“Sinclair delivered solid second quarter results, successfully navigating a challenging macro-economic environment.”
That’s the assessment of Sinclair Inc. President/CEO Chris Ripley as the publicly traded company fueling the push toward ATSC 3.0 adoption released its Q2 2025 financial report card following Wednesday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street.
But, just how did the owner of broadcast TV stations and Raymond, Me.-headquartered broadcast tower manufacturer Dielectric perform in the second quarter?
Consolidated total revenue moved to $784 million, from $829 million in the year-ago period, as distribution revenue was relatively unchanged, inching upward to $435 million from $434 million.
Importantly, core advertising revenue was on the rise — bucking trends seen across broadcast TV station ownership groups, and in a non-political year. However, a closer look shows that unspecified dollars are at play. Core advertising revenue came in at $316 million, rising from $303 million. This is on a consolidated basis, and includes Tennis Channel, where core advertising slipped to $13 million from $14 million. The Local Media core ad revenue in Q2 was $272 million, slipping from $285 million. “Other” revenue of $38 million was the difference, rising from $9 million.
While media programming and production expenses totaled $420 million in Q2, compared to $425 million, Sinclair nevertheless swung to a net loss of $64 million (-$0.91 per share), from Q2 2024 net income of $17 million ($0.27) The EPS was better than an estimate offered by one analyst who reports to Yahoo! Finance (-$1.08). However, Sinclair missed a $799.96 million consensus revenue estimate based on the calculations of five analysts, and significantly, with the lowest estimate coming in at $793.8 million.
Adjusted EBITDA, which exceeded the midpoint of its Q2 guidance, declined to $103 million from $158 million.
Shareholders immediately reacted to the results by selling off shares in “SBGI.” At 4:10pm Eastern, 20 minutes before the Ripley, new Chief Financial Officer Narinder Sahai, and other executives were to begin their quarterly earnings call for analysts and investors, Sinclair stock was down by 9.9% to $12.74. By 4:25pm Eastern, “SBGI” had rebounded to $13.24, representing a 6.3% dip from today’s closing price.
Perhaps shareholders are already baking in a coming dividend. Sinclair’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash bonus of $0.25 per share on the company’s Class A and Class B common stock. The dividend is payable on September 15 to the holders of record at the close of business on August 29.
Speaking on the earnings call, Ripley noted that distribution revenue came in below expectations yet was still on the rise.
