LIN TV posts $830.4M loss

PROVIDENCE – LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL) today posted a 2008 loss of $830.36 million, compared with a 2007 profit of $53.68 million, on annual revenue that edged up 0.99 percent to $399.81. Per diluted share, it posted a loss of $16.33 compared with its year-ago earnings of $1.01.
CEO Vincent L. Sadusky cited “a severe recessive economy” that hurt ad sales and reduced the value of the company’s intangible assets. But, he added, “compared to our peers, LIN TV delivered one of our industry’s strongest results.”
Excluding one-time after-tax charges of $857.0 million, the company would have posted a 2008 profit of about $26.64 million. Its full-year results included pre-tax one-time charges of $952.42 million – including $1.03 billion in impairments of the company’s goodwill, broadcast licenses and equipment, mostly due to the economic downturn and resulting decline in broadcast-industry valuations; $29.71 million in depreciation; $12.90 million in restructuring charges; and a $2.01 million loss on asset sales – compared with one-time gains of $110.36 million in 2007.
“Our leading news stations are focused on maximizing multiplatform advertising spending, new-business development and digital-revenue growth,” Sadusky said in this morning’s report, which initially had been slated for release on Feb. 26. “Digital revenue continue to differentiate our company and were a major factor in our ability to increase net revenue by 1 percent in 2008.”
Revenue from political advertising surged last year to $47 million, nearly eight times the 2007 total of $6.1 million, the company said. Moreover, same-station political ad sales rose 40 percent compared with the last presidential election year in 2004.
Digital revenue – including Internet ad sales and retransmission consent fees – rose 95 percent to $29.1 million last year from $14.9 million the year before.
Those increases were partly offset by an 11 percent decline in local and national ad sales, which fell to $368.6 million last year from $415.9 million in 2007.
“The financial distress on automakers, as well as the significant declines in consumer and business spending, [is] negatively impacting television advertising sales,” Sadusky said.
“In response, we have taken significant actions to improve our efficiency, as well as our balance sheet.” Last year, LIN TV succeeded in holding general operating expenses to $278.1 million, just 0.14 percent more than in 2007.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, LIN TV posted a loss of $625.88 million, compared with a year-ago profit of $27.70 million, on revenue that fell 4.02 percent to $104.24 million as the election season ended and the recession continued. Results per diluted share declined to a loss of $12.24 per share from its 2007 fourth-quarter earnings of 53 cents.
The company’s fourth-quarter results included one-time charges of $628.6 million after taxes. Excluding those charges – which included $12.9 million ($7.9 million after taxes) in restructuring costs related to 144-person work force reduction and the cancellation of contracts for certain syndicated television shows – LIN TV would have posted a small fourth-quarter gain.
Going forward, its CEO said, “our plans to adjust our cost structure, re-engineer work flow throughout our TV stations and execute an aggressive program to reduce our debt should positively impact our operating performance and financial condition. …
“Despite the negative outlook on the economy, we remain positive,” Sadusky continued. We are confident in the fundamentals of the TV broadcast business and our ability to expand digitally. We expect to operate a very healthy and cost-efficient business, now and well into the future.”
For the first quarter that ends this month, LIN TV predicted its revenue will fall 20 percent to 25 percent compared with the year-ago period’s $93.1 million.
LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL) owns or operates 29 television stations and Web sites in 17 midsized U.S. markets. Its stations include WNAC-TV Fox 64 and WPRI-TV CBS 12 in the Providence market; WWLP-TV NBC 22 in Springfield, Mass.; and WTNH-TV ABC 8 and WCTX-TV MyNetworkTV 59 in the Hartford-New Haven region. Additional information is available atwww.LinTV.com.