Outside of the huge Chicago-based cable network WGN America, most of its 196 stations are ABC, CBS, Fox, CW, and NBC, We have 5,400 journalists around the country who produce local newsmore than any other organization. And I assume you -- the initial bogey was to basically do better than you were with off-network sitcoms. TV continues to be the gold standard for political advertisers with local TV and local cable TV together representing 70% of gross political ad spending. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook (Image credit: Nexstar) "When we launched NewsNation, 10% of the country knew what NewsNation was," Sook told analysts and investors. Political Advertising Revenue 265.9 18.9 . Early in his career, Mr. Sook was involved in local TV sales and radio sales. Or is it just like a national game on that national feed? Washington, Hubbards CEO, Stanley Hubbard, is on the advisory board for a pro-Trump Super PAC. Last quarter, you announced the Clippers deal. CapEx was higher in the fourth quarter than prior quarters in 2022 as CapEx that was delayed in the first 3 quarters of the year due to supply chain disruptions was finally fulfilled in the fourth quarter. All right. For example, former President Donald Trump tweeted a good luck message (when his Twitter account was still active) to Compton for the networks launch and later gave an interview in which anchor Joe Donlon didnt challenge his false statements. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. This continues to be in line with the historical trends with local advertisers maintain more consistent levels of ad spending throughout economic cycles. Mr. Sook, 30, who is from Texas, was then a Broadway performer and is now a sportscaster. That's helpful. Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) SEC Filing 8-K Material Event for the period ending Tuesday, February 28, 2023 We expect Nexstar's cash interest expense to approximate $110 million for the first quarter and $450 million for the year, reflecting current forward curve and expectations for debt repayment. Obviously, the simulcast requirement needs to sunset at some point and there needs to be a sunset of 1.0 and an endorsement of 3.0 as the new transmission standard. In turn, our portfolio of local and national media assets now provides nationwide reach on par with other broadcast networks, combined with local activation at a greater scale than any other broadcast network owner creating a differentiated and highly attractive value proposition for advertisers, brands, content owners in an increasingly fragmented marketplace. Obviously, we spent a lot of time in front of local business owners and local advertisers. Contrary to the networks narrative, the virtual MVPDs want local news and local content because it's sought out by the viewers. Most recently we closed on the acquisition of Tribune Media, a $7.1 billion transaction that doubled the size of the company. Prior to Nexstar, Mr. Sook was one of the principals of Superior Communication Group, Inc., which was sold in 1995 to Sinclair Broadcast Group. Are you guys saying that at this point? But not all of his travel is to major metros. Nexstar Media Groups PAC, for instance, has steadily ramped up its spending on political causes from 2014, with $27,100 spent that year, $95,700 spent in 2016 and $196,500 in 2018. The only time we had video of what was going on in town was if there was a car wreck or a house fire, Sook says. No spam, ever. Tribune has another connection to Obama in Edward Lazarus, Tribunes Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. "Over time, we will be taking a different approach to our CW programming strategy and will leverage our experience in spending approximately $2 billion a year on programming, attracting and. Also down the road may be a streaming version of NewsNation. Overall, in the quarter, we saw an increase in the rate of decline in our subscribers to the mid-single-digit range, which was impacted by higher rate of MVPD declines offset by continued growth at virtual MVPD and DTC subscribers. And one of your peers has also recently launched a service that's going to pick up regional or local sports rights. Nexstar's consistently strong free cash flow generation remains one of our most powerful differentiators not only from our peers but from larger diversified media companies as well. We firmly believe that we should control our own destiny with regard to the virtual MVPDs instead of allowing the network to negotiate on our behalf. Both Blackburn and Arpaio have received lavish praise from President Trump. Tuesday, February 28, 2023 The CBS white feed, if you will, yes, you probably can see that game on that feed. [53] The sale was completed on January 31, 2017. In addition, fourth quarter advertising was impacted as sports betting and gaming companies redirected total television advertising dollars to voter propositions to legalize online gambling in California. Nexstar reported revenue of $1.49 billion in the quarter, net income of $178 million, and adjusted Ebitda of $662 million. Our strong free cash flow enables us not only to increase the percentage of capital return to shareholders in the form of dividends but also allows us to continue to opportunistically repurchase shares as well as reduce debt and pursue other strategic opportunities to further enhance shareholder value. Fourth quarter CapEx was $57.1 million or $56 million, excluding CapEx related to the CW. So I think if that happens, I think you'll -- it will be a positive day for the industry and a positive day for the growth and development of NextGen TV. And I think for the long-term health of the local ecosystem, we talk to people at Roku, at Fubo, at other virtual MVPDs, and we asked them, what are they watching? Perry Sook currently serves as Nexstar's chairman and CEO. Nexstar plunked down $130 million bucks to buy the political website The Hill. I wondered what the next steps are. Hubbard Broadcastings political contributions peaked in 2016 when they gave over $1 million to Republicans. While we have higher expectations for growth in this line item for the year, until our partners' ongoing negotiations are resolved, our growth rate will remain near the mid-single-digit area. a serious, hands-on leader who earned executive-level platinum points last year in just five months while still managing to maintain a golf handicap of 15. Core television advertising decreased 3.3% year-over-year. Fox Board's Failure; McCarthy Pressed on Tucker Handout; Lord of the Studios Talk of a Dish Network and AT&T Merger Have