二十一世紀福斯 (FOX) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Fox Corporation Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to 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。歡迎參加福斯公司 2024 財年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議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。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to our fiscal 2024 second quarter earnings call. Joining me on the call today are Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer; John Nallen, Chief Operating Officer; and Steve Tomsic, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，接線生。早安，歡迎參加我們的 2024 財年第二季財報電話會議。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有執行主席兼執行長拉克蘭默多克 (Lachlan Murdoch)；約翰‧納倫，營運長；以及我們的財務長 Steve Tomsic。

First, Lachlan and Steve will give some prepared remarks on the most recent quarter, and then we'll take questions from the investment community. Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements regarding Fox Corporation's financial performance and operating results. These statements are based on management's current expectations and actual results could differ from what is stated as a result of certain factors identified on today's call and in the company's SEC filings.

首先，拉克蘭和史蒂夫將就最近一個季度發表一些準備好的評論，然後我們將回答投資界的問題。請注意，本次電話會議可能包括有關福克斯公司財務業績和經營業績的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於管理層目前的預期，由於今天的電話會議和公司向 SEC 提交的文件中確定的某些因素，實際結果可能與所述結果有所不同。

Additionally, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA or EBITDA, as we refer to it on this call. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and our SEC filings, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. And with that, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Lachlan.

此外，本次電話會議將包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA 或 EBITDA，正如我們在本次電話會議中所提到的。非 GAAP 財務指標的調節包含在我們的收益發布和 SEC 文件中，這些文件可在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。至此，我很高興將電話轉給拉克蘭。

Thank you, Gabby, and thank you all for joining us this morning. Against the backdrop of an active news cycle and another robust fall sports schedule, our fiscal second quarter, again illustrated the strength of FOX. The growth we delivered in affiliate fee revenues was the standout this quarter, with the television segment growing by 10% and the cable segment returning to growth, once again demonstrating the power of our brands and our programming.

謝謝你，加比，也謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。在活躍的新聞週期和另一個強勁的秋季體育賽事的背景下，我們的第二財季再次證明了福克斯的實力。本季我們的聯屬費用收入成長最為引人注目，電視部分成長了 10%，有線電視部分恢復成長，再次證明了我們品牌和節目的力量。

We've now largely completed our fiscal '24 affiliate renewal cycle, having achieved our commercial goals without disruption and setting a solid foundation for renewals in fiscal 2025 and beyond. As expected, advertising revenues in the quarter were down primarily due to comparisons to last year's major cyclical events, including the midterm elections at the TV stations and the broadcast of the Men's World Cup in the cable and television segments.

現在，我們已基本完成了 24 財年附屬公司續約週期，在沒有中斷的情況下實現了我們的商業目標，並為 2025 財年及以後的續訂奠定了堅實的基礎。正如預期，本季廣告收入下降的主要原因是與去年的重大周期性事件相比，包括電視台的中期選舉以及有線電視部門轉播的男子世界盃。

Parsing through the cyclical comparisons, our concentration in news and sports, coupled with the outstanding performance of Tubi is clearly an advantage in a mixed advertising environment. More specifically, sports advertising was very healthy during the quarter, and we saw particularly strong demand for the NFL and College Football which continued into the NFL playoffs.

從週期性比較來看，我們對新聞和體育的專注，加上Tubi的出色表現，在混合廣告環境中顯然具有優勢。更具體地說，本季體育廣告非常健康，我們看到對 NFL 和大學橄欖球的需求特別強勁，這種需求一直持續到 NFL 季後賽。

At news, the second quarter was more nuanced. While preemptions and the direct response market adversely impacted quarterly growth, we sequentially narrowed the gap between the current and prior year in ratings and in pricing. We were also able to increase our viewing share over the previous quarter and the positive trends in share, ratings and pricing have carried over into the current quarter.

從消息來看，第二季的情況更加微妙。儘管先發制人和直接回應市場對季度成長產生了不利影響，但我們在評級和定價方面連續縮小了本年度與上一年之間的差距。與上一季相比，我們的觀看份額也有所增加，並且份額、收視率和定價方面的積極趨勢也延續到了本季度。

Last week, I visited our bureau in Jerusalem. Met with our talented and dedicated staff there and saw firsthand the devastation [carried out] by Hamas on October 7. Our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers go after the victims of that day, the innocence killed in Israel and in Gaza and the hostages still denied the embrace of their families and loved ones. The work our correspondents, our camera people and our producers do, reporting on these events is important, outstanding and deeply appreciated.

上週，我拜訪了我們在耶路撒冷的辦事處。在那裡會見了我們才華橫溢、盡職盡責的工作人員，親眼目睹了哈馬斯10 月7 日所造成的破壞。我們的心、我們的思念和我們的祈禱追尋那天的受害者、在以色列和加沙被殺害的無辜者以及人質仍然拒絕家人和親人的擁抱。我們的記者、攝影人員和製片人在報導這些事件時所做的工作是重要的、傑出的並深受讚賞。

Now on to sports. In calendar 2023, 96 of the year's 100 most watch telecasts were live sports. FOX was responsible for 29 of the year's 100 most watched shows, more than any other network. This marks the fifth straight year that FOX has topped the industry in live sports viewing and demonstrates the unparalleled reach and engagement our content achieves. The 30th NFL regular season on FOX concluded with an average of 19 million viewers across all games with America's Game of the Week averaging 25 million viewers and 8-year high. And FOX NFL Sunday logged its 30th straight year as the #1 NFL Pregame Show. That strength continued into the post season with FOX's 3 post-season windows, delivering a best ever playoff average of almost 45 million viewers across the wildcard, divisional and championship games.

