• by Wayne Friedman , January 22, 2009

It's a new year, but some of the same old recessionary results for one media company.

Meredith Corporation witnessed its broadcasting and publishing business losing steam with lower net profits than in a comparable period in the previous year. Blame lower advertising sales, mostly due to weaker automotive business.

Fiscal 2009 second-quarter broadcasting operating profit was $22 million, down from $28 million in the year-ago period. Revenues were $84 million, compared to $88 million in the year-ago period. Broadcast revenues sank 40% among the automotive category.

Despite this continuing activity, Meredith says it will continue to invest in local news--as well as online initiatives. One positive sign: Net political revenues were at $17 million, as expected, compared to $1 million a year ago.

Meredith's publishing business was hit a bit harder, dropping to operating profits of some $15 million versus $45 million the year before. Overall, revenues sank to $282 million, compared to $309 million in the year-ago period. Advertising revenues were $122 million, versus $153 million in the prior-year period.

One of the bright spots in its publishing business came from the Internet. Traffic on Meredith's consumer Web sites rose, with the number of unique visitors climbing 25% to nearly 16 million and page views averaging nearly 200 million per month during the quarter. Videos streamed during the quarter rose 17% to 3.2 million.

Meredith says its business benefited from a new retransmission agreement with Comcast--the largest carrier of Meredith's signal, with customers in eight of its 10 TV markets. It also agreed to extend a deal with Comcast for Parents magazine-branded video. Meredith has now successfully completed new retransmission agreements with six of seven major cable operators in its markets.

Total revenues for the company dipped to $366.2 million from $396.2 million in the prior period. Meredith recorded a net loss of $9.6 million. Excluding the charge, the company recorded a $40.8 million net profit.

The charge included staff reduction, closing Country Home magazine and other cutbacks.