International Entertainment News: Media General Reports May 2007 Revenues; Provides Second-Quarter Outlook

Media General Reports May 2007 Revenues; Provides Second-Quarter Outlook

RICHMOND, Va., June 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported May 2007 total revenues of $75.4 million, a 2.8 percent increase from May 2006, including the revenues of four NBC television stations acquired June 26, 2006. Excluding the new stations, total revenues declined 7.8 percent. By business segment, Publishing Division total revenues decreased 12.8 percent. Broadcast Division total revenues increased 31.3 percent, including the new stations, and decreased 1.9 percent, excluding the new stations. Interactive Media Division total revenues rose 43.1 percent.

"The economic downturn in Florida continues to hamper our Tampa operations. This situation is affecting the performance of all three divisions as a result of lower results at The Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV, and TBO.com," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "We have implemented a performance improvement plan in Tampa to better align expenses with the current revenue environment, as previously announced, and we are assessing other opportunities.

"Publishing Division results in May reflected continued significant weakness in Classified advertising. We were very disappointed to see the Retail category decline, a reflection of major retailers holding back on spending in virtually every market. We saw a few bright spots in May, including increases in real estate Classified advertising in Richmond, a market that has not yet been severely affected by the national housing downturn. In addition, National revenues increased at The Richmond Times- Dispatch, the Winston-Salem Journal and in our community newspaper group; however, these increases were offset by a decline at The Tampa Tribune," said Mr. Morton.

"In the Broadcast Division, lower same-station gross time sales mostly reflected a $1.2 million decline in Political revenues from May 2006. Higher National time sales were offset by lower Local time sales. The performance of our new NBC stations was again short of our expectations, partially due to the ongoing weakness in the primetime line-up. In addition, these stations are being integrated into Media General systems and they are not fully up to the level we expect to see by early next year. We've also launched new initiatives at all four stations that are designed to further enhance their ratings. Weak market conditions in Columbus and Raleigh further challenged those two stations in May. Overall in our Broadcast business, shrinking automotive advertising budgets, higher levels of order cancellations, and ad dollars being deferred until later in the year are all having an unfavorable impact," said Mr. Morton.

"To mitigate the effect of the advertising downturn, in addition to Tampa's performance improvement plan, we have frozen hiring on most open positions, except sales jobs, which we are accelerating our efforts to fill. We are reducing discretionary spending wherever possible and have asked all of our properties to accelerate new product introductions and intensify their focus on new revenue development," said Mr. Morton.

"We continue to be pleased with the growth of our Interactive Media Division. May's results were driven mostly by strong Local and National/Regional spending and a significant increase in advergaming revenues. Softness in Classified advertising was partially offset by our new employment initiative with Yahoo!HotJobs. Page views and visitor sessions increased 24 percent and 31 percent, respectively, including the new NBC station Web sites," said Mr. Morton.

Newspaper advertising revenues in May declined $6.1 million, or 14.9 percent, due to lower spending in all advertising categories.

Classified advertising revenues decreased $3 million, or 16.9 percent. This was principally due to a 38.2 percent decline at The Tampa Tribune, and declines of 3-3.5 percent across the rest of the division.

Employment linage at the company's three metro newspapers decreased 27.8 percent. This included declines of 41.5 percent at The Tampa Tribune, 19.4 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and 25.7 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal.

Automotive linage for the three metros decreased 18.8 percent, and included declines of 27.5 percent at The Tampa Tribune, 14.7 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and 0.7 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal, which has cycled through large cutbacks by automotive advertisers.

Real estate linage for the three metros was down 25.2 percent. The Richmond Times-Dispatch generated a 12.5 percent increase, benefiting from continued solid advertising from real estate developers as well as the longer average periods that houses are remaining on the market. The Tampa Tribune experienced a 46.7 percent decline and the Winston-Salem Journal was down 16.8 percent.

Retail advertising revenues in May decreased $2.5 million, or 13.1 percent. The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers experienced a decline of 17.5 percent as a result of lower home improvement, financial, grocery store and medical advertising. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported a 9.9 percent decrease, due to lower drug store, department store and furniture advertising. The Winston-Salem Journal reported a 17 percent decline, which included lower spending in the department store, grocery store and home improvement categories, and the Community newspaper group was down 10.2 percent.

