Gray Media Inc (GTN) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Gray Television Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. I will now turn the call over to Hilton Howell. You may begin.

歡迎參加精信電視 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。我現在將把電話轉給希爾頓豪威爾。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. As Misty mentioned, my name is Hilton Howell, I'm the Chairman and CEO of Gray Television. And thank you all for joining us for our second quarter 2023 earnings call.

謝謝你，接線員。大家，早安。正如米斯蒂提到的，我叫希爾頓·豪厄爾，是格雷電視台的董事長兼首席執行官。感謝大家參加我們的 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議。

I am absolutely delighted that today, we also have with us on this call, Sandy Breland, our long-time Senior Managing Vice President, who recently became Gray's Chief Operating Officer. Welcome, Sandy. In addition, and as usual, I'm joined by Pat LaPlatney, our President and Co-CEO; Kevin Latek, our Chief Legal and Development Officer; and Jim Ryan, our Chief Financial Officer. And we will begin with a disclaimer that Kevin will provide.

我非常高興今天，我們的長期高級執行副總裁、最近成為葛瑞首席運營官的桑迪·布魯蘭 (Sandy Breland) 也參加了這次電話會議。歡迎，桑迪。此外，與往常一樣，我們的總裁兼聯合首席執行官帕特·拉普拉特尼 (Pat LaPlatney) 也加入了我的行列。 Kevin Latek，我們的首席法律和發展官；以及我們的首席財務官 Jim Ryan。我們將從凱文提供的免責聲明開始。

Thank you, Hilton. We have (inaudible) call on mute, please. Thank you, Hilton, and good morning, everyone. Gray uses its website as a key source of company information. The website address is www.gray.tv. We will file our quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the SEC later today.

謝謝你，希爾頓。我們（聽不清）請靜音。謝謝希爾頓，大家早上好。葛瑞將其網站作為公司信息的主要來源。網站地址是www.gray.tv。我們將於今天晚些時候向 SEC 提交 10-Q 表格季度報告。

Included on the call may be a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, and in particular, broadcast cash flow, operating cash flow, free cash flow and certain leverage ratios. These metrics are not meant to replace GAAP measurements but are provided as supplements to assist the public in their analysis and valuation of our company. Included in our earnings release as well as on our website are reconciliations to the non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP measures reported in our financial statements.

電話會議可能會討論非公認會計準則財務指標，特別是廣播現金流、運營現金流、自由現金流和某些槓桿率。這些指標並不是要取代 GAAP 衡量標準，而是作為補充提供，以幫助公眾對我們公司進行分析和評估。我們的收益發布以及我們的網站上包括非公認會計原則財務指標與我們財務報表中報告的公認會計原則指標的調節表。

Certain matters discussed on this call may include forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, future operating results. Those statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results in the future could differ from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors that have been set forth in the company's most recent reports filed with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our most recent earnings release. The company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

本次電話會議討論的某些事項可能包括有關未來經營業績等的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述存在許多風險和不確定性。由於公司向 SEC 提交的最新報告（包括我們最新的 Form 10 年度報告）中闡述的各種重要因素，未來的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有所不同-K 和我們最近發布的財報。該公司不承擔更新這些前瞻性陳述的義務。

And now I return the call to Hilton.

現在我給希爾頓回電話。

Thank you, Kevin. Gray Television's strong start in the first quarter of 2023 continued through our second quarter. Today, we beat guidance and consensus estimates on all 5 key metrics. We beat on core advertising revenue. We beat on retransmission revenue. We beat on political advertising revenue. We beat on EBITDA, and we beat on free cash flow. In particular, our total revenues of $813 million from -- for the quarter exceeded the high end of our revenue guidance. In addition, our total operating expenses of $593 million were below the low end of our expense guidance for the quarter.

謝謝你，凱文。 Gray Television 在 2023 年第一季度的強勁開局延續到了第二季度。今天，我們在所有 5 個關鍵指標上都超出了指導和共識估計。我們擊敗了核心廣告收入。我們擊敗了轉播收入。我們擊敗了政治廣告收入。我們在 EBITDA 上擊敗了我們，在自由現金流上也擊敗了我們。特別是，我們本季度的總收入為 8.13 億美元，超過了我們收入指導的上限。此外，我們的總運營費用為 5.93 億美元，低於本季度費用指導的下限。

We are especially pleased at the performance of our television stations during the quarter. Our core advertising revenue increased 4% on a year-over-year basis with both local and national core up in low single digits on a year-over-year basis. And significantly, and as we had predicted, the auto category also continues to recover strongly for Gray.

我們對本季度電視台的表現感到特別滿意。我們的核心廣告收入同比增長 4%，本地和全國核心廣告收入同比均實現低個位數增長。值得注意的是，正如我們所預測的那樣，葛瑞的汽車類別也繼續強勁復甦。

Meanwhile, political was particularly strong also for our second quarter, preceding a presidential election year. Our strong footprint of #1 ranked television stations has and will continue to allow us to overindex on political advertising dollars. As such, we are very much looking forward to the '24 presidential election cycle.

與此同時，在總統選舉年之前的第二季度，政治因素也特別強勁。我們在排名第一的電視台的強大影響力已經並將繼續使我們能夠對政治廣告收入進行過度索引。因此，我們非常期待 24 屆總統選舉週期。

The second quarter of 2023 compares quite well to last year's second quarter in which we set all-time records for political revenue. The continued strength in Gray's revenue despite that tough comp confirms that our television station portfolio is delivering the trusted content that our viewers want. It also shows that the strong content and deep reach that we have will continue to produce real value for our advertising clients.

2023 年第二季度與去年第二季度相比相當不錯，去年我們創下了政治收入的歷史記錄。儘管競爭激烈，格雷的收入仍持續強勁，這證實了我們的電視台組合正在提供觀眾想要的值得信賴的內容。它還表明，我們擁有的強大內容和廣泛影響力將繼續為我們的廣告客戶創造真正的價值。

Since the end of the first quarter, Gray's leadership team has remained very busy on a number of fronts. First, as we mentioned, we promoted Sandy Breland from Senior Managing Vice President to the role of our Chief Operating Officer. Second, we promoted Matt Jaquint to Chief Revenue Officer, Mike King to Chief Marketing Officer and Matt Moran to Senior Managing Vice President.

自第一季度末以來，格雷的領導團隊在許多方面仍然非常忙碌。首先，正如我們提到的，我們將桑迪·布雷蘭 (Sandy Breland) 從高級執行副總裁提升為首席運營官。其次，我們晉升 Matt Jaquint 為首席營收官，Mike King 為首席營銷官，Matt Moran 為高級執行副總裁。

Importantly, Gray renewed and extended our CBS affiliation agreement for all the former Meredith markets as well as all of our legacy Gray Television markets. We're very pleased with this extension and renewal.