現在開始運動。 2023 年，全年收視率最高的 100 場電視節目中，有 96 場是體育賽事直播。當年收視率最高的 100 個節目中，FOX 佔據了 29 個，比其他任何電視網都多。這標誌著福克斯連續第五年在體育賽事直播觀看方面位居行業榜首，並展示了我們的內容所達到的無與倫比的影響力和參與度。福斯電視台第 30 屆 NFL 常規賽結束時，所有比賽的平均觀眾人數為 1,900 萬，其中美國本週最佳比賽的平均觀眾人數為 2,500 萬，創 8 年來新高。 《FOX NFL Sunday》連續 30 年成為 NFL 賽前秀第一名。這種優勢延續到了季後賽，FOX 連續 3 個季後賽窗口，在外卡賽、分區賽和冠軍賽中實現了近 4500 萬觀眾的有史以來最好的季後賽平均收視率。

In Digital, we saw a strong engagement at Tubi, which finished with a very impressive 62% growth in total viewtime and 17% growth in revenue. Tubi's library of over 240,000 movies and TV episodes, coupled with ubiquitous distribution drove engagement, helping Tubi reach 78 million monthly active users, logged almost 2.5 billion streaming hours in the quarter and set a new monthly record of 855 million total viewing hours in December alone. Tubi has consolidated its position in the streaming landscape ranking as the most watched free TV and movie streaming service in the United States according to Nielsen and surpassing Peacock, Max, Paramount+ and Pluto TV in view time for 7 consecutive months.

在數位領域，我們看到了 Tubi 的強勁參與度，總觀看時間成長了 62%，營收成長了 17%，令人印象深刻。 Tubi 擁有超過240,000 部電影和電視劇集，加上無處不在的發行推動了參與度，幫助Tubi 達到了7800 萬月度活躍用戶，本季度的串流媒體播放時長接近25 億小時，僅12 月份就創下了8.55 億總觀看時數的月度新紀錄。根據尼爾森的數據，Tubi 鞏固了其在串流媒體領域的地位，成為美國觀看次數最多的免費電視和電影串流服務，觀看時間連續 7 個月超過 Peacock、Max、Paramount+ 和 Pluto TV。

At FOX Entertainment, the second quarter saw programming strength with FOX having the season's #1 new broadcast entertainment series in Krapopolis. Hats off to Dan Harmon, the #1 new game show debut in Snake Oil and the #1 cooking series in Hell's Kitchen. We're also pleased with the very strong start of our mid-season lineup and the early success of We Are Family and The floor.

福斯娛樂公司第二季的節目實力強勁，福斯在克拉波波利斯推出了本季排名第一的新廣播娛樂系列節目。向 Dan Harmon 致敬，他是《蛇油》中排名第一的新遊戲節目首秀，也是《地獄廚房》中排名第一的烹飪系列節目。我們也對賽季中期陣容的強勁開局以及《We Are Family》和《The Floor》的早期成功感到高興。

Before I hand over to Steve, I'll comment on the sports platform we announced last night between FOX, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery. This new and unique digital distribution platform is focused on sports fans outside of existing pay TV offerings. Upon launch in the fall of 2024, the platform will offer a broad suite of sports, including those from a combined 14 linear networks that broadcast sports today. The inclusion of our networks in the platform is consistent with our strategy, being proudly consumer-first and distribution agnostic.

在我把話題交給史蒂夫之前，我要先評論一下我們昨晚宣布的福斯、迪士尼和華納兄弟探索頻道之間的體育平台。這個全新且獨特的數位發行平台主要針對現有付費電視產品以外的運動迷。該平台於 2024 年秋季推出後，將提供廣泛的體育賽事，包括來自當今轉播體育賽事的 14 個線性網路的體育賽事。將我們的網路納入該平台符合我們的策略，即消費者至上且與分銷無關。

Across the distribution ecosystem, our traditional pay-TV market will remain our dominant customer base for some time to come. As such, we remain committed to our existing distribution partners, where our strong portfolio of leadership sports, news and entertainment brands thrive in their bundled offerings. This unique new platform opens up a new market for us. One that we at FOX have not accessed before, and they were excited to participate in. As always, we are focused on delivering value for our shareholders in a thoughtful and disciplined manner and we will continue to explore every opportunity to maximize that value over the long term. Let me now turn it over to Steve for his comments on the quarter's financial results.

在整個發行生態系統中，我們的傳統付費電視市場在未來一段時間內仍將是我們的主要客戶群。因此，我們仍然致力於現有的分銷合作夥伴，我們強大的領先體育、新聞和娛樂品牌組合在他們的捆綁產品中蓬勃發展。這個獨特的新平台為我們開闢了新市場。這是我們福克斯以前從未接觸過的，他們很高興能夠參與其中。一如既往，我們專注於以深思熟慮和嚴格的方式為我們的股東創造價值，我們將繼續探索每一個機會，在整個過程中實現價值最大化。長期。現在讓我將其轉交給史蒂夫，請他對本季的財務表現發表評論。

Thanks, Lachlan, and good morning, everyone. With the vast majority of our fiscal 2024 affiliate renewals now successfully completed, FOX delivered 4% growth in total company affiliate fee revenues, led by 10% growth at television and a return to growth at cable. This growth reflects the must-have nature of our content and the value that our distribution partners place on it.

