Great. And I would tell you, without it, wed be in worse shape than the newspaper business.. We have 1,800 salespeople that call on small and midsize businesses in 63 percent of the country, he says. Nexstar was 1 of only 4 stocks that was up in all of media and entertainment in 2022, which we believe is a testament to our ability to create shareholder value through free cash flow generation, return of capital to our shareholders and our ability to continue to grow our revenue streams. They reside in Flower Mound, TX. Together, fourth quarter direct operating and SG&A expenses increased $72.5 million, primarily due to the inclusion of the CW, including the onetime restructuring expenses of approximately $30 million I just mentioned. Why? Tom Hanks Started a Veteran-Focused Coffee Brand Where to Buy It, Drug Prices Are Increasing in 2023, Won't Impact Most Consumers. 750 North St.Paul St. The proposed terms were below market, and as a result, CBS-affiliated stations, including Nexstar, remain off the air on that platform. 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? At the Nexstar level, we see the CW as instrumental to our ability to unlock the national advertising opportunity I discussed just a moment ago. In each of those cycles since 2010, they gave at least two-thirds of the money to Republicans. Thank you for signing up to Broadcasting & Cable. This continues to be in line with the historical trends with local advertisers maintain more consistent levels of ad spending throughout economic cycles. But, that was before Sook launched a national cable news channel and bought a national website. A few additional notes on our 2023, 2024 free cash flow guidance before we open up for questions. In 2018, their top four recipients were all Minnesota politicians: Republican Senate candidate Karin Housley, Rep. Erik Paulsen, Emmer and Rep. Jason Lewis. In 2014, Sinclair gave Mikulski $25,000. UPDATED: Nexstar, the largest TV station group, got a boost from midterm political ad spending as well as a rise in distribution and digital revenue in the second quarter. Sook believes in the notion that if a national story breaks in one of Nexstars locales, his gang of reporters will be first on the scene and report it through an impartial lensand America will love it. Nexstar also closed its acquisition of The CW last quarter, bringing the . A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago. In January, the network averaged 65,000 viewers from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. according to Nielsen and just 15,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic used to sell ads in news programming. I mean given all the controversy and uncertainty out there about the U.S. economy and given how large your footprint is on the TV station side, Perry or Tom or et cetera. Turning to political advertising. Distribution fee revenue of $615.6 million, flat. Just some nitpick questions, if I could start off with on the CW. LIV Golf's 2-day average linear viewership was 24% higher than the average. Before reviewing our other revenue segments, I'd like to provide some color on how we think investors should think about our distribution revenue outlook and evolving relationships with the virtual MVPDs. Understood. Some of his other commitments include working on the board of directors for the following non-profits: the Broadcasters Foundation of America, the Television Bureau of Advertising, and as the television chairman for the National Association of Broadcasters, according to his Nexstar bio. Well, no, I think I mentioned it in my comments that the growth in network affiliation is much more modest than our growth in retrans revenue. In addition, the CW was responsible for $30 million of onetime expenses comprised of restructuring charges and retention bonuses. Whether youre reading about 2022 midterm fundraising, conflicts of interest or dark money influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. 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. And then, Perry, you mentioned that the recent distribution renewals effectively have paid for the CW deal. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook just knocked them off that mountaintop by acquiring Media General, becoming the largest TV company on the planet. The PAC favors Republicans, but only slightly. Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with a summary of recent highlights and developments. Perry Sook - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Carter - President and Chief Operating Officer Lee Ann Gliha - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Conference Call. Obviously, we spent a lot of time in front of local business owners and local advertisers. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. If you follow the decline in general network -- general entertainment network ratings, we couldn't have made the pivot at a better time. On a net basis, we expect reverse comp to increase but at a mid-single-digit rate, slightly improving our distribution or retrans margin. Segments like News Central and the Terrorism Alert Desk have been aired as must-runs at Sinclair-owned stations. And I've recently been at the FCC meeting with the commissioners as well as the Chairwoman. Thanks, Van Hollen said. As the PAC distributed its funds, stations owned by Nexstar were covering politics and political races across the country. Moving back to Nexstar expenses. Outside of the huge Chicago-based cable network WGN America, most of its 196 stations are ABC, CBS, Fox, CW, and NBC affiliates in small and midsize markets. Before Superior, Mr. Sook was President/CEO of Seaway Communication, Inc., owner of network affiliated stations in Bangor, ME and Wausau, WI. Excluding the impact of the CW, our top-performing categories in the quarter were automotive, home repair and manufacturing, entertainment, paid programming and air conditioning and heating. That's helpful. I think you'll see some higher profile programming there, certainly in the unscripted than you have seen historically. I'll go back to what Tom said in his prepared remarks is that total virtual MVPD revenue is approximately 10% of our distribution revenue. To that end, we have recently appointed experienced sales and advertising executive, Michael Strober to the newly created position of EVP and Chief Revenue Officer responsible for leading the execution of a new advertising sales and go-to-market strategy for the company, which is designed to accelerate the monetization of our platform with a focus on the national advertising opportunity which is roughly double the size of the local advertising market that Nexstar has predominantly served historically. Global Edition. Lee Ann Gliha; Executive VP & CFO; Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Perry A. Sook; Founder, Chairman & CEO; Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Thomas E. Carter; President & COO; Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Barton Evans Crockett; MD & Senior Internet Media Analyst; Rosenblatt Securities Inc., Research Division, Craig Anthony