重要的是，格雷續簽並延長了我們對所有前梅雷迪思市場以及所有傳統格雷電視市場的 CBS 附屬協議。我們對這次延期和續約感到非常滿意。

We reached a historic set of agreements that Pat LaPlatney will cover in more detail, with the Phoenix Suns and the Mercury to return their games to broadcast television and to expand the team's reach within its market in Arizona by threefold. We also struck a deal with the CW Network covering a package of ACC sports rights that partially mitigated the losses from the unfortunate disruption caused by the Diamond Sports bankruptcy.

我們與菲尼克斯太陽隊和水星隊達成了一系列歷史性協議，帕特·拉普拉特尼將更詳細地介紹這些協議，讓他們的比賽重新轉播到電視上，並將球隊在亞利桑那州市場的影響力擴大三倍。我們還與 CW Network 達成了一項協議，涵蓋 ACC 體育賽事轉播權，部分減輕了 Diamond Sports 破產造成的不幸中斷造成的損失。

We are happy to report also that Phase 1 of our Assembly Atlanta studio project is now largely complete. Phase 1 covers the public infrastructure build-out for the entire Assembly Atlanta project and the construction of the Assembly Studios, which encompasses 19 new stages, most of which are under a long-term lease with NBCUniversal. In fact, as we speak with you today, NBCUniversal is moving into its new soundstages, mill spaces and offices.

我們還很高興地報告，我們的 Assembly 亞特蘭大工作室項目的第一階段現已基本完成。第一階段涵蓋整個 Assembly 亞特蘭大項目的公共基礎設施建設以及 Assembly 工作室的建設，其中包括 19 個新舞台，其中大部分與 NBCUniversal 簽訂了長期租賃協議。事實上，正如我們今天與您交談時，NBCUniversal 正在搬入新的攝影棚、工廠空間和辦公室。

Despite the current writers' and actors' strike, we anticipate that production will begin in the next few months, not only in the leased NBCU facilities, but also in the newly constructed studios that Gray retained for our own use and then for lease to other third-party production houses. We have not yet altered our plans and do not intend to and do not anticipate to do so in light of the writers' and actors' strike, which we sincerely hope will be resolved amicably in the near term for the good of all parties in our industry.

儘管目前編劇和演員罷工，但我們預計製作將在未來幾個月內開始，不僅在租賃的 NBCU 設施中，而且在格雷保留供我們自己使用然後出租給其他人的新建工作室中。第三方製作公司。鑑於編劇和演員的罷工，我們還沒有改變我們的計劃，也不打算也不預期這樣做，我們真誠地希望為了我們各方的利益，在短期內能夠友好地解決這一問題。行業。

The investment in Assembly Atlanta over the last few years and particularly during the first half of 2023 is now largely complete. We anticipate the remaining construction costs to wrap up and finish the Assembly Studios portion of the overall project in the second half of this year will be in a range of between $25 million and $30 million, net of expected governmental incentives and reimbursements. Over the next 5 to 7 years, the Atlanta Assembly development will be completed with various mixed-use projects across the remaining roughly 2/3 of the site's total acreage.

過去幾年，特別是 2023 年上半年，對亞特蘭大 Assembly 的投資現已基本完成。我們預計今年下半年完成整個項目的裝配工作室部分的剩余建築成本將在 2500 萬至 3000 萬美元之間，扣除預期的政府激勵和報銷後。在未來 5 至 7 年內，亞特蘭大裝配體開發項目將完成，其中各種混合用途項目將覆蓋剩餘約 2/3 的場地總面積。

I will now introduce Pat LaPlatney to provide more color on our operations. Pat?

現在我將介紹帕特·拉普拉特尼 (Pat LaPlatney)，為我們的運營提供更多色彩。拍？

Thanks, Hilton. During the second quarter of 2023, Gray's television stations and production companies continued executing well seemingly better than other parts of the advertising ecosystem. Once again, our advertising revenue continues to demonstrate positive results, and we expect to see continuing positive trends for the rest of the year. We read with some dismay stories reporting softness in auto advertising, particularly on the national side. Those stories are not reflective of Gray's experience at all. To the contrary, Gray's television stations posted a 20% year-over-year increase in auto. In the second quarter, this increase was led by the larger increases year-over-year in national auto advertising.

謝謝，希爾頓。 2023 年第二季度，格雷的電視台和製作公司繼續表現良好，似乎比廣告生態系統的其他部分要好。我們的廣告收入再次展現出積極的成果，我們預計今年剩餘時間將繼續呈現積極的趨勢。我們讀到了一些令人沮喪的報導，報導汽車廣告的疲軟，特別是在全國范圍內。這些故事根本不能反映格雷的經歷。相反，格雷的電視台公佈的汽車節目同比增長了 20%。第二季度，這一增長是由全國汽車廣告同比大幅增長帶動的。

Meanwhile, our stations continued to excel at developing new business from local customers who previously did not advertise on our platforms. In the first quarter, we are pleased to report that our new local direct business brought in 9% more revenue than the first quarter of '22. We improved upon that result in second quarter when we brought in 15% additional revenue from new local direct business over the second quarter of last year.

與此同時，我們的電視台繼續擅長從以前沒有在我們平台上做廣告的本地客戶那裡開發新業務。在第一季度，我們很高興地報告，我們新的本地直接業務帶來的收入比 22 年第一季度增加了 9%。第二季度我們的業績有所改善，新的本地直接業務收入比去年第二季度增加了 15%。

Political advertising has also been strong as Hilton mentioned. Now in both the first quarter and the second quarter of '23, we have literally doubled the amount of political ad revenue that our current station portfolio received in '19, the last year that preceded a presidential election year. Political advertising revenue has been particularly strong in Arizona, Louisiana, Virginia and Iowa. We're not prepared to make any full year political ad estimates at this time given the wide range of uncertainties this far out. But still, we're encouraged by the doubling of political revenue over 2019 levels that we've experienced in the first half of 2023.

