• by Wayne Friedman , November 3, 2011

Belo Corp., the TV station group, had a rough third quarter in terms of advertising sales, and looks to have more of the same for the remainder of the year.

Political advertising has been the main reason for the slowdown -- something that has plagued other stations. Belo's total revenue decreased 7% to $152 million, with net income of 1% to 13.7 million. Overall, Belo was 9% below its advertising totals of a year ago.

Political advertising was down to $2.1 million from $11.2 million in the third quarter of 2010. Belo expects more political advertising fallout, with the fourth quarter to be in the mid-teens millions, versus $35.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Taking out political, total advertising revenue was still down -- at 2% -- with local spot revenue flat and national spot revenue 5% below the same period a year ago.

Belo said its growing revenue segments -- retransmission and Internet revenue -- slowed down in the period. It witnessed big gains in retransmission and Internet revenue in the third quarter of 2010 -- growing by double-digit increases.

In a press release, Dunia Shive, president and CEO of Belo Corp., says automotive advertising continued to show signs of improvement.

In midday trading, Belo's stock was down 0.8% to $6.24.

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