• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, February 18, 2013

Stripping out political revenues, local and national advertising dollars fell nearly 10% at Allbritton Communications in the last three months of 2012. But the company said in a government filing that was principally the result of political advertisers eating up the space.
 
The figures seem to bear that out, as Allbritton collected about $21 million in ad dollars in the quarter, pushing its total ad dollars up 39% versus the last quarter of 2011.
 
Allbritton owns ABC stations in six markets, including Washington, where political dollars were ripe with heated campaigns in Virginia.
 
Net income in the quarter jumped to $22 million from $6.5 million in the same period in 2011.
 
In the quarter, subscriber fees increased 48% to $8.6 million. The company said it renewed retrans consent deals, which propelled that figure. Several deals have been renewed at higher rates that started coming in last month.
 
Programming expenses increased as Allbritton had to fill an additional daytime hour as ABC returned the time to affiliates.