• by Wayne Friedman , October 20, 2014

Gannett's total revenue was up 15.2% in the third quarter to $1.44 billion, or 3.8% when excluding acquisitions; net income grew 36.6% at $136.3 million.

Last year, Gannett agreed to acquire TV station owner Belo Corp. for $2.2 billion. In August, Gannett said would spin off its publishing business, creating two separate publicly traded companies.

With that acquisition, third-quarter revenue for Gannett’s broadcasting more than doubled -- 105% -- to reach $416.5 million. Existing Gannett TV revenues were up a healthy 19%. Broadcasting operating profit grew 47% to $179.5 million.

Gannett's broadcasting retransmission revenue grew 61% to $92 million, with TV station digital revenue climbing 24.1% and political ad revenue now at $40 million.

Overall digital revenue -- reported separately from digital revenue in the publishing division -- climbed 4.4% to $199.8 million, mostly from growth at CareerBuilder.

Publishing revenue sank 3.6% to $826.8 million; with advertising revenue falling 4.9%, while circulation revenue was up 1%.