二十一世紀福斯 (FOX) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the FOX Corporation First Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I'll now turn the conference over to Chief Investor Relations Officer, Ms. Gabrielle Brown. Please go ahead, Ms. Brown.

女士們，先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 FOX Corporation 2023 財年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。我現在將會議轉交給首席投資者關係官加布里埃爾·布朗女士。請繼續，布朗女士。

Thanks, Gabby, and thank you all for joining us this morning to discuss our first quarter results and happy Halloween, everyone. I was trying to think of a Halloween reference or a joke, but in fact, there's nothing scary in these results. Actually, fiscal '23 has started off -- by the way, that's called a dad joke in my household. Fiscal '23 has started off on a solid footing for us, supported by healthy viewership at sports and news, revenue growth across our platforms and impressive momentum at TUBI. Financially, we delivered 5% growth in our top line revenues, led by an 8% increase in advertising and 3% growth in affiliate revenues. Our advertising growth in the quarter was driven by strong pricing at FOX News and FOX Sports, record first quarter political revenues at the local stations and in a quarter where industry-wide digital advertising revenues appear to have been under pressure, to be posted standout revenue growth of almost 30%. These are great results for FOX.

謝謝，Gabby，感謝大家今天早上加入我們討論我們的第一季度業績和萬聖節快樂，大家。我試圖想出一個萬聖節參考或一個笑話，但事實上，這些結果並沒有什麼可怕的。實際上，23 財年已經開始了——順便說一下，這在我家被稱為爸爸的笑話。在體育和新聞的健康收視率、我們平台上的收入增長以及 TUBI 令人印象深刻的發展勢頭的支持下，我們的 23 財年已經開始奠定了堅實的基礎。在財務方面，我們的收入增長了 5%，其中廣告收入增長了 8%，附屬收入增長了 3%。我們在本季度的廣告增長受到 FOX News 和 FOX Sports 強勁定價的推動，第一季度當地電視台的政治收入創紀錄，而在全行業數字廣告收入似乎一直面臨壓力的季度，將發佈出色的收入增長近 30%。這些對 FOX 來說都是很好的結果。

However, we recognize that there is a lot of commentary around advertising headwinds as the macro environment evolves. Yes, the broader national advertising market is looking more fluid compared to the time of our last earnings call. However, the macro impact is not uniform across our verticals. While we have observed some softness in the linear entertainment scatter marketplace, remember that FOX does not over-index to network entertainment. So any impact there is nominal to us and has been more than offset by the digital entertainment strength delivered by TUBI. Additionally, despite the economic headwinds, we are seeing continued strength across our linear news and sports portfolios, led by the pharmaceutical, restaurant and streaming categories. These dynamics underscore a flight to quality and the importance of our focus on live content with over 2/3 of our advertising revenue generated by live sports and news. At our local stations, we generated record political revenues for the September quarter.

然而，我們認識到隨著宏觀環境的發展，有很多關於廣告逆風的評論。是的，與我們上次財報電話會議時相比，更廣泛的全國廣告市場看起來更加流動。然而，宏觀影響在我們的垂直領域並不統一。雖然我們觀察到線性娛樂分散市場出現了一些疲軟，但請記住，FOX 並未過度評價網絡娛樂。因此，任何影響對我們來說都是名義上的，並且被 TUBI 提供的數字娛樂實力所抵消。此外，儘管存在經濟逆風，但我們看到以製藥、餐廳和流媒體類別為首的線性新聞和體育投資組合持續強勁。這些動態強調了質量的飛躍以及我們專注於直播內容的重要性，我們超過 2/3 的廣告收入來自直播體育和新聞。在我們的地方電台，我們在 9 月季度創造了創紀錄的政治收入。

Second quarter-to-date political revenues have also been very strong, given the combination of races and ballot issues across our markets. And I can confirm with a week still to go before election day, we have already beat our fiscal year 2021 record at the local stations, excluding the Georgia runoffs. Meanwhile, base market sales at the local stations were stable in the first quarter. It's still too early to gauge how much of an impact the macro uncertainty will have on local-based market advertising in the December quarter.

考慮到我們市場上的種族和選票問題，第二季度迄今為止的政治收入也非常強勁。我可以確認，距離選舉日還有一周的時間，我們已經在地方電台打破了 2021 財年的記錄，不包括佐治亞州的決選。與此同時，第一季度地方站的基礎市場銷售保持穩定。現在判斷宏觀不確定性對 12 月季度本地市場廣告的影響還為時過早。

But we are encouraged by the continued positive growth we are seeing in the automotive category, but recognize industry-specific dynamics that are impacting sectors such as wagering and government public health advertiser. On the distribution side of our business, we have completed the first round of our multiyear affiliate renewal cycle. So far, the results are consistent with our expectations, and we are pleased that the market recognizes the value of our brands as they deliver for their customers.

但我們對汽車類別的持續正增長感到鼓舞，但認識到影響博彩和政府公共衛生廣告商等行業的特定行業動態。在我們業務的分銷方面，我們已經完成了第一輪多年會員更新周期。到目前為止，結果符合我們的預期，我們很高興市場認可我們的品牌為客戶提供的價值。

Turning to our business units. FOX News, turned in another stellar performance, finishing the fiscal first quarter as the #1 channel on cable and the third most viewed network in weekday prime in all of television behind only NBC and CBS. FOX Nation had a standout quarter for subscribers and engagement with total subscription growth north of 45% and total hours watched up almost 70% over last year, making our fiscal first quarter FOX Nation's highest quarter ever for hours watched.

