Nexstar Broadcasting reported $112.2 million in net revenue during the first quarter of 2013, a 34% increase on the year-ago quarter’s $83.6 million.

Local revenues were up 31.9% for the quarter and national revenues were up 34.3%. Political revenues were down significantly in the non-election year, but retransmission fees were up 64.2% and e-media revenue was up 57.3%. Broadcast cash flow was $39.8 million, an increase of 16.9% on the year-ago quarter.

“Industry revenue improved each month during the first quarter and this trend continues for Nexstar in the second quarter to date,” Nexstar chairman, president and CEO Perry A. Sook said in a statement. “As such, we are well positioned to grow all of our non-political revenue sources throughout 2013.”

As expected, Nexstar Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting have announced an agreement to acquire Communications Corporation of America’s station group. Nexstar and Mission will pay will pay $270 million for CCA’s 19 stations and seven associated digital subchannels in 10 markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nexstar will acquire 11 of the CCA stations and Mission will acquire eight. Nexstar and Mission will enter into shared service agreements, according to a statement. The transaction is pending FCC approval and expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“Nexstar is a premier TV broadcasting company that has grown in a disciplined fashion. We are pleased that the CCA stations will become part of Nexstar’s expanded footprint giving them the benefits of increased scale to build on the momentum we have created over the past several years,” CCA chairman Peter Markham said.

A full list of CCA’s stations are after the jump. Read more

Nexstar Broadcasting is poised to buy Communications Corp. of America, TVNewsCheck reports. The company has signed a letter of intent and is in the process of conducting due diligence on “12 stations in smaller markets”:

CCA stations are in markets ranging Shreveport, La. (DMA 82), to Alexandria, La. (DMA 179). Nexstar’s portfolio ranges from Washington (DMA 8) to St. Joseph, Mo. (DMA 201). Most are in mid-size to smaller markets.

The acquisition would boost Nexstar’s station count to roughly 84, bump up its duopoly count by at least one and enhance its already strong presence in Louisiana and Texas.

TVNewsCheck reports the two companies hope to make a formal announcement by April 6.

Dione Rigsby has joined Nexstar Broadcasting as vice president of technology, effective immediately. In his new role, Rigsby will oversee the ongoing integration of Inergize Digital, which Nexstar acquired from Newport Television last year.

Rigsby joins Nexstar from Newport Television, where he was responsible for corporate technology and technical resources related to television operations and the Ingerize Digital platform, among other things. He worked from 2008-12 as chief technology officer, vice president and director of engineering and general manager of Newport Technical Operations Center.

“Dione has an impressive industry background with extensive experience in managing technology operations, information systems and complex application development and deployment,” Nexstar SVP of station operations Blake Russell said in a statement. “Dione’s appointment will support our goals for both expanding our revenue channels and driving efficiencies throughout the organization.”

Nexstar Broadcasting reported a record $116.2 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 34.8% on the year-ago quarter.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, local revenue increased 6.8% and national revenue increased 14.3%. Retransmission fee revenue increased 55.9%, and political revenue was up 1,262% from the year-ago quarter.

“Our strong financial results were primarily driven by record-breaking political advertising sales, higher core television ad revenue, growing retransmission consent revenues, and our 24th consecutive quarter of e-Media revenue increases. We also benefited from a month of operations related to the accretive acquisition of ten television stations from Newport Television,” Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry A. Sook said in a statement.

Nexstar Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting has completed the purchase of WFFF and WVNY, the Fox and ABC affiliates in Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Nexstar bought the two stations from Smith Media, LLC for $16.9 million. Nexstar and Mission have entered into a local services agreement for Nexstar to provide sales and other services to WVNY.

“This transaction is consistent with our acquisition criteria as it further diversifies our operations, expands our scale, creates another new duopoly market and is financially accretive,” Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry A. Sook said in a statement.

Nexstar Broadcasting has named Eric Thomas vice president and general manager of Lubbock, TX, CBS affiliate KLBK.

“I began my broadcasting career in Lubbock and am deeply committed to the great state of Texas where I grew up and where my wife, two children and extended family and many close business contacts and personal friends currently reside,” said Thomas. “I look forward to working with the exceptional team of broadcasters, the station’s advertisers and the local community to drive continued viewership growth while delivering superior marketing solutions to local and national advertisers.”

Thomas, who will also oversee the company’s joint operating agreement with Mission Broadcasting’s KAMC and serve as head of e-media operations for both station’s digital properties, previously worked as vice president and general manager of KTAB in Abilene/Sweetwater, TX. Read more

Nexstar Broadcasting has completed its acquisition of three California stations from Newport Television: NBC affiliate KGET and Telemundo affiliate KKEY in Bakersfield and CBS affiliate KGPE in Fresno.

The $34.5 million transaction will create duopolies for Nexstar in both Fresno and Bakersfield, Calif. Nexstar announced plans to acquire NBC affiliate KSEE in Fresno last month.

“This transaction is consistent with our acquisition criteria as it further diversifies our operations, creates new duopoly markets and is financially accretive,” Nexstar president and CEO Perry A. Sook said in a statement.

TVNewsCheck is reporting the Media Financial Management Association has named its five “People to Watch” for 2013 with two of the five, NBC Owned Stations chief financial officer, Christine Dorfler and Tim Busch, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Nexstar Broadcasting Group, directly responsible for making sure their local TV station groups turn a profit.

“The biggest challenge is anticipating how people are going to consume my product three, five, 10, 20 years from now,” Dorfler told Janet Stilson editor of MFM’s The Financial Manager magazine.  Dorfler’s former boss, Michael Jack, president and general manager of WNBC told Stilson, ““She’s not only an expert in her own area of the business but she’s one of those people who are intellectually curious, who will take the time to find out about other parts of this business.” Read more

Nexstar Broadcasting has laid off staffers at its newly acquired Salt Lake City stations KTVX (ABC) and KUCW (CW).

The Salt Lake City Tribune put the number laid off at 15.

“That’s probably a good guess,” said Dan Metcalf, KTVX’s now-former film critic and executive producer of online media to the Tribune. “I was No. 5 this morning, and there were others behind me.”

The Tribune also reports the station’s accounting, research and traffic departments had been eliminated and will be handled by other Nexstar sites.  A Nexstar spokesman also said they will be hiring a new station manager to replace Matt Jaquint.

“This is a reduction in force we’re making here,” Brian Jones, co-COO and executive vice president of Nexstar told the Tribune. “We’re going to operate the station at the highest level, and we will move forward.” Read more