Belo, while
noting its share price has taken a beating lately. The stock is trading
around 16, near its 52-week low.



Increasing the stock price is 'our No. 1 priority,' he said, adding, 'It
is no fun being where we are right now.'



At today's low share price, he said, the company may repurchase stock
using some of the $600 million in free cash flow Belo expects to
generate in the next four years.



The rest will go toward Internet investments and building on Belo's
existing clusters, including forming partnerships with Spanish-language
media, he said.



For the rest of the year, Belo projected double-digit earnings per
share, with publishing revenues to grow 5% to 6% and broadcast revenues
to grow 8% to 9%. The company said higher ad rates at its papers, along
with belt-tightening, should help offset anticipated newsprint price
increases later in the year.



Belo will start converting the Morning News to a narrower page
width later this year, which is expected to cut the paper's annual
newsprint consumption by 5% and save it $5 million a year.



Television group President Jack Sander said despite concern about the
drop in dot-com stocks, Belo still expects advertising from that
category to increase through 2001, with much of the benefit going to
large markets such as the ones Belo serves.