• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 11, 2010

Disney reported notable ad sales growth Tuesday at its local station and ESPN segments, although a return to pre-recession levels looks to have been a ways off.

In Disney's second fiscal quarter, revenue for the 10 owned-and-operated ABC stations was up 20% versus a year ago. But last year, dollars declined 30%, meaning the business still came in below 2008 levels.

At ESPN, ad revenues in the fiscal quarter increased at a mid-single-digit percentage. And Disney said the figure could have been "a few percentage points higher" if some college bowl games had not shifted schedules.

Still, last year ESPN's ad dollars declined at a high-single-digit rate, so more growth would have been needed to return to a pre-recession performance.

Disney did say that so far this quarter, ad sales at the stations and ESPN are up at double-digit rates versus 2009.

For the second fiscal quarter, Disney said its media networks segment overall, which includes ESPN and ABC, was up 6% to $3.8 billion. That performance includes lucrative affiliate fees that ESPN pulls in. Operating income was flat at $1.3 billion.

Company-wide, revenues increased 6% to $8.6 billion, with operating income up 15% to $1.8 billion.