Gray Revenue Down 18% in Q4

Lack of political revenue drags down quarter

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/15/2010 11:55:55 AM

Gray Television announced fourth quarter revenue of $77.5 million, down 18% from the same quarter the previous year. Local ad revenue was up 5%, national revenue was down 1%, and Internet advertising was flat in the quarter.

Gray execs said the numbers are looking brighter in 2010.

"While we continue to operate our business in a challenging environment, the operating results we expect to report following completion of the audit of our financial statements are better than we had initially forecasted. We have seen some improvements in our core local and national advertising revenue and believe we are well positioned to benefit from expected increases in political advertising in 2010," said Gray in a statement.

Political advertising was down 82% to $5 million in the quarter, while retransmission consent revenue was up 346% to $3.7 million.

Gray also collected $.6 million in the fourth quarter from its consulting agreement with Young Broadcasting concerning most of the Young stations.

Atlanta-based Gray operates 36 stations in 30 markets.