Fuji Television Network Inc. said Wednesday its group net profit for fiscal 2002 fell 14.4 percent from the previous year to 14.82 billion yen.

The Tokyo-based broadcaster attributed the profit drop to sluggish revenues amid the stagnating advertising market and to appraisal losses on investment securities holdings.

In its consolidated earnings report, Fuji TV said pretax profit sagged 15.6 percent to 37.74 billion yen with revenues down 1.8 percent to 429 billion yen.

For this fiscal year, Fuji TV forecasts a net profit of 17 billion yen and a pretax profit of 34.5 billion yen on revenues of 430.5 billion yen.