Well, thanks, Lucy. Before we go through the results, I wanted to highlight some of our most recent accomplishments for the quarter. In a show of confidence from our free cash flow generation, and reflecting our belief that the government will let the Bush tax cuts expire, leading to an increase in the dividend tax rates to ordinary income tax rates next year, our Board of Directors acted to return meaningful shift [ph] value to our shareholders this year. The $1 per share special dividend that the board declared represents a payout of approximately $81.2 million. In addition, the board declared the regular $0.15 quarterly dividend in a testament to our ongoing free cash flow generation. The combined annualized $1.60 per share dividend rate represents a 12.7% yield on our $12.60 stock price and an approximate 63% payout of our estimated 2012 free cash flow.
We continue to strengthen our portfolio of television assets, and in August entered into an agreement to buy the non-license assets of KBTV, the Fox affiliate in Beaumont, Texas from Nexstar. The purchase price is $14 million or roughly a 4.7x blended BCF multiple after synergies. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending closing conditions. And although this is a smaller market than what we define as our core DNA, the acquisition provides us a terrific opportunity to unlock value since we already operate in the market with this CBS affiliate that we bought as part of the Freedom transaction.
In September, we announced that we entered into an agreement to sell the assets of WLAJ, our ABC affiliate in Lansing, Michigan, that we acquired from Freedom in April of this year. The station is being sold to Shield Media for approximately $14.4 million, which represents an approximate 8.4x multiple on the 2011-2012 trailing BCF. We expect the sale to close early in the first quarter of 2013. Please note that WLAJ's results from operations have been reclassified from continuing operations and reflected as discontinued operations for all periods.
We expect the FCC to approve our purchase of the 6 Newport stations shortly, now that both the Nexstar and Cox have been approved. We expect closing would be in early December.
This month, we raised $500 million in 10-year senior notes, the proceeds of which will be used to fund the Newport and Beaumont acquisitions, as well as the previously announced Bay TV and Baltimore Station acquisitions. In addition to funding the acquisitions, a portion of the proceeds were used to repay our revolving line of credit and will be used for general corporate purposes. Lucy will take you through the terms in note offering later.
In September, we announced that we entered into a multiyear retransmission consent agreement with DISH Network. We are currently in discussions with Mediacom, whose contract expires at the end of this year, followed by DIRECTV, which expires in February 2013.
So now turning to our results. And as a reminder, these do not include WLAJ in Lansing, which has been reclassified to discontinued operations. Net broadcast revenues for the third quarter were $226.4 million, an increase of 49% or $74.5 million higher than the third quarter of '11, and coming in at the high end of our guidance. Political, which we had estimated to be as high as $23.5 million, exceeded expectations by over $4 million, coming in at $27.8 million. Excluding $45.7 million from the acquisition, same station revenues were up 18.9%. Excluding political, same station core revenues were up 6.9%, with growth coming from retrans, time sales and digital interactive. Effective advertising revenues were up, even with the amount of political book and a potential crowding out effect, as a testament to the strength of the underlying business.
Television operating expenses in the third quarter, defined as station production and station SG&A expenses before barter, were $105.6 million, up 44.9% or $32.7 million from third quarter last year. When excluding $23.6 million related to the acquisitions, $400,000 of stock-based compensation and $1.2 million of corporate overhead allocated to the TV operations, same station expenses were up $7.9 million or 10.9%. The increase was due to higher network reverse retrans fees, increases to employee compensation, higher commissions on the higher revenues and higher promotion cost for the start of the fall season.
Corporate overhead in the quarter was $8.3 million, up $2.5 million versus the same period last year. Excluding $300,000 in stock-based compensation and adding the $1.2 million of expenses allocated to the TV operations, corporate expense would've been up $3.6 million due to higher group insurance cost, the acquisition-related costs and staffing, as well as compensation and other increases.
Television broadcast cash flow in the quarter was $105.9 million, up $40.7 million or 62.4% from last year's third quarter BCF. The broadcast cash flow margin on net broadcast revenues for the quarter was 46.8%. The acquisitions contributed $26.2 million [ph] of BCF in the quarter, and on a same station basis, the BCF was up -- it was $85.7 million, up 31.4% or $20.5 million.
EBITDA was $100.1 million in the quarter, up $38.1 million or 61.5% higher than the same period last year. The EBITDA margin on total revenues was 38.4% for the quarter. On a same station basis, EBITDA was $79.9 million, up 28.9% in the quarter or $17.9 million.
Net interest expense for the quarter was $35.3 million, up $10.8 million versus third quarter last year. The increase was due primarily to the financings related to the Four Points and Freedom acquisitions. In addition, under GAAP, we were required to expense $5.3 million of the fees associated with the amendment of our bank credit facility, which is primarily related to the planned financing of the Newport stations.
Our weighted average cost of debt for the company, including our new senior notes and excluding the amendment fee expense, is approximately 6.5%. We recognized $1.9 million of income from our other investments primarily related to the gain on the sale of our investment in a shopping center, which was offset in part by the write-down of a strip mall investment. We had diluted earnings per share of $0.32 in the quarter compared to $0.24 in the same period last year. Adjusting for one-time interest charge, net of taxes of $3.4 million -- what I'm trying to say there is that, as I mentioned earlier of the $5.3 million of fees and when you adjust for taxes there, that comes out to $3.4 million, so the impact to diluted EPS would have been $0.36. The acquisitions net of the financing cost contributed $0.05 of diluted EPS in the quarter.
We generated $45.2 million of free cash flow in the quarter and $183.1 million for the trailing 12 months. During the past year, we converted 52.6% of our EBITDA into free cash and distributed 22.4% of the free cash to our shareholders. We produced a 20.1% after-tax free cash flow yield on our market cap and paid a 5.4% annualized dividend yield based on our third quarter closing price of $11.21. Based on our current outlook, free cash flow for 2012 is estimated to be approximately $205.8 million.
Since our last earnings call, our equity has appreciated by almost 20%. We expect the transition of the new stations to go just as smoothly as the Four Points and Freedom additions, and for them to contribute to our growth and performance as we head into 2013.
Now Lucy will take you through the balance sheet and cash flow highlights as well as some housekeeping items.