Ladies and gentlemen, since there are no further questions, I would like to turn the call back to Perry Sook for the closing remarks. Net revenue for the quarter increased 19.3% from the prior year quarter due primarily to our strong political results as well as inclusion of the results from the CW, partially offset by a decline in core advertising primarily a result of national advertising market softness. So I'll provide a little color on the CW financial results and then jump to expenses followed by some discussion on our guidance. Most recently we closed on the acquisition of Tribune Media, a $7.1 billion transaction that doubled the size of the company. After nearly a year-long clash, the cable company agreed to pay for carrying the signals. In the first quarter and the first half of the year, I think it will be more pronounced. As you'll be able to read in our report, throughout 2022, we executed on several ESG initiatives, including eliminating our Class B and Class C shares, which cleared the way for our inclusion in the S&P 400 Index. 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. But we could develop sharing arrangements so we could get an economic benefit from a second station, Sook says, By 2012, Sook was ready to refocus on growing Nexstars portfolio. 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;. We're not in the business of disenfranchising customers, viewers and advertisers. 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'm sorry, how our direct operating expenses tracking in Well, I mean is there anything out of the ordinary we should know about your direct operating expenses this year, putting aside the CW, anything out of the ordinary. Dr. Sandy Sook 3. Operationally, in the fourth quarter, we renewed and extended our network affiliation agreement with ABC on terms favorable to the company, and we successfully renewed and extended distribution agreements with our largest MVPD partners on terms that will enable Nexstar to enjoy continued annual growth in distribution revenue for the foreseeable future. When the president of the National Association of Broadcasters introduced Sook to banqueters as, more than just a broadcaster with a handsome face and a great tan, it was an inside joke. It will run on Nexstar stations and the company has committed to spend double-digit millions on advertising on other TV, digital and social media outlets. It's a single-digit amount. During commercial breaks, Id have to get up and adjust my own camera, he says. Contribution Totals: Download all contribution records for this person from 1999 to present To a Spreadsheet or Other File Type: 2020 Transaction Count/Amount: 4/$20,000: 2018 Transaction Count/Amount: 7/$26,900: 2016 Transaction Count/Amount: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets. Thank you all for joining us to review Nexstar's record fourth quarter results, including. Sooks salary and bonus averages out to $7.5 million a year for 2017 and 2018. Hear the latest economic, business and market news, as well as global, national, and local news. Beginning with the LIV Golf season, which kicked off last Friday, the CW will air 14 global events and stream the events live on our CW app. Fourth quarter political advertising revenue of $265.9 million . Okay. The script was passed down from Sinclairs corporate office in Maryland. 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. We've seen a number of RSN groups now kind of get into a period of change. 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. So were launching this year, a three-hour, live, primetime newscast, seven nights a week, on WGN America. The -- there are lots of discussions. In summary, our record 2022 financial results reflected continued performance across our key near-term growth areas, including distribution, political advertising, new local direct advertising and digital with even more to drive growth ahead of us. LIV Golf's 2-day average linear viewership was 24% higher than the average. As a percentage of net revenues, our total expenses declined given our focus on controlling expense growth and significant political revenue growth. Nexstar plunked down $130 million bucks to buy the political website The Hill. Latest Company & Industry Overviews News and Updates. That will be followed by Tom's operations review and Lee Ann's financial review, and then we'll open the call for questions from you. 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. He told employees during a long session that included about 40 minutes of Q&A that. That deal, if approved. In the 24 ensuing years, the founder and CEO of Nexstar Media Group added 195 stations to his corporate quiver to become the nations largest owner of television stations. It's a gradual process, but I think you'll see just generally less of a reliance on scripted, although we're not going to totally abandon the genre. These interim distributions are primarily for tax payments and are due to lower operating income this year versus last year. If Sook can pull that off, he will have one hell of a story to tell. NewsNation is also available across a wide range of streaming services including Sling, Hulu, YouTube TV, Vidgo, fubu TV, and DirecTV Stream. To that end, on the cover of our earnings release and in the tables at the back of the release, you will be able to find selected financial metrics for Nexstar on a consolidated basis, for Nexstar, excluding the CW and also for the CW on a stand-alone basis. And then also when we're negotiating with the largest big 4 station group and you negotiate this all as a package, there is leverage inherent in that model. 