Nexstar Media Group Inc Q2 2025 Earnings Call Summary

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

Question: Dan Kurnos - The Benchmark Company, LLC - Analyst : Perry, just any quick thoughts on Chairman Car continuing to write letters to the networks? And if there might be any changes coming in the way the affiliate relationships are handled. And then from an M&A perspective, how do you think about the end market opportunity versus cap expansion if the cap does get raised? You've obviously got JSAs to go after. You have a very enviable balance sheet position. So if there's any way to frame broadly what you might be looking at or any situation to consider that would be super helpful.

Question: Jason Bazinet - Citi Infrastructure Investments LLC - Analyst : And I just ask a two-parter on M&A, if that's okay. Point number one is would you say it's important to you to increase your O&Os and the CW as you think through M&A scenarios? Or is that sort of something that you can continue to do organically as you've been doing since you've got control of the CW. And my second one is, do you mind -- I think you've indicated on the last call that you don't feel like you need all of these rules to be solidified before you might announce a transaction. And do you mind just elaborating on what ends up happening if you have a transaction that's announced and let's say, a broadcaster or a pay TV firm challenges, whatever the FCC decides in core, like how -- it seems very complicated to me. So anything you can add would be helpful.

Question: Jason Bazinet - Citi Infrastructure Investments LLC - Analyst : That makes sense -- unless to be all nos. Is that the strategic priority?

Question: Stephen Cahall - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : So on the CW, you talked about, I think, 40% of Time is now aired with sports. I was wondering what additional sports opportunities you see out there in terms of leagues or parts of leagues that you think could continue to grow that, assuming that, that is, in fact, the strategy of the CW to continue to add more sports as a percentage. And then the second question, I was just wondering if you could go a little bit deeper on the ad market. So it sounds like things are performing about as expected, maybe even a little bit better. I was wondering if you could talk about maybe how much digital is growing? And then any trends between what you're seeing at local stations versus your national revenue, which I think is a little bit bigger for you than it is for a lot of your peers.

Question: Benjamin Soff - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : I wanted to first ask about virtual MVPDs. It sounds like this is one area the FCC could look into. So can you remind us where the economics for these services stand today compared to the traditional ecosystem. And what's your level of optimism these rules could get changed? And then there's some new sports-centric streaming services launching soon. I'm curious if you think these products might impact the broader pay TV ecosystem or not?

Question: Alan Gould - Loop Capital Markets LLC - Analyst : I've got two, please. First, can you give us a comment on the pacings or what you're seeing the trends in digital advertising? And secondly, any surprise in the comment letters in the refresh proceeding? And what are the next steps? I think there's refined comments. And then what has to happen next before the FCC could make some changes?

Question: Patrick Scholl - Barrington Research Associates, Inc. - Analyst : I just had a couple more questions just on the ad market. Just as you've been adding sports programming to CW, could you just talk about like where your ad rates stand relative to some of your broadcast peers that you're getting much higher up in terms of like the viewership level for CW? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. AUGUST 07, 2025 / 2:00PM, NXST.OQ - Q2 2025 Nexstar Media Group Inc Earnings Call

Question: Patrick Scholl - Barrington Research Associates, Inc. - Analyst : Okay. And just on the -- in terms of like the broader ad market, I guess you addressed this a little bit, but can you just maybe talk about like just within the categories, how -- if there's been any sort of adjustment in how they've been shifting their spending between Q2 and Q3. I know you provided like the overall trajectory or your overall pacing for Q3. Just give us a little bit more detail on some of the dynamics there.