As a benefit to investors and analysts, Gray Television offered a look at its net income and Broadcast Cash Flow on a year-over-year-over-year basis, with comparisons to Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 offered in its fourth quarter 2021 fiscal report card.
How did Gray do? Net income was down, while BCF was ever-so-slightly under what the 2019 level was.
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Mark 10am on Thursday, March 3, on your calendar. That’s when the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by State of Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, will convene an executive session that puts to vote the presidential nominations of nine individuals.
Among them: Gigi B. Sohn, the controversial selection by the Biden administration to fill the fifth Commissioner’s seat at the FCC.
A vote on Sohn’s nomination is third of the nine on the agenda, with the first vote for Arun Venkataraman, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.
Other votes are for nominees to serve in roles at the Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and the CPSC. Also up for a vote: the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to be a Federal Trade Commission Commissioner.
As of today, Sohn’s nomination remains highly contentious. And, her path to the FCC could come down to Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who is recovering from a stroke. The New Mexico Democrat is said to be the deciding vote, one that would seat Sohn.
Then, there’s chatter Inside the Beltway that Ranking Member Roger Wicker and other Republicans, likely to include Ted Cruz, would “boycott” a vote on Sohn based on how she answered their follow-up questions. Republicans are extremely concerned about Sohn’s ties to now-shuttered “OTA via IP” television service Locast, and of her tweets that called Fox News a form of state-sponsored propaganda during the Trump administration.
Sohn is also a supporter of “net neutrality,” fueling concerns among Democrats that the GOP is “blocking” Sohn, despite Wicker’s testimony at a second nomination hearing that this was not the case.
While the opposition to Sohn is vocal, she does have an ally in Christopher Ruddy, as the head of conservative cable TV news operation Newsmax has come out in support of Sohn for her commitment to diversity, something Newsmax can benefit from as it further seeks to grow against established news and political opinion-focused cable giant FOX News.
With very tough year-over-year comps due to strong political advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, broadcast television industry performance in Q4 2021 can’t be judged by solely the topline numbers being reported.
That’s why the 8.1% rise in core advertising revenue in the final three months of 2021 at The E.W. Scripps Co. is particularly noteworthy, and encouraging.
Nevertheless, Scripps’ EPS for the quarter fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
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With a winter weather advisory in effect for Manhattan, Wall Street is bracing for sleet and a little snow. For investors, that was nothing compared to the pre-market slide for stocks.
Then came an afternoon address from President Biden on how the U.S. will react to Russia’s incursion into Ukrainian territory early Thursday. Investors reacted positively.
In fact, the Dow Industrials posted a 92.07-point gain, to 33,223.83 and the Nasdaq was up 436.10 to 13,473.58. The gains on Wall Street came after the FTSE in London dipped by 3.9%.
Among TV broadcast companies gaining ground when all was said and done is Sinclair Broadcast Group, up 55 cents to $26.33. Also up: The E.W. Scripps Co., rising 55 cents to $22.06; Nexstar, which gained $1.57 to $171.09; and Paramount, up 65 cents to $29.05.
Radio companies moving ahead include Audacy Corp., which continued its rebound with a 25-cent jump to $2.74; and iHeartMedia, which gained $0.90 to end the day at $19.98.
Meanwhile, Apple, which in pre-market trading was in the $152 range, finished the day at $161.83.
Of the radio broadcasting companies reporting Q4 2021 earnings results, thus far all have shown year-over-year growth, even when factoring in political ad dollars in the final three months of 2020.
The opposite was seen in the last quarter of 2021 for Xperi, as the company moved to a net loss from net income one year earlier.
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PQ Media has released its ninth annual Global Consumer Spending on Media Forecast.
The latest edition, which covers trends for 2021-2025, takes a deep dive on digital and traditional media content and technology with respect to consumer spending.
What are the key takeaways from this study?
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With majority shareholder Apollo Global Management teaming with Soo Kim-led Standard General in acquiring a majority stake in TEGNA, the Cox Media Group stable will see the addition of several TEGNA stations in Texas via license transfers.
It is now known that CMG’s roster of stations is about to expand even further, and it is thanks to a deal that sees Frank Higney of Kalil & Co. serve as the broker.
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The In-Real-Life advertising economy. It’s a real thing, and it is expected to reach some $44.4 billion in 2022, newly released data from WARC show.
Here’s the rub: It’s still down from pre-COVID levels, although a full recovery is likely imminent.
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As 2021 came to a close, Gray Television executed an agreement to purchase five Construction Permits from the original CEO of DTV America.
The transaction, which sees Bob Heymann of the Chicago office of Media Services Group served as the exclusive broker, representing DTV America, has just closed.
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“2021 was a pivotal year for Cumulus, a year of significant progress and accomplishment.”