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. Early in his career, Mr. Sook was involved in local TV sales and radio sales. . Another $2,000 went to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and $1000 went to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). So -- but I think if the public and private sector can sit down and talk about this holistically and kick around ideas, and I think that's coming. They're fielding tons of pitches. For additional details on these risks and uncertainties, please see Nexstar's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Nexstar subsequent public filings with the SEC. Sook spends a great deal of time sorting through financial matters in New York and meeting with regulators in Washington, D.C. Okay. But more reliance on unscripted, but a higher quality of unscripted, a higher profile, something that's maybe a little bit more noisy that will get some attention and get some eyeballs. I appreciate that. Weve made three dozen separate acquisitionssome small, some very large, he begins. And between our stations and our paid media, it's approximately $100 million investment through the balance of the year that will attempt to raise our profile, raise our awareness level and continue to expose what I feel is the top-tier level of talent that we have on the network. El Paso is ORourkes hometown. Thanks, Priscilla, and good morning, everyone. Washington, And I assume you -- the initial bogey was to basically do better than you were with off-network sitcoms. Or any difference in rates that you're achieving or anything else we need to think about? In trade jargon, its referred to as a retransmission consent dispute. And just another one, just on political, I know it's obviously early for '24, but I mean you have a really broad platform, and we've seen some creative ways that others have kind of attacked it with either CTV partnerships or what have you. And, prior to that, in January of 2017, we closed on the acquisition of Media General, a $4.6 billion transaction. Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump staffer, has a recurring editorial segment. Since we own 75% and control the CW, the CW is consolidated to our financial results. Good day, and welcome to Nexstar Media Group Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Conference Call. Overall, for the year, cash operating taxes were $334.1 million for Nexstar, excluding CW, implying a 25.5% pretax income rate and $321.9 million, including the tax benefit from the CW attributable tax deductible losses. Now moving back to the rest of our revenue line items in the quarter. He found the perfect candidate for such an arrangement just down the road in Wilkes-Barre, in the form of WBRE-TV. NewsNation InSites. Before Superior, Mr. Sook was President/CEO of Seaway Communication, Inc., owner of network affiliated stations in Bangor, ME and Wausau, WI. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. Its a publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol NXST. Nexstar operates traditional media as well as digital and mobile media platforms. And as in the past, we will provide the results of that process in our annual proxy statement. And we know that from everyone we talk to, people understand the power of broadcast and what broadcast has that no one else has, which is superior reach. Despite the trends, we continue to expect to see spending in this category, albeit at a more modest clip. The Hill is comprised of five key content platforms which includes: TheHill.com - the #1 digital-first political news brand in Comscore's Political News category; The Hill TV - the Award-winning, #1 provider of premium digital video from within the Beltway, with 1.4B annual views across platforms, including the nation's newest streaming . Sook graduated from Ohio University and currently serves as chairman of The Ohio University. He subsequently convinced satellite companies to pay for his stations content; the cable companies, though, balked at the idea. I'm very proud of the folks we have on the air and the job that they do, and we look to add to that as we continue to fill out these other hours and other dayparts. By the 2016 cycle, Tribune was throwing $4,963 behind Hillary Clintons presidential bid. I guess if they felt they wanted to vote with their feet, they wouldnt own the shares. Nexstar has access to nearly two-thirds of the homes in America. They had no audience, no advertisers, and no followers, Sook says. "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. Well, I don't think because other networks might be listening. Our position on the matter is not new. They also gave $5,000 to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). That year they gave $18,500 to Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and $16,300 to Ted Cruz. To request permission for commercial use, please contactus. Sinclairs top three recipients for 2018 were Republican Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss. Thank you. And I would tell you, without