• by Wayne Friedman , November 11, 2014

Following the spinoff of its print media business, Tribune Media -- now a station group, content and digital company -- reported strong revenues for its third-quarter reporting period.

Revenues grew almost 70% to $474.9 million, with net income falling to $38.0 million from $49.7 million. The company says cash flow -- adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- improved 52% to $146.1 million.

Results include the acquisition of the big Local TV station group that Tribune purchased for $2.7 billion in late 2013.

Leaving out that major deal, Tribune's Television and Entertainment unit witnessed 7% higher revenues at $417.2 million -- up from $390 million. 

Advertising revenues inched up 0.6% to $321.1 million from $319.2 million. While political advertising grew sharply in the period -- with an increase of $17.7 million versus the comparable period in 2013 -- the company said core advertising declined 5.9% to $17.7 million.

Retransmission revenues grew 70% to $58.1 million during the third quarter and 78% for the first nine months of the year to $170.8 million.

Tribune’s Digital and Data business more than doubled revenue to $44.6 million from $18.9 million. This improvement was primarily due to Gracenote, the music/entertainment data company that Tribune bought for $170 million earlier this year.

Tribune’s print businesses -- Tribune Publishing Company -- was spun off on August 4 of this year.