• by Wayne Friedman , May 8, 2013

New TV station acquisitions help Nexstar Broadcasting lift its first-quarter revenues by around a third.

Gross revenues for the period were up 33% to $122.9 million. Net income sank to $705,000 from $3 million. The Irving, Texas-based TV station group recently completed a deal to acquire 18 stations from Newport Television and other agreements that were completed in the fourth quarter of 2012 and first quarter of 2013.

More recently, Nexstar entered into a deal with Mission Broadcasting to buy 19 television stations and seven associated digital sub-channels in 10 markets for $270 million. Nexstar will now have 91 stations in 48 markets -- and 33 of those are duopoly markets. Nexstar TV stations will have a footprint of 14% of U.S. TV homes.

Political revenues sank by about $2 million, landing at $762,000 during the period. Retrans fees were up 64% to $23.8 million. Digital business revenue was up 57% to $6.5 million. Nexstar's local and national advertising revenue was up 32.6% to $83.3 million.

Perry Sook, president, chairman and CEO of Nexstar, stated: "Station revenue, excluding political advertising and management fee revenue, grew 40.0% reflecting significant double-digit growth in core television ad revenue, retransmission consent revenues, and our 25th consecutive quarter of e-Media revenue increases."

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