謝謝拉克蘭，大家早安。隨著我們 2024 財年大部分聯營續約工作現已成功完成，FOX 公司聯營費用收入總額增長了 4%，其中電視收入增長 10%，有線電視收入恢復增長。這種成長反映了我們內容的必備性質以及我們的發行合作夥伴對其的重視。

Consistent with our expectations regarding event cycles, advertising revenues this quarter were impacted by the absence of the FIFA Men's World Cup at FOX Sports and midterm political revenues at the local television stations, along with lower advertising revenue at FOX News Media. Collectively, these factors contributed to a 20% decline in total company advertising revenues. Total company other revenues grew by 14%, driven by higher sports sublicensing revenues. All in, FOX reported total company revenues of $4.23 billion, down 8% from the prior year.

與我們對賽事週期的預期一致，本季的廣告收入受到福斯體育頻道缺席國際足總男子世界盃、當地電視台中期政治收入以及福斯新聞媒體廣告收入下降的影響。總的來說，這些因素導致公司廣告總收入下降了 20%。在體育轉授權收入增加的推動下，公司其他總收入增加了 14%。 FOX 公佈的公司總收入總計為 42.3 億美元，比上年下降 8%。

Total company expenses decreased 5% over the prior year primarily due to the absence of the Men's World Cup at FOX Sports and fewer hours of original scripted programming of FOX Entertainment due to the strikes. However, this was partially offset by the first year step-up under our new NFL rights agreement.

公司總支出比去年減少了 5%，主要是由於福克斯體育頻道沒有舉辦男子世界杯，以及福克斯娛樂頻道因罷工而減少了原創劇本節目的製作時間。然而，這被我們新的 NFL 版權協議第一年的升級部分抵消了。

Quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $350 million as compared to the $531 million reported in the prior year quarter. Net income attributable to stockholders of $109 million or $0.23 per share compared to the $330 million or $0.58 per share reported in the prior year period, largely due to the EBITDA impact I just mentioned, along with the net changes in the fair value of the company's investments recognized in other net.

季度調整後 EBITDA 為 3.5 億美元，而去年同期報告的 EBITDA 為 5.31 億美元。歸屬於股東的淨利潤為1.09 億美元，即每股0.23 美元，而去年同期報告的淨利潤為3.3 億美元，即每股0.58 美元，這主要是由於我剛才提到的EBITDA 影響，以及公司公允價值的淨變動在其他淨額中確認的投資。

Our effective tax rate for the quarter came in at 12%, reflecting a one-off remeasurement of our deferred tax assets as a result of changes in state tax laws. Excluding this impact and other noncore items, adjusted EPS was $0.34 per share versus last year's $0.48.

我們本季的有效稅率為 12%，反映出由於州稅法變化而對我們的遞延稅資產進行了一次性重新計量。排除此影響和其他非核心項目，調整後每股收益為 0.34 美元，去年為 0.48 美元。

Turning to our segments. Starting with Cable, which reported 2% growth in total quarterly revenues. Cable affiliate fee revenues increased by $5 million, with growth in pricing from our distribution renewals, outpacing the impact from industry subscriber declines running at approximately 8%. Cable Other revenues increased $124 million, largely driven by higher sports sublicensing revenues associated with our college sports and international soccer agreements. This growth in affiliate and other revenues was partially offset by a 23% decline in cable advertising revenues.

轉向我們的細分市場。首先是 Cable，該公司公佈季度總營收成長 2%。有線電視加盟費收入增加了 500 萬美元，我們的分銷更新帶來的定價增長，超過了行業訂戶下降約 8% 的影響。有線其他收入增加了 1.24 億美元，主要是由於與我們的大學體育和國際足球協議相關的體育轉許可收入增加。聯營公司和其他收入的成長被有線電視廣告收入下降 23% 部分抵銷。

At FOX News Media, advertising revenues were impacted by softer direct response marketplace, low comparative ratings and higher levels of preemptions due to our breaking news coverage of global events. Meanwhile, at the national sports networks, we measured against last year's broadcast of the Men's World Cup. Expenses at the Cable segment were 14% lower than the prior year, with savings mainly gained from the absence of the Men's World Cup as well as lower legal programming and production costs at FOX News Media. Taking all these factors into account quarterly adjusted EBITDA at the Cable segment grew 60% over the prior year quarter.

在福斯新聞媒體，廣告收入受到直接反應市場疲軟、相對收視率較低以及由於我們對全球事件的突發新聞報道而導致的搶佔率較高的影響。同時，在國家體育電視網，我們比較了去年男子世界盃的轉播情況。有線電視部門的費用比前一年減少了 14%，節省的費用主要來自男子世界盃的缺席以及福斯新聞媒體合法節目和製作成本的降低。考慮到所有這些因素，電纜部門的季度調整後 EBITDA 比去年同期增長了 60%。

Moving to our Television segment, which reported total quarterly revenues of $2.54 billion, down 13% from the prior year. The TV segment reported strong 10% growth in affiliate fee revenues as price increases across all FOX-affiliated stations more than offset the impact from industry subscriber declines. TV advertising revenues were down 19%. The solid growth at Tubi was more than offset by comparisons with last year's cycle of major events, including the FIFA Men's World Cup and midterm political revenues as well as the relative mix of World Series matchups and game counts.

