Media General, the U.S. media company which owns newspapers and TV stations concentrated in the Southeast, reported its total revenues were down 18 percent to US$158 million in the third quarter in 2009, compared to $193 million one year before, Media Post reported.

In terms of earnings, the company posted a net income loss of $62.4 million during the quarter, compared to a net income loss of $63.1 million in the first nine months of this year. The charge for goodwill and other asset impairment was $84.2 million.

Figures showed that the TV operations were down slightly more than newspapers, which is surprising considering the weakness of newspapers relative to other traditional media. The company's publishing revenues dropped 18.5 percent from $103.2 million in 2008 to $84.1 million in 2009, according to Media Post.

The broadcast counterpart, however, plunged more than 20 percent from $79.4 million in 2008 to $63.4 million this year. Digital media revenues increased a little from $10.3 million to $10.5 million, up around 2 percent.

They still accounted for only a small proportion of total revenues - about 6.6 percent.