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Since the start of 2025, Perry Sook has spent four days on Capitol Hill trying to impress lawmakers with the need for broadcast deregulation.
“I feel the prospect is as good as it has been in my career to see meaningful ownership regulatory reform,” said Sook, Nexstar Media Group’s chairman and CEO, during an earnings call with analysts earlier today. “No one can, with a straight face, defend the current rules in the current environment. And I think there’s a real understanding that preserving local journalism at the local market level is in the country’s national interest.”
He added that the message he’s delivered has resonated on both sides of the political aisle.
To no one’s surprise, Sook said Nexstar is in conversations about possible asset deals. “If there’s a love connection and regulations change that would permit the acquisition to go forward, and it’s highly accretive, it’s something we would strongly consider doing in the broadcast television space and the digital space.” That said, the company’s Plan B is to buy back stock and pay down debt.
Sook made his remarks at a time when the company he founded delivered $5.4 billion in net revenue for the year recently ended, up 9.6% from 2023 and “the highest in our company’s 28-year history,” he said. Net revenue for the fourth quarter was almost $1.5 billion, about a 14% increase.
Fourth quarter advertising revenue catapulted by almost 30%, to $758 million. Political advertising in the quarter amounted to $254 million, which offset a $51 million drop