轉向我們的業務部門。 FOX 新聞又表現出色，在第一財季結束時成為有線電視頻道的第一名，在所有電視節目中，在工作日黃金時段的收視率排名第三，僅次於 NBC 和 CBS。 FOX Nation 在訂閱者和參與度方面表現出色，總訂閱增長超過 45%，總觀看時長比去年增加了近 70%，使我們的第一財季 FOX Nation 成為有史以來觀看時長最高的季度。

FOX Sports has had a very exciting calendar or has a very exciting calendar ahead of it this fall. The NFL on FOX is off to a great start, and we're pleased to report that America's game of the week is averaging nearly 23 million viewers, up 9% over last year. The 2022 college football season also got off to an outstanding start with 10.6 million viewers for Alabama, Texas and the season's first big new out of the game.

FOX Sports 有一個非常激動人心的日曆，或者今年秋天有一個非常激動人心的日曆。 FOX 上的 NFL 開局良好，我們很高興地報告說，美國本週的比賽平均有近 2300 萬觀眾，比去年增長 9%。 2022 年大學橄欖球賽季的開局也很出色，阿拉巴馬州、德克薩斯州的觀眾人數達到了 1060 萬，這是本賽季的第一個重大新人。

It's no surprise that FOX's big news Saturday remains the #1 window in college football with viewership up 15% over last year. And Fox continues to be the primary home for baseball's postseason, where our coverage across FOX started in October and culminates with the world series throughout this week.

毫不奇怪，福克斯週六的重大新聞仍然是大學橄欖球的第一窗口，收視率比去年增長了 15%。 Fox 仍然是棒球季后賽的主要主場，我們對 FOX 的報導於 10 月開始，並在本週的世界系列賽中達到高潮。

As always, we're barracking for a tight 7 game series. You know quite well that we have assembled an array of marquee sports rights and many of them will be on full display later this month during the Thanksgiving weekend, when FOX will play a host of 4 of this year's biggest matchups, the Giants vs Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the U.S. men's soccer team versus England in the World Cup on Friday, Michigan and Ohio State on Saturday afternoon and, of course, will present America's Game of the week on Sunday afternoon which is between the Rams and the Chiefs.

與往常一樣，我們正在為緊鑼密鼓的 7 場比賽而戰。你很清楚，我們已經收集了一系列重要的體育權利，其中許多將在本月晚些時候的感恩節週末全面展示，屆時 FOX 將參加今年最大的 4 場比賽，巨人隊與牛仔隊的比賽感恩節，美國男子足球隊在周五的世界杯上對陣英格蘭，密歇根州和俄亥俄州立大學在周六下午，當然，週日下午將在公羊隊和酋長隊之間展示美國本週的比賽。

It will be a terrific game. This extraordinary holiday weekend slate sets us up nicely as we prepare to broadcast Super Bowl LVII in February. Elsewhere, the story at TUBI is breathtaking with first quarter revenue growth reaccelerating to almost 30% over last year.

這將是一場精彩的比賽。當我們準備在 2 月播出超級碗 LVII 時，這個非凡的假期週末安排為我們做好了準備。在其他地方，TUBI 的故事令人嘆為觀止，第一季度的收入增長比去年重新加速至近 30%。

This marks the first time that TUBI revenue has surpassed the advertising revenue generated by FOX Entertainment in a meaningful way. And in the December quarter for TUBI looks to be a continuation of that momentum with revenue growth rate currently pacing ahead of the September quarter at nearly 40%. Driving revenue at TUBI is strength across all major KPIs, particularly total viewing time, which was up over 50%.

這標誌著 TUBI 收入首次以有意義的方式超過了 FOX Entertainment 產生的廣告收入。 TUBI 在 12 月季度看起來是這種勢頭的延續，目前收入增長率超過 9 月季度，接近 40%。 TUBI 的收入增長是所有主要 KPI 的優勢，尤其是總觀看時間，增長了 50% 以上。

In fact, this was TUBI's highest quarterly viewership ever with TBT reaching 1.3 billion hours. TUBI's impressive progress in growing audience engagement and monetization is indicating that our investment strategy and operational focus is working nicely. At Fox Entertainment, we saw some changes last month with Charlie Collier moving on to new challenges. We are happy that Rob Wade has stepped into the role of CEO of FOX Entertainment and those who know Rob will share my view that he will be a tremendous steward to our entertainment businesses.

事實上，這是 TUBI 有史以來最高的季度收視率，TBT 達到 13 億小時。 TUBI 在提高觀眾參與度和貨幣化方面取得了令人矚目的進展，這表明我們的投資戰略和運營重點運作良好。在福克斯娛樂，上個月我們看到了一些變化，查理科利爾開始迎接新的挑戰。我們很高興 Rob Wade 擔任 FOX Entertainment 的首席執行官，認識 Rob 的人會和我一樣認為他將成為我們娛樂業務的偉大管家。

Our fiscal year is off to quite a start. The September quarter results once again highlight the strength of our leadership brands. And we are just getting started on what promises to be a banner year for FOX. We are encouraged by the operating trends across the portfolio and the early returns on our digital investments. When paired with our strong balance sheet and low leverage, the FOX story remains a differentiated one amongst its media peers. And while we continue to be mindful of how the macroeconomic environment evolves during the months ahead, FOX remains well positioned to navigate and outperform through any potential uncertainty. Finally, let me comment on the announcement made earlier this month regarding a potential combination of FOX and News Corporation. As has been made public, both FOX and News Corporation have formed separate special committees to explore a potential combination following letters received from my father, Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch Family Trust. For a combination transaction to proceed, it will need the approval of both special committees and a supportive vote by the majority of the minority nonaffiliated shareholders of each company.