Huber; CEO, MD & Research Analyst; Huber Research Partners, LLC, Daniel Louis Kurnos; MD & Senior Equity Analyst; The Benchmark Company, LLC, Research Division, James Charles Goss; MD; Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division, Nicholas Todd Zangler; Analyst; Stephens Inc., Research Division, Steven Lee Cahall; Senior Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division, Joseph N. Jaffoni; Founder & President; JCIR. As I said in my remarks, January was the highest cumulative audience for the network since its inception. Things got nastyand personal. It was interesting Sinclair was talking a little bit about their feeling about the importance of getting the FCC to move so that you can shut down the legacy stations, the ATSC 1.0 to get really enough kind of capacity to generate meaningful revenues off of this. According to Open Secrets, Nexstar Media group gave more money to Republicans in the 2018 election cycle (45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans). He grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Perry A. Sook, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nexstar Broadcasting Group, has worked in all facets of the business - from radio sales and on . Hubbards CEO, Stanley Hubbard, is on the advisory board for a pro-Trump Super PAC. Witness, a nonprofit blog that tracks homicides. Records show that a new political committee raised more than $2.2 million and spent more than $1.5 million in the past two weeks all of it, according to organizers, on behalf of Monique . At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Thanks, Priscilla, and good morning, everyone. Mr. Sook was a principal of Superior Communications Group. Sook said Nexstar will be mounting a promotional campaign for NewsNation that will kick off after Labor Day. Our next question comes from Dan Kurnos with The Benchmark Company. It's my first question. Perry Sook vs. CBS. Turning to the balance sheet. How do you see that kind of opportunity between both local stations and the CW? And then Because that's a lot. May I guess if they felt they wanted to vote with their feet, they wouldnt own the shares. Van Hollen appeared on another Your Voice segment in April 2018. Auto is likely a multiyear tailwind as we continue to push to normalization, which would require SAAR levels back in that 17-ish million dollar -- or million unit range back in pre-COVID era? A recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre, Perry now lives in New York City, but loves performing . How should we think about your willingness to trade off in kind of prime time sort of programming, like how are we thinking about either from a CPM or a viewership perspective, if you wanted to put stuff on CW sort of that trade-off between sort of traditional programming and sports? His name is Trump. Excluding the CW, digital revenue declined 6.5%. Perry A. Sook has over 41 years of professional experience in the television and radio broadcasting industries, covering all facets of the business, including ownership and M&A, management, sales, on-air talent, and news. Nexstar cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by the forward-looking statements made during this call. With respect to our free cash flow guidance, we've opted to use an attributable free cash flow figure that includes the cash flow of Nexstar and its interest in the Food Network and our attributable 75% interest in the losses of the CW and the related tax benefits of those losses. And we'll continue to look for additional sports opportunities that may or may not be on weekend afternoons, may bleed into prime time upon occasion. Perry A. Sook has over 41 years of professional experience in the television and radio broadcasting industries, covering all facets of the business, including ownership and M&A, management, sales, on-air talent, and news. Fourth quarter CapEx was $57.1 million or $56 million, excluding CapEx related to the CW. In the fourth quarter, yes. Please refresh the page and try again. As Perry mentioned, we're extremely pleased with the outcome of our recent affiliation agreement negotiations and that will have a nice impact on our overall net retransmission revenue. Its important to stay active and connected to the folks who do the work in the business, representing Nexstar in their local communities every day. In 2023, we plan to allocate a portion of our free cash flow to reduce indebtedness, primarily from mandatory amortization payments. We attribute our success during the record midterm cycle to the benefits of Nexstar scale and meticulous analysis and planning on a state-by-state and race-by-race basis, which has enabled us to nicely exceed the midpoint of our initial full year net political revenue guidance range between pro forma 2018 and 2020 levels. On Dec. 3, it was announced that Tribune Media would be acquired by Nexstar Media Group for over $4 billion. Discussions with potential technology and business partners for this service are ongoing, and we continue to believe the revenue opportunity for applications using our spectrum could rival our retransmission revenues by the end of this decade. Nexstar's outstanding debt as of December 31, 2021, was $6.95 billion, down from $7.41 billion at year-end last year. As a reminder, we typically spend less in CapEx in odd number nonpolitical years than political years. Revenue growth was driven by the inclusion of the CW and year-over-year increases in Nexstar's local digital advertising and agency services businesses, offset in part by softness in national advertising and e-commerce. Also down the road may be a streaming version of NewsNation. Washington, And people are enthusiastic about engaging in those conversations. I can tell you that our first -- we're very pleased with our first weekend of LIV Golf across the first 3 days from Mayakoba, Mexico. Perry Sook, president and CEO of Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, is a seasoned broadcast TV executive who steered Nexstar 's $4.1 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. No matter how talented an athlete is, seeking advice from those who have gone before you is part of the journey to success. Perry Sook currently serves as Nexstar's chairman and CEO. As always, the detail is provided in our reconciling schedules in the back. Tribune has another connection to Obama in Edward Lazarus, Tribunes Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. We continue to anticipate a low 9-figure investment and to achieve profitability by 2025. Local television broadcasting generated $2.4 billion in gross political ad dollars, a record amount for midterm election, capturing more than 50% of the total spend in 2022, representing a 38% growth over 2018. Thomas Carter, the CFO, did the same. Sinclair-affiliated PACs and individuals supported Donald Trump for president in 2016 with $3,804. Q4 digital revenues increased 10.1% year-over-year to approximately $112 million. Since we own 75% and control the CW, the CW is consolidated to our financial results. 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