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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Media General Reports December 2007 Revenues

Media General Reports December 2007 Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported December 2007 total revenues of $70.6 million, a decrease of 3 percent from approximately $73 million in December 2006, excluding about $18.5 million in revenues from an extra week in fiscal December 2006, composed of about $10.6 million in the Publishing Division, approximately $7.6 million in the Broadcast Division and about $300,000 in the Interactive Media Division. Although it is difficult to precisely quantify the impact of the additional week, the company has estimated the impact on key metrics throughout this release in order to allow meaningful comparisons. By business segment, Publishing Division revenues decreased an estimated 9 percent, Broadcast Division revenues increased approximately 3 percent and Interactive Media Division revenues rose approximately 50 percent.

Publishing Division

Newspaper advertising revenues in December decreased approximately $4 million, or 11 percent. Most of the decline was attributable to the Tampa market, driven in particular by lower Classified revenues.

Classified advertising revenues decreased approximately $2 million, or 19 percent, with real estate, employment and automotive Classified all lower in the company's metro markets. In the Tampa market, Classified revenues decreased approximately 38 percent, the Richmond market declined about 17 percent and the Winston-Salem market decreased an estimated 8 percent. The Community newspaper markets decreased approximately 5 percent. For the company's three metro markets, real estate revenues were down about 40 percent, employment revenues decreased approximately 36 percent, and automotive revenues declined an estimated 7 percent.

Retail advertising revenues declined by less than $1 million, or 4 percent. The Tampa market reported an approximate 9 percent decrease, due to lower spending in most categories, and the Richmond market experienced an estimated 3 percent decrease, reflecting a decline in home improvement, drug store and furniture store advertising, offset in part by revenues from a weekly newspaper acquired in 2007. In Winston-Salem, Retail revenues were down about 2 percent, with lower spending in the department store and home improvement categories. The Community newspaper group saw a nominal decrease.

National revenues decreased an estimated $1 million, or 28 percent. The Richmond market generated an approximate 17 percent increase, due to higher spending in the insurance and telecommunications categories. The Tampa market declined approximately 46 percent, due to lower telecommunications, medical and financial spending. National revenues in Winston-Salem increased about 9 percent, reflecting higher automotive and medical advertising.

Circulation revenues were down less than $100,000, or 2 percent, as Daily and Sunday net-paid circulation declines for the month were partially offset by rate increases at the metro newspapers. Four Media General newspapers generated increases in net-paid Daily Circulation, and four did so for Sunday.

Broadcast Division

Gross time sales increased approximately 1 percent, reflecting higher Local time sales.

Local time sales increased just under $500,000, or 2 percent, primarily from higher grocery store and drug store advertising, partially offset by lower spending in the automotive and fast food categories.

National time sales declined approximately $700,000, or 7 percent, as a result of decreased advertising in the automotive and corporate categories, partially offset by increased spending in medical and specialty store advertising.

Political revenues of $980,000 compared with $385,000 last December, and were generated from strong Presidential primary campaign spending in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, U.S. Congressional races in Mississippi and Kentucky, and issue spending in a number of states.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division revenues increased approximately 50 percent, due to significantly higher revenues from the advergaming business, solid growth in National/Regional and Local advertising and revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs employment Classified partnership. Revenues from Yahoo!HotJobs helped mitigate overall softness in Classified revenues, which declined about 9 percent.

Local online revenues grew about 78 percent over December 2006, reflecting a continued focus on direct sales. National/Regional advertising increased approximately 58 percent, resulting from higher spending by national agencies. Advergaming revenues nearly tripled from last year. Page views and visitor sessions in December increased 12 percent and 17 percent, respectively, excluding the new NBC stations. The improvement is due, in part, to increased audience associated with locally produced content in some markets.

