Earnings: Belo Q2 Profits, Rev Fall; Online Newspaper Ads Up 19 Percent; TV Web Revs Rise 48 Percent

Dallas-based newspaper publisher and TV station owner Belo (NYSE: BLC) posted a 14.8 percent decline in profits to $36.4 million, or 35 cents a share, from $42.7 million, or 41 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue in the quarter dropped 3.2 percent to $391 million. Other information contained in the company’s Q2 release included:

Newspaper Group: Revenues decreased 8.5 percent as Belo continued to point to soft ad sales conditions and the downturn in the Southern California housing market. Decreases were noted in retail, general and classified revenues while part-run advertising revenue increased slightly. Online ad revenues for the unit increased 19 percent to $13.6 million.

Television Group: Despite reduced ad sales related to political campaign spending, revenue increased 2.5 percent. Ad revenue associated with Belo’s TV station websites continued to grow at a high rate, rising 48 percent versus Q206 to $7 million.

Yahoo plans: Next week, Belo will launch Yahoo’s contextual advertising and web search tools on its Dallas Morning News site. At the end of June, Belo joined the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium, which also connects its help wanted section to HotJobs. Robert Decherd, Belo’s chairman and CEO, said the company expects to see some incremental revenue related to search and content integration this year, though it considers the real revenue driver to be Yahoo’s ad-serving technology and the related cross-selling opportunities associated with Yahoo.
Earnings release | Webcast (2:00 p.m. EST)

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