In the wake of a costly embarrassment over inflated circulation figures, The Providence Journal’s parent company, Dallas-based Belo Corp., has reported a 64-percent drop in its third-quarter earnings, to $11.2 million, or 10 cents a share, from $31.1 million, or 27 cents, in the third quarter of 2003.
The circulation flap, which did not involve the Journal, but rather Belo’s flagship, The Dallas Morning News, cost $14.9 million, the company said. Discontinuing Belo/Time Warner cable news joint ventures cost another $7.5 million, Belo said, and severance payments for company-wide layoffs (but not at the Journal) cost $3.6 million.
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Belo’s consolidated revenues, meanwhile, were up 5.2 percent from 2003, with newspaper revenues up 3.3 percent for the quarter and television revenues up 6.6 percent, boosted by $12.5 million in political ad sales and $9.7 million from Olympics spots. Revenues from the Journal were up 3.4 percent, Belo reported. Companywide costs and expenses rose 14.5 percent, mostly due to the three “special charges.”