正如希爾頓提到的，政治廣告也很強勁。現在，在 23 年第一季度和第二季度，我們當前的電台組合收到的政治廣告收入實際上是 19 年（總統選舉年之前的最後一年）的兩倍。亞利桑那州、路易斯安那州、弗吉尼亞州和愛荷華州的政治廣告收入尤其強勁。鑑於目前存在廣泛的不確定性，我們目前不准備做出任何全年政治廣告預測。但儘管如此，我們仍對 2023 年上半年政治收入較 2019 年水平翻倍感到鼓舞。

In addition to these sales successes, Sandy and I, with assistance from many others, are actively engaged in discussions with professional sports teams and leagues. Recall that in early May, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury announced an innovative deal that returned their games to television stations in Arizona owned by Gray. At that time, our deal was conditioned on the expiration of an arrangement between Diamond Sports and the Suns and Mercury. In July, the Diamond deal for the Suns expired, and the Suns and Mercury deal with Gray became effective. We're all very excited to be able to present these great teams to all the people of Arizona.

除了這些銷售成功之外，桑迪和我在許多其他人的幫助下，還積極與職業運動隊和聯盟進行討論。回想一下，五月初，菲尼克斯太陽隊和菲尼克斯水星隊宣布了一項創新協議，將他們的比賽轉交給格雷擁有的亞利桑那州電視台。當時，我們的交易條件是鑽石體育與太陽隊和水星隊之間的安排到期。 7月份，太陽隊的鑽石交易到期，太陽隊和水星隊與格雷的交易生效。我們都很高興能夠向亞利桑那州的所有人民展示這些偉大的團隊。

Our discussions with other teams and leagues indicate that the new sports rights deal we have in Arizona can work in other markets as well. Whether we replicate that structure or find new ways to partner with professional franchises, we see a growing recognition in the market that returning professional sports to local broadcast stations will increase marketing value, advertising sales revenues, fan engagement as well as team value. We're spending a lot of time analyzing these professional sports opportunities. In the coming months, we hope to have more innovative sports rights partnerships to announce that will return local teams to our broadcast stations and to local fans.

我們與其他球隊和聯盟的討論表明，我們在亞利桑那州達成的新體育版權協議也可以在其他市場發揮作用。無論我們複製這種結構還是尋找與專業特許經營商合作的新方法，我們都看到市場越來越認識到，將職業體育賽事回歸當地廣播電台將增加營銷價值、廣告銷售收入、球迷參與度以及團隊價值。我們花了很多時間分析這些職業體育機會。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們希望宣布更多創新的體育版權合作夥伴關係，讓當地球隊重返我們的廣播電台和當地球迷。

I now turn the call to Sandy.

我現在把電話轉給桑迪。

Thank you, Pat. I'm Sandy Breland, and I'm very happy to join my colleagues on this earnings call, especially when we have so many positive developments and successes. Personally, my career began in television newsroom. And I focused a good amount of my time the last few years on Gray's local news resources, including our InvestigateTV and Washington, D.C. operations. I'm, therefore, very honored to join this call when Gray has so much great news to report about its own news efforts.

謝謝你，帕特。我是桑迪·布雷蘭（Sandy Breland），我很高興能和我的同事們一起參加這次財報電話會議，特別是當我們取得瞭如此多積極的進展和成功時。就我個人而言，我的職業生涯始於電視新聞編輯室。過去幾年我將大量時間集中在格雷的當地新聞資源上，包括我們的 InvestigateTV 和華盛頓特區的業務。因此，當格雷有如此多關於其新聞工作的好消息要報導時，我非常榮幸地參加這次電話會議。

In June, with the greatest sense of humility, Gray received recognition from the NAB Leadership Foundation's 2023 Celebration of Service to America Awards, which honor excellence in community service by local radio and television stations. This year, Gray received the TV Ownership Group award in recognition of the outstanding work by Gray's InvestigateTV unit and its series, The Sixth, which exposed a critical shortage of public defenders across the country.

6 月，格雷以最大的謙遜感獲得了 NAB 領導基金會 2023 年美國服務慶典獎的認可，該獎項旨在表彰當地廣播電台和電視台在社區服務方面的卓越表現。今年，格雷獲得了電視所有權團體獎，以表彰格雷的 InvestigateTV 部門及其係列節目《第六號》的傑出工作，該系列揭露了全國公設辯護人的嚴重短缺。

The foundation also selected Gray's KTTC in Rochester, Minnesota as its Small Market Television Station Winner for its Fifth District Eagles Cancer Telethon, while KWCH in Wichita, Kansas and WTVY in Dothan, Alabama were named finalists for their exemplary community service.

該基金會還選擇明尼蘇達州羅徹斯特的Gray's KTTC 作為其第五區Eagles Cancer Telethon 小市場電視台獲獎者，而堪薩斯州威奇託的KWCH 和阿拉巴馬州多森的WTVY 因其模範社區服務而入圍決賽。

Also during the second quarter, the Radio Television Digital News Association awarded a combined 78 regional Edward R. Murrow awards for excellence in journalism to 31 of Gray's local stations. The awards roster was led by 10 separate awards to Hawaii News Now in Honolulu, Hawaii and 7 separate awards to WVUE in New Orleans, Louisiana.

同樣在第二季度，廣播電視數字新聞協會向格雷的 31 個地方電視台頒發了總計 78 個愛德華·R·默羅地區傑出新聞獎。獲獎名單中，夏威夷檀香山的 Hawaii News Now 獲得了 10 個獨立獎項，路易斯安那州新奧爾良的 WVUE 獲得了 7 個獨立獎項。

This September, Gray will launch across its stations a new weekday news magazine program called InvestigateTV+. The news magazine will showcase groundbreaking investigations featuring Gray's award-winning InvestigateTV unit plus consumer, health and original content curated from Gray's 113 local markets.

今年 9 月，格雷將在其電視台推出一個新的平日新聞雜誌節目，名為 InvestigateTV+。該新聞雜誌將展示葛瑞屢獲殊榮的 InvestigateTV 部門的突破性調查，以及葛瑞 113 個當地市場策劃的消費者、健康和原創內容。

While we have no plans to become a new syndicated programming house, we have been pleasantly surprised by tremendous audience reaction to our InvestigateTV weekend show that airs primarily on Gray's own stations. Despite not airing at a consistent time period or having national promotion behind it, the current InvestigateTV weekend program has been posting ratings that surpass many well-known broadcast and cable programs that, unlike our weekend program, are cleared in 100% of the country.

雖然我們沒有計劃成為一個新的聯合節目公司，但我們對主要在格雷自己的電視台播出的 InvestigateTV 週末節目的巨大觀眾反響感到驚喜。儘管沒有在固定的時間段播出，也沒有全國性的推廣，但目前的InvestigateTV 週末節目的收視率已經超過了許多知名的廣播和有線電視節目，而與我們的周末節目不同，這些節目在全國100% 的收視率都很高。

This tells us that there is an audience for good quality news programming, particularly investigative pieces that highlight otherwise unknown issues and that consistently produce results. Gray will make the new weekday InvestigateTV+ programs available to local television stations owned by other broadcasters as well.

