• by Wayne Friedman , February 22, 2017

Boosted by end-of-the-year political advertising, big TV station company Sinclair Broadcast Group witnessed strong fourth-quarter revenue growth.

Revenues climbed a massive 30% to $797.7 million -- with $113.2 million coming from political advertising. Political revenue in the same quarter the year before was $12 million.

Net income more than doubled -- to $120.9 million from $58.2 million.

Sinclair says its revenues from digital offerings gained 21% versus the same period the year before.

Last month, Sinclair launched a digital TV network, called TBD, which includes short films, and fashion, comedy, lifestyle, eSports, music and viral content. Also in February, Sinclair joined with movie studio MGM to start CHARGE!, a new adventure and action-based network featuring TV series content and movie titles.

Sinclair projects first-quarter media revenues to grow 13% to 14% to around $602 million to $606 million -- with political advertising to dip to just $1.5 million to $2.0 million from the $24 million in the first quarter 2016.

Mid-day trading of its stock price was up 3% to $37.55.