Nexstar posted third-quarter results marred by a carriage dispute with DirecTV as well as a cyclical lack of political advertising.
Total revenue slipped 11% from the year-earlier quarter to $1.1 billion and earnings fell to 70 cents a share from $7.30. Both metrics undershot Wall Street analysts’ forecasts.
Even without political spending, core TV ad revenue fell 2% to $391 million, with the company blaming “continued softness in the advertising market, partially offset by the inclusion of The CW Network Distribution revenue dropped nearly 7% to $598 million decreased 6.7% versus prior year.
Nexstar blamed the DirecTV outage, which lasted 76 days during the quarter before the parties reached an agreement in September.
Read more on deadline.com