UPDATE 2-Media General Q4 profit falls as print ads decline

* Q4 EPS $0.39 vs $1.18 last year

* Q4 total rev up 7 pct to $189.9 mln

* Q4 publishing rev drops 8.4 pct

* Sees Q1 publishing rev to fall 2-6 pct

* Shares down 8 pct (Adds details, updates share movement)

BANGALORE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Broadcaster and publisher Media General Inc (MEG.N) reported a lower quarterly profit as the slide in sales at its publishing business showed no signs of slowing, sending its shares down 8 percent.

A weak economy has added to the fall in advertising sales that the newspaper industry has been experiencing for some time now.

The nation's largest newspaper chain Gannett Co (GCI.N) and peer McClatchy (MNI.N) recently noted improving advertising spending, but a full recovery has been elusive. [ID:nN08150469]

For the fourth quarter, Media General, the publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, posted an 8.4 percent drop in publishing revenue, worse than the 7.6 percent fall it had posted in the third quarter.

The company expects the fall in publishing sales to slow, declining by only 2-6 percent in the first-quarter, although local and classified advertising continue to drag.

The plodding publishing business has taken some of the shine off Media General's broadcast business, which grew a spiffy 29 percent to 92.1 million in the quarter.

However, the publisher of The Tampa Tribune and the Winston-Salem Journal expects first-quarter broadcast sales to be flat to down 3 percent in the absence of political, Olympics and Super Bowl advertising.

Fourth-quarter earnings were 9 million, or 39 cents a share, hurt by non-cash tax expenses and higher interest expenses.

Richmond, Virginia-based Media General's shares, which have shed nearly half their value in the last six months, were down 41 cents, at $5.31 in midday trade on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

They touched a low of $5.27 earlier in the day. (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)