• by Wayne Friedman , February 4, 2010

Political advertising revenues sank Belo Corp. TV operations results for its fourth-quarter 2009. But overall cost savings have moved the company into profitability for the period.

Revenues went south 13.8% to $171.3 million from $198.8 million. Spot revenue -- excluding political advertising -- was down less than 1% in the fourth quarter, versus the same period in 2008.

Better ad news is on the way, the company says: "Total spot revenues in January were up more than 9% compared to January 2009, with higher percentage growth expected in February, due to the Super Bowl on our five CBS stations and the Olympics on our four NBC stations," stated Dunia Shive, president and CEO of Belo.

Calling itself one of the largest "pure-play" TV station groups, Belo Corp. owns 20 television stations -- nine in the top 25 markets. Belo stations include affiliations with ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW and MyNetwork TV and reach more than 14% of U.S. TV households in 15 markets.

Shive went on to say that first-quarter spot revenues are currently pacing with low double-digit percentage increases -- with the automotive category currently pacing up more than 40%. He added that better political advertising is expected to come to the group in the second half of 2010.

Belo's digital businesses have not been immune to the recessionary economy. Advertising revenue associated with Belo's Web sites decreased 3.2% in the fourth quarter 2009 and 5.2% for the full-year 2009. Retrans revenue gained 29% to $42.6 million. This comes to 7% of Belo's total revenue.

Mostly thanks to operating cost savings -- amounting to 13% -- Belo turned a profit of $22.2 million in the period from a loss of $484.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.