Nexstar Communications said it posted a 70 percent increase in retransmission-consent revenue during the first quarter of 2012, thanks to pacts with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and other pay-TV providers.

The company--which owns stations that carry programming from NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, MyNetworkTV, The CW, LATV, TV Azteca, Telemundo and Bounce TV in Maryland, Utah, Florida, Texas, New York, Louisiana and Illinois--collected $14.5 million in retransmission-consent revenue during the first quarter.

CEO Perry Sook told analysts on Nexstar's first-quarter earnings call Tuesday that he expects Nexstar will generate a record level of retransmission-consent revenue this year.

In December, Sook projected that Nexstar would see retransmission-consent fees triple to $2 per subscriber monthly within the next six years. Last year, Nexstar renewed 130 retransmission-consent agreements with cable and satellite affiliates. Sook said Nexstar's agreements with the five largest multichannel providers in its markets call for increased retransmission consent fees each year.

"Let's put it this way. All of our top five will re-price again between the end of [2013] and the end of '14," Sook said.

Retransmission consent was the biggest driver of revenue growth at Nexstar. It generated $92 million in gross revenue, up 19 percent compared to this time last year. Nexstar posted $3.02 million (10 cents per share) in net income in the first quarter, compared to a net loss of $6.3 million (22 cents per share) during the first quarter of 2011.