NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 6, 2020--We believe the spread of the coronavirus has pushed the U.S. economy into a recession that will reduce spending on television advertising in 2020. While Nexstar Media Group Inc.'s (BB-/Stable/--) core advertising (excluding political) segment accounts for roughly 40% of its revenue, we believe the company's other revenue streams will help stabilize its performance. In addition, we expect that Nexstar's previously announced cost-saving initiatives and voluntary debt repayment will support deleveraging in 2020 and provide it with some cushion in its credit measures to support our current 'BB-' rating. Our revised base-case forecast assumes that the company's core advertising revenue declines by between 14% and 16% in 2020 with leverage in the mid-
