Net Revenue Down at LIN TV in Q4
Rise in Internet-Advertising, Retransmission-Consent Fees Offsets Political-Advertising Loss
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/27/2008 9:00:00 AM
LIN TV’s net revenue went from $127.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 to $108.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, a 15% drop that LIN attributed to a lack of political advertising last year.
Partially offsetting the loss was an increase in digital revenues, including Internet-advertising and retransmission-consent fees. Those represented $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year, up from $2.1 million in the prior year’s quarter. LIN inked 16 retransmission agreements in the quarter for a 164% boost in fees compared with the same quarter in 2006.
Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $23.5 million compared with $5.3 million for the same quarter in 2006. Operating income for the fourth quarter was $54.6 million versus $36 million in Q4 2006. The growth stemmed from LIN’s $25.8 million gain from the sale of its 700-megahertz licenses.
LIN president and CEO Vincent Sadusky said the company finished 2007 “with great momentum. Fourth-quarter core advertising sales, which exclude political, increased 5%, and digital revenues grew an impressive 131%. In addition, we reduced our general operating expenses 6% and our cash interest expense decreased by 19%, reflecting the $120.1 million pay-down of our debt in 2007 and our favorable debt structure. These achievements position us strongly for 2008, when we should benefit from increased advertiser demand for our highly rated stations and the continued growth in our digital revenues.”
For the full year, net revenue was $395.9 million, down 6% from 2006. Operating income for the year was $110.4 million compared with an operating loss of $235.8 million the previous year. That gain was tied to the sale of the 700-MHz licenses.
Net income for the year was $53.7 million versus a net loss of $234.5 million in 2006.
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