Media General, which announced in June that it would be requiring employees to take 15 furlough days by the end of the year, this week reported a dip in second quarter revenue.
The company, which owns 18 stations across the country including WFLA in Tampa and WJAR in Providence, announced that $70.35 million in broadcast revenue for the second quarter, down nearly 3% from the same period last year.
Media General blames the decrease in revenue on a decrease in political advertising. In a news release, president and CEO Marshall Morton pointed out that, if one excludes political advertising in both yeas, broadcast revenues actually increased 6.6%.
“Our television stations did an excellent job of replacing a large portion of last year’s Political revenues,” Morton said, adding that he expects stations to see a boost in political, as well as automotive, advertising during the second half of the year.