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Media General Reports October Revenues, Updates Earnings Guidance.

Article Excerpt
Reflecting the relative absence of political advertising revenues in its Broadcast Division, partially offset by otherwise strong results in that division and in its Publishing and Interactive Media divisions, Media General, Inc. today reported October 2003 total revenues of $86.1 million, a decrease of 5.8 percent from October 2002. By operating segment, Publishing revenues increased 4.9 percent, Broadcast revenues declined 21.2 percent, and Interactive Media revenues were up 51 percent.

"For the Publishing Division, growth rates for total revenue and advertising revenue, which increased 4.9 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, were the strongest of any month in 2003," said J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman and chief executive officer. "The classified, national and preprint categories all experienced robust increases. Advertising revenues increased at The Tampa Tribune by 8 percent and at the Richmond Times-Dispatch by 7 percent, and many community newspapers were up strongly as well.

"The Broadcast Division delivered another solid performance in October, partially offsetting lower political revenues with double-digit increases in local and national advertising revenues. Our outlook for Broadcast, especially for the month of November, is cautious because we have seen weaker than anticipated spot orders, particularly from retail accounts, and it's still too early to be definitive about December," said Bryan. "We are pleased to note that our Interactive Media Division surpassed the $1 million mark in monthly revenues for the first time since its inception in January 2001."

In Publishing, the Classified category realized one...

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