這告訴我們，高質量的新聞節目有觀眾，特別是那些突出未知問題並持續產生結果的調查性節目。格雷還將向其他廣播公司擁有的當地電視台提供新的平日 InvestigateTV+ 節目。

Thanks for your time, and thanks for your interest. I now turn the call to Kevin.

感謝您的寶貴時間，也感謝您的關注。我現在把電話轉給凱文。

Thank you, Sandy. In the second quarter, on a year-over-year basis, our retransmission revenue grew 3% as a result of contract repricings at the beginning of 2023. Our subscriber trends are down low single digits on a year-over-year basis and therefore, essentially matching or slightly beating the industry as a whole.

謝謝你，桑迪。在第二季度，由於 2023 年初的合同重新定價，我們的轉播收入同比增長了 3%。我們的用戶趨勢同比下降了低個位數，因此，基本匹配或略勝於整個行業。

Our network reverse compensation expenses increased by less than our gross retransmission revenue during the second quarter. As a result, our net retrans revenues grew slightly to $159 million in the second quarter. Consistent with prior years, we expect retransmission revenues to decline somewhat between the second and third quarters as subscriber churn routinely increases when spring turns into summer. Net retransmission revenues, therefore, continue to generate substantial cash flow that helps support the company during off years in the political cycle as we have this year.

第二季度我們的網絡反向補償費用的增幅小於總轉播收入的增幅。因此，第二季度我們的淨轉播收入小幅增長至 1.59 億美元。與往年一樣，我們預計第二季度和第三季度的轉播收入將有所下降，因為春季進入夏季時用戶流失率通常會增加。因此，淨轉播收入繼續產生大量現金流，有助於在政治週期的淡季期間為公司提供支持，就像今年一樣。

We have discussed many times, part of the reduction in broadcast affiliate retransmission revenues are the result of the networks exploiting the FCC streaming loophole to control the distribution of their affiliate signals on virtual distributors. Recently, the 4 affiliate Boards organized the coalition for local news. This coalition is an important step forward in the long battle by affiliates to regain control of the distribution of our content and to keep for ourselves the value that the virtual MVPDs are already paying the networks for affiliate signals.

我們已經多次討論過，廣播聯盟轉播收入減少的部分原因是網絡利用 FCC 流媒體漏洞來控制其聯盟信號在虛擬發行商上的分發。最近，四個附屬委員會組織了當地新聞聯盟。這個聯盟是聯屬網絡營銷公司在長期鬥爭中向前邁出的重要一步，目的是重新控制我們內容的分發，並為我們自己保留虛擬 MVPD 已經為網絡聯屬營銷信號付費的價值。

Finally, I'd like to highlight just how strong Gray's portfolio of high-quality television stations really is. We recently decided to compare comScore's total average audience impressions during prime time for all of Gray's television stations to the broadcast and cable networks. In the month of May 2023, the ratings data indicate that Gray's television stations easily surpassed one of the Big Four networks' audience, and we're only a bit less than the total impressions logged by the other Big Three networks, which is a particularly impressive feat because unlike the Big Four broadcast networks, our stations are only available in 36% of U.S. television households.

最後，我想強調格雷的高質量電視台組合到底有多麼強大。我們最近決定將 comScore 的所有格雷電視台與廣播和有線電視網絡在黃金時段的總平均觀眾印象進行比較。 2023 年 5 月的收視率數據顯示，格雷電視台輕鬆超過了四大網絡之一的收視率，而我們僅比其他三大網絡記錄的總印像數少一點點，這是一個特別重要的數字。這是一項令人印象深刻的壯舉，因為與四大廣播網絡不同，我們的電台僅在36% 的美國電視家庭中可用。

In addition, in May 2023, Gray's stations total average audience impressions exceeded the combined audiences of FOX News, MSNBC and CNN during prime-time hours and during late local hours -- late news hours. It bears repeating that the audience across Gray's television stations exceeded all 3 news networks combined when our stations are available in just 36% of the country.

此外，2023 年 5 月，格雷電視台的總平均觀眾印象超過了福克斯新聞、MSNBC 和 CNN 在黃金時段和當地時間深夜（即深夜新聞時段）的觀眾總和。值得重申的是，格雷電視台的觀眾數量超過了所有 3 個新聞網絡的總和，而我們的電視台僅覆蓋全國 36% 的地區。

This concludes my remarks. I now turn the call to Jim Ryan.

我的發言到此結束。我現在把電話轉給吉姆·瑞安。

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. Hilton, Pat, Sandy and Kevin have covered the key highlights of the quarter and the year-to-date. So my remarks are going to be really very short. Again, our Q2 results, we are very pleased, and we are exceptionally pleased with the core revenue up 4% in the second quarter.

謝謝你，凱文。大家，早安。希爾頓、帕特、桑迪和凱文介紹了本季度和今年迄今為止的主要亮點。所以我的發言將會非常簡短。再說一遍，我們對第二季度的業績感到非常滿意，而且我們對第二季度核心收入增長 4% 感到非常滿意。

Turning to our guidance for Q3. Again, we are extremely pleased that we are saying, based on the strength of our strong operating performance of our 113 television stations, that we continue to expect core local revenue to be up in the low single-digit range. I will remind everyone again, as mentioned in both the release and in the Q that will be filed shortly, that the anticipated $33 million to $43 million impairment charge relating to the Diamond Chapter 11 rejection of our ACC contract is a pre-tax noncash, and I repeat, noncash charge. And we have a new agreement with the CW to air certain ACC games, which mitigate [in part] the loss of the former Diamond contract. All in all, the in and out of all of this is immaterial to this company.

轉向我們對第三季度的指導。我們再次非常高興地說，基於我們 113 家電視台的強勁運營業績，我們繼續預計核心本地收入將增長在較低的個位數範圍內。我將再次提醒大家，正如新聞稿和即將提交的 Q 中所提到的，與鑽石第 11 章拒絕我們的 ACC 合同相關的預期 3300 萬至 4300 萬美元的減值費用是稅前非現金，我再說一遍，非現金費用。我們與 CW 達成了一項新協議，將轉播某些 ACC 比賽，這（部分）減輕了前鑽石合同的損失。總而言之，這一切的進出對這家公司來說並不重要。

Our full year commentary really has not changed since we first gave full year guidance on our fourth quarter call 2 quarters ago. We continue to expect our core revenue will be somewhere around $1.5 billion, up low single digits. We continue to expect our retransmission revenue of approximately $1.5 billion, again, will be up low single digits.

