TV/Cable News

With approximately 60% free cash flow accretion to be arrived from Nexstar's acquisition of Tribune Media, the company Perry Sook founded roughly a quarter-century ago with the purchase of a Scranton, Pa., TV station is riding high. "We view this as best of the 36 transactions we've done in our history," he said.

The Nexstar President/CEO and company founder is planning to deliver the Keynote address at the event's Station Group Summit. The news came as NATPE is bringing back the IRIS awards, created to recognize best-in-class executives, program producers, creators, talent and content "that makes a significant impact on the industry and our culture."

"Our third quarter results were impacted by declines in our radio and digital segments compared to the prior year," Entravision Chairman/CEO Walter Ulloa said of its Q3 earnings. While the TV segment "did remain constant," Entravision is trimming back over-the-air coverage of The CW Network in South Texas.

As MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson sees it, "those looking for clarity on FY 2020 earnings may not be comforted by Disney’s quarterly results until we get closer to the mid-way point of this fiscal year when many factors are known or, at least, extractable by trend analysis."

The E.W. Scripps Co. had a busy 2019, with new TV stations from Nexstar, Cordillera Communcations and Gray Television now in the mix. As such, comparisons to Q3 2018 aren't entirely accurate. What is accurate is that Scripps enjoyed a strong quarter, full of revenue growth.

By the end of 2019, TEGNA expects to be "disproportionately impacted" by cyclical even-to-odd year results due to the absence of more than $140 million of political revenue in 2018. As such, even while growth in revenue will be seen in Q4, some investors may start biting their nails.

Analyst Michael Nathanson believes that while the industry is under siege from accelerating cord-cutting and audience erosion, "Fox’s laser focus on live sports and news content is the right strategy to drive higher per subscriber pricing and more stable viewership trends."

Gray Television executives may feel that their stock is undervalued, given where the company stands following its merger with Raycom and where it is headed. They do have a point, when one takes a glance at the broadcast TV company's Q3 results.

Gray Television investors on Thursday demonstrated their approval of a decision by the broadcast TV company's Board of Directors to allow Gray to repurchase up to $150 million of outstanding common stock and/or Class A common stock through the last day of 2022.

With most of the attention on Nielsen's announcement that it is splitting what once were labeled its "Buy" and "Watch" segments into two separately traded companies, some investors may not have noticed that the audience measurement and consumer data company had a very good Q3.

While TEGNA struggled with a lack of political ad dollars in its fiscal Q3 results, Meredith Corp.'s Local Media division experienced a much-different three month period ending Sept. 30. The stations finished Meredith's fiscal Q1 2020 with "record revenues for a non-political quarter."

It may not have Tribune Media, but it does have a big array of regional sports networks to give it the revenue boost and long-term growth it seeks. With that said, Sinclair Broadcast Group shares dipped by more than 2% on Wednesday in reaction to the company's Q3 earnings results.

Local revenue and national revenue were both up by double-digits in the third quarter. Retransmission fee revenue climbed by nearly 4%, while a deal with Fox Corporation designed to lower its leverage are all positives for Nexstar. Unfortunately, the company's Q3 report is full of declines.

The departures of Comscore CEO Bryan Wiener and President Sarah Hofstetter are largely viewed as the key catalysts that sent the data measurement company into a financial tailspin. While Comscore shares have stopped the bleeding, leadership of the company will now be guided by a new CEO.

At The E.W. Scripps Co., the costs associated with syndicated programming ultimately led the media company to end its Pickler & Ben daytime show. Meredith Corp.'s Local Media Group, however, believes it has a recipe for clearance and ad revenue success by launching its own regionally available lifestyle show.