• by Wayne Friedman , November 4, 2009

Sinclair Broadcast Group witnessed lower revenues in the third quarter -- with expectations that the fourth quarter will see a similar decline.

Its broadcast revenues from continuing operations were $136.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2009, a decrease of 9.1% versus the prior-year period result of $150.1 million.

Operating income was $35.7 million, slightly down from $37.4 million in the prior-year period.

The lower revenues were partly the result of a decline in political advertising -- at $1.9 million, versus $8.7 million in third-quarter 2008. But other advertising categories also contributed.

Local ad revenues were down 13.9%, while national ad revenues were down 26.7% versus the third quarter of 2008. Lower-trending ad-spending categories were automotive, services, paid programming, movies and telecommunications.

The services category -- Sinclair's largest advertising category, at 15.6% of all sales -- was down 10.9%. Automotive -- its second-largest category, with 15.3% of all advertising sales -- was down 31.4% in the quarter.

Advertising sales results were the worst for Sinclair's NBC stations -- down 30.9%. Fox stations were off 17.4%, while ABC, MyNetworkTV, CW, and CBS were down 21.2%, 13.0%, 22.6% and 24.5%, respectively.

Revenues from retrans agreements were $28.0 million compared to $17.9 million in the third quarter of 2008.

The company expects more of the same in the fourth quarter, with net broadcast revenues expected to fall 11% to 12.8% -- totaling $143.3 million to $146.3 million. Sinclair estimates political ad revenues to be a $3.0 million, as compared to $25.6 million in fourth-quarter 2008.