自從我們在兩個季度前的第四季度電話會議中首次給出全年指導以來，我們的全年評論確實沒有改變。我們仍然預計我們的核心收入將達到 15 億美元左右，小幅增長個位數。我們繼續預計約 15 億美元的轉播收入將再次出現低個位數增長。

We expect currently our political revenue to be approximately $60 million, which is an improvement of the approximate $50 million range we provided on our last call. And our increase to $60 million is given because of the solid first half political revenues that we just reported and in light of the record early presidential spending that we have been booking. We expect broadcast revenue in '23 to be somewhere in the range of $3.2 billion.

我們預計目前我們的政治收入約為 6000 萬美元，這比我們上次電話會議提供的約 5000 萬美元的範圍有所改善。我們增加到 6000 萬美元的原因是我們剛剛報告的上半年政治收入穩定，以及我們預訂的早期總統支出創紀錄。我們預計 23 年的廣播收入將在 32 億美元左右。

Our operating expenses before depreciation, amortization, gain and loss on disposal of assets will be approximately $2.5 billion. And that would exclude any noncash impairment charges that I just discussed. Broadcast operating expenses, we continue to expect to be in the $2.3 billion range. Our reverse network comp, we expect to be -- approximating $936 million. Our noncash stock comp will be approximately $5 million -- I'm sorry, that's incorrect. Noncash stock comp of about $20 million, and our noncash 401(k) expense will be about $10 million for the year. Our corporate expenses will be around $120 million.

扣除折舊、攤銷、資產處置損益之前的運營費用約為 25 億美元。這不包括我剛才討論的任何非現金減值費用。廣播運營支出，我們繼續預計在 23 億美元範圍內。我們預計我們的反向網絡收入約為 9.36 億美元。我們的非現金股票補償約為 500 萬美元——抱歉，這是不正確的。非現金股票補償約為 2000 萬美元，我們今年的非現金 401(k) 費用約為 1000 萬美元。我們的公司開支約為 1.2 億美元。

Cash uses for the year, again, have not changed significantly since we first gave you estimates at the beginning of this year. We expect cash interest of about $435 million.

自從我們在今年年初首次向您提供估計以來，今年的現金使用情況再次沒有發生重大變化。我們預計現金利息約為 4.35 億美元。

I'll remind everybody that with the 5% SOFR interest rate caps that we put on $6.2 billion of our floating rate debt in the first quarter that we are well insulated from further interest rate increase. And with the interest rate caps in place, we are currently at about 95% fixed rates on all of our debt.

我要提醒大家，由於我們在第一季度對 62 億美元的浮動利率債務設定了 5% SOFR 利率上限，因此我們可以很好地避免利率進一步上升。由於利率上限已到位，目前我們所有債務的固定利率約為 95%。

Cash taxes, again, we expect to be in the range of $38 million to $46 million for the year. That is including the benefit of a pending refund of approximately $21 million. Our routine CapEx is still in the range of about $110 million. As you know, our preferred dividends are consistently $52 million a year. And again, our required term loan amortization on the Term Loan B is an annual $15 million. Consistent with -- generally consistent with what we've said before, we expect our free cash for the year to be in the range of approximately $115 million.

同樣，我們預計今年的現金稅將在 3800 萬至 4600 萬美元之間。其中包括大約 2100 萬美元的待退款收益。我們的常規資本支出仍約為 1.1 億美元。如您所知，我們的優先股股息始終為每年 5200 萬美元。同樣，我們對定期貸款 B 的定期貸款攤銷要求為每年 1500 萬美元。與我們之前所說的基本一致，我們預計今年的自由現金約為 1.15 億美元。

At this point, again, I reiterate that we are well positioned midway through 2023 and look forward to a successful conclusion of the rest of the year.

在此，我再次重申，我們在 2023 年中期處於有利位置，並期待在今年剩餘時間內取得圓滿成功。

I'll turn the call back to Hilton.

我會將電話轉回希爾頓。

Thank you, Jim. Well, to summarize, Gray generated free cash flow in the second quarter, and the company continues to have a strong liquidity profile with no near-term maturities. As Jim noted, we have an interest rate cap in place to protect us from further interest rate increases on our bank debt, but we envision no changes in our dividend policy. We continue to focus on deleveraging our balance sheet. Finally, while we have no term needs to refinance any of our debt tranches, we are encouraged that the trading levels of our securities continues to recover as macroeconomic recession concerns seem to be abating.

謝謝你，吉姆。總而言之，葛瑞在第二季度產生了自由現金流，並且該公司繼續擁有強勁的流動性狀況，且沒有短期到期的情況。正如吉姆指出的那樣，我們設定了利率上限，以保護我們免受銀行債務利率進一步上漲的影響，但我們預計股息政策不會發生變化。我們繼續專注於資產負債表去槓桿化。最後，雖然我們沒有為任何債務部分進行再融資的期限需求，但隨著宏觀經濟衰退擔憂似乎正在減弱，我們的證券交易水平繼續恢復，這讓我們感到鼓舞。

With half of the year behind us now, it is clear that Gray has begun in 2023 in a strong fashion and will finish the year strongly. Our efforts to deliver the content audiences want and advertisers need are evident in our solid ratings, our core advertising results and our successful strategic initiatives.

現在已經過去半年了，很明顯，葛瑞已在 2023 年以強勁的勢頭開始，並將以強勁的勢頭結束這一年。我們為提供受眾想要和廣告商需要的內容所做的努力在我們可靠的收視率、我們的核心廣告成果和我們成功的戰略舉措中顯而易見。

With the capital investments in Phase 1 of the Assembly Atlanta studios development essentially complete, Gray's Board of Directors continue to direct free cash flow to paying down our debt and improving our balance sheet as we progress through the next 18 months of what we expect will be another very strong political advertising cycle.

隨著 Assembly 亞特蘭大工作室開發第一階段的資本投資基本完成，格雷董事會將繼續引導自由現金流來償還我們的債務並改善我們的資產負債表，同時我們將在未來 18 個月內取得預期的進展另一個非常強大的政治廣告週期。

Operator, at this time, we'd like to open up the line for questions from anyone.

接線員，目前我們願意開放專線接受任何人的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is going to come from Aaron Watts with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自德意志銀行的 Aaron Watts。

A couple of questions for me. I'll start with one on core advertising. You grew 4% in 2Q. You're guiding flat to up in 3Q. What are the gives and takes in there sequentially? Just some general softening around the edges and maybe you could parse out national and local for us and how they're trending relative to the low single-digit growth each had in 2Q.

