In Denver, Gannett-owned KUSA is set to begin producing two new Spanish language newscasts that will air on local Telemundo station KDEN.

The newscasts, which will be shot at the KUSA studios, will air weekdays at 5:30 and 10 p.m. beginning October 3rd. Anchors have not yet been named.

“We’ve been working on this for several months,” KUSA news director Patti Dennis said during KUSA’s noon newscast today (video inside). “Knowing that the Spanish language community has only one choice for Spanish language news in Denver, this will give us an opportunity to take 9News and the Telemundo brand and put it together in a weekly evening and late newscast for the Spanish-speaking audience.”

Univision-affiliate KCEC currently airs a local newscast at 5 and 10. Read more

Gannett Co., which owns 23 TV stations across the country, reported today that television revenues were up slightly in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

Gannett TV stations brought in $177.7 million in Q2, a slight improvement over the $177.5 million garnered last year, but a significant boost if you consider that the division saw a net decrease of $8.8 million in political spending.

Adjusted to exclude the impact of the cyclical demand related to political spending, Gannett television revenues were up 5.4% for the quarter.

Gannett also brought in $19.4 million in retrans revenue, up 23.7% from Q2 2010.

Media General, which operates 18 stations focused mainly in southeastern markets, announced today that first quarter TV revenue had dropped 2.6% compared to the same period last year.

In its earnings report, Media General pointed to the same factors that Gannett mentioned in its first quarter announcement earlier this week: the absence of the Olympics on NBC-affiliates and the Super Bowl on CBS-affiliates caused a dip in revenue compared to 2010.

“We were pleased that our Broadcast television stations continued their strong performance,” said Marshall Morton, Media General’s president in CEO, putting a positive spin on things. “Total Broadcast revenues decreased $1.8 million, or 2.6 percent, from last year, despite the absence of $7.6 million in Olympics revenues and nearly $1 million in Super Bowl revenues.”

The company also reported that its local media websites experienced a strong gain in revenue, pulling in 20% more than the previous year.

Gannett, which owns 23 stations across the country including KARE in Minneapolis-Saint Paul and WUSA in D.C., announced today that its first quarter TV revenue had dipped 2%, compared to the same period last year.

In a news release, Gannett’s chairman and CEO Craig Dubow blamed the dip on the fact that the company’s NBC-affiliates had the Olympics last year and its CBS-affiliates saw a boost when the network aired the 2010 Super Bowl, which moved to Fox this year.

Overall, Gannett’s TV revenues were $158.3 million for the quarter, compared to $161.3 million last year.  The company points out that it took in $18.6 million in Olympic spending and $2.2 million for ads related to the Super Bowl.

Gannett predicts second quarter revenues to be flat compared to last year.

The first stage of the recently announced partnership between Knoxville NBC-affiliate WBIR and Fox-affiliate WTNZ begins this week.

Earlier this month, Raycom Media-owned WTNZ announced that WBIR, which is owned by Gannett, would begin producing its newscasts as part of the station’s strategy to cost-effectively expand its local news programming and eventually begin broadcasting in HD.

WTNZ is debuting its new, WBIR-produced 10 p.m. newscast today anchored by Robin Wilhoit and John Becker (right), who will continue helming WBIR’s 11 p.m. newscast as well.

WTNZ’s 10 p.m. newscast will expand to an hour in “late May or early June,” WBIR news director Bill Shory told the Knoxville News Sentinel. At that point, Beth Haynes, who currently hosts WBIR’s 4 p.m. news and lifestyle show, will rotate in with Wilhoit and Becker at 10 p.m.

The other elements of the partnership–HD broadcasting and a new, two-hour morning newscast–are set to launch by the end of June.

Steve Carter has been named president and general manager of Gannett’s WCSH in Portland, ME.

Carter, who was previously vice president of marketing and promotion at Gannett’s Denver duopoloy KUSA-KTVD, succeeds Steve Thaxton, who left WCSH earlier this month to become president and GM of Cincinnati’s WCPO.

“Steve Carter has an enormous amount of knowledge and experience in local broadcasting,” said Dave Lougee, president of Gannett, in making the announcement. “There is no doubt that Steve will be an outstanding leader for WCSH.”

Carter had been with KUSA for 19 years, where he held several different positions in marketing and promotion. After Gannett acquired KTVD in 2006, Carter was named VP of marketing and promotion for the newly formed duopoly.