Media General Plans to Acquire Three Central Virginia NewspapersBack to News

RICHMOND, VA, March 23, 2005 – Media General Inc. has agreed to acquire the assets of three weekly newspapers in central Virginia from Richmond Suburban Newspapers Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented the Richmond Suburban Newspapers in the transaction.

The papers are the Mechanicsville (VA) Local, serving Hanover County with an approximate circulation of 25,000, and the Central Virginia Gazette, formerly the Goochland Gazette, which publishes two editions — a weekly edition in Goochland with 10,000 circulation, and a twice-monthly edition in Louisa with circulation of 12,500. All of the publications are controlled-distribution. Richmond Suburban Newspapers is a subsidiary of Better Built Media, which is owned in part by the Phillips Family.

"We are excited about acquiring these quality newspapers, and we look forward to welcoming the employees to the Media General family," said H. Graham Woodlief, president of Media General’s Publishing Division. "Both serve readers in a very attractive suburban growth county in central Virginia, and are well situated to take advantage of a diverse readership and an emerging retail environment.”

Media General is a diversified communications company operating leading newspapers, television stations and online enterprises, primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company’s publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers, 22 daily community newspapers and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company’s broadcasting assets include 26 network-affiliated television stations.