Barrington 1Q Revenue Rises 3.1%

Barrington Broadcasting Group today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, and reported its gross revenues for increased 3.1% to $31.9 million from $31 million in the same quarter last year. The company said the increase was primarily due to increases in national revenues which increased $800,000, or 12.4%, to $7.3 million, and local revenues, which increased $400,000, or 1.9%, to $18.6 million.

Political revenues decreased $600,000, or 61.5%, to $400,000.

Retransmission revenues increased $400,000, or 20.3%, to $2.4 million, and other revenues increased $100,000, or 1.6%, to $3.3 million for the quarter.

Net revenues (gross revenues less agency commissions and other direct costs) for the quarter increased 3.2% to $27.4 million from $26.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

Operating expenses for the quarter, not including depreciation and amortization, decreased 0.9%, or $200,000, to $19.3 million from $19.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, primarily as a result of reduced severance paid out during the quarter as well as a reduction in outside and professional fees and bad debt expense.

Broadcast cash flow increased 5.8% to $9.3 million from $8.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

“The strength and momentum in national sales more than offset the decrease in political revenues from 2010,” said K. James Yager, Barrington CEO. “We continue to focus and remain committed to the company’s three key priorities of re-engineering of our station-level operations, development of direct local sales strategies, and the growth of the stations’ local digital platforms. Our focus on these areas contributed to record first quarter broadcast cash flow results.”