Started Again Who Owns Dish? We've signed some things. In the segment, news anchors read from a script decrying biased and false news on social media and other news outlets. This is particularly impressive since TV can offer a fixed amount of inventory and the pricing, which is regulated on Canada-specific funds, has a limit versus other media like digital. Its a good tale of battles, bargains, and bold strategies. And again, we want to make the CW a -- I mean, it has a distribution on par with the big 4. A Memphis station owned by Nexstar also ran a version of this story. I'm wondering how auto is performing when you look back relative to those pre-COVID levels, are we bearing full normalization here? They have given generously to Maryland politicians over the years, including Rep. Andy Harris, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Nancy Jacobs, a Republican state Senator who lost a race for Marylands second congressional district in 2012. Nexstar generated an adjusted 46.5% EBITDA margin and converted approximately 69% of adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow. Now, are we beyond those days where a woman can behave as a slut, but you cant call her a slut?. And Im a team player, said Hubbard, who was initially skeptical of the President, in an interview with NPR. As one of the nation's leading providers of local news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and network programming, Nexstar produces and distributes over 275,000 hours of local content per year. In addition, the CW was responsible for $30 million of onetime expenses comprised of restructuring charges and retention bonuses. The remainder of our attributable free cash flow went to repay debt. And I would tell you, without it, wed be in worse shape than the newspaper business.. As such, our net first lien coverage rate -- sorry, our net first lien covenant ratio for Nexstar, excluding the CW at December 31, 2022, was 1.77x, which is well below our first lien only covenant of 4.25x. Tom Hanks Started a Veteran-Focused Coffee Brand Where to Buy It, Drug Prices Are Increasing in 2023, Won't Impact Most Consumers. And by the end of April, we will have a program schedule that will be News 24/5. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Perry A. Sook -- Chairman and Chief Executive Offcier Thank you, Joseph, and good morning, everyone. Hes. Analysis / Bias A July segment in Centex Proud, a Fox-affiliated, Nexstar owned, Waco-area station, covered a Cruz event saying (Cruz) is excited to see the current economy and business boom with the lowest unemployment rate for Hispanics and African-Americans in a decade. Revenue is generated through advertising. As a percentage of net revenues, our total expenses declined given our focus on controlling expense growth and significant political revenue growth. And so we are very pleased with our ability to continue to earn more for the CW. With all of that said, let me now turn the call over to Tom Carter for the operational review. Another WATE story featured anti-Blackburn protestors demonstrating during a moment of silence for the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting victims at a campaign event. Now you probably want to raise your sights in terms of the margins and the profitability you can generate with that station or the network. After its merger with Tribune, Nexstar will be the largest owner of local broadcast stations in the U.S. Nexstar and the Illinois-based media company already have political activism in common. If it rained, staffers had to send a Jeep down the road to retrieve Sook. Or am I giving some national game like the (inaudible). Their giving has increased dramatically since 2010 when they contributed just $8,100 to political causes. Note: Due to errors with CRP data obtained from the FEC that triple-countedcontributions, it was originally reported that Sen. Chris Van Hollen received$28,000 from Sinclair affiliates and its PAC. Executive Vice President Elizabeth Ryder gave $2,500 in 2014 and 2016, then beefed up her contribution to $5,000 in 2018. '23 and '24 will benefit from new distribution agreements and as we've discussed, 2024 as the presidential election and big political year. And I've recently been at the FCC meeting with the commissioners as well as the Chairwoman. A Texas native and University of Oklahoma Alum, Perry now lives in New York City. He collects firearms, and in response to questions that are not at all explicitly about. The current simulcast requirement does constrain our capacity as to what we can do. RUDY, I. Robert BBA '74 Vice Chair Oakland, MD. And then lastly, just on sports content. Some include the CW and some exclude it, creating some noise in our consensus estimates. I think if this dispute goes to the end of football season, I guess we'll all find out, but I think they do have the right to include that in their feed at this point in time. But the leverage we expect to fall again in 2024, which will be a political year. According to Open Secrets, Nexstar Media group gave more money to Republicans in the 2018 election cycle (45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans). They also gave $5,700 to Rep. Greg Gianforte, who became well known nationally after physically assaulting a reporter. Right now, I think you can say that the Fubo dispute is a dispute over money as well as governance issues. For cash taxes, we use a 26.5% tax rate when calculating our estimated tax benefit before onetime and other adjustments. Nexstar Media Group owns NewsNation. Political ideologies are concepts that have become more visible with the rise of social media. So, there were challenges. Sign up below. It was up low single-digit percentage on an adjusted basis. As a reminder, Nexstar generates distribution revenues from our linear MVPDs like Comcast and Charter, virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu and other direct-to-consumer platforms like Paramount Plus and Peacock. But when it came time for the owner of the station to pay me my commission, he said, Well, we had a problem at the transmitter, and I had to buy a part. After a few weeks of excuses, I realized I was never going to get paid my commission. Despite the trends, we continue to expect to see spending in this category, albeit at a more modest clip. Nexstar's stock has been one of the best short- and long-term performing stocks in media, one of the highest percentage returns of free cash flow to shareholders in media along with solid long-term growth prospects and a low valuation. 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