• by Wayne Friedman , September 20, 2010

TV station company Sinclair Broadcast Group expects higher third-quarter revenue versus a year ago --- but it's cautious, factoring in expected lower political revenues and money from paid and religious programming. 

The company says broadcast revenues will be up "approximately high teen to low 20 percents" as compared to third-quarter 2009.

Sinclair says it is seeing more growth in its "services" advertising category than expected -- its second-biggest ad category -- and strong 46% improved pacing of auto advertising, its biggest.

David Amy, executive vice president and CFO Sinclair, stated: "Our expectation to be at the low end of our guidance should not reflect negatively on our business, as advertising demand remains very strong."

Amy says the auto business has improved even against last year's "Cash for Clunkers" program that pushed up ad revenues.

Political advertising is currently around $7.7 million, with two weeks of the quarter left to go. Sinclair expects to climb to $9.0 million -- which would be under its $9.5 million of a year ago. Another underperforming category is paid and religious programming, which Sinclair says has been down all year and has yet to pick up.

Sinclair will report third-quarter earnings on November 3.