Financial briefs

By VARIETY STAFF

Young Broadcasting said Friday that its net loss grew 5.6% to $7.7 million in the first quarter as revenues dipped 2.0% to $63.2 million.

The group of 12 television stations blamed the revenue shortfall on the NBA lockout.

Young's operating income also decreased 4.9% in the quarter ended March 31 to $8.2 million.

Young chairman Vincent Young professed to be "very pleased with our performance despite revenue being adversely impacted by the NBA strike."

He also cited the third-place weekday standing, from sign-on to sign-off, of KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.

Of Young's 12 stations, six are ABC affiliates, four are CBS, one's NBC, and KCAL is independent.

The company's stock fell 2.1% on the news Friday to close at $41.38.

-- Richard Morgan

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Post production house Laser Pacific Media Corp. on Thursday said first quarter profits rose 114% to $1.2 million over $555,000 for the period ended March 31, due to increased demand in DVD and HDTV services.

The Los Angeles-based company also reported a slight dip in revenues to $7.9 million from $8 million last year.

The company attributes the change to the elimination of revs from the sale of Canadian subsidiary, Pacific Video Canada, in May 1998.

-- Marc Graser