轉向我們的電視部門，該部門公佈的季度總收入為 25.4 億美元，比上年下降 13%。電視部門報告稱，由於所有福克斯附屬電視台的價格上漲抵消了行業訂戶下降的影響，附屬費用收入強勁增長了 10%。電視廣告收入下降 19%。與去年的重大賽事週期相比，Tubi 的穩健成長被抵消了，其中包括國際足總男子世界盃和中期政治收入以及世界大賽比賽和比賽數量的相對組合。

Also at TV, revenue from our entertainment production companies was impacted by the SAG and WGA labor disputes. This contributed to a $64 million decline in TV other revenues, most of which was offset by a commensurate reduction in expenses. Overall, expenses at the TV segment remained flat as higher costs under the NFL agreement and a modest increase in investment in Tubi were offset by lower costs from the absence of the Men's World Cup, lower college sports rights costs and fewer hours of original scripted content due to the strikes. Together, these revenue and expense impacts led to a quarterly adjusted EBITDA loss of $138 million of our TV segment compared to an EBITDA contribution of $256 million reported in the prior year quarter.

同樣在電視領域，我們的娛樂製作公司的收入也受到了美國演員工會 (SAG) 和美國演員協會 (WGA) 勞資糾紛的影響。這導致電視其他收入減少了 6,400 萬美元，其中大部分被相應的費用減少所抵消。總體而言，電視部門的支出保持平穩，因為 NFL 協議規定的成本上升和 Tubi 投資的小幅增加被男子世界盃缺席帶來的成本降低、大學體育版權成本降低以及原創腳本內容時長減少所抵消由於罷工。這些收入和費用影響共同導致我們電視部門的季度調整後 EBITDA 損失 1.38 億美元，而去年同期報告的 EBITDA 貢獻為 2.56 億美元。

Turning to free cash flow, where we recorded a deficit of $615 million this quarter. This is consistent with the normal seasonality of our working capital cycle where the first half of our fiscal year reflects the concentration of payments for sports rights and the buildup of advertising-related receivables. In terms of capital allocation, fiscal year-to-date, we have repurchased an additional $550 million through our share buyback program, bringing the total cumulative amount repurchased to $5.15 billion or 25% of our total shares outstanding since the launch of the program in 2019.

談到自由現金流，本季我們錄得 6.15 億美元的赤字。這與我們營運資金週期的正常季節性是一致的，我們財政年度的上半年反映了體育版權付款的集中和廣告相關應收帳款的累積。在資本配置方面，本財年迄今，我們已透過股票回購計畫額外回購了 5.5 億美元，使回購總額累計達到 51.5 億美元，佔該計畫啟動以來已發行股份總數的 25%。2019.

In addition, today, we announced a $0.26 per share semiannual dividend. These capital return measures are supported by our robust balance sheet, where we ended the quarter with $4.1 billion in cash and $8.4 billion in debt. These balances are before taking into account the repayment of one of our $1.25 billion note in late January. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Gabi to open up the Q&A.

此外，今天我們也宣布派發每股 0.26 美元的半年度股息。這些資本回報措施得到了我們穩健的資產負債表的支持，本季末我們的現金為 41 億美元，債務為 84 億美元。這些餘額是在考慮 1 月底償還其中一張 12.5 億美元票據之前的餘額。然後，我會將電話轉回加比開始問答。

Thank you, Steve. And now we will 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。

(Operator Instructions). We have a question from Ben Swinburne with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）。我們有來自摩根士丹利的本‧斯威本 (Ben Swinburne) 提出的問題。

Lachlan, obviously, big news in the new sports joint ventures. I'd love to get your thoughts really around that product and opportunity in kind of 2 areas. First is what is the opportunity that you guys see in the United States for a product like that? Obviously, we're all focused on the cord-cutter sort of TAM, but how many people do you think are interested in a product like this?

拉克蘭顯然是新體育合資企業的重大新聞。我很想了解您對產品和機會在兩個領域的真正想法。首先是你們在美國看到這樣的產品有什麼機會？顯然，我們都專注於 TAM 這類斷線器，但您認為有多少人對這樣的產品感興趣？

And then do you see any risk to particularly FOX News? This is the first time you guys have offered a product with just FOX Broadcast? How do you balance that when you thought about putting this business together?

那麼您認為福斯新聞有什麼風險嗎？這是你們第一次只與福斯廣播公司一起提供產品嗎？當您考慮整合這項業務時，您如何平衡這一點？

Thank you very much, Ben, and good morning. So the opportunity is huge, and that's really because this sports-focused platform is focused entirely on cord -- not cord-cutters but cord-nevers. So if you look at the American market, is roughly, say, 125 million households in America and roughly half of those are not within the traditional bundled cable ecosystem. And so the target for this product, which is going to be I think, incredibly innovative when you see it roll out is really that universe of, call it, 60 million-odd households that currently don't participate in the bundled cable and pay television ecosystem. So we think it's a tremendous opportunity.

非常感謝你，本，早安。所以機會是巨大的，這實際上是因為這個專注於運動的平台完全專注於繩索——不是剪線鉗，而是從不剪繩。因此，如果你看看美國市場，大約有 1.25 億個美國家庭，其中大約一半不屬於傳統的捆綁有線電視生態系統。因此，我認為，當您看到該產品推出時，它的目標將是令人難以置信的創新，實際上是 6000 萬多個家庭，這些家庭目前尚未參與捆綁有線電視和付費服務電視生態系統。所以我們認為這是一個巨大的機會。

We've been working on it for -- I think it's been reported this morning fairly accurately for several months now. I've been lucky enough to have seen some of the prototypes for this service. And again, it will be unique and I think very innovative when you see it roll out.