有幾個問題問我。我將從核心廣告開始。第二季度增長了 4%。您預計第三季度將持平上升。那裡按順序給予和接受的是什麼？只是邊緣出現一些普遍的軟化，也許您可​​以為我們解析全國和地方的情況，以及它們相對於第二季度的低個位數增長的趨勢。

Yes. So I'll start and let Jim jump in. It's Pat here. So look, I think one factor there is automotive. Automotive is up, as you heard substantially, and it will be up substantially in Q3, working against a positive comp, one of the first positive comps we've seen in the better part of 10 years since Q2 '22 -- pardon me, Q3 '22. So that's part of it. But it's overall a very, very positive story. In Q3, we continue to see positive growth from home improvement and legal. Obviously, automotive we talked about, and there's a few other categories, including communications and the lottery that are down a bit. But all in all, we expect to see a pretty solid performance in Q3.

是的。那麼我就開始吧，讓吉姆加入。我是帕特。所以看，我認為其中一個因素是汽車。正如您所聽到的那樣，汽車行業上漲了，並且在第三季度將大幅上漲，這與積極的競爭相對應，這是自22 年第二季度以來10 年來我們所看到的第一個積極的競爭- 請原諒我， 22 年第 3 季度。這就是其中的一部分。但總的來說，這是一個非常非常積極的故事。在第三季度，我們繼續看到家居裝修和法律業務的積極增長。顯然，我們談論的是汽車，還有其他一些類別，包括通信和彩票，略有下降。但總而言之，我們預計第三季度將有相當穩健的表現。

Yes. Aaron, as we've commented last many calls, on a relative performance basis, local is performing a little bit better than national. But we already said earlier in the call that national auto in Q2 was significantly better than overall local. I think looking into Q3, that relative performance between local and national is not changing. [Technically], they're both up. And no surprise to anybody that the local side is doing better. And in part, I'd point to, as Sandy mentioned -- Pat and Sandy mentioned, that very strong results and emphasis on the -- creating new local direct business month after month.

是的。亞倫，正如我們在最近的許多電話會議中評論的那樣，在相對性能的基礎上，本地的表現比全國的要好一些。但我們之前在電話會議中已經說過，第二季度的國產汽車明顯好於整體本土汽車。我認為從第三季度來看，地方和全國之間的相對錶現沒有改變。 [技術上]，他們都起來了。對於任何人來說，當地方面做得更好並不奇怪。在某種程度上，我想指出，正如桑迪提到的——帕特和桑迪提到的，非常強勁的業績和對——月復一月創造新的本地直接業務的重視。

Okay. That's helpful. And maybe I'm parsing too thin here, but we've heard from some others that maybe national, which had obviously been choppy the last several quarters, perhaps turning a corner. Is that anything you'd call out? Or just -- it's sort of holding steady as you kind of just said?

好的。這很有幫助。也許我在這里分析得太薄弱，但我們從其他一些人那裡聽說，這可能是全國性的，過去幾個季度顯然表現不穩定，也許正在拐點。這是你會喊出來的嗎？或者只是——就像你剛才說的那樣，它保持穩定？

I think you just said it.

我想你剛才已經說過了。

Yes, you said it. I think from our standpoint, since our local has been exemplary for several quarters, that relative split, we think, is holding fairly consistent, but we're very, very pleased with what they're both doing.

是的，你說過。我認為從我們的角度來看，由於我們當地的情況在幾個季度中一直堪稱典範，我們認為這種相對分裂相當一致，但我們對他們所做的事情非常非常滿意。

Okay. All right. Great. And then if I could...

好的。好的。偉大的。然後如果我可以...

Aaron, one other quick add to that is, remember, we've said this many, many times over the years, our proportion of local to core is probably much higher than everybody else's. So other people, when national tweaks up or down, they may see it faster or see it proportionately more, but because of our local, we just don't see it as much.

亞倫，另一位快速補充的是，請記住，這些年來我們已經說過很多次了，我們本地與核心的比例可能比其他人高得多。因此，其他人，當全國范圍內的調整向上或向下時，他們可能會更快地看到它，或者看到它的比例更多，但由於我們本地的原因，我們只是看不到它那麼多。

No, it's good to hear that your local is hanging in there. So understood. On the retrans side, it sounds like your underlying subscriber erosion landed down low single digits. Related to how you're tracking versus the industry overall, I would think the general trend we've seen since the pandemic, that of job and population growth overindexing in the Southeast relative to many other areas of the country, would play to your benefit. Do you think Gray, over time, can be a net benefactor of that theme, one that may allow you to do a little better on the gross retrans side, given that population and job shift to an area I consider a sweet spot for you?

不，很高興聽到您的當地人還堅持在那裡。這樣就明白了。在轉播方面，聽起來您的潛在訂閱用戶侵蝕下降到了低個位數。與您對整個行業的跟踪方式相關，我認為自大流行以來我們所看到的總體趨勢，即東南部地區相對於該國許多其他地區的就業和人口增長指數過高，將對您有利。您認為隨著時間的推移，格雷是否可以成為該主題的淨受益者，考慮到人口和工作轉移到我認為對您來說最有利的地區，這可能會讓您在總轉播方面做得更好一點？

Aaron, this is Kevin, obviously. I think that's a good observation. We don't really -- we certainly have a very strong presence in the Southeast. And I agree, as we see population moving to the Southeast, that's more homes, it's more households, that's more pay-TV subscriptions and more audience. So the Southeast grows disproportionately better than the rest of the country, that's probably going to benefit Gray a little bit more than others. That is a fair observation.

亞倫，這顯然是凱文。我認為這是一個很好的觀察。我們確實沒有——我們當然在東南部擁有非常強大的影響力。我同意，當我們看到人口遷移到東南部時，就會有更多的房屋、更多的家庭、更多的付費電視訂閱和更多的觀眾。因此，東南部地區的發展比全國其他地區要好得多，這可能會讓格雷比其他地區受益更多。這是一個公平的觀察。

Okay. Okay. All right. Last one for me, and again, I appreciate the time. I heard the comments around security prices rebounding as perhaps some concerns dampen around the macro picture. Jim, last quarter, you got asked about your bond prices being -- trading at a discount. I think that relationship still exists today. Any updated thoughts on perhaps using that as a lever to help use cash to deleverage the balance sheet, which I know is a stated goal of yours.