我們的財政年度開始了。 9 月份的季度業績再次凸顯了我們領導品牌的實力。我們才剛剛開始承諾將成為 FOX 標誌性的一年。我們對整個投資組合的運營趨勢以及我們數字投資的早期回報感到鼓舞。當與我們強大的資產負債表和低杠桿率相結合時，FOX 的故事在其媒體同行中仍然是一個與眾不同的故事。儘管我們將繼續關注未來幾個月宏觀經濟環境的演變，但 FOX 仍處於有利地位，可以在任何潛在的不確定性中駕馭並超越大盤。最後，讓我評論一下本月早些時候關於福克斯和新聞集團可能合併的公告。正如已經公開的那樣，在收到我父親魯珀特·默多克和默多克家族信託基金的來信後，福克斯和新聞集團都成立了單獨的特別委員會，以探索可能的合併。合併交易的進行需要兩個特別委員會的批准，以及每家公司的少數非關聯股東的多數票的支持。

The special committee has not made any determination at this time, and there can be no certainty that the company will engage in such a transaction. Given the importance of the work of the special committees, I'm not in a position to take any questions on the proposed transaction at this time. And now Steve will take you through the financial highlights of the quarter.

特別委員會目前尚未做出任何決定，無法確定公司是否會進行此類交易。鑑於特別委員會工作的重要性，我目前無法就擬議交易提出任何問題。現在史蒂夫將帶您了解本季度的財務亮點。

Thanks, Lachlan, and good morning, everyone. As Lachlan mentioned, we have made a solid start to fiscal 2023, delivering total company revenue growth of 5%. This top line momentum was led by 8% growth in our advertising revenues, where in the quarter, we continue to see healthy scatter demand for our leading news and sports properties and generated meaningful revenue reacceleration at TUBI. We also benefited from a record fiscal first quarter for political advertising revenues at our owned and operated television stations.

謝謝，拉克蘭，大家早上好。正如拉克蘭所說，我們在 2023 財年取得了良好的開端，公司總收入增長了 5%。這一頂線勢頭由我們的廣告收入增長 8% 引領，在本季度，我們繼續看到對我們領先的新聞和體育資產的健康分散需求，並在 TUBI 產生了有意義的收入重新加速。我們還受益於我們擁有和經營的電視台的政治廣告收入創紀錄的第一財季。

Notably, we are able to drive 3% affiliate fee revenue growth without the benefit of any significant renewals impacting the quarter and trailing 12-month subscriber losses running at approximately 7%. Quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $1.09 billion, up 3% as our revenue growth was partially offset by higher expenses led by continued investment in our digital initiatives and increased rights amortization at FOX Sports.

值得注意的是，我們能夠推動 3% 的聯屬會員費用收入增長，而不會因任何影響本季度的重大續訂以及過去 12 個月的訂戶流失率約為 7% 而受益。季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 10.9 億美元，增長 3%，因為我們的收入增長被持續投資於我們的數字計劃和增加 FOX Sports 的權利攤銷所導致的更高費用所部分抵消。

Net income attributable to stockholders of $605 million or $1.10 per share compared to the $701 million or $1.21 per share reported in the prior period. Once again, this was impacted by the change in fair value of the company's investment in Qatar, which we recognize in other net. Additionally, our effective tax rate was slightly higher in the quarter primarily due to a remeasurement of our net deferred tax assets associated with the reduction in state taxes.

歸屬於股東的淨收入為 6.05 億美元或每股 1.10 美元，而上一期間報告的淨收入為 7.01 億美元或每股 1.21 美元。這再次受到公司在卡塔爾投資的公允價值變化的影響，我們在其他淨值中確認。此外，本季度我們的有效稅率略高，主要是由於重新計量了與州稅減少相關的遞延所得稅淨資產。

This had no impact on our cash taxes in the quarter. Excluding this impact and other noncore items, adjusted EPS was $1.21, up 9% over last year's $1.11. Turning now to our segments, starting with cable network programming. Cable advertising revenues were up 2% as our market leadership in news continue to drive linear pricing gains at the FOX News channel.

這對我們本季度的現金稅沒有影響。不計此影響和其他非核心項目，調整後每股收益為 1.21 美元，比去年的 1.11 美元增長 9%。現在轉向我們的細分市場，從有線網絡節目開始。由於我們在新聞領域的市場領先地位繼續推動 FOX 新聞頻道的線性定價增長，有線電視廣告收入增長了 2%。

This was partially offset by lower programmatic revenues at our digital news properties in the current period as well as the impact of scheduling effects at our national sports cable networks where last year's revenues benefited from the Concacaf Gold Cup and Copa America tournaments. Cable affiliate fee revenues were consistent with the prior quarter. As we have signaled previously, we are in the early days of our next distribution renewal cycle. We are pleased with the outcomes of our earliest renewals, and we continue to expect to see these benefits take effect in the back half of our fiscal year and initially concentrated towards the television segment. Cable other revenues increased 9% in the quarter, primarily due to higher FOX Nation subscription revenues. EBITDA at our Cable segment was $742 million compared to the $774 million reported in the prior year period and included the impact of elevated breaking us costs and the timing of digital investments of FOX News Media.

這部分被當期我們的數字新聞資產的節目收入下降以及我們國家體育有線網絡的日程安排效應的影響所抵消，去年的收入受益於中北美咖啡金杯賽和美洲杯錦標賽。有線電視附屬費收入與上一季度一致。正如我們之前所暗示的那樣，我們正處於下一個分發更新周期的早期階段。我們對最早續約的結果感到滿意，我們繼續期望看到這些好處在我們財政年度的後半段生效，並最初集中在電視領域。本季度有線電視其他收入增長 9%，主要是由於 FOX Nation 訂閱收入增加。我們有線電視部門的 EBITDA 為 7.42 億美元，而去年同期為 7.74 億美元，其中包括高昂的破壞我們的成本和 FOX News Media 數字投資時機的影響。

At television, we delivered 8% revenue growth, led by an 11% increase in advertising revenues. Our television station saw a record September quarter for political advertising revenues, while the FOX network benefited from continued strength in pricing and additional MLB broadcast of Fox Sports, partially offset by softer ratings.

