Leading local TV station owner Nexstar Media Group, led by chairman and CEO Perry Sook, has unveiled its third quarter financial results, with advertising sales sliding on sharply lower political ad revenue.
Advertising revenues during the third quarter fell 23.5 percent to $476 million, compared to a year-earlier $622 million when the U.S. election cycle contributed $145 million in ad revenue. And distribution revenues for the third quarter were down 1.4 percent to $709 million.
Overall revenues at Nexstar were down 12.3 percent to $1.19 billion during the latest quarter. And the net income line came in at $65 million, down from a year-earlier net income of $180 million, due in part to lower political advertising revenue and higher one-time corporate expenses from Nexstar’s pending acquisition of smaller rival Tegna.
Nexstar’s chief Sook discussed during an analyst call the $6.2 billion deal to merge his local TV stations with Tegna amid the continuing consolidation of the U.S. broadcast sector. “The proposed acquisition will strengthen Nexstar’s position as the nation’s leading local media company, with high quality broadcast stations, award winning news operations and innovative local programming,” Sook told analysts in prepared remarks.
“The pieces are falling in place,” Sook added on the timing for the completion of the Tegna transaction as the merger deal faces ongoing regulatory scrutiny in Washington D.C. “We again continue to believe this administration, the Trump administration, and Brendan Carr and the FCC are focused on deregulating business, allowing businesses to breathe, allowing businesses to compete,” he told analysts in the face of competition from fast-growing tech giants.
Nexstar expects around $300 million in cost savings to be had from synergies with Tegna after the deal is completed.
“We think our company, based on geography, even before the integration of Tegna acquisition, will produce a prodigious amount of political revenue in 2026,” Sook also added with an early forecast for political ad sales ahead of the mid-term elections next year. Nexstar will look to leverage local sales around toss-up races, ballot propositions and other market opportunities.
Sook also argued broadcast stations will continue to dominate political advertising sales, but faces stepped up competition from streaming services, where Nexstar competes with its NewsNation live TV streamer.
And Nexstar isn’t done with potential merger and acquisition activity after the unveiling of its Tegna transaction. “We will continue to look opportunistically for acquisitions that make good industrial logic, and most importantly, are substantially accretive to the company,” Sook said during the analyst call.