好的。好的。好的。最後一次，我再次感謝這段時間。我聽到有關證券價格反彈的評論，也許是因為對宏觀形勢的一些擔憂減弱了。吉姆，上個季度，您被問到您的債券價格是否以折扣價進行交易。我認為這種關係今天仍然存在。關於可能使用它作為槓桿來幫助使用現金去槓桿化資產負債表的任何最新想法，我知道這是您的既定目標。

So Aaron, my answer to this quarter, just like the last couple of quarters, is pretty consistent. I will place it under the banner of I can never say never. But consistent with what we've been saying for (inaudible), I would say the probability of focusing on our 2026 term loan maturities versus being opportunistic on bond pricing is probably where we will continue to put our focus again on the '26 term loan maturities.

所以亞倫，我對本季度的回答，就像過去幾個季度一樣，非常一致。我會把它放在“我永遠不能說永遠”的旗幟下。但與我們一直在說的（聽不清）一致，我想說的是，關注2026 年定期貸款到期日與在債券定價上投機取巧的可能性可能是我們將繼續再次關注26 年定期貸款的可能性到期日。

Our next question is going to come from Dan Kurnos from Benchmark.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Benchmark 的 Dan Kurnos。

Hilton, can I just go back to some of the comments around Assembly? I just want to make sure that we understand the writers' strike is not causing any necessary delays in revenue recognition. It sounds like NBC is still moving in. And separately, in the release, there's $90 million in additional cash proceeds from a quasi-governmental authority and/or limited land sales later in 2023. I don't know if that's part of the value on model that's incremental. Can you guys just kind of talk to that and sort of thoughts on future value unlock there for the real estate?

希爾頓，我可以回顧一下有關 Assembly 的一些評論嗎？我只是想確保我們了解編劇罷工不會導致收入確認出現任何必要的延誤。聽起來 NBC 仍在進軍。另外，在新聞稿中，有來自準政府機構和/或 2023 年晚些時候有限土地銷售的 9000 萬美元額外現金收益。我不知道這是否是價值的一部分在增量模型上。你們能談談這個問題以及對房地產未來價值的一些想法嗎？

In terms of revenue, Dan, please know that the vast majority of what we get is going to be rental income from NBCU as they take possession. And literally a couple of days ago, there were dozens of 18-wheeler trucks that were arriving here from all over the country, bringing in lights, cameras, grip stuff and everything else. And so that will begin. And then there are some things that are backed up that are talking to us about also leasing the studios that we have kept. So I believe that we will start seeing revenue -- I know that we will start seeing revenue in the fourth quarter of this year.

就收入而言，丹，請注意，我們獲得的絕大多數收入將是 NBCU 佔有時的租金收入。就在幾天前，有數十輛 18 輪卡車從全國各地抵達這裡，帶來了燈光、相機、抓地力和其他所有東西。那麼這就開始了。還有一些支持的事情正在與我們討論租賃我們保留的工作室。所以我相信我們將開始看到收入——我知道我們將在今年第四季度開始看到收入。

With regards to the reimbursement, we -- there is a Community Improvement District that we have that overlays the entirety of the project. Both Pat and I are on that Board, and it has north of $100 million in liquidity in the CID. And as issues that are public, i.e., streets, utilities, various other things, as those are complete and then are assumed by the local municipalities, Gray is reimbursed from the CID proportionately. And so I think we received about $39 million-ish year-to-date, and we anticipate more as things kind of mature out and get completed.

關於報銷，我們有一個覆蓋整個項目的社區改善區。帕特和我都是該董事會的成員，CID 的流動資金超過 1 億美元。作為公共問題，即街道、公用事業和其他各種問題，當這些問題完成並由當地市政當局承擔時，格雷將從 CID 按比例償還。因此，我認為今年迄今為止我們收到了大約 3900 萬美元左右的資金，隨著事情的成熟和完成，我們預計會收到更多資金。

Got it. So that's just incremental reimbursement. That has nothing to do with additional (inaudible) or sale leasebacks or any other incremental value unlock you could achieve with the real estate, correct, Hilton?

知道了。所以這只是增量報銷。這與額外的（聽不清）或售後回租或您可以通過房地產實現的任何其他增量價值無關，對嗎，希爾頓？

Correct. That is purely a balance sheet activity. It is not a P&L activity.

正確的。這純粹是一項資產負債表活動。這不是損益活動。

Okay. Got it. And then just going back to the guide for a second, Jim, I just also want to double-click on maybe lapping the Meredith station acquisitions. I know you said we expect the goodness as it's been, that you guys have outperformed the broader industry by a few points now on core. Is that something else that we should be factoring into kind of the Q3 guide, that sort of goodness starts to fade a little bit?

好的。知道了。然後回到指南一秒鐘，吉姆，我也想雙擊可能會覆蓋梅雷迪思站的收購。我知道你說過我們期待著這樣的好事，你們現在在核心方面已經比整個行業領先了幾個點。這是我們應該在第三季度指南中考慮的其他因素嗎？這種好處開始有點褪色了？

We closed 2 years ago, not 1 year ago.

我們兩年前關門了，而不是一年前。

So yes, I mean, we have -- we closed on Meredith and Quincy 2 years ago. We said consistently starting sometime last year through every call since then that we had thought that there was revenue upside in -- especially in certain Meredith markets. We have consistently said for several quarters that we are reaping the benefit of that assumption. That assumption was never into the synergies of the deal we announced.

所以，是的，我的意思是，我們已經——兩年前關閉了梅雷迪思和昆西。從去年的某個時候開始，我們一直在每次電話會議中表示，我們認為收入有上升空間，尤其是在某些梅雷迪思市場。幾個季度以來，我們一直表示我們正在從這一假設中獲益。這一假設從未影響到我們宣布的交易的協同效應。

We see continuing benefit from the Meredith markets. They are making tremendous progress. That's in part why we outperformed, I think, the industry in Q2, but not by a few points, but what I'm reading is by probably close to 8 to 10 points. So please give us credit [for this, too].

我們看到梅雷迪思市場持續受益。他們正在取得巨大的進步。我認為，這就是我們在第二季度表現優於行業的部分原因，但不是幾個百分點，但我讀到的數據可能接近 8 到 10 個百分點。因此，請[為此]給予我們信任。

And that will continue for the reasonably foreseeable future in garnering benefit. We've commented that, that's both on the local side and on the digital side, also, to some extent, on the national side. But also, the entire rest of the portfolio is performing very strongly. So part of it's the Meredith revenue upside story that we've been talking about for a while, but the rest of the portfolio is doing very well, too.

