Hooray, Democracy.
One of the nation’s leading broadcast television companies has updated its financial guidance for the first quarter, which concludes Wednesday. It’s a positive boost to guidance Gray Media first released on August 7, and comes in connection “with lender meetings to potentially refinance its credit facility.”
Gray also offered the upbeat Q3 2026 political ad dollar projections so it can include the data in presentations to investors it may make from time to time, the company shared on Monday.
While Gray is in the process of finalizing its third quarter financial results, the following updated estimates reflect the most current operational information and expectations available to the company as of the date of this release.
For the estimates not listed below, Gray’s original guidance remains unchanged. “As always, guidance may change in the future based on several factors and therefore may not reflect future actual results,” the company said.
| Quarter Ending September 30, 2026 | ||||||||
| September 30, 2025 |
August 7, 2026 | September 28, 2026 | ||||||
| (in millions) | (Unaudited) |
GUIDANCE | UPDATE | |||||
| Revenue (less agency commissions): | ||||||||
| Core advertising | $ | 355 | Flat, as reported | -1% to Flat, as reported | ||||
| Political advertising | $ | 8 | $165 – $185 | $188 – $195 | ||||
| Total revenue | $ | 749 | $935 – $965 | $950 – $965 | ||||
| Operating expenses (excluding depreciation, amortization and (gain) loss on disposal of assets): | ||||||||
| Total corporate and administrative expense | $ | 28 | $35 – $40 | $30 – $35 | ||||
For illustrative purposes, the table below highlights political advertising revenue trends for the first nine months of this year alongside the first nine months of the two prior “on-year” political cycles. The 2026 estimate assumes $192 million of third quarter political advertising revenue, the midpoint of Gray’s updated guidance, and includes an estimated $9 million of political advertising revenue from recent acquisitions through September 30, 2026, which is included in the updated guidance.
Gray concluded that it currently anticipates that it will have no outstanding borrowings under its Revolving Credit Facility as of September 30. Current borrowing capacity under Gray’s Accounts Receivable Securitization facility is approximately $379 million, reflecting lower core commercial receivables driven by strong political advertising revenues, which are paid in advance.
Gray Media currently expects to report its third quarter 2026 financial results on Friday, November 6 and host its quarterly investor call at 11am Eastern that morning.