National revenues decreased $470,000, or 13.9 percent. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem Journal generated small increases, while The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers saw a decrease of 26.3 percent due to lower telecommunications, financial and entertainment advertising. The Community newspapers posted a 25.7 percent increase, reflecting higher spending in South Carolina, Northern Virginia and Lynchburg, Virginia.

While Circulation revenues declined $235,000, or 3.8 percent, approximately 85 percent of the decrease was the result of a change in wholesale rates to carriers at several newspapers for which there is a corresponding expense decrease. Seven Media General newspapers generated increases in net-paid Daily Circulation, and seven did so for Sunday, including the Winston-Salem Journal. All Media General newspapers have implemented content enhancement programs to drive readership.

Broadcast Division

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales increased $8.2 million, or 33.8 percent, including the new stations. Same-station time sales decreased 3.5 percent, as higher National advertising revenues were offset by lower Local revenues, and as expected, Political spending decreased.

Local time sales increased $4.9 million, or 32.6 percent, including the new stations. Same-station Local time sales declined 3.5 percent, principally due to lower spending by automotive advertisers.

National time sales increased $4.4 million, or 57.8 percent, including the new stations. Same-station National time sales increased 11.9 percent, as a result of higher spending in the telecommunications and entertainment categories, offsetting declines in the automotive and corporate categories.

Political revenues of $365,000 compared to $1.5 million last May, and represented early campaign spending from gubernatorial candidates in Kentucky and issue advertising in Florida, Ohio and Alabama.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division total revenues, including the new NBC station Web sites, rose 43.1 percent. Higher Local and National/Regional advertising, as well as solid advergaming sales, drove the increased revenues.

Excluding the new NBC station Web sites, Local revenues increased 42 percent over last year, reflecting increased direct sales and the continued focus on staffing and training. National/Regional advertising more than tripled as a result of strong volume from national networks, especially in the automotive and telecommunications categories, mostly on TBO.com. Classified revenues decreased 11.2 percent, reflecting the continued weakness in help-wanted advertising, partially offset by revenues from the company's new employment initiative with Yahoo!HotJobs. Phase A of this initiative completed its fourth month in most of the company's markets and Phase B will be launched at TBO.com on June 20. Sales from the division's Blockdot advergaming business more than tripled.

Outlook

Media General's outlook for the second quarter is earnings per share in the range of 20 to 25 cents, compared with 77 cents from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2006.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties and should be understood in the context of the company's publicly available reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Media General's future performance could differ materially from its current expectations.

About Media General

Media General is a multimedia company operating leading newspapers, television stations and online enterprises primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company's publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers, The Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal; 22 daily community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; and more than 150 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company's broadcasting assets include 23 network-affiliated television stations that reach more than 32 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 9.5 percent of those in the United States. The company's interactive media assets include more than 75 online enterprises that are associated with its newspapers and television stations. Media General also owns a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Company, a manufacturer of recycled newsprint.

MEDIA GENERAL INC.
Revenues and Page Views

May
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $75,449 $73,367 2.8 %
Publishing 42,169 48,368 (12.8)%
Broadcast 30,931 23,561 31.3 %
Interactive Media 2,894 2,022 43.1 %
Eliminations (545) (584) 6.7 %

