By: (AP) Media General Inc., the newspaper publisher and TV station operator, reported a hefty first-quarter loss on Tuesday after it changed the way it values its broadcast licenses, resulting in a $325.5 million accounting charge.
The Richmond-based media company lost $316.2 million, or $13.25 per share, in the quarter ended March 27. That compares with net income of $9.1 million, or 38 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
The accounting change, which affects Federal Communications Commission licenses tied to television-station acquisitions in 1997 and 2000, was required by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Excluding that charge, Media General earned $9.3 million, or 39 cents per share, in the recent quarter, matching the forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Revenue rose 4.7% to $217.9 million in the quarter from $208.2 million in the year-earlier period.
Its shares rose 4 cents to $60.92 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
J. Stewart Bryan III, Media General's chief executive officer, said the company's operating results in the quarter were fueled by the publishing group's 12.5% profit gain.
Publishing revenue rose 5.7% in the quarter, with The Tampa Tribune accounting for more than half of the growth. Newspaper advertising revenue grew 7.4 percent, driven by gains in classified ads. "Strong growth in national advertising and a solid increase in retail advertising also contributed to publishing's revenue growth," Bryan said.
Circulation revenue fell 2.3 percent in the quarter due to lower circulation volumes in some markets and a change in wholesale rates to some independent carriers.
The broadcast division's profit fell 21.%, and revenue rose 1%, reflecting the "near absence of political campaign spending in this off-election year," the company said.
Looking forward, Media General said it expected the publishing unit to post a revenue gain in the second quarter similar to that in the first quarter. It expects the broadcast division's segment profit to decline, mostly because of expenses needed to generate new revenue replacing political and Olympics sales.
Also Tuesday, Media General reported that revenue rose 5.3% to $72.1 million in March from $68.5 million in the same month in 2004.
Publishing revenue increased 4.8% to $46.5 million on higher newspaper advertising and classified sales.
Broadcast sales were up 4.7% to $24.5 million for the month, with gains in local and national transactional time sales more than offsetting a substantial decline in political spot sales.
Media General owns the metropolitan newspapers The Tampa Tribune, then Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch; as well as 22 daily community newspapers and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications. Its broadcast assets include 26 network-affiliated television stations.
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