it, wed be in worse shape than the newspaper business.. As always, the detail is provided in our reconciling schedules in the back. The lawyerly name belies the bare-knuckled drama involving Cox and 21 television stations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and Missouri. Political ideologies are concepts that have become more visible with the rise of social media. Sook is also credited for helping Nexstar rise from its founding to earning $4.6 billion in net revenue in 2021 alone. And if there's any way to kind of, I don't know, directionally size the impact of LIV Golf, just so we have a sense of what these kind of deals could be helpful. Segments like News Central and the Terrorism Alert Desk have been aired as must-runs at Sinclair-owned stations. A Memphis station owned by Nexstar also ran a version of this story. We've also taken into consideration the forward curve we are in, which will impact our expected interest expense given our significant floating rate debt load. So I don't know how do we yardstick kind of '24 relative to whatever pro forma 2020 was if you have that number. Before being recruited to run Seaway, he worked in the . And so it's selling very well and I think we'll continue to grow as we get more into the season and more involved. Cash interest expense was $100 million for the quarter and $323.6 million for the year, slightly lower than our $326 million expectation at the last call due to the impact of the -- of actual versus projected yield curve and debt repayment. Perhaps the most explicitly pro-Trump company in local television is Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting. Hubbard Broadcastings political contributions peaked in 2016 when they gave over $1 million to Republicans. grand river waterfront homes for sale; valentine michael manson; 29. Jamie McCarthy, Getty Images Tyler Perry, who's stayed largely apolitical throughout his career, is breaking the tradition to endorse a candidate in the 2020 presidential election. They reside in Flower Mound, TX. On a consolidated basis, fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 19.8% over the prior year to $598.2 million, representing a 40.2% margin and fourth quarter attributable free cash flow increased 27.8% to $422.1 million. I think you said SG&A was up $5.9 million, excluding the CW. But I think to a certain extent, people want to see how the RSN plays out and what that means to them and then, therefore, how that influences their behavior going forward. National will be down a low double-digit amount. So maybe you could just put a little more context. Speaking on Nexstars second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, CEO Perry Sook said a year after its launch, few people know about NewsNation. Before starting at CRP, he wrote for the Hatchet, GWU's independent student newspaper, and covered murder trials for D.C. All Rights Reserved. sook (sk) n 1. dialect Southwest English a baby 2. derogatory a coward 3. It would be more in the form of a test of the technology and people testing certain use cases. Prior to Nexstar, Mr. Sook was one of the principals of Superior Communication Group, Inc., which was sold in 1995 to Sinclair Broadcast Group. That didnt leave time for much else. As you know, there are a lot of moving pieces in these discussions with the networks, especially at CBS, where there is a linear agreement, vMVPD agreement and a Paramount Plus agreement, all of which are up later this year. Sinclair-affiliated PACs and individuals supported Donald Trump for president in 2016 with $3,804. 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. According to Open Secrets, Nexstar Media group gave more money to Republicans in the 2018 election cycle (45% to Democrats, 55% to Republicans). What were your direct operating expenses, excluding that, the CW, how are you seeing that tracking this new year? So free cash flow is deployed in the form of reinvestment, debt repayment, dividends and share repurchases. Consumers of news media rightfully want to know whos creating and supporting the information theyre watching and reading. Not bad for a guy who first got into the television business as a small-town anchorman. Yes. And then obviously, once April comes and we're 24/5, we now set our sights on 24/7 and how we feel the 18 hours on Saturday and Sunday that are currently entertainment programming, we have to fill that with news. Our promotional campaign will kick off in earnest in the month of April. It started at a small station in Clarksburg, West Virginia. No, we heard it directly from FuboTV yesterday that they want that local content back, but understood there. The rebrand hinges on a down-the-middle. As such, Nexstar shares represent a solid investment opportunity for existing and potential shareholders as we are the largest broadcast company with top-tier operational performance in the sector but we trade at a very modest '23, '24 free cash flow yield. That led to a classic fight of the local station David versus a Fortune 500 cable Goliath. Curious if you could size that up a bit. 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. Whether youre reading about 2022 midterm fundraising, conflicts of interest or dark money influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. 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