Perry Sook - TVSpy

Two at Local Station Groups Named ‘People to Watch’ in 2013

Kevin Eck — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:36:13 +0000

TVNewsCheck is reporting the Media Financial Management Association has named its five “People to Watch” for 2013 with two of the five, NBC Owned Stations chief financial officer, Christine Dorfler and Tim Busch, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Nexstar Broadcasting Group, directly responsible for making sure their local TV station groups turn a profit.

“The biggest challenge is anticipating how people are going to consume my product three, five, 10, 20 years from now,” Dorfler told Janet Stilson editor of MFM’s The Financial Manager magazine. Dorfler’s former boss, Michael Jack, president and general manager of WNBC told Stilson, ““She’s not only an expert in her own area of the business but she’s one of those people who are intellectually curious, who will take the time to find out about other parts of this business.” continued…

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Q3 Earnings: Nexstar Revenue Increases 20%

Merrill Knox — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:43:58 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting reported net revenue of $90 million in the third quarter of 2012, a +20.2% increase from the year-ago quarter’s net revenue of $74.8 million.

Nexstar’s core local and national revenue increased +7.4%. Political ad revenue increased +488% to $10.2 million in Q3, and retransmission revenue increased +51% to $15.1 million. The company also reported $41 million in broadcast cash flow, a +57% increase from the year-ago quarter.

In a statement, Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook called the third quarter an “active and productive period for Nexstar.”

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Nexstar Acquires Stations in California, Vermont

Merrill Knox — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:00:48 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting has entered into definitive agreements to acquire three California stations from Newport Television and two Vermont stations from Smith Media, LLC.

Nexstar will pay Newport $35.4 million for KGPE, the CBS affiliate in Fresno; KGET, the NBC-CW affiliate in Bakersfield; and KKEY, the low-powered Telemundo affiliate in Bakersfield. In Vermont, Nexstar will join with Mission Broadcasting to acquire WFFF and WVNY, the Fox and ABC affiliates in Burlington, for $17.1 million.

“These transactions are consistent with our criteria for acquisitions that further strategically diversify our operations, create or present opportunities for virtual duopoly markets and which are financially accretive,” Nexstar chairman Perry Sook said in a statement.

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Nexstar Renews CBS Affiliation Agreements

Merrill Knox — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:19:25 +0000

Nexstar has renewed affiliation agreements with CBS for eight of its stations, the company announced today.

The long-term extensions are at KLBK in Lubbock, TX, KLST in San Angelo, TX, KTAB in Abilene, TX, WCIA in Decatur, IL, WFRV in Green Bay, WJMN in Marquette, WMBD in Peoria and WROC in Rochester. Mission Broadcasting has also renewed an affiliation agreement with CBS for KOLR in Springfield, MO, which Nexstar operates under a local marketing agreement.

“Our affiliation with CBS combined with our stations’ market-leading local news and unique community-focused programming allows us to deliver great entertainment and information to viewers as well as superior marketing solutions for advertisers,” Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook said in a statement.

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Nexstar Broadcasting Boasts Record Second Quarter

Andrew Gauthier — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:52:17 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting is celebrating record financial results for the second quarter. The company, which owns, operates, and/or services 55 stations in 32 markets, today announced net revenue of $88.9 million for the period, a 17.7% increase over last year’s second quarter.

“Nexstar achieved record second quarter net revenue based on the strength of our core television operations and rising contributions from our retransmission and e-Media revenue streams,” Perry Sook, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement. continued…

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Is Content Sharing Good or Bad for Local Stations?

Merrill Knox — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:41:41 +0000

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter examines content sharing as a “survival strategy” for local stations, noting the increase of shared-services agreements “resembles the retrenchment of the American newspaper industry, but it has been far less publicized.”

Stelter takes a look at the San Angelo market, which is home to Fox-affiliate KIDY, CBS-affiliate KLST and NBC-affiliate KSAN. KLST and KSAN operate under a shared service agreement, which the FCC estimates exist in at least 83 of the 210 U.S. television markets:

The anchors are different at the NBC station KSAN and the CBS station KLST, but they read similar scripts in side-by-side studios. It’s almost comical, for a viewer flipping the channel back and forth, to see identical segments about spot news and health. (The weather segments, however, have different graphics and hosts.) continued…

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Nexstar Reports Record Revenue

Andrew Gauthier — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:31:52 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting today reported a 19.6% rise in first quarter revenue, including a record amount of retrans revenue.

Nexstar, which owns, operates, programs, or provides services to 55 stations that reach roughly 9.3% of U.S. households, took in $83.6 million during the first three months of the year, with $14.5 million coming from carriage fees–a record for the company.

Core local and national revenue was up 7.8%. Nexstar’s stations made $45.4 million in local revenue for the first quarter and $17.4 million in national for the period. continued…

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With Q4 Revenue Down 11%, Nexstar Emphasizes Growth in Core Advertising

Andrew Gauthier — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:32:57 +0000

Reporting financial results for the fourth quarter, as well as the full year, of 2011, Nexstar Broadcasting emphasized growth in core advertising.

Nexstar, which owns, operates, programs or provides services to 55 stations in 32 markets, today reported a 11.2% decrease in net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 and a 2.2% drop for the entire year, as compared to results from the previous year.

The company attributes the declining numbers to a decrease in political advertising. Excluding political, Nexstar’s gross revenue was up 8.4% for the fourth quarter and 7.3% for the full year. continued…

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Nexstar Makes Millions Off Sinclair’s Acquisition of Four Points Stations

Andrew Gauthier — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:21:10 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting is getting millions from Sinclair Broadcast Group’s recent acquisition of the stations of Four Points Media.

