• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 3, 2013

Big newspaper publishers suffered another round of revenue declines in the first quarter of the year, with the Washington Post Co. and McClatchy Co. both reporting drops as a result of continuing losses in print advertising.
 
However, WaPo’s newspaper division saw total revenues slip 4% from $132.5 million in the first quarter of 2012 to $127.3 million in the first quarter of 2013. Print advertising revenue at the company’s flagship newspaper fell 8% from $52.7 million to $48.6 million. The Washington Post’s Daily and Sunday circulation decreased 7.2% and 7.7%, respectively.

WaPo’s overall revenues were actually up slightly -- growing less than 1% to $959 million, due mostly to its cable and broadcast TV divisions.
 
WaPo’s education division -- still the company’s biggest business -- saw revenues fall 3% from $546.7 million in the first quarter of 2012 to $527.8 million in the first quarter of 2013. The education division, including Kaplan, has seen steady declines since 2009, when Congress moved to tighten restrictions on how government student loans can be spent.
 
On the positive side, the company’s bottom line was buoyed by growth at its cable and broadcast divisions. Cable TV revenues increased 5% from $190.2 million in the first quarter of 2012 to $200.1 million in the first quarter of 2013, mostly reflecting rate increases.

The company’s broadcast TV operations also posted a 5% increase in revenues, from $81.5 million to $85.3 million, reflecting growing advertising demand, as well as growing retrans revenues.
 
The McClatchy Co.’s total revenues fell 4% to $276.7 million, due to a decline in ad revenues, which fell 6% to $197.1 million. These losses were partially offset by growth in circulation revenues, which increased 1.6% to $67.5 million, resulting from McClatchy’s move to begin charging for digital content using metered access models. Digital advertising revenues contributed 24% of total advertising revenues in the first quarter of 2013, up from 22.2% in the first quarter of 2012.