Lee Ann Gliha: Last News

When Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav wanted to make a forceful first impression at the company’s upfront last spring, he used words designed to dazzle the audience of ad buyers.

Tom Carter, a longtime former Nexstar exec who is now a senior advisor to the CEO and board of directors, says the company could acquire Disney’s local ABC TV stations with “little friction” if they become available.

Despite an impasse between Paramount Global and FuboTV, which has kept Nexstar stations off the air for weeks, Nexstar President and COO Tom Carter has a relatively upbeat outlook on pay-TV’s future.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar is still dark on internet streamer FuboTV on Tuesday, the TV station group giant’s president and chief operating officer explained why. “We are in a dispute with CBS right now over the Fubo situation,” Tom Carter said during a Morgan Stanley-hosted investor conference. “But keep in mind that virtual MVPDs contribute less than 10% of our distribution revenue and our distribution revenue is about half of our total revenue and Fubo is the smallest vMVPD we deal with. So we’re talking about a relatively minor amount of money, quite honestly, to both us and CBS. So it’s kind of easy to pick Fubo as a fight to have.” Nexstar executive vice president and chief financial officer Lee Ann Gliha noted: “We view this as a CBS-only issues and it’s just driven by the specific issues that surround the CBS situation.”

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook and execs of the nation’s biggest broadcaster said its imprimatur will be evident on The CW schedule for the 2023-2024 season with lower cost, broader appeal, and more unscripted fare and minimal content from former co-owners Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Global.