• by Wayne Friedman , May 2, 2014

Higher winter Olympic TV advertising, retransmission fees and political advertising boosted Graham Holdings' Post-Newsweek TV stations in the first quarter.

Revenues grew 24% to $85.7 million. Post-Newsweek stations, now part of Graham Holdings, also witnessed sharply higher operating income -- up 52% to $44.4 million, the biggest earnings generator for the company.

The company’s results exclude WPLG TV in Miami. In April, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to acquire the station. Post–Newsweek Stations will then have five local TV stations that reach almost 8% of U.S. TV homes: WDIV Detroit, KPRC Houston, KSAT San Antonio, WKMG Orlando and WJXT Jacksonville.

Revenues at the Graham Holdings' cable systems, Cable One, inched up $203.9 million with a 12% climb on operating income to $41.2 million.

Graham Holdings’ Kaplan-branded educational business still represents the bulk of its overall revenue -- now at $526.2 million in the first quarter, virtually flat versus its first-quarter results in 2013. The unit witnessed a reversal of its $4.1 million operating loss a year ago to post operating income of $2.5 million.

The former Washington Post Co. became Graham Holdings in November of last year after Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post newspaper and other print media businesses, a deal which closed in October 2013.

Overall revenues at Graham Holdings were up 2% to $840.5 million with net income at $132.3 million versus $5.3 million in the same period a year ago .