Tribune Media's revenues rose thanks to its growing number of TV stations, but results from discontinued operations cut into profits.
Third quarter net income fell to $38 million or 38 cents a share, from $50 million, or 50 cents a share. The company said that income from continuing operations rose to $52.9 million from $39.2 billion.
Revenues grew 69% to $474.9 million.
"We are pleased to see many of the long-term initiatives we have put in place since early 2013 begin to take shape," CEO Peter Liguori said in a statement. "Our recently achieved scale has put us in a competitive position to drive affiliate fees, expand our capabilities to maximize political advertising revenues and fortify our relationships with our network partners. The strong cash flows generated by our business have enabled us to develop a general entertainment cable network, pursue a content ownership strategy and invest in building our data business. I am confident that the combination of our media assets and strong operational focus will keep us on the path for continued success."
Television and Entertainment segment Adjusted EBITDA was $132.6 million in third quarter, an increase of 70%. Television and Entertainment segment revenues jumped 68% to $417.2 million.
On a pro-forma basis, Tribune's Television and Entertainment segment revenues were up 7% to $417.2 million in the third quarter of 2014. Retransmission consent fees in third quarter of 2014 were $58.1 million, up 70%. Advertising revenues increased 0.6% to $321.1 million. Increases in political advertising revenues of approximately $17.1 million in the quarter were offset by declines in core advertising of $17.7 million, or 5.9%, the company said.
During the quarter the spin-off of the company's publishing operations into an independent publicly-traded company, Tribune Publishing Company was completed.
Tribune also repaid $275 million of our outstanding term loan debt and announced the sale of our equity interest in Classified Ventures, LLC. The transaction closed on October 1, 2014.