我們一直在努力解決這個問題——我認為幾個月來，今天早上已經相當準確地報道了這一問題。我很幸運能夠看到這項服務的一些原型。再說一次，當你看到它推出時，我認為它將是獨一無二的，並且非常具有創新性。

In terms of the risks and particularly for FOX News, I think the risks are very low, and that's because of the focus of the sports product being on the cord-nevers. FOX News continues to be top rating cable network and our distributors, our partners really value that channel and that brand as it really drives tremendous viewership and audience and engagement for them, we think we'll continue to do so within the traditional cable and pay television bundle.

就風險而言，特別是對於福克斯新聞而言，我認為風險非常低，這是因為體育產品的重點是繩索。福克斯新聞仍然是收視率最高的有線電視網絡，我們的分銷商、我們的合作夥伴非常重視該頻道和品牌，因為它確實為他們帶來了巨大的收視率和觀眾以及參與度，我們認為我們將繼續在傳統的有線電視和付費領域這樣做電視捆綁。

We go to Robert Fishman with MoffettNathanson.

我們去找羅伯特·菲什曼和莫菲特·內森森。

Sticking with the sports news. So we've long discussed with you the benefits of FOX to a sports-led skinny bundles. So I'm just wondering, any additional background you can share on what pushed this deal forward now, including maybe any flexibility you built into your recent affiliate fee renewals? And then on a related note, should we expect to see any changes in your approach to negotiate future sports rights? And any comments you want to share about the Netflix, WWE deal that might impact these negotiations going forward?

堅持體育新聞。因此，我們長期以來一直與您討論 FOX 對於以運動為主導的瘦身套裝的好處。所以我只是想知道，您可以分享一下推動這筆交易的任何其他背景嗎？可能包括您在最近的聯盟費用續約中建立的任何靈活性？然後，與此相關的是，我們是否應該期望看到您談判未來體育權利的方法發生任何變化？對於 Netflix 和 WWE 的交易，您有什麼想分享的、可能影響未來談判的評論嗎？

Well, let me start back to front, Robert. So there's no impact on the Netflix, WWE deal at all. So I don't think that plays a factor in this and a fact in how we approach our portfolio of sports rights. We will be aggressively competing in the sports market for sports rights, but nothing has changed there. The primary business and value in FOX Sports is competing both from every subscriber in the traditional cable pay-TV bundle and advertiser, viewer and ultimately, advertisers.

好吧，讓我從頭開始，羅伯特。所以這對 Netflix 和 WWE 的交易完全沒有影響。因此，我認為這並不是其中的因素，也不是我們處理運動權利組合的事實。我們將在體育市場上積極爭取體育版權，但一切都沒有改變。福克斯體育的主要業務和價值是與傳統有線付費電視捆綁中的每個訂戶以及廣告商、觀眾以及最終的廣告商競爭。

So sports remains a competitive business which we -- frankly, we thrive in, and we don't see any difference to that. What led to this now, I think we've answered many questions on these quarterly calls over many years about when we are ready to launch a streaming service such as this, and we will do it. And we've been monitoring the space, obviously, for years, past few years, in particular. And as we developed with our partners the concept around a very unique and innovative product, we felt now was the right time to launch such a product.

因此，體育仍然是一項競爭性的行業，坦白說，我們在其中蓬勃發展，而且我們認為這沒有任何區別。是什麼導致了現在的情況，我認為多年來我們已經在這些季度電話會議上回答了許多問題，關於我們何時準備好推出這樣的串流媒體服務，我們將會這樣做。顯然，我們多年來一直在監視這個空間，特別是過去幾年。當我們與合作夥伴一起圍繞非常獨特和創新的產品開發概念時，我們認為現在是推出此類產品的最佳時機。

Really into a new market, right? It's a new market where there's no product serving the sports fans that are not within the cable and TV bundle. So it accesses -- for us, it accesses a whole new market and really drives a tremendous amount of new reach that we weren't servicing before.

真的進入了一個新市場，對嗎？這是一個新市場，沒有任何產品可以為體育迷提供不屬於有線電視和電視捆綁的產品。因此，它進入了——對我們來說，它進入了一個全新的市場，並真正推動了我們以前沒有服務過的大量新業務。

Next is John Hodulik with UBS.

接下來是瑞銀集團的約翰‧霍杜利克 (John Hodulik)。

First, just quickly on the sports JV. Just any cash contribution? Or can you size any kind of contribution required for -- from FOX? And then turning to advertising. Obviously, a number of things affecting the numbers this quarter. You guys had some positive color as we look into next quarter.

首先，快速討論體育合資企業。只要現金捐款嗎？或者您能否確定福克斯所需的任何貢獻？然後轉向廣告。顯然，有許多因素影響了本季的數字。當我們展望下個季度時，你們有一些正面的看法。

Just any color, one I'd say on the TV side, what you're seeing at this point in terms of political? And then with the improvement in the ratings and the year-over-year, the gap that you're seeing closing, can we assume that the 22% on the cable ad side is sort of the worst number? And any color on the sort of slope of the improvement that we should see as we head through the year.

