“Sinclair delivered solid financial results in a challenging first quarter environment.”
That’s the overall assessment of the first three months of 2025 from a fiscal standpoint from Chris Ripley, President/CEO of broadcast TV station ownership group and Dielectric parent Sinclair Inc.
In comments made just after the Closing Bell Wednesday on Wall Street, Ripley shared how Sinclair’s adjusted EBITDA “exceeded the high-end of our guidance range and core advertising trends continue to be among the strongest in the industry, despite the macro-economic uncertainties and lack of visibility. We are seeing some signs of improvement in the pay TV ecosystem as consumers respond to innovative packaging.”
Ripley added that Sinclair remains optimistic that the regulatory environment “is poised for favorable reforms in the near term, opening up potential strategic options for us and the industry generally. We completed our comprehensive refinancing during the first quarter, which pushed out our nearest meaningful maturity to December of 2029 and our weighted average maturity is now more than six years out, representing the longest maturity runway in the industry. The refinancing positioned Sinclair well to execute on those strategic possibilities.”
While total revenue for Q1 decreased to $776 million, from $798 million, that’s not on an ex-political basis. And in the same period of 2024, some $24 million in ad revenue was seen.
The bigger issue? Core advertising revenue slipped to $292 million, from $297 million. In contrast, the controversial “distribution revenue” line-item — a.k.a. retransmission fees — saw dollars grow to $451 million, from $436 million.
Total it all up, and Sinclair saw a net loss of $156 million (-$2.30 per share), swinging from net income of $25 million ($0.35).
Adjusted EBITDA declined to $112 million, from $139 million.
Sinclair also offered a glimpse of what it expects to see in the current quarter once it is complete on June 30:
In addition to its Q2 earnings release, Sinclair’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share on the Company’s Class A and Class B common stock. The dividend is payable on June 13, 2025, to the holders of record at the close of business on May 30, 2025.
