A year ago the Ten Network was confident about the outlook for its key TV advertising revenues: retiring TV CEO John McAlpine said in a press release accompanying the third quarter figures a year ago that “visibility in advertising bookings was as far forward as at any time in recent years.” A year later and it’s a very different approach – the media release is here – with signs that the slowdown in TV ad revenues are biting, although its cost controls should help the network withstand that.

The third quarter saw TV revenues up 7.7% to $203.5 million – a sharp slowdown in percentage terms. In the same quarter of last year they were up 12.5% to $188.9 million. The star was the outdoor advertising business Eye Corp, which saw a 46% growth in revenues to $28.3 million in the quarter, and group earnings before interest, tax and depreciation grew only 3.5% to $61.3 million: a year ago third quarter ebitda was up a massive 39.5% to $59.2 million.