只是任何顏色，我會在電視方面說，你現在在政治方面看到了什麼？然後，隨著收視率和同比的改善，您看到的差距正在縮小，我們是否可以假設有線廣告方面的 22% 是最糟糕的數字？以及我們在這一年中應該看到的改善坡度上的任何顏色。

I've lost track. Okay. So ad contribution advertising and cable -- cable advertising. After this, we won't need any more questions. I'll cover the whole [game]. Thanks, John. On the cash side, I'll let Steve fill in. But it's -- obviously, this business has both the -- there's marketing and other costs associated with running the business in the partnership, but it's also the revenue that we garner through affiliate fees for our networks. That come out as the business grows. But I'll let Steve fill in on the detail.

我迷失了方向。好的。因此，廣告貢獻廣告和有線電視廣告。在此之後，我們就不需要再問任何問題了。我將報道整個[遊戲]。謝謝，約翰。在現金方面，我會讓史蒂夫來填寫。但很明顯，這項業務既有營銷成本，也有與在合作夥伴關係中運營業務相關的其他成本，但它也是我們通過附屬公司獲得的收入我們的網路費用。隨著業務的成長，這一點就會顯現出來。但我會讓史蒂夫補充細節。

Yes, John, I think it's a touch early for us to be giving some forecasts around sort of the contribution of deficit from the JV. But sort of as we look at it, it will be accretive to us from a net-net perspective when you take into account the affiliate fees that we will collect as revenue versus whatever funding we need to make to the JV, we think, from a net-net to FOX perspective, it will be accretive pretty quickly.

是的，約翰，我認為我們現在就合資企業的赤字貢獻做出一些預測還為時過早。但從某種程度上來說，當我們考慮到我們將作為收入收取的附屬費用與我們需要向合資企業提供的任何資金時，從淨淨角度來看，這將對我們有利，我們認為，從網絡到福克斯的角度來看，它會很快成長。

And then on advertising, I think the advertising outlook is, as I mentioned, with news, but you could apply this term to the overall market as sort of nuanced as we look at it. If I start with sports, we had a very solid regular NFL season from an advertising perspective. And I think of a stronger NFL post-season, which we were very pleased by. But also that was a -- it's a smaller revenue line, but we had a fantastic College Football season, really -- I think the story of this past autumn was really the strength of College Football and particularly as advertisers, sort of a founded and appreciated the quality of the audience watching College Football.

然後在廣告方面，正如我所提到的，我認為廣告前景與新聞有關，但你可以將這個術語應用於整個市場，就像我們看待它時那樣細緻入微。如果我從運動開始，從廣告的角度來看，我們有一個非常穩定的常規 NFL 賽季。我想到了 NFL 季後賽的實力，我們對此感到非常高興。但這也是——這是一個較小的收入線，但我們有一個很棒的大學橄欖球賽季，真的——我認為去年秋天的故事確實是大學橄欖球的力量，特別是作為廣告商，有點成立和欣賞觀看大學橄欖球比賽的觀眾的品質。

Coming up, if we look forward, obviously, we have the DAYTONA 500 and then the start of the regular Major League Baseball season in March and there's a lot of positive momentum with advertisers with those. FOX News, you have a positive trend with DR pricing. Direct response pricing is still down. But as you start to lap the comparisons from last year, it's certainly improving quite a lot. We have an impact from preemptions with election and unfortunately, with our war coverage, so the preemptions are affecting. And ratings are continuing to improve. So we're happy with where we are. FOX News as all those trends are improving steadily.

接下來，如果我們展望未來，顯然，我們將迎來 DAYTONA 500，然後是 3 月份美國職棒大聯盟常規賽季的開始，廣告商將在這些方面帶來很多積極的動力。福克斯新聞，災難復原定價呈現出正面的趨勢。直接反應定價仍然下降。但當你開始與去年進行比較時，你會發現它確實有了很大的進步。我們受到選舉先發制人的影響，不幸的是，我們的戰爭報道也受到先發制人的影響，所以先發制人正在產生影響。且收視率正在持續提高。所以我們對目前的情況感到滿意。福克斯新聞報道，所有這些趨勢都在穩步改善。

Local stations is probably the most mixed, but you have a bad comparison, particularly in the current pacings with Super Bowl comps this time last year. It's probably about $50 million in Super Bowl revenue just in the station group this time last year. So the comparisons are quite tough as we go forward. But we remain confident that we'll see a record political cycle. This is slightly ameliorated. I think, in the current quarter with the lack of sort of competitive primary competition.

本地電視台可能是最混雜的，但你的比較很糟糕，特別是在去年這個時候與超級盃比賽的當前節奏中。去年這個時候，光是電台組的超級盃收入就可能約為 5,000 萬美元。因此，在我們前進的過程中，比較是相當困難的。但我們仍然相信，我們將看到創紀錄的政治週期。這一點稍有改善。我認為，在當前季度，缺乏有競爭力的主要競爭。

But we're already seeing business in the first half of next year start to flow in from a political perspective. And it's obviously -- it's sort of national because our stations, we have a large number of stations in our key political markets like Georgia and Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin. So we're very confident in a very strong political cycle once that really starts to flow.

但我們已經看到明年上半年的業務開始從政治角度流入。顯然，這是全國性的，因為我們的電台，我們在喬治亞州和密西根州、賓夕法尼亞州、亞利桑那州和威斯康辛州等關鍵政治市場擁有大量電台。因此，一旦真正開始流動，我們對非常強大的政治週期非常有信心。

And then finally, with Tubi. TubiTV has continued to grow, I think, at 63% and obviously, with the TubiTV growth, the revenue is following. The revenue growth is slightly less or somewhat less than it was last year. But in the sort of streaming environment, we're very happy with its growth. So that's -- on advertising scatter pricing is all above upfront pricing. So that's positive.