在電視方面，我們實現了 8% 的收入增長，其中廣告收入增長了 11%。我們的電視台 9 月季度的政治廣告收入創歷史新高，而 FOX 網絡受益於定價的持續強勁和 Fox Sports 的 MLB 額外轉播，部分被較低的收視率所抵消。

Notably, we saw a sequential reacceleration of growth of TUBI, with revenues up 29% to approximately $165 million. This was on the back of a 53% increase in total view time and stable CPMs. Television affiliate fee revenues were up 6% as healthy growth in fees across all Fox affiliate FOX-affiliated stations more than offset any impact from subscriber declines. Other revenues increased 5% in the quarter, primarily reflecting the impact of the TMZ and MarVista acquisitions, partially offset by the timing of deliveries of Bento Box. EBITDA at our Television segment was up 14% in the quarter, where we saw the typical seasonal increase in our marquee rights at costs at FOX Sports including the impact of our MLB renewal, partially offset by lower marketing and programming expenses of FOX Entertainment.

值得注意的是，我們看到 TUBI 的增長連續重新加速，收入增長 29% 至約 1.65 億美元。這是因為總觀看時間增加了 53%，並且每千次展示費用穩定。電視附屬費用收入增長了 6%，因為所有 Fox 附屬 FOX 附屬電台的費用健康增長超過了訂閱用戶下降的任何影響。本季度其他收入增長 5%，主要反映了 TMZ 和 MarVista 收購的影響，部分被 Bento Box 的交付時間所抵消。我們電視部門的 EBITDA 在本季度增長了 14%，我們看到 FOX Sports 的字幕播放權的典型季節性增長，包括我們 MLB 續約的影響，部分被 FOX Entertainment 較低的營銷和節目費用所抵消。

We are clearly making strong progress in both audience growth and monetization at TUBI which underscores our confidence in the long-term value of this asset. So it is worth noting that the EBITDA we delivered in the quarter at the Television segment and FOX more broadly, incorporates an approximately $50 million EBITDA investment in TUBI.

顯然，我們在 TUBI 的觀眾增長和貨幣化方面都取得了長足的進步，這突顯了我們對這項資產的長期價值的信心。因此值得注意的是，我們在本季度在電視部門和更廣泛的 FOX 交付的 EBITDA 包含對 TUBI 的約 5000 萬美元 EBITDA 投資。

Now turning to cash flow, where we generated $196 million of free cash flow in the quarter. Consistent with the seasonality of our working capital cycle, where the first half of our fiscal year is characterized by a concentration of payments for sports rights and the buildup of advertising-related receivables, both of which reversed in the second half of our fiscal year.

現在轉向現金流，我們在本季度產生了 1.96 億美元的自由現金流。與我們的營運資金周期的季節性一致，我們財年上半年的特點是體育權利的支付集中以及與廣告相關的應收賬款的增加，這兩者在我們財年的下半年都發生了逆轉。

From a capital deployment perspective, fiscal year-to-date, we have repurchased a further $300 million via our share buyback program. We remain committed to utilizing our full buyback authorization of $4 billion. Having now cumulatively repurchased $2.9 billion, representing approximately 14% of our total shares outstanding since the launch of the buyback program in 2019.

從資本部署的角度來看，本財年迄今，我們通過股票回購計劃又回購了 3 億美元。我們仍然致力於利用我們 40 億美元的全部回購授權。自 2019 年回購計劃啟動以來，現已累計回購 29 億美元，約占我們已發行股份總數的 14%。

Finally, we continue to maintain a very robust balance sheet, where we ended the quarter with approximately $5 billion in cash and $7.2 billion in debt. Fiscal 2023 is now well underway and with a strong program of showcase events still to come, coupled with the strongest balance sheet in the industry, Fox is uniquely placed to navigate any macro uncertainty and deliver value to our shareholders. And with that, I'm happy to turn the call back over to Gabby.

最後，我們繼續保持非常穩健的資產負債表，截至本季度末，我們擁有約 50 億美元的現金和 72 億美元的債務。 2023 財年目前正在順利進行，還有強大的展示活動計劃即將到來，再加上業內最強勁的資產負債表，福克斯在應對任何宏觀不確定性並為我們的股東創造價值方面處於獨特的地位。有了這個，我很高興將電話轉回給 Gabby。

Thank you, Steve. And now we'll be happy to take questions from the investment community.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。現在我們很樂意回答投資界的問題。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to emphasize the functionality for the question-and-answer queue. (Operator Instructions) That will come from the line of Jessica Reif Ehrlich of Bank of America Securities.

謝謝你。女士們，先生們，我想強調問答隊列的功能。 （操作員說明）這將來自美國銀行證券公司的 Jessica Reif Ehrlich。

One question. Okay. Let me think about this. Well, first, on the decline in the pay-TV universe. Can you talk about how that impacts your affiliate discussions, both cable and retrans on the broadcast side? And how you're thinking about maybe hedging your reliance on the pay-TV bundle? And then Lachlan, I heard you say you don't want to talk about News Corp, but obviously, it's out there, and maybe you can just talk a little bit about why now, what do you think the benefits are from the combination? And the balance sheet -- your balance sheet is so incredibly strong, but so is there's. How do you think about using those balance sheets?

一個問題。好的。讓我想想這個。好吧，首先，關於付費電視領域的衰落。你能談談這如何影響你的附屬討論，包括廣播方面的有線和轉播？您如何考慮對沖您對付費電視捆綁的依賴？然後是拉克蘭，我聽說你說你不想談論新聞集團，但很明顯，它就在那裡，也許你可以談談為什麼現在，你認為合併的好處是什麼？還有資產負債表——你的資產負債表非常強大，但也是如此。您如何看待使用這些資產負債表？

Jessica, thank you very much. And I appreciate keeping your questions short, a number of questions, thank you. I know it's tough because there's a lot to talk about. But on the decline in the pay-TV universe, as Steve called out, we've seen a decline of just about 7% we're not seeing sort of the most recent remiss that, that decline getting any worse.

