Media General Revenue Climbs 42%

Media General, offering its first earnings report with the self-description
of "broadcast television and digital media company," announced $93.8
million in third quarter revenue, up 42% from the same quarter a year ago.
Nearly $20 million in political advertising paced the Media General stations.

Media General sold 63 newspapers to Berkshire Hathaway in
May, and offloaded its lone remaining one, The
Tampa Tribune
, earlier this month.

Third-quarter income was $22.5 million, compared with $4.8
million in the 2011 third quarter.

"Operating income was more than four times last year,
mostly driven by a nearly 42% increase in revenues," said Marshall N.
Morton, president and CEO of Media General. "Political revenues totaled
nearly $20 million and reflected the strong positions of our television
stations in their markets and the presence of six Media General stations in
presidential battleground states. Our eight NBC stations generated a record
$15.5 million of revenues from the Summer Olympics, capitalizing on record viewership
for the London Games."

Gross time sales, excluding political revenues, increased
16.8% in the third quarter. Local gross time sales increased nearly 16% while
national gross sales grew 19.2%. The automotive category increased 45% due, in
part, to comparisons against last year's weak spending following Japan's
tsunami, and to the strength of Olympic advertising this year.

Media General's retransmission fees rose nearly 80% to $9.4
million in the quarter. Station operating costs increased 12.1% in the current
quarter, mostly due to higher sales commissions.

Media General expects fourth quarter total revenues to
increase 25-28% over the previous year's fourth quarter.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.