By David B. Wilkerson

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Media General Inc. said Thursday that it swung to a fourth-quarter loss on a charge related to the diminished value of some of its assets and a steep decline in print advertising revenues, reflecting an industry-wide trend.

Richmond, Va.-based Media General (MEG) said it lost $85.5 million, or $3.86 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31. The loss includes a non-cash after-tax impairment charge of $83.1 million, reflecting the reduced value of FCC licenses issued to its television stations and network affiliation agreements maintained by those stations.

Across the U.S., media companies have seen the market values of their TV and radio stations drop far below their book values as the perception of media assets has waned over the past year. Such companies are then required to make note of the discrepancy in those values and account for the difference.

Excluding the impairment charge and other items, Media General would have earned $8.6 million, or 39 cents a share in the latest quarter. A year earlier, excluding severance costs, the company earned $10.2 million, or 46 cents a share.

Revenue dropped nearly 12% to $207 million, reflecting a 20% drop in newspaper advertising revenue.

At the company's newspapers, including The Tampa Tribune and 23 other dailies, revenue fell 17%.

Classified ad revenue, traditionally the most important source of income for newspapers, dropped 38%, driven primarily by declines in the company's three metropolitan markets. In those three areas, help-wanted ad revenue plunged 60%, real estate by 50%, and automotive by 46%.

In recent years, newspaper classifieds had been curtailed to some degree by competitors like Craigslist and Monster.com -- but the economic downturn that became a worldwide financial meltdown in the second half of 2008 has sent classified revenues crashing through the floor, as year-over-year decreases of 30% or more have become commonplace, in markets of varying sizes.

At Media General's 19 television stations, revenue fell 7%, with gross ad sales down 6.4%. As with so many other local TV outlets across the country, a precipitous fall-off in automotive ads was the main reason for the decline.

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