Content area
Full Text
An overhaul of the 11 television stations owned by Meredith Corp., including WGCL-TV in Atlanta, is paying off.
The company's total revenue jumped 9 percent to $1.08 billion during the 2003 fiscal year, which ended June 30. That's an improvement over the previous year, when the company's total revenue fell 5 percent to $987.8 million from $1.04 billion in 2001.
However, the company's earnings dropped to $5.3 million in 2003 from $91.4 million in the 2002 fiscal year. The company attributed the decline to an $85.7 million charge as part of a change in its accounting procedures. Without the charge, the company's earnings would have been $91.1 million, a decline of less than 1 percent, according to its annual report filed Sept. 18.
Revenue for the broadcast unit of Meredith Corp. (NYSE: MDP), which is based in Des Moines, Iowa, was up 7 percent to $272.1 million in 2003. Revenue for the division had declined 6 percent to $254.6 million in the previous year from $270.3 million in 2001. The company doesn't list its earnings for the broadcast division separately from its publishing division in its annual report, but the broadcast division...