• by Wayne Friedman , April 17, 2009

Another TV station group has been hit with double-digit advertising sales declines in the first-quarter financial results. Media General Inc. witnessed total broadcast revenues sink 19% or $14.3 million, and advertising sales slipped further to 25%, or $19.2 million.

Advertising sales broke down this way: Local time sales fell 20% -- a drop of $9.6 million -- while national advertising sales declined 21%, or $5.4 million. Much like other companies, Media General blames lower automotive spending as the main factor for its advertising declines.

Overall, Media General had a net loss in the first quarter of $21.3 million -- which is similar to its losses of a year ago, when Media General reported a net loss of $20.3 million in the first quarter.

For its publishing business, revenues also headed south into the double-digit arena -- down 20%, with advertising revenues sinking 25%. Classified advertising revenues sank $13.8 million, or 38.6%, across all its markets. In specific advertising categories, employment revenues had the biggest drop at 67%; real estate ads were down 53%; automotive revenues sank 33%; and retail advertising revenues fell 18%.

The company said it managed to reduce total operating spending by 14% during the period.

In its digital businesses, Media General had an operating loss of $1.1 million, compared with a loss of $2.7 million in the prior year, with revenues rising 25%.

Major gains resulted from strong profits by its DealTaker.com. There was also a 31% increase in local online revenues on the company's local media Web sites. This was partially offset by digital ad declines in classified and national advertising: 36% and 7%, respectively.