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, INC.                          Revenues and Page Views    =========================================================================                                                      December                                          ----------------------------------                                            2007         2006                                          (4 Weeks)    (5 Weeks)   % Change   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Revenues (000)                            $70,576      $91,194   (22.6)%          Publishing                          40,025       54,519   (26.6)%          Broadcast                           28,476       35,128   (18.9)%          Interactive Media                    2,690        2,094    28.5 %          Eliminations                          (615)        (547)  (12.4)%           Discontinued Operations(1)           1,461        1,617    (9.6)%    ------------------------------------------------------------------------    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                        $32,825      $45,841   (28.4)%             Classified                        9,397       14,691   (36.0)%             Retail                           19,599       24,632   (20.4)%             National                          2,890        5,377   (46.3)%             Other                               939        1,141   (17.7)%          Circulation                          5,943        7,550   (21.3)%       By Property          Richmond                             9,705       12,655   (23.3)%          Tampa                               10,751       17,326   (37.9)%          Winston-Salem                        4,100        5,106   (19.7)%          Community Newspapers                15,158       19,102   (20.6)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                            $7,580       $9,965   (23.9)%          Tampa                                9,120       15,734   (42.0)%          Winston-Salem                        3,268        4,092   (20.1)%          Community Newspapers                12,556       15,727   (20.2)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)        $28,237      $35,512   (20.5)%          Local                               17,165       21,366   (19.7)%          National                            10,094       13,762   (26.7)%          Political                              978          384   154.7 %   ---------------------------------------==================================   Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites(2)              41,193,764   45,963,596   (10.4)%               (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                         15,104,333   16,469,103    (8.3)%               (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com         7,029,756   11,282,114   (37.7)%               (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                   3,067,754    3,719,910   (17.5)%               (Winston-Salem, N.C.)   =========================================================================     =========================================================================                                                     Year-to-Date                                          ----------------------------------                                              2007         2006                                           (52 Weeks)   (53 Weeks)  % Change   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Revenues (000)                             $932,181     $964,857   (3.4)%          Publishing                           544,757      601,144   (9.4)%          Broadcast                            358,367      343,118    4.4 %          Interactive Media                     36,181       27,113   33.4 %          Eliminations                          (7,124)      (6,518)  (9.3)%           Discontinued Operations(1)            19,071       50,409  (62.2)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                         $450,494     $505,426  (10.9)%             Classified                        179,671      219,196  (18.0)%             Retail                            225,728      234,845   (3.9)%             National                           38,357       43,317  (11.5)%             Other                               6,738        8,068  (16.5)%          Circulation                           78,190       81,885   (4.5)%       By Property          Richmond                             136,162      141,709   (3.9)%          Tampa                                158,337      197,398  (19.8)%          Winston-Salem                         51,622       55,105   (6.3)%          Community Newspapers                 196,033      204,495   (4.1)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                            $108,263     $112,041   (3.4)%          Tampa                                136,985      179,103  (23.5)%          Winston-Salem                         41,037       44,288   (7.3)%          Community Newspapers                 161,870      167,705   (3.5)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)         $371,336     $355,689    4.4 %          Local                                226,691      195,407   16.0 %          National                             137,070      111,874   22.5 %          Political                              7,575       48,408  (84.4)%   ---------------------------------------==================================    Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites(2)               590,626,285  553,826,557    6.6 %                (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                          222,837,372  205,518,112    8.4 %               (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com         116,440,503  134,036,554  (13.1)%               (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                    44,825,717   43,860,023    2.2 %               (Winston-Salem, N.C.)   =========================================================================    Notes:  All data are subject to later adjustment.   (1) Revenues from certain broadcast and interactive media operations that       the Company is currently divesting as well as those the Company       divested in 2006.   (2) Web site page views exclude four NBC sites purchased in 2006 that were       previously hosted by a third party.                              MEDIA GENERAL, INC.                     Daily Newspapers Advertising Linage    =========================================================================                                                      December   -------------------------------------------------------------------------                                           2007         2006       % Change   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                               30,738        36,286     (15.3)%       National                             10,866        11,692      (7.1)%       Classified                           52,268        61,962     (15.6)%           Total                            93,872       109,940     (14.6)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   The Tampa Tribune       Retail                               42,434        63,631     (33.3)%       National                              9,481        20,588     (53.9)%       Classified                           63,297       108,652     (41.7)%           Total                           115,212       192,871     (40.3)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                               28,880        42,090     (31.4)%       National                              7,891         9,533     (17.2)%       Classified                           37,871        49,092     (22.9)%           Total                            74,642       100,715     (25.9)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Community Dailies       Retail                              317,722       419,997     (24.4)%       National                             16,176        41,526     (61.0)%       Classified                          356,991       430,053     (17.0)%           Total                           690,889       891,576     (22.5)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Media General Dailies Total       Retail                              419,774       562,004     (25.3)%       National                             44,414        83,339     (46.7)%       Classified                          510,427       649,759     (21.4)%           Total                           974,615     1,295,102     (24.7)%   =========================================================================     =========================================================================                                                    Year-to Date   -------------------------------------------------------------------------                                             2007         2006      % Change   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                                 374,805      389,417    (3.8)%       National                               115,655      115,900    (0.2)%       Classified                             823,298      852,524    (3.4)%           Total                            1,313,758    1,357,841    (3.2)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   The Tampa Tribune       Retail                                 504,253      565,331   (10.8)%       National                               107,816      158,094   (31.8)%       Classified                           1,077,427    1,596,977   (32.5)%           Total                            1,689,496    2,320,402   (27.2)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                                 360,462      442,466   (18.5)%       National                                92,188       97,600    (5.5)%       Classified                             593,171      687,141   (13.7)%           Total                            1,045,821    1,227,207   (14.8)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Community Dailies       Retail                               3,981,157    4,211,360    (5.5)%       National                               224,121      272,773   (17.8)%       Classified                           5,001,726    5,402,083    (7.4)%           Total                            9,207,004    9,886,216    (6.9)%   -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Media General Dailies Total       Retail                               5,220,677    5,608,574    (6.9)%       National                               539,780      644,367   (16.2)%       Classified                           7,495,622    8,538,725   (12.2)%           Total                           13,256,079   14,791,666   (10.4)%   =========================================================================    *  Advertising is in column inches - full run only  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Media General, Inc.

CONTACT: Investors, Lou Anne J. Nabhan, +1-804-649-6103, or Media, Ray
Kozakewicz, +1-804-649-6748, both of Media General, Inc.

Web site: http://www.mediageneral.com/


Profile: International Entertainment

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