Discontinued Operations (1) - 3,576 -

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $34,901 $40,991 (14.9)%
Classified 14,718 17,713 (16.9)%
Retail 16,826 19,355 (13.1)%
National 2,922 3,395 (13.9)%
Other 435 528 (17.6)%
Circulation 5,999 6,235 (3.8)%
By Property
Richmond 10,688 11,337 (5.7)%
Tampa 11,935 15,901 (24.9)%
Winston-Salem 3,943 4,408 (10.5)%
Community Newspapers 15,442 16,562 (6.8)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $8,518 $9,024 (5.6)%
Tampa 10,300 14,561 (29.3)%
Winston-Salem 3,138 3,546 (11.5)%
Community Newspapers 12,792 13,710 (6.7)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $32,401 $24,222 33.8 %
Local 19,976 15,064 32.6 %
National 12,059 7,640 57.8 %
Political 366 1,518 (75.9)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites 49,649,949 39,985,281 24.2 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 16,261,250 14,377,012 13.1 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 8,407,010 9,874,292 (14.9)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 3,144,609 3,088,821 1.8 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $399,082 $377,433 5.7 %
Publishing 235,577 253,905 (7.2)%
Broadcast 152,195 115,557 31.7 %
Interactive Media 14,213 10,675 33.1 %
Eliminations (2,903) (2,704) (7.4)%

Discontinued Operations (1) - 16,684 -

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $194,931 $212,613 (8.3)%
Classified 83,112 97,531 (14.8)%
Retail 92,560 94,406 (2.0)%
National 16,681 17,550 (5.0)%
Other 2,578 3,126 (17.5)%
Circulation 33,911 35,391 (4.2)%
By Property
Richmond 58,047 59,259 (2.0)%
Tampa 72,771 86,480 (15.9)%
Winston-Salem 21,671 22,689 (4.5)%
Community Newspapers 82,262 84,610 (2.8)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $46,263 $46,565 (0.6)%
Tampa 63,360 78,138 (18.9)%
Winston-Salem 17,177 18,173 (5.5)%
Community Newspapers 67,391 68,909 (2.2)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $158,596 $117,080 35.5 %
Local 98,802 75,280 31.2 %
National 58,421 39,730 47.0 %
Political 1,373 2,070 (33.7)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites 292,972,175 228,460,375 28.2 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 88,697,049 79,972,349 10.9 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 54,712,908 58,777,524 (6.9)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 19,741,677 18,796,404 5.0 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Notes: All data are subject to later adjustment.

(1) Revenues from certain broadcast and interactive media operations that
the Company divested in 2006.

MEDIA GENERAL, INC.
Daily Newspapers Advertising Linage*

May
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 31,183 32,991 (5.5)%
National 8,324 8,376 (0.6)%
Classified 66,487 70,934 (6.3)%
Total 105,994 112,301 (5.6)%
Tampa Tribune
Retail 40,773 44,983 (9.4)%
National 8,056 12,393 (35.0)%
Classified 88,123 135,830 (35.1)%
Total 136,952 193,206 (29.1)%
Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 27,409 38,571 (28.9)%
National 8,023 8,362 (4.1)%
Classified 53,655 53,633 -
Total 89,087 100,566 (11.4)%
Community Dailies
Retail 310,557 347,603 (10.7)%
National 16,608 19,569 (15.1)%
Classified 414,891 452,270 (8.3)%
Total 742,056 819,442 (9.4)%
Media General Dailies Total
Retail 409,922 464,148 (11.7)%
National 41,011 48,700 (15.8)%
Classified 623,156 712,667 (12.6)%
Total 1,074,089 1,225,515 (12.4)%

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 155,495 161,235 (3.6)%
National 47,288 49,421 (4.3)%
Classified 348,468 374,404 (6.9)%
Total 551,251 585,060 (5.8)%
Tampa Tribune
Retail 228,423 233,285 (2.1)%
National 49,443 67,647 (26.9)%
Classified 497,995 736,395 (32.4)%
Total 775,861 1,037,327 (25.2)%
Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 155,030 186,456 (16.9)%
National 38,668 42,328 (8.6)%
Classified 252,502 293,438 (14.0)%
Total 446,200 522,222 (14.6)%
Community Dailies
Retail 1,660,406 1,722,871 (3.6)%
National 99,234 101,189 (1.9)%
Classified 2,149,635 2,294,135 (6.3)%
Total 3,909,275 4,118,195 (5.1)%
Media General Dailies Total
Retail 2,199,354 2,303,847 (4.5)%
National 234,633 260,585 (10.0)%
Classified 3,248,600 3,698,372 (12.2)%
Total 5,682,587 6,262,804 (9.3)%