Nexstar Media Group Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>A lot of changes going on in the media space with the new administration. And given the Trump election and Republican control of Congress, I figured it would be a great idea to start with deregulation. Clearly, the restrictions put on broadcast ownership limiting your reach to 39% of the country seem antiquated in this day and age. What are you hearing about the prospects of deregulation with the new administration?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Do you think it goes away -- the cap goes away? Do you think they change the cap? Or do you think it goes away altogether?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Remind me, I don't actually remember but was the Trump's first administration and the Ajit Pai FCC, did they make any steps to move us along this deregulatory arc at all? I mean was there any movement in that way in the first round? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2024 / 8:45PM, NXST.OQ - Nexstar Media Group Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Got you. And then again, from an antitrust standpoint or deregulation standpoint rather, what exactly can the FCC do? Because I agree with you, Chairman Carr -- or soon to be Chairman Carr, seem to be very deregulatory focused. What is it -- what -- are there some easy things that he can do immediately assuming he's got the vote, which most Chairman do? And then what do we have to wait for Congress to do? And then any thoughts on -- I forget the name, but I think the antitrust head of the DOJ was just appointed. Does that come into play at all? And what do you think of the new appointee?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : And if the 39% ownership cap went away and the limitation on ownership of more than one of the top four stations in the market, if there is a way, would you foresee that there would be meaningful consolidation as a result of that? And if so, how do you think Nexstar would play in that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2024 / 8:45PM, NXST.OQ - Nexstar Media Group Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Makes sense. So keeping with the regulatory theme, incoming President Trump has made some threats about taking FCC licenses away from some of the big broadcasters, ABC, NBC. What do you make of this? And what is the process for license renewals and within the process can he actually do? Do you think there's any teeth to it?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Got you. Okay. That makes sense. Maybe sticking with spectrum. There have been some comments about the government reclaiming broadcast spectrum or auction it off. Obviously, you guys did not participate in the -- you've been vocal on not participating in the last spectrum auction, given the opportunity to use the spectrum for ATSC 3.0. Any thoughts around these rumors or ultimately how the new administration might help accelerate the deployment of ATSC 3.0?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Makes sense. Okay. Keeping with the governmental theme, we heard from Fox earlier today that 2024 was a record political year for advertising versus what we saw in 2020. One of the big beneficiaries of growth in spending was CTV, the first election where CTV appear to really be a major player. Can you talk a little bit about this outcome, how you fared and the benefit of the broadcast medium to the campaign?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Right. And I think this points to the whole positioning of broadcast within the linear TV ecosystem, right? And I think when people think of linear TV, they think oh, geez, broadcast and cable, cord cutting, lower advertising, all the drivers there. But it does seem to be that there's a bifurcation that's happening, right? And I think you see that most explicitly with Comcast, right? Comcast is selling off their cable nets and not their broadcast networks, right? So I mean could you just talk a little bit about how you think a broadcast model is positioned in this new world when there is cord cutting, and there is migration in terms of viewership to streaming, but how do you think that the broadcasters in general are positioned?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : So sports is an interesting topic. Let me -- again, we touched on it a bit with the Fox guys. Some of -- you've seen some migrate to streaming services with NFL games and the Tyson-Logan fight and a little bit maybe with the -- with Amazon has done with football and coming with the NBA. How do you think -- how do you see sports consumption in the future? Is it a hybrid model? Or do you think it continues to migrate? Or just how do you see -- think that plays out?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Makes sense. So we've seen The CW move aggressively into sports under your ownership. Can you talk a little bit about what you've accomplished there already? And what are the goals for the network? And do you think that The CW can go to be as powerful as one of the big 4 networks? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2024 / 8:45PM, NXST.OQ - Nexstar Media Group Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Makes sense. Industry-wide, we've seen significant amount of rebundling of content either at the B2C level, increased D2C prices and rebundling of D2C services with pay-TV subscriptions. We've also seen pay-TV distributors drop or reduce or stop paying for the long tail of the cable nets. Why do you think this is happening? And what do you think the implications of this trend are for Nexstar?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : It seems to fit with what Charter is doing, right? You said they've got their renewal, and then they've got the D2C services. Is that -- if more distributors move to that type of a model, and I think Dave Watson from Comcast alluded to the fact that they may be able to do that. He definitely talked about the new flexibility they had. He didn't say we -- because they just signed their deal with Warner Bros. He didn't say we included Max and -- but he said, in my view, he said, no, it was really the flexibility that we worked into the new contract. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2024 / 8:45PM, NXST.OQ - Nexstar Media Group Inc at UBS Global Media & Communications Conference I mean if more distributors follow what Charter is doing, would that be good for you guys? It seems like it would create more value, potentially that really raising the price for customers.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Makes sense. Maybe we talk a little bit about pricing. For the first three quarters of the year, you posted record quarterly distribution revenue despite the fact that cord cutting is continuing to pace and depending on who you talk to is accelerating a little bit or stable. I mean how have you been able to do this? And do you think it's -- do you think maintaining the distribution revenue is not growing? Is that sustainable going forward?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Got you. Maybe talk a little bit about capital allocation. That's definitely been a strong point for Nexstar, 4% dividend yield. You're buying back about 9% of the stock every year. And you're still paying down debt. So first, I would say do you think that this is the appropriate capital allocation going forward? And if we are, the way we -- just bringing the whole conversation full circle, if we are heading to a period of deregulation where there might be some opportunities for consolidation and M&A, is this the right, A, I guess, capital structure but B, capital allocation strategy to put yourselves in a position to pursue the opportunities that may be created?

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. I think it's a great place to leave it.

Question: John Hodulik - UBS Securities LLC - Analyst : Thank you, guys, for joining us.