傑西卡，非常感謝。我感謝您的問題簡短，一些問題，謝謝。我知道這很難，因為有很多話要說。但是，正如史蒂夫所說，在付費電視領域的衰落中，我們已經看到了大約 7% 的下降，我們沒有看到最近的疏忽，這種下降變得更糟了。

So it's obviously last year was 5% this time last year. This year, we've seen this tick down to 7%, but it looks to have stabilized at 7%. And our focus is really in continuing to invest in our brands, particularly news and sport, which are really essential to the pay-television bundle. So we're not in a position, as I think a lot of the cable general entertainment channels, which are more at risk to people going to SVOD services and streaming to get that type of content, whereas there's only one place that you can get FOX News and there's only one place you can get FOX Sports. So our strategy is to continue to invest and be essential for all of our distributors for their pay-television bundles.

所以很明顯去年這個時候是5%。今年，我們看到這一比例下降到 7%，但看起來已經穩定在 7%。我們的重點實際上是繼續投資於我們的品牌，尤其是新聞和體育，這對付費電視捆綁銷售來說非常重要。因此，我們不處於一個位置，因為我認為很多有線一般娛樂頻道對於通過 SVOD 服務和流媒體獲取此類內容的人來說風險更大，而您只能獲得一個地方FOX News，只有一個地方可以獲取 FOX Sports。因此，我們的戰略是繼續投資並成為我們所有分銷商的付費電視捆綁產品的必要條件。

And we've seen that play out through our renewals. We're at the beginning of our renewal cycle. And it's a massive 3-year cycle, I think, in fiscal '23, 34% of our aggregate Cable and Television segment distribution revenue is up for renegotiation, next fiscal year, it's also 34% up negotiation. And in fact, in fiscal '25, it's still 28%.

我們已經通過續約看到了這一點。我們正處於更新周期的開始。這是一個巨大的 3 年周期，我認為，在 23 財年，我們有線電視和電視部門總分銷收入的 34% 需要重新談判，下一財年，這也是 34% 的上調。事實上，在 25 財年，它仍然是 28%。

So we almost over the next 3 years, completely renew and refresh and extend our cable distribution agreements. We are well underway with the first -- having completed the first round of those renewals. And I have to say we are extremely pleased with the outcome of those renewals because our distribution partners do value what we bring to the bundle and on our commitment to the bundle.

因此，我們幾乎在接下來的 3 年內，完全更新、更新和擴展了我們的有線電視分銷協議。我們正在順利進行第一輪——已經完成了第一輪續約。我不得不說，我們對這些續訂的結果非常滿意，因為我們的分銷合作夥伴確實重視我們為捆綁包帶來的東西以及我們對捆綁包的承諾。

So those renewals have gone very well and have met every expectation we've had for them. The split between cable affiliate revenue and Television segment affiliate revenue will shift slightly. I think you'll see the television affiliate segment grow at a faster pace than the cable affiliate revenue. And that's just in terms of how we negotiate those agreements with the distributors.

因此，這些續約進展順利，並且滿足了我們對他們的所有期望。有線電視附屬收入和電視部門附屬收入之間的分配將略有變化。我認為您會看到電視附屬部分的增長速度比有線電視附屬收入的增長速度更快。這只是就我們如何與分銷商談判這些協議而言。

In terms of a potential recombination with news corporation. I really can't talk about it. It's actually an independent process going through with the independent committees, and it's not for me to discuss the conversation, well, I don't know the conversations they're having or nor can I discuss them. So sorry about that, Jessica.

就與新聞集團的潛在重組而言。我真的無話可說。這實際上是與獨立委員會一起進行的獨立過程，我不應該討論對話，嗯，我不知道他們正在進行的對話，或者我也不能討論它們。很抱歉，傑西卡。

We'll go to the line of Robert Fishman with MoffettNathanson.

我們將與 MoffettNathanson 一起前往 Robert Fishman 的路線。

Maybe just more broadly, can you discuss the importance of scale in the media industry? Or are there advantages to having a smaller portfolio where you can focus on the core sports and news assets that you just started to talk about, especially when thinking about the cable network negotiations as you already alluded to?

也許更廣泛地說，你能討論一下規模在媒體行業的重要性嗎？或者擁有一個較小的投資組合是否有優勢，您可以專注於您剛剛開始談論的核心體育和新聞資產，特別是在考慮您已經提到的有線電視網絡談判時？

Look, I think scale has to be focused, right? And scale is important and what we've seen amongst our media peers over the last few years, our peers getting bigger through mergers and acquisitions. And so I think scale, lens, flexibility in many ways. So we continue to grow our business. We continue to be look at M&A and be very disciplined in how we look at it.

看，我認為規模必須集中，對吧？規模很重要，過去幾年我們在媒體同行中看到的情況是，我們的同行通過併購變得更大。所以我認為規模、鏡頭、靈活性在很多方面。所以我們繼續發展我們的業務。我們將繼續關注併購，並在看待它時非常自律。

But we also do look at the importance of scale, particularly over the next couple of years when opportunities, I think, in the marketplace will emerge that having the scale to be flexible in how we deal with them will be important.

但我們也確實關注規模的重要性，特別是在接下來的幾年裡，我認為市場上將會出現機會，讓我們能夠靈活地處理這些機會的規模將很重要。

And that will come from the line of Ben Swinburne of Morgan Stanley.

這將來自摩根士丹利的 Ben Swinburne。

You guys may be the only ones to talk about revenue -- advertising revenue growth accelerating into the December quarter during earnings, particularly with your comments around TUBI. We've seen a lot of weakness in digital advertising broadly. Can you talk a little bit about the drivers there?

