UPDATE 1-Belo Q3 profit misses Street, sees Q4 rev fall

* Q3 profit, rev miss estimates

* Q4 total rev expected to fall

* Sees Q4 political ad rev to triple from Q3

* Shares up nearly 4 pct

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Television broadcaster Belo Corp's (BLC.N) quarterly profit missed market estimates and said it expects a drop in fourth-quarter revenue, despite projecting a sharp jump in revenue from political advertising.

Belo said declines at its core local and national spot business offset gains from political and Olympics revenue during the third quarter.

Net income was $14.4 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with about $15 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue fell more than 6 percent to $170.8 million.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 20 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $186.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Belo expects fourth-quarter political advertising revenue to more than triple to $36 million from the prior quarter, but sees an 8 percent decline in total revenue for quarter.

"The lack of consumer confidence and continued weak economic indicators point to a prolonged soft advertising environment," Chief Executive Dunia Shive said in a statement.

Belo, which said it would continue to focus on cost reduction and debt pay-downs for the foreseeable future, cut its corporate operating costs, excluding spin-off charges, for the full year by $4 million to $32 million.

Shares of the Dallas, Texas-based company were up 8 cents at $2.21 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

For the press release, please click [ID:nPnLAM031a]. For the alerts, please click [ID:nWNAB6628] (Reporting by Deepti Govind in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)