Milwaukee-based Journal Communications Inc. today reported third quarter net earnings of $4.5 million, or 9 cents per share, down from $7.7 million, or 14 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported quarterly revenue of $97.7 million, virtually unchanged from a year earlier.
“Journal Communications had a solid third quarter, driven by continued improving advertising revenue trends in publishing, as well as revenue gains in our broadcast group. Total revenue of $97.7 million was essentially flat compared to 2012 which had record political and Olympic spending,” said Steven Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Journal Communications.
“Within the broadcast group, revenue was up 3 percent, with television up 2 percent and radio up nearly 4 percent. Revenue from NewsChannel 5 in Nashville helped us replace the political and Olympic advertising dollars we saw during the third quarter of last year. Although we were challenged by a protracted retransmission consent agreement negotiation with Time Warner Cable, which took our television stations off of their system in four of our markets for eight weeks, we are pleased with the result of the negotiation. On the publishing side of the business, we’re pleased to report that advertising revenue was up almost 5 percent year-over-year at the daily newspaper. A continued focus on advertising sales initiatives, along with ongoing efforts to control expenses, contributed to a 52-percent increase in operating earnings for the daily newspaper.”
