Sinclair Broadcast Group reported fourth quarter 2010 net broadcast revenue of $189.9 million, a 23.5% increase over the same quarter a year before. Net broadcast revenues for the year were up 18.2%.
Political revenues drove the growth. Sinclair reported $26.8 million in fourth quarter political advertising. For the year, political revenue was up almost 35% over the 2006 total, and up 2% over the presidential 2008 total.
"2010 ended on an even stronger note than originally anticipated with record levels of political advertising helping to drive net broadcast revenues up 23.5% in the quarter," commented David Smith, president and CEO of Sinclair. "For the year, excluding political, revenues from our core television business finished up 12.0% led by the automotive recovery. We expect to see continued improvement in our core advertising, driving our top-line in 2011."
Sinclair reported entering into a news share agreement with Time Warner Cable, which will see TWC provide a 6:30 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news Monday through Friday on WXLV Greensboro, an ABC affiliate. That starts in January 2012. It's uncommon for a cable operator to produce news for a broadcast station.
The arrangement for Gannett's KSKD St. Louis to produce news for Sinclair's KDNL, also cited in the earnings report, is more common.