最後，還有圖比。我認為 TubiTV 持續成長，成長率為 63%，顯然，隨著 TubiTV 的成長，收入也隨之成長。收入增幅較去年略為下降或略為下降。但在串流媒體環境中，我們對其成長感到非常滿意。所以，就廣告而言，分散定價高於預付費用。所以這是積極的。

And then finally, on the cable affiliate subscribers and fees. We are in an environment where -- I think we called out it's roughly 8% cable erosion and yet our cable affiliate fees have grown in this quarter. So I think that really shows the strength of our brands and our programming in the cable universe. So we're very pleased with that.

最後，關於有線電視附屬訂戶和費用。我們所處的環境是——我認為我們聲稱電纜侵蝕率約為 8%，但本季度我們的電纜附屬費用卻有所增長。所以我認為這確實顯示了我們品牌和我們在有線電視領域的節目的實力。所以我們對此非常滿意。

It is from Jessica Reif Ehrlich with Bank of America Securities.

來自美國銀行證券公司的傑西卡·雷夫·埃利希 (Jessica Reif Ehrlich)。

Back to the sports platform. Lachlan, you seem really confident that it won't affect the pay-TV bundle, which is -- I just wanted to get some color on that given that sports has been really the glue that's kept it together. So why do you feel so confident that it will not impact that? And then -- what is the openness to ad partners? And will they have a separate advertising organization? How will the ads work in your content?

回到運動平台。拉克蘭，你似乎非常有信心它不會影響付費電視捆綁，我只是想對此進行一些描述，因為體育確實是將其結合在一起的粘合劑。那麼，為什麼您如此有信心這不會影響這一點呢？然後——對廣告合作夥伴的開放程度如何？他們會有獨立的廣告組織嗎？廣告將如何在您的內容中發揮作用？

Jessica, so the -- first on how it affects the overall pay TV bundle. Again, the key market, the market that we will be driving towards is the market that sits outside the sports fan, who sits currently outside of the traditional pay TV bundle today, and there's tens of millions of them. So we are very confident that this is a large market and a large opportunity that we can address without undermining the traditional bundle.

傑西卡，首先是關於它如何影響整個付費電視捆綁。再說一次，我們將要推動的關鍵市場是體育迷之外的市場，他們目前不屬於傳統付費電視捆綁包的範圍，而且有數以千萬計的體育迷。因此，我們非常有信心，這是一個巨大的市場和巨大的機會，我們可以在不破壞傳統捆綁的情況下解決這個問題。

We -- obviously, we've been working on this for several months. We've done lots of sensitivity analysis, and we would not be launching this product if we thought it was going to significantly effect our pay-TV affiliate partners, and that's very important to us. We remain, I think the biggest supporters of the traditional pay-TV bundle. We think there's tremendous value in the pay-TV bundle for the consumer who wants to get it all at an affordable price. The big bundle is still the best way to get that programming on those brands.

顯然，我們已經為此努力了幾個月。我們已經做了很多敏感度分析，如果我們認為產品會對我們的付費電視聯盟合作夥伴產生重大影響，我們就不會推出該產品，這對我們來說非常重要。我認為我們仍然是傳統付費電視捆綁的最大支持者。我們認為，對於那些希望以實惠的價格獲得全部內容的消費者來說，付費電視套餐具有巨大的價值。大捆綁仍然是在這些品牌上獲得節目的最佳方式。

So we are confident that this product will be additive and will give us incremental subscribers and not affect significantly the traditional bundle. And the openness to ad partners, that's not something that we're considering at this stage. We think that the 14 linear networks that this service offers gives people a tremendous amount of content between ABC affiliates, FOX affiliates, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, the SEC network, FOX affiliates, FOX Sports 1 and 2, the Big 10 Network, TNT, TBS and others. It's a tremendous offering that covers the majority of the key sports in this country, NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball and (inaudible) center college, obviously, NASCAR and so on.

因此，我們相信該產品將具有附加性，將為我們帶來增量訂閱者，並且不會對傳統捆綁包產生重大影響。對於廣告夥伴的開放性，這不是我們現階段考慮的事情。我們認為，該服務提供的 14 個線性網路為人們提供了 ABC 附屬機構、FOX 附屬機構、ESPN、ESPN2、ESPN 新聞、SEC 網路、FOX 附屬機構、FOX Sports 1 和 2、Big 10 Network、 TNT、TBS等。這是一個巨大的產品，涵蓋了這個國家的大多數主要運動項目，NFL、NBA、WNBA、美國職棒大聯盟和（聽不清楚）中心大學，顯然還有 NASCAR 等。

So we think it's an incredibly strong offering and at this stage, we're not contemplating adding partners to it. I think the third question, Jes, was on advertising revenues. And so advertising revenues will flow through this. So the advertising that we have on our linear networks will flow into this service and will just give us increased reach to a market that hasn't seen those -- that advertisers engage with those clients before. So we think it's a net positive.