你們可能是唯一談論收入的人——在收益期間，廣告收入增長加速到 12 月季度，尤其是您對 TUBI 的評論。我們已經廣泛地看到了數字廣告的許多弱點。你能談談那裡的司機嗎？

I know you mentioned TVT but are there other aspects to what TUBI is offering advertisers that explains the strong growth this quarter and what you're seeing into Q4? And just to come back to capital allocation, if I can sneak one more in. I guess I'm a little surprised the buyback isn't accelerating? Just your stocks got like a 15%-plus free cash yield and you're sitting on cash in $5 billion earning, I don't know, 2% or 3%.

我知道您提到了 TVT，但 TUBI 為廣告商提供的其他方面是否解釋了本季度的強勁增長以及您對第四季度的看法？只是回到資本配置，如果我可以再偷偷摸摸的話。我想我有點驚訝回購沒有加速？只是你的股票獲得了超過 15% 的自由現金收益率，而你坐擁 50 億美元的現金收入，我不知道是 2% 還是 3%。

It seems given the position of the company's cash flow profile like a pretty attractive opportunity to sort of increase the pace. So I don't know, Steve, if you have anything you want to add in terms of just what you guys are waiting for looking at to resolve itself to maybe get more aggressive or maybe the environment just means you want to be more conservative. I'd love to hear your thoughts there.

考慮到公司的現金流狀況，這似乎是一個非常有吸引力的加快步伐的機會。所以我不知道，史蒂夫，如果你們有什麼想補充的，就你們正在等待解決的問題來解決自己可能變得更具侵略性，或者環境可能只是意味著你想要更加保守。我很想听聽你的想法。

I'll start obviously with the TUBI and Steve, you can talk about the buyback and capital allocation. So to start with TUBI. If you look at the TUBI as a business and what the team there have built is really a best-in-class AVOD service, and they've had several years head start in this business. They're entirely focused on AVOD, but that's both from a -- having established a really superior ad tech stack and ad tech team and also now combined with FOX, an advertising sales team with a proven track record.

我顯然會從 TUBI 和史蒂夫開始，你可以談談回購和資本分配。所以從TUBI開始。如果您將 TUBI 視為一項業務，那麼那裡的團隊所建立的確實是一流的 AVOD 服務，並且他們在這項業務中已經領先了幾年。他們完全專注於 AVOD，但這既來自 - 建立了一個非常優秀的廣告技術堆棧和廣告技術團隊，而且現在還與 FOX 合併，這是一個具有良好記錄的廣告銷售團隊。

You couple that with the largest library available in the United States with 48,000 titles, which, by the way, is 5x the Netflix library, the cross-platform opportunities that we are executing on across sports and news and entertainment. It really sort of provides a tremendous platform that's absolutely taking off.

您將其與擁有 48,000 個標題的美國最大圖書館相結合，順便說一句，這是 Netflix 圖書館的 5 倍，這是我們在體育、新聞和娛樂領域執行的跨平台機會。它確實提供了一個絕對起飛的巨大平台。

TBT was up 53%, that really drives a tremendous amount of the sort of monetization as it flows through. We hold our CPM, rates are pretty steady at TUBI. So it's really -- it's not pricing. That is -- pricing has increased, but it's not pricing that's accelerating.

TBT 上漲了 53%，這確實推動了巨大的貨幣化。我們持有我們的每千次展示費用，TUBI 的費率相當穩定。所以它真的 - 它不是定價。也就是說 - 定價已經增加，但不是定價在加速。

It's really the TBT time that's offering our clients and advertisers more opportunities on the platform. So we are tremendously excited about the future TUBI as we sit here today.

真正的 TBT 時間為我們的客戶和廣告商在平台上提供了更多機會。因此，當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們對未來的 TUBI 感到非常興奮。

Ben, it's Steve. Just on the capital allocation, I think with the environment obviously lends itself to being more conservative on balance sheet management. But it's our nature to be measured in the way we manage the balance sheet. If you look at what we've done since the establishment of Fox and where capital has been directed.

本，是史蒂夫。就資本配置而言，我認為環境顯然有助於在資產負債表管理上更加保守。但是，以我們管理資產負債表的方式來衡量是我們的天性。如果你看看我們自 Fox 成立以來所做的事情以及資本的方向。

We've sent $4 billion back to shareholders, whether it be in the form of the $2.9 billion buybacks plus over $1 billion in dividends versus M&A, which sits us net M&A sits at below $1.5 billion. So I think the bias so far has been to return capital to shareholders where we haven't had other alternative uses for it, but right at the moment we feel like being measured in a touch more conservative is the right place to be.

我們已經向股東返還了 40 億美元，無論是以 29 億美元的回購加上超過 10 億美元的股息與併購的形式，我們的淨併購低於 15 億美元。所以我認為到目前為止的偏見是在我們沒有其他替代用途的情況下將資本返還給股東，但目前我們覺得以更保守的方式衡量是正確的地方。

We'll go to the line of Phil Cusick of JPMorgan.

我們會去摩根大通的菲爾·庫西克（Phil Cusick）。

First, a follow-up on the TUBI data points. Those are helpful. Can you discuss the potential of that business to evolve maybe from what it looks like today and I know you're in specifically in investment mode, but what does it take to get that EBITDA number to a positive over time?

首先，跟進 TUBI 數據點。這些很有幫助。您能否討論一下該業務從今天的樣子發展的潛力，我知道您特別處於投資模式，但是隨著時間的推移，如何使 EBITDA 數字變為正數？

And then second, any sort of update on the flutter negotiation or timing there?

