• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 14, 2008

As parent General Electric pegged poor first-quarter results Friday on a struggling U.S. economy, the NBC Universal unit looks to be at least weathering the storm. It was one of only two GE divisions to show profit growth compared to the heady times of a year ago.

In the January to March quarter, NBCU saw profit up 3% to $712 million and revenues rise to $3.6 billion--also a 3% increase. GE CFO Keith Sherin labeled it "solid."

A year ago, revenues were down dramatically versus the year before, but cost-cutting helped propel a 6% profit increase.

Still, it was not all smooth sailing in the first quarter--and there were signs that the economy was having an impact, a potentially negative signal for the ad-supported media sector.

While NBCU's cable networks continue to be profit drivers (up double digits in the first quarter), the NBC network and its local stations' businesses produced flat revenues, Sherin said, although operating profits were up 3%.

Sherin expressed muted praise for NBC's prime-time performance: "We can continue to improve that, but we feel good about the progress the teams are making."

But the principal trouble spot appears to be the local stations' operations, where ad spending was down 11%. Sherin called that "an indicator that it's tough out there." The steep drop may have contributed to NBCU's recent announcement that it would sell its Miami and Hartford stations, which would leave it with eight NBC owned-and-operated outlets.

NBCU also said that the "economy is impacting Internet ads," although it did not elaborate. However, it said digital revenues were up 5%--and the launch of the video-streaming Hulu site, where NBCU is a partner, has been a positive addition.