因此，我們認為這是一個非常強大的產品，在現階段，我們不考慮為其添加合作夥伴。傑斯，我認為第三個問題是關於廣告收入。因此廣告收入將透過此流動。因此，我們在線性網路上的廣告將流入這項服務，並且只會讓我們擴大對廣告商先前與這些客戶互動的市場的影響力。所以我們認為這是一個淨正面的結果。

Operator, we have time for one more question.

接線員，我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Very good. That will come from Michael Morris with Guggenheim.

非常好。這將來自邁克爾·莫里斯和古根漢。

So I wanted to ask about 2 areas of strength in the quarter. The first one on the sports sublicensing. Can you share a little more detail on what that was, how it impacted profitability and how to think about whether or not that's a recurring revenue and profit source? And then my second question is on the affiliate acceleration, which is great to see. We know that the rate of cord-cutting is going to be impactful on that number. It's very hard to predict. But on pricing alone and the precedent that you just said, should we look at this as the first quarter of a sustained stronger pricing dynamic? And how long do you think we should anticipate that you can continue to see this type of growth being fueled by those new contractual relationships?

所以我想詢問本季的兩個優勢領域。第一個關於體育轉授權的問題。您能否更詳細地介紹一下這是什麼、它如何影響盈利能力以及如何考慮這是否是經常性收入和利潤來源？然後我的第二個問題是關於聯盟加速，這是很高興看到的。我們知道，斷線率將會影響這個數字。這很難預測。但僅就定價以及您剛才所說的先例而言，我們是否應該將其視為持續強勁的定價動態的第一季？您認為我們應該預期您可以繼續看到這些新的合約關係推動這種類型的成長多久？

I thought it was unfair that Steve will get the easy question and -- then you asked the second question. So anyway, I'll let Steve address the sports sublicensing first.

我認為史蒂夫會回答簡單的問題，然後你問了第二個問題，這是不公平的。所以無論如何，我會讓史蒂夫先解決體育轉許可問題。

Mike. So our sports sublicensing revenue we have in the Cable segment. So we own sports sublicensing income in relation to various sort of college sports properties and international soccer rights. Some of these rights come with some variable based economics to them, which we saw in the quarter. I think you should see this as somewhat of a one-off. It's not going to repeat like this going in future quarters, future years. And if you want to try and dimensionalize it then the size of the increase in Cable Other revenues between this quarter and previous quarter last year is a pretty good guide to the net benefit to us from those sublicensing arrangements.

麥克風。因此，我們的體育轉授權收入來自有線電視領域。因此，我們擁有與各種大學體育資產和國際足球轉播權相關的體育轉許可收入。其中一些權利附帶了一些基於變數的經濟學，我們在本季看到了這一點。我想你應該把這看作是一次性的。在未來的幾季、未來的幾年裡，這種情況不會重演。如果你想嘗試對其進行維度化，那麼本季與去年上一季之間有線電視其他收入的成長規模可以很好地指導我們從這些再授權安排中獲得的淨收益。

So on the affiliate revenue acceleration, I think the -- if you look at them two -- and can we [currently] sustain that -- we've now completed all of our distributions of renewals in this cycle that will affect the remainder of this fiscal year. So there's no more renewals negotiated that will effect this fiscal year. And obviously, we're rolling into renewals that will are -- that will take effect after this fiscal. If you look at the underlying rate of decline around 8%, and this goes back to a little bit of John's question.

因此，關於聯盟行銷收入的加速，我認為 - 如果你看一下它們兩個 - 我們現在是否可以維持這一點 - 我們現在已經完成了本週期中的所有續訂分配，這將影響其餘的本財年。因此，沒有更多的續約談判會影響本財年。顯然，我們正在進行續約，這將在本財年之後生效。如果你看一下 8% 左右的基本下降率，這又回到了約翰的問題。

If we look at that 8% -- actually in September and October, it was better than 8%. It was a little bit better. And then -- and this, we believe, was the impact of football and sports viewing in the fall. But then after October sort of as you get into November and December, the rate returned -- decline return to the sort of baseline at 8%. So for the immediate future, we don't see that changing. There's some cyclicality within that. But I think the 8% is a number that we're sort of baking into our assumptions.

如果我們看看 8%——實際上在 9 月和 10 月，它比 8% 更好。好一點了。然後，我們相信，這就是秋季足球和體育賽事觀看的影響。但在 10 月之後，當你進入 11 月和 12 月時，利率又回來了——下降到 8% 的基線。因此，在不久的將來，我們認為這種情況不會改變。這裡面有一定的周期性。但我認為 8% 是我們在假設中考慮的數字。

With that, we believe, as we've achieved in the -- over the last year, where we renewed over 1/3 of our distribution. We've been able to achieve rate increases that have made up for those declines. And that is because of the strength of our brands, the strength of our programming and really where they sit, having sort of focused strategy on a key number of very core brands that are essential for the -- for distributors and for their customers, that we'll be able to maintain similar rates of change going forward.

有了這一點，我們相信，正如我們在去年所取得的成就一樣，我們更新了超過 1/3 的發行版。我們已經實現了利率的提高，彌補了這些下降。這是因為我們品牌的實力、我們節目的實力以及它們所處的位置，對關鍵數量的核心品牌採取了某種集中策略，這些品牌對於分銷商及其客戶來說至關重要，未來我們將能夠保持類似的變化率。

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 again for joining today's call.

此時，我們已經沒有時間了。但如果您還有任何疑問，請打電話給我或丹·凱裡。再次感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, everyone. Have a good day.

感謝大家。祝你有美好的一天。

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

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您使用 AT&T 高階主管電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。