其次，關於顫振談判或時間安排的任何更新？

So on TUBI, TUBI has been profitable in past quarters, and we've made the proactive, and I think a prudent decision to use this opportunity to invest in TUBI. It's modest investment compared to a very modest investment compared to what our peers are investing in their SVOD platform, but we think it's a sage investment because the opportunity to really lead in the AVOD market is absolutely there for the taking.

所以在 TUBI 上，TUBI 在過去幾個季度一直是盈利的，我們已經做出了積極主動的決定，我認為利用這個機會投資 TUBI 是一個謹慎的決定。與我們的同行在他們的 SVOD 平台上的投資相比，這是一項非常適度的投資，但我們認為這是一項明智的投資，因為在 AVOD 市場上真正處於領先地位的機會絕對存在。

We are leading the above market, but to sort of cement that lead and to win in the AVOD market is absolutely our goal. So we'll continue to invest into the short to medium term in TUBI. I think particularly in an environment where there are potential sort of economic stress in households, having a free service is a great position to be in and I think TUBI will benefit from any -- frankly, from any economic chills that people might feel.

我們領先於上述市場，但在 AVOD 市場中領先並贏得領先的水泥絕對是我們的目標。因此，我們將繼續投資於 TUBI 的中短期。我認為特別是在家庭可能存在經濟壓力的環境中，擁有免費服務是一個很好的位置，而且我認為 TUBI 將受益於任何——坦率地說，從人們可能感受到的任何經濟寒意中。

And so it's the right time and their best. It's the right time to extend our lead flutter. We expect a decision in the flutter arbitration imminently. And once we have that handed down, we'll assess our position, but we expect an imminent decision and we expect to be pleased by it.

所以這是正確的時間和他們最好的。現在是延長我們的領先優勢的正確時機。我們期待即將在顫振仲裁中作出決定。一旦我們把它傳下來，我們將評估我們的立場，但我們期待一個迫在眉睫的決定，我們希望對此感到高興。

That will come from the line of Steven Cahall of Wells Fargo.

這將來自富國銀行的史蒂文卡霍爾。

I know you're not commenting on the merger itself, but I think you mentioned that a majority of independent shareholders need to approve it. So I was wondering if you could at least comment as to whether shareholders are going to be provided with some incremental information between now and I guess, what will be a required shareholder vote.

我知道你不是在評論合併本身，但我認為你提到大多數獨立股東需要批准它。因此，我想知道您是否至少可以評論一下，從現在開始是否會向股東提供一些增量信息，我猜，什麼是必需的股東投票。

And the reason I ask is I think that Fox in my opinion, is a great business. So I think shareholders are wondering why they want to mix a great business with just a different business. So if you could at least comment not net specifically on the deal, but what that investor education is going to look like, I think that would help everybody envision what's going on. Thank you.

我問的原因是我認為福克斯在我看來是一項偉大的業務。所以我認為股東們想知道為什麼他們想要將一個偉大的業務與一個不同的業務混合在一起。因此，如果您至少可以不具體評論這筆交易，而是評論投資者教育將是什麼樣子，我認為這將幫助每個人設想正在發生的事情。謝謝你。

Thank you very much. As I mentioned, I can't really comment on it because we don't know if there is a deal or if there will be a deal, what that deal would look like. So it's hard to comment on anything or impossible to comment anything that I -- that doesn't exist today. So we, like you, have to be patient [sorry] and wait to see what the special committees are -- what the outcome of their discussions and processes.

非常感謝。正如我所提到的，我無法對此發表評論，因為我們不知道是否有交易或是否會有交易，該交易會是什麼樣子。所以很難評論任何事情，或者不可能評論我今天不存在的任何事情。所以我們和你們一樣，必須耐心[對不起]，等待特別委員會是什麼——他們的討論和流程的結果是什麼。

Operator, we have time for one more question.

接線員，我們有時間再問一個問題。

And that will come from the line of John Hodulik of UBS.

這將來自瑞銀的約翰霍杜利克。

Maybe first, a couple of follow-ups on the TUBI data. I mean, first and Lach, you may have covered this, but like what content is driving that 50% increase in TBT there? And then is the $50 million investment that we saw in the quarter, is that a good run rate going forward? And is that -- I mean, I would imagine that's not -- that doesn't constitute a change in the guidance for sort of flattish digital dilution in the quarter.

也許首先，對 TUBI 數據進行一些跟進。我的意思是，首先，Lach，你可能已經討論過這個問題，但是像什麼內容推動了那裡的 TBT 增長 50%？然後是我們在本季度看到的 5000 萬美元的投資，這是一個良好的運行率嗎？那是 - 我的意思是，我想那不是 - 這並不構成本季度某種平淡的數字稀釋的指導變化。

And then lastly, just back to the ad market. I mean, anything you could say about sort of ad trends, especially in the local TV market, ex-political as we head into the December quarter because again, there's been a number of sources of weakness there. I'm just wondering what you're seeing in that part of the market?

最後，回到廣告市場。我的意思是，您可以對某種廣告趨勢說任何話，尤其是在本地電視市場，當我們進入 12 月季度時，這是前政治的，因為那裡有許多疲軟的來源。我只是想知道你在這部分市場看到了什麼？

So let me start on TUBI and Steve can talk about the run rate, and then I'll come back to the local ad market ex political and with political as well. So look, the the TBT growth across TUBI has really been across all genres. It's been pretty widespread. TUBI, as we've discussed on previous calls, TUBI's core proposition is video on demand. So it's their movies and their television series on demand.

所以讓我從 TUBI 開始，Steve 可以談談運行率，然後我會回到本地廣告市場，包括政治和政治。所以看，TUBI 的 TBT 增長確實涵蓋了所有類型。它已經很普遍了。 TUBI，正如我們在之前的電話會議中所討論的，TUBI 的核心主張是視頻點播。所以這是他們的電影和電視連續劇點播。

They have worked hard over the last year or so, launching, I think, is now over 200 fast channels, which are a combination of both news but also general entertainment and sports fast channels. Those fast channels are doing very well but are growing rapidly, but are overall a smaller percentage of their TBT. But it's pleasing that this is -- the growth has been really across the entire platform. Steve, do you want to talk about the run rate?

