Report: Revenue at WJAR "Stabilizing"

The CEO of Media General, the Richmond, Virginia-based company that owns Rhode Island television station WJAR, said in a conference call with reporters today that revenue at the station - long the market leader - has "stabilized" after a period of sharp declines. Still, revenue for the parent company took a steep decline in the third quarter. Providence Business News has the details:

PROVIDENCE – Advertising revenue at WJAR-TV (NBC 10) appears to have “stabilized,” the CEO of the station’s parent company said Wednesday as the firm announced a large third-quarter loss.

Marshall N. Morton, president and CEO of Media General Inc., said the newspaper publisher and broadcaster is “seeing signs of strengthening in advertiser spending” after a long dip in marketing sales.

“Also encouraging are signs that the Tampa and Providence markets have stabilized,” Morton said, in a reference to WJAR.

Richmond, Va.-based Media General posted a net loss of $62.5 million, or $2.80 a share, in the three-month period ended Sept. 27, compared with a profit of $6.1 million, or 27 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell 18 percent to $158 million.