• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, September 26, 2008

General Electric said Thursday that national advertising is suffering at NBC Universal, an apparent first acknowledgment since the economic crisis began.

Local station groups have said their business is ailing, but companies such as News Corp., which runs Fox, and CBS have indicated their broadcast networks are not experiencing any softness.

Nonetheless, GE said its cable operations are "extremely strong," and indicated that it does not expect NBCU's total results to be lower than forecast for the July-September period.

"As some sectors of the economy have pressure, that hurts some of the national advertising like in the auto segment," CFO Keith Sherin told investors.

A steep decline in the auto market has been the principal hurdle at the station level, but it appeared to be relatively steady at the network level. NBCU, for its part, is not immune to the hiccups at the local level, as GE said the 10 stations it owns continue to suffer.

While Sherin indicated that NBCU should still post third-quarter revenues in the flat to plus 5% range, GE warned that the conglomerate's overall performance would be worse than expected for the year.

Still, CEO Jeff Immelt said NBCU may weather the current and intensifying storm. He said NBCU is "highly diversified, more globalized, content-based and I think again very well-positioned in the cycle, with some real excellent execution and leadership."

The $3.9 billion NBCU posted last quarter represented 8% of company revenues. Its profits accounted for 12%.

Sherin did not specify any financial results from the recent Beijing Olympics, but praised NBCU's performance. Results will play a major role in how NBCU performs in the third quarter.

"We had a tremendous experience in the quarter with the Olympics," Sherin said. "I thought the whole NBC team did a fantastic job of showing those Games and using all the different avenues we have to highlight that content."

The company has said it pulled in $1.25 billion in ad sales from the Games. Rights fees were $894 million.

"The bottom line is, we will make a profit," NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker told CNBC in August.