• by Wayne Friedman , May 9, 2018

While Sinclair Broadcast Group suffered in the first quarter from weak advertising revenue, the TV group made up ground with continued strong retransmission revenue growth.

Total revenues increased 6.1% to $665.4 million -- higher than analyst expectations -- with net income attributable to Sinclair sinking 14% to $43.1 million. Midday Wednesday stock price of Sinclair rocketed up near 9% to $29.62.

Distribution revenues from retransmission agreements grew 14% — from $276 million in the first quarter of 2017 to $314 million. And the company expects another 14% hike in the second quarter.

The company did not disclose specific advertising revenue performance. Chris Ripley, president/CEO of Sinclair, stated:

"As expected and reflected in our first quarter guidance, advertising revenue was soft, largely due to the lack of Olympics and Super Bowl on many of our stations, with the auto category coming off its recent highs from last year.”

He added: “Fortunately, our distribution revenues now make up approximately half our media revenues, which makes our business model very resilient to ad market volatility.”

Political revenues were $7 million in the first quarter, up from $2 million in the first quarter of 2017. Revenues from digital businesses grew 71% from first-quarter 2017.

In connection with trying to get regulatory approval -- and to rebuff anti-competitive concerns in merging with $4.6 billion Tribune Media -- Sinclair now has agreements to sell 23 TV stations to Standard Media Group LLC, 21st Century Fox, Meredith Corp., Howard Stirk and Cunningham Broadcasting Corp.