Since emerging from voluntary Chapter 11 restructuring in 2018, CEO Mary Berner has put a focus on two key objectives: A sustainable growth trajectory, and “right-sizing the balance sheet to maximize financial flexibility to grow shareholder value.”
Indeed, net leverage deduction, along with further spot and network ad revenue recovery from COVID-19 slowdowns, is Cumulus’ Q4 2021 story. In this special InFOCUS Podcast, we offer audio highlights from the company’s late afternoon earnings call on February 23, which also features CFO Frank López-Balboa and questions from key Wall Street analysts who cover Cumulus Media.
Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Cumulus Media’s Q4 Earnings Call” on Spreaker.
Following Wednesday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street, one of the largest audio content creation and distribution companies in the U.S. quietly released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 results. And, with no replay line for investors to dial-in to had they not become aware of the Globe NewsWire release of its numbers, Cumulus Media just may have whispered to the world that it’s off to a strong start in 2022.
But, just how is the company led by CEO Mary Berner faring compared to Q4 2019, the new bellwether for broadcast media companies given the super-strong political dollars seen in the final three months of 2020?
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Should broadcast media companies pay the U.S. Forest Service a proposed administrative fee for new and existing communications?
The NAB has something to say about that.
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The VP of Digital Strategy for Hubbard Radio has been selected as the recipient of the NAB’s 2022 Digital Leadership Award.
He’ll be recognized at the 2022 NAB Show, scheduled for a live, in-person event between April 23–27 in Las Vegas.
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A low-power TV station licensed to use VHF Channel 4 in the Dallas-Fort Worth market is being sold by one Hispanic broadcast ministry to another.
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He’s the President of Miller Communications, located in Chaplin, S.C.
And, he has just signed off on an agreement that will see the transfer of an FM translator serving Orangeburg, S.C.
The buyer is full of Glory.
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After 15 years as chief executive and 23 years with the organization, a Boston public media leader has decided to exit at the end of 2022.
What does this mean for GBH?
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Investors are excited, with shares rising by more than 21% in Wednesday morning’s trading on the NYSE.
Audacy Corp. swung to net income, from a net loss seen in both Q4 2020 and Q4 2019, as net revenue climbed year-over-year to give the company a particularly rosy fourth quarter of 2021.
That said, Audacy’s return to 2019’s revenue performance hasn’t come yet, putting it a step behind its prime competitor in the audio content creation and distribution business.
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In addition to releasing its Q4 2021 earnings report, Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday offered investors some good news with respect to its quarterly dividend — it’s bigger.
The news came as the company named a C-Suite revenue leader its COO while it cheers on a new leader at its ABC affiliate in the Nation’s Capital.
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On Wednesday (2/23), iHeartMedia Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman was scheduled to be on stage in Music City USA as the Country Radio Seminar kicks off day one, in-person, in Nashville.
He began the day bright and early, with a 7:30am Central start time for the company’s Q4 2021 earnings call, which began minutes after the release of the iHeart fiscal health report.
How did iHeart do? “We’re delighted to report another strong quarter,” Pittman said.
He wasn’t exaggerating.
Total revenue for iHeartMedia in the final three months of 2021 increased by 3.5% from the same period of 2019, coming in at $1.062 billion, rising from $1.026 billion. It grew 14% compared to Q4 2020.
The revenue beat the consensus revenue estimate of $1.04 billion.
What drove this? Digital.
In short, Digital is on fire, and COO/CFO Rich Bressler shared details about the “consistently and stability” of iHeart’s assets during the quarter.
Sequential revenue improvement against 2019 was also noted by Bressler, with Q4 2021’s achievement truly noteworthy. Why? The biggest driver of revenue for iHeartMedia, its Multiplatform Group, was down 14.4% compared to 2019. Audio & Media Services Group revenue dipped by 2% when compared to two years ago in the non-pandemic impacted quarter.
Podcasting revenue was up 130% year-over-year, Bressler noted.
How is iHeartMedia’s net debt faring? It sat at $5.387 billion as 2021 came to a close.
Meanwhile, Q1 2022 revenue is expected to be up by 17%-19% year over year, Bressler said.
Shares of iHeartMedia stock were priced at $20 ahead of the Opening Bell on Wednesday.
iHeartMedia Q4: By The Numbers
With Nexstar Media Group‘s Tuesday release of its Q4 and full-year 2021 financial results, a particular palette was compiled for what could be an exposition of deceptively disappointing fiscal reports. Yes, year-over-year topline numbers for broadcast television’s biggest players are down. But, very tough comps due to record political revenue in the final months of 2020 are at play.
Ex-political, Nexstar did well. But, how did Sinclair Broadcast Group fare in Q4?
The key word is “soft.” An October 2021 “Cyber Event” played a major role in the company’s performance.
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