This week Sinclair finalized its $200 million deal for Four Points Media’s handful of stations, and today Nexstar announced that it was being paid $6.7 million as a result of the acquisition.

Nexstar has been providing management services to Four Points and its deal was terminated when Sinclair gained control of the company’s stations. The $6.7 million amounts to a termination fee plus money still owed for services provided in 2011. continued…

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Nexstar Announces Record Third Quarter

Andrew Gauthier — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:44:33 +0000

Nexstar reported a 2.3% increase in third quarter revenue today, boasting a record $74.8 million for the period.

“Nexstar’s record third quarter revenue reflects our eighth consecutive quarter of core television advertising revenue growth,” Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook said. “The 5.3% rise in core ad revenue growth, 17.5% increases in e-Media revenue, 30.5% in retransmission fee revenue and 21.0% improvement in management agreement revenue more than offset the impact of a 74.3% year-over-year reduction in political revenue.”

In announcing its third quarter financial results, Nexstar emphasized its expanding media footprint, which now includes WFRV and WJMN in Wisconsin and Michigan as well as WEHT in Evansville, IN. continued…

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WEHT and WTVW Reportedly Merging Operations

Andrew Gauthier — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:16:56 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting is reportedly set to merge the news operations of two stations in the Evansville market.

According to the Evansville Courier & Press, the company plans to combine the news departments of WEHT–the ABC-affiliate that it just purchased–and WTVW–the former Fox-affiliate that Nexstar is unloading on Mission Broadcasting, a station group that serves as a sort of holding company for Nexstar-operated stations.

Sources tell the Courier & Press that WTVW’s operations, currently located in downtown Evansville, will move to the studios of WEHT, located in Henderson, KY. Perry Sook, Nexstar’s president and CEO, and Timothy Busch, the company’s co-COO, were reportedly in Henderson on Wednesday speaking with WEHT staff. continued…

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Emphasizing Local Potential, Nexstar Boasts Record Q2 Revenue

Andrew Gauthier — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:03:45 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting, which just inked a deal to acquire WEHT in Evansville, reported record second quarter net revenue this week with its stations bringing in $75.5 million for the period, a 1.3% increase over Q2 2010.

“We think this is a pretty good time to be in this business,” Nexstar boss Perry Sook (left) said in his earnings call on Tuesday, emphasizing that local revenues continue to grow even amid uncertainty on Wall Street.

For the second quarter, Nexstar made up for a significant dip in political advertising with revenue increases in local (up 5.4%), e-media (up 22.5%), and retrans fees (up 18.4%).

“Nexstar is consistently demonstrating that growing diversification in our business model and leveraging localism, by building digital extensions for core content that heighten consumer engagement and provide marketing solutions to advertisers, is the right path for us to continue to succeed in our markets and across our platform,” Sook concluded, pointing out that the company has recently diversified its revenue sources with station acquisitions and the purchase of internet technology provider GoLocal.Biz.

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Nexstar Acquires Internet Marketing Company

Andrew Gauthier — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:09:07 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns, operates, or provides services for 65 stations in 36 markets across the country, has inked a deal to acquire the internet technology provider and online marketing services company GoLocal.biz.

Based in St. George, UT, GoLocal.biz provides local business directories, coupons, and entertainment listings to community websites, including all 35 of Nexstar’s local sites.

Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook said that the acquisition “creates an entirely new revenue stream for Nexstar as we intend to expand the distribution and syndication of the GoLocal.biz platform to other online publishers in television and radio markets not served by Nexstar.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Joseph Denk Named VP-GM of WFRV-WJMN As Nexstar Deal Closes

Merrill Knox — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:52:47 +0000

Nexstar Broadcasting’s $20 million deal to purchase two CBS affiliates, WFRV in Green Bay and WJMN in Marquette, MI, was completed today. Joseph Denk will take over as vice president and general manager of both stations.

Nexstar announced the purchase of WFRV and WJMN in April. The deal brings the number of CBS affiliates that Nexstar owns up to 13. ““The acquisition of WFRV and WJMN brings immediate strategic and financial benefits to Nexstar as it expands and diversifies our station portfolio,” Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook said.

Denk, who replaces veteran VP-GM Perry Kidder at WFRV-WJMN, is a Wisconsin native who is currently the VP-GM at WQRF, the Nexstar-owned Fox affiliate in Rockford, IL.

“Under Joe’s leadership, our Rockford operations have performed very well,” Nexstar executive vice president Tim Busch said. “His years of experience, respect within Nexstar and his Wisconsin roots are all a perfect fit to lead our newly acquired operations in Green Bay and Marquette.”

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Fox Continues to Cut Nexstar Affiliations

Andrew Gauthier — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:00:05 +0000

A little over a month after losing the Fox affiliation of its station in Evansville, Nexstar is cutting ties with Fox at KSFX in Springfield, MO and WFFT in Fort Wayne, IN.

This week Fox announced new affiliation agreements with stations in Springfield and Fort Wayne, signing deals with Koplar Communications’ KRBK and Granite Broadcasting’s WISE. The new deals mean that Nexstar will have to forge new identities for its stations after decades with Fox.

“We’ve been negotiating with Nexstar for over a year and weren’t able to come to terms on a contract renewal,” said Scott Grogin, a spokesperson for Fox Broadcasting. “It was not a bidding situation.”

Fox has been pushing its affiliates to give up a significant portion of the retrans fees received from cable and satellite providers, which has drawn the ire of Nexstar. continued…

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