Nexstar Nets A Bigger Take From Retrans
Station Group Inks Deal Worth $75 Million With 179 Distributors
by Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 2/23/2009 2:00:00 AM
Nexstar Broadcasting Group said last week that it has renewed and reached multi-year agreements with 179 cable, satellite and telephone-company operators, which are expected to generate $75 million in retransmission-consent revenue over the life of the agreements, with about one-third to be realized this year.
The haul represents a 50% increase over the $50 million in retrans revenue that Nexstar generated over the life of its first round of short-term agreements in 2005. In 2008, Nexstar reported that 47% of the contract dollars represented by the original agreements ($23.5 million) were up for renegotiation.
In the first nine months of 2008, Nexstar recorded about $15.5 million in retransmission-consent revenue, outpacing 2007 by about 23%. Nexstar was one of the first broadcasters to push for cash for retransmission consent from cable and satellite operators. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said the increases are expected to continue this year.
“Nexstar has several additional retransmission agreements which will be renegotiated in 2009, and we expect further upside to the annualized run rate of our retransmission revenue stream in future years,” Sook said in a statement.
Nexstar is set to report fourth-quarter and full-year results on March 5.
After the completion of recently announced deals, the Irving, Texas-based station group will own, operate, program or provide sales and other services to 52 television stations in 30 markets across the country.
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