NEW YORK & IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 21, 2019 –Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) (“Nexstar”) and Mission Broadcasting announced today that they have reached a four-year agreement to renew the existing NBC Television Network affiliations of their stations in 21 markets across the country. Collectively, these stations reach approximately 11.4% of U.S. television households, or about 12.5 million homes. The new affiliation agreements cover eighteen Nexstar owned stations, including two recent acquisitions, and three Mission stations. The previous affiliation agreements were set to expire in December 2019.
Commenting on the agreement, Nexstar Media Group President and CEO, Perry A. Sook said, “We are proud to again partner with NBC. Our new affiliation agreements recognize the value of the network’s broad range of compelling news, sports, and entertainment programming, and reflect the importance of our stations to NBC and to the viewers of the local communities we serve. These agreements also mark the successful completion of essentially all of Nexstar’s outstanding network affiliation renewals for 2019. At the same time, we continue finalizing new distribution renewals addressing over 70% of our subscriber base. Together, these network and distribution renewals give us solid confidence in our expectations regarding the future growth of Nexstar’s net retransmission revenues.”
“NBC boasts a strong programming lineup, including Today and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, primetime hits such as This is Us and The Voice, comedy favorites like Saturday Night Live, and highly-rated live sports like NFL Sunday Night Football and the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Together with the high-quality local news and exclusive content produced by our stations, Nexstar’s partnership with NBC delivers a great value proposition for our viewers and an excellent advertising platform for our local and national clients.”
“We are pleased to renew our affiliation with Nexstar Media Group and Mission Broadcasting to serve these 21 markets,” said Phil Martzolf, President, Affiliate Relations, NBC Broadcasting. “We have a strong partnership with Nexstar, and look forward to our continued collaboration to bring NBC programming to millions of households across the country.”
About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
Nexstar Media Group is a leading diversified media company that leverages localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers through its traditional media, digital and mobile media platforms. Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 197 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 115 markets or approximately 39% of all U.S. television households (reflecting the FCC’s UHF discount). Nexstar’s portfolio includes primary affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV and The CW. Nexstar’s community portal websites offer additional hyper-local content and verticals for consumers and advertisers, allowing audiences to choose where, when and how they access content while creating new revenue opportunities. Nexstar also owns WGN America, a growing national general entertainment cable network and a 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network, a top tier cable asset. For more information please visit www.nexstar.tv.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication includes forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Forward-looking statements include information preceded by, followed by, or that includes the words "guidance," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "could," or similar expressions. For these statements, Nexstar claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this communication, concerning, among other things, the benefits of the Tribune Transaction, Nexstar’s future financial performance, including changes in net revenue, cash flow and operating expenses, involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors, including the impact of changes in national and regional economies, the ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt, Nexstar’s ability to successfully integrate acquired television stations and digital businesses, including Tribune Media (including its ability to realize acquisition synergies and cost reductions), pricing fluctuations in local and national advertising, future regulatory actions and conditions in Nexstar’s television stations' operating areas, competition from others in the broadcast television markets, volatility in programming costs, the effects of governmental regulation of broadcasting, industry consolidation, technological developments and major world news events. Nexstar undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, Nexstar’s actual results and financial condition may differ materially from that reflected by the forward-looking statements discussed in this communication. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. For more details on factors that could affect these expectations, please see Nexstar’s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2018, Tribune Media’s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2018 and each of Nexstar’s and Tribune Media’s subsequent public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
