Belo Presents at the Mid-Year Media Review Conference
June 19 2007 - 11:39AM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Belo Corp. (NYSE:BLC)
presented today at the Mid-Year Media Review Conference in New York
highlighting the Company's business strategies and current
operations. Robert W. Decherd, Belo's chairman and chief executive
officer, emphasized the significant value of Belo's television
assets. "Belo has a premier collection of television assets that
are performing at a high level," said Decherd. "Belo's television
stations are leaders in their markets, have had a long-term
emphasis on local market revenues, are diversified by geography and
network affiliation, produce high-quality journalism and are
located in strong growth markets. Together, these characteristics
create a very attractive profile that is recognized by the
networks, syndicators and cable, satellite and broadband companies.
"Even with the recent increase in our stock price, Belo's
television stations, which we believe to be the overall
best-performing group of television assets by a non-network
television operator, are still significantly undervalued versus
pure-play television companies. However, a rational market will,
over time, recognize the value of our television assets and their
contribution to the whole of Belo." Decherd noted the significant
progress being made in transforming Belo's newspaper businesses to
compete more effectively in an increasingly Internet-centric
environment. "We are creating new print products to reach targeted
audiences and leveraging our newspaper franchises to build
sustainable Internet businesses," said Decherd. "Concurrently, we
are maintaining a strong focus on core newspaper operations, which
remain the primary driver of cash flow." Decherd also reported that
Belo's newspapers are implementing a number of proactive
initiatives to reshape their circulation to reach the readers that
advertisers most desire. Over the last year, The Dallas Morning
News narrowed its distribution perimeter to 100 miles outside of
Dallas/Fort Worth, which resulted in a cost reduction of $9 million
annually with little or no affect on advertising revenues. At the
same time, Belo made a policy decision to cease including
third-party barter circulation figures in reported circulation and
to limit other third-party circulation. The Morning News also
modified its marketing and pricing strategies to reduce the cost
and effort involved in attracting and retaining high-churn
subscribers and began aggressively targeting subscribers in highly
attractive zip codes. To gain deeper knowledge about its readers,
The Morning News implemented a Customer Value Management system
that accumulates in-depth market intelligence about customers.
Decherd said, "Some of these circulation initiatives are ongoing,
so we expect circulation at The Morning News to decline over the
next few six-month reporting periods, and that rate of decline
could at times exceed other major metro newspapers where different
policies are in place. In actively marketing our products, the
emphasis should be on attracting quality subscribers rather than
seeking quantity at any cost. Instead of focusing on short-term
performance, our goal over time is to deliver a stable audience
with a demographic profile that is very attractive to advertisers
-- and do so in the most cost effective way possible." Decherd also
reported that Belo's online revenues and usage metrics continue to
grow at impressive rates. Regarding Belo's recently announced
agreement with Yahoo!, Decherd noted, "The partnership among Belo,
its fellow Newspaper Consortium members and Yahoo! will allow us to
take full advantage of the significant local online advertising
opportunity that exists and further propel Belo's Internet
businesses." The full text of the presentation and a replay of the
Webcast are available on Belo's Web site on the Investor Relations
page at http://www.belo.com/. About Belo Belo Corp. is one of the
nation's largest media companies with a diversified group of
market-leading television, newspaper, cable and interactive media
assets. A Fortune 1000 company with 7,100 employees and $1.6
billion in annual revenues, Belo operates in some of America's most
dynamic markets in Texas, the Northwest, the Southwest, the
Mid-Atlantic and Rhode Island. Belo owns 20 television stations,
six of which are in the 15 largest U.S. broadcast markets. The
Company also owns or operates seven cable news channels and manages
one television station through a local marketing agreement. Belo's
daily newspapers are The Dallas Morning News, The Providence
Journal, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) and the Denton
Record-Chronicle (Denton, TX). The Company also publishes specialty
publications targeting young adults, and the fast-growing Hispanic
market, including Quick and Al Dia in Dallas/Fort Worth, and El D
and La Prensa in Riverside. Belo operates more than 30 Web sites
associated with its operating companies. Additional information is
available at http://www.belo.com/ or by contacting Carey
Hendrickson, vice president/Investor Relations & Corporate
Communications, at 214-977-6626. Statements in this communication
concerning Belo's business outlook or future economic performance,
anticipated profitability, revenue, expenses, dividends, capital
expenditures, investments, future financings, or other financial
and non-financial items that are not historical facts, are
"forward-looking statements" as the term is defined under
applicable federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are
subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those statements. Such
risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to,
changes in capital market conditions and prospects, and other
factors such as changes in advertising demand, interest rates and
newsprint prices; newspaper circulation matters, including changes
in readership patterns and demography, and audits and related
actions by the Audit Bureau of Circulations; technological changes,
including the transition to digital television and the development
of new systems to distribute television and other audio-visual
content; development of Internet commerce; industry cycles; changes
in pricing or other actions by competitors and suppliers; Federal
Communications Commission and other regulatory changes; adoption of
new accounting standards or changes in existing accounting
standards by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other
accounting standard-setting bodies or authorities; the effects of
Company acquisitions and dispositions; the recovery of the New
Orleans market (where the Company owns and operates market-leading
television station WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate) from the effects of
Hurricane Katrina; general economic conditions; and significant
armed conflict, as well as other risks detailed in Belo's other
public disclosures, and filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC") including the Annual Report on Form 10-K.
DATASOURCE: Belo Corp. CONTACT: Carey Hendrickson, vice
president-Investor Relations & Corporate Communications of Belo
Corp., +1-214-977-6626 Web site: http://www.belo.com/
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