他們在過去一年多的時間裡努力工作，我認為現在推出了 200 多個快速頻道，這些頻道既有新聞，也有一般的娛樂和體育快速頻道。這些快速渠道表現非常好，但增長迅速，但總體上佔其 TBT 的比例較小。但令人高興的是——增長確實跨越了整個平台。史蒂夫，你想談談運行率嗎？

Just run rate for TUBI, so $50 million absolute EBITDA deficit in the quarter. Last year, we sort of across -- TUBI across the whole year was in the low 200s in terms of EBITDA deficit for the company. I would anticipate that the 50 -- we saw last year, I expect this to be the same case this year where the second half of the year had relatively more investment than first half.

只是運行 TUBI 的比率，因此本季度的絕對 EBITDA 赤字為 5000 萬美元。去年，我們有點跨越——就公司的 EBITDA 赤字而言，TUBI 全年處於 200 年代的低位。我預計我們去年看到的 50 家，我預計今年的情況也會如此，下半年的投資比上半年要多。

And so you should expect to see a relatively consistent pattern with that. And listen, we -- I don't -- it doesn't change sort of our guidance in terms of the dilution around digital investments across the company, whether that includes Tubi Nation, whether blockchain, the rest of the portfolio that remains intact as is. But Tubi listen, as we see that business develop, we'll continue to invest in as we see that top line continue to grow, which is exceeding our expectations.

所以你應該期望看到一個相對一致的模式。聽著，我們 - 我不 - 它不會改變我們在整個公司數字投資稀釋方面的指導，無論這是否包括 Tubi Nation，是否區塊鏈，以及其他保持完整的投資組合照原樣。但是 Tubi 聽著，當我們看到業務發展時，我們將繼續投資，因為我們看到頂線繼續增長，這超出了我們的預期。

And then on the advertising market, it's interesting as you sort of look at the -- or the sort of the ins and outs of the market like in some categories where local might have some softness or more fluidity in the market. You're seeing it being picked up in national advertising in the same category. So sectors that were strong in local and now are strong in national. So there's some sort of swings and roundabouts there.

然後在廣告市場上，有趣的是，當你看一下 - 或者市場的來龍去脈，比如在某些類別中，本地市場可能有一些軟化或更多流動性。您會看到它在同一類別的全國廣告中出現。因此，在地方表現強勁的行業現在在全國表現強勁。所以那裡有一些鞦韆和環形交叉路口。

But overall, the trend is really a flight to quality. Particularly around our news and sports brands and platforms. So nationally, I think I called out a pharmaceutical, a very strong restaurants, particularly quick service restaurants and even more particularly pizza category is doing very well.

但總的來說，這種趨勢確實是對質量的一種追求。特別是圍繞我們的新聞和體育品牌和平台。所以在全國范圍內，我想我叫了一家製藥公司，一家非常強大的餐館，尤其是快餐店，尤其是比薩餅類別做得很好。

I know my household is the advertising is working and media, really streaming, particularly as SVOD services are more and more competitive. They're spending a lot of money marketing themselves on our platforms. On the soft side, and we're seeing softness in wagering. Again, that's more of a local softness in wages, but we're picking up a lot of that in national wagering sort of betting spend.

我知道我的家庭是廣告和媒體，真正的流媒體，特別是在 SVOD 服務越來越有競爭力的情況下。他們在我們的平台上花費大量資金進行自我營銷。在柔軟的一面，我們看到投注的柔軟度。再說一次，這更多是當地的工資疲軟，但我們在全國投注類型的投注支出中得到了很多。

On government health services, right? So this time last year, there was still a lot of COVID-19 health advertising messaging from governments. And obviously, that's very significantly less this year round. Locally, automotive remains very strong. Again, this is the first time in a couple of years that we've seen local automotive advertising as strong as it is now.

關於政府衛生服務，對吧？所以去年這個時候，仍然有很多來自政府的 COVID-19 健康廣告信息。顯然，今年這一數字要少得多。在本地，汽車仍然非常強勁。同樣，這是幾年來我們第一次看到本地汽車廣告像現在這樣強大。

The other category locally that's very strong is general services, which is good to see. And any softness some elsewhere is more than made up by this record political year. I think you have to remember that in our markets, and we have a tremendous local station footprint. And there are Senate races in 13 out of our 18 markets and particularly the hard fall one is Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and we're certainly seeing a tremendous amount of political spending flow through those markets.

本地另一個非常強大的類別是一般服務，很高興看到。其他地方的任何軟弱都被這個創紀錄的政治年所彌補。我認為您必須記住，在我們的市場中，我們在當地車站擁有巨大的足跡。在我們的 18 個市場中有 13 個有參議院競選，尤其是在亞利桑那州、佐治亞州、賓夕法尼亞州，我們肯定會看到大量政治支出流經這些市場。

But also this year, gubernatorial races, we have, I think, 17 gubernatorial races in our 18 markets. So it's an incredibly busy time, and we'll certainly see it flow through in our political revenues.

但今年也是州長競選，我認為在我們的 18 個市場中有 17 場州長競選。所以這是一個非常忙碌的時期，我們肯定會看到它流入我們的政治收入中。

At this point, we are out of time. But if you have any further questions, please give me or Dan Carey a call. Thank you once again for joining today's call, everyone.

在這一點上，我們已經沒有時間了。但如果您還有其他問題，請給我或 Dan Carey 打電話。再次感謝大家加入今天的電話會議。

And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for using AT&T Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.

女士們先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您使用 AT&T 行政電話會議。您現在可以斷開連接。