在合理可預見的未來，這種情況將持續下去並獲得利益。我們評論說，這既是本地方面的，也是數字方面的，某種程度上也是國家方面的。而且，整個投資組合的其餘部分都表現非常強勁。因此，我們已經討論了一段時間的梅雷迪斯收入上升故事的一部分，但投資組合的其餘部分也表現得很好。

Certainly wasn't a negative comment. I'm just trying to understand any lapping elements going into Q3. So -- but that's...

當然不是負面評論。我只是想了解進入第三季度的任何研磨元素。所以——但那是……

No, I didn't take it as a negative. I just want to get some credit.

不，我並不認為這是負面的。我只是想獲得一些榮譽。

Fair enough, Jim. Last one for Mr. Kevin, obviously, just a question on retrans. I just want to make sure that the Q2 number, is that clean -- would that be mostly because sub churn came in below what you expected? Or was there any kind of true-up noise? I know most of your true-ups happened in Q1, so just to make sure.

很公平，吉姆。凱文先生的最後一個問題顯然只是關於重傳的問題。我只是想確保第二季度的數字是乾淨的——這主要是因為子流失率低於您的預期嗎？或者是否有任何真實的噪音？我知道你的大部分真實情況都發生在第一季度，所以只是為了確定一下。

Our retrans -- our growth came in $1 million higher than our guide because the subs were not as -- did not decline as much as we had modeled. We have been attempting to be particularly conservative in all of our guides over the last year since the -- we're a little surprised on political last fall. So we are -- again, we're trying to model things on the [conservative side] so that we don't have any negative surprises out there. So yes, we -- our subs came in a bit better than expected.

我們的轉播——我們的增長比我們的指導高出 100 萬美元，因為潛艇沒有——沒有像我們建模的那樣下降那麼多。自從去年秋天以來，我們對政治感到有點驚訝，去年我們一直試圖在所有指南中保持特別保守。因此，我們再次嘗試在[保守方面]對事物進行建模，這樣我們就不會出現任何負面的意外情況。所以，是的，我們——我們的潛艇比預期的要好一些。

Our next question is going to come from [John Dickson] with [Artemis Investment].

我們的下一個問題將來自[John Dickson]和[Artemis Investment]。

I just wanted to tell you as an investor in your company, I'm very impressed with your portfolio and the leadership of your team. One of my questions, one of my concerns from a long-term picture is your debt load. I just wanted to question you guys, can you give some more insight into what you're doing to pay that debt load down?

我只是想告訴你，作為貴公司的投資者，我對你的投資組合和團隊的領導力印象深刻。我的問題之一，從長遠來看，我的擔憂之一是你的債務負擔。我只是想問你們，你們能更深入地了解你們正在採取哪些措施來償還債務負擔嗎？

Well, [John], let me begin, and then I'll let Jim follow up with all that. We have had a pretty direct communication with The Street and all of our investors about what our intentions were to do, and that was to grow the size of our portfolio. And we have allowed our debt ratio to grow into the 5 range. And then we have quickly paid it down. That happened after the [acquisition] of Schurz. It happened after the acquisition of Raycom. And we're in the same situation now.

好吧，[約翰]，讓我開始，然後我會讓吉姆跟進這一切。我們與華爾街和所有投資者進行了非常直接的溝通，了解我們的意圖，那就是擴大我們的投資組合規模。我們已經允許我們的債務比率增長到5的範圍。然後我們很快就還清了。這是在[收購]舒爾茨之後發生的。這是在收購融科之後發生的事情。我們現在也處於同樣的境地。

Our percentage ratio in my judgment is really not totally accurately reflected because we have such a high-quality portfolio of television stations. During a political year, we have a very strong proven record of overdelivering on political. And so as you measure the ratio, the quarters that we have a lot of big political

在我看來，我們的百分比確實沒有完全準確地反映，因為我們擁有如此高質量的電視台組合。在政治年度，我們在政治方面有著超額交付的良好記錄。因此，當你衡量這個比率時，我們有很多重大政治事件的季度

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

[rolls]. And so we have paid down about $600 million in absolute debt over the last several quarters. And that is our intention to do that going forward. So I think that you will see us continuing to reduce our ratios and our absolute debt as well.

[勞斯萊斯]。因此，我們在過去幾個季度償還了約 6 億美元的絕對債務。這就是我們未來這樣做的意圖。因此，我認為您會看到我們繼續降低比率和絕對債務。

Well, thank you, Hilton, and that's really the only question I had. And lastly, I'd just like to leave it as I really appreciate the leadership of your team. I think you're doing well. And I'm very impressed with the quality of your portfolio.

嗯，謝謝你，希爾頓，這確實是我唯一的問題。最後，我想離開它，因為我非常感謝你們團隊的領導。我認為你做得很好。你們的作品集的質量給我留下了深刻的印象。

You're awfully nice. I certainly appreciate it. Everybody does, [John].

你真是太好了。我當然很感激。每個人都這樣做，[約翰]。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is going to come from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Steven Cahall。

Yes. Maybe first, just to pick up on the last question. So it would be great, Jim, if maybe you could just walk through some of the puts and takes to get to free cash flow available for debt paydown this year. I know you talked to a free cash flow number, but between maybe some of the dividends and the CapEx, how much cash do you think you'll be able to use for debt reduction this year? And then I assume that's going to be a big number next year. So any kind of [outlook] on the amount of debt you might be able to bring down with the big political year coming next year?

是的。也許首先，只是回答最後一個問題。所以，吉姆，如果你能通過一些看跌期權和看跌期權來獲得今年可用於償還債務的自由現金流，那就太好了。我知道您談到了自由現金流數字，但在可能的一些股息和資本支出之間，您認為今年可以使用多少現金來減少債務？然後我認為明年這將是一個很大的數字。那麼，對於明年即將到來的重要政治年，您可能能夠減少多少債務？

Steven, I said our free cash, as we define it, it would be in the $150 million range. As you know, we define free cash before our common dividend, which is currently running about $28 million a year. And it would also be before the expected net investment for a full year '23 in the Assembly project. That's roughly $55-ish million on a net basis on a full year. So we will be paying down some debt late this year.

史蒂文，我說過我們的自由現金，按照我們的定義，將在 1.5 億美元範圍內。如您所知，我們將自由現金定義在普通股息之前，目前該股息每年約為 2800 萬美元。而且這還不包括裝配項目 23 年全年的預期淨投資。全年淨收入約為 5500 萬美元左右。因此，我們將在今年晚些時候償還一些債務。

You are absolutely right, and Hilton basically said the same thing a couple of minutes ago, that historically, as you know, in political years, we performed exceptionally well and have for longer than we can remember out-indexed on a per capita basis political revenues from anybody in this peer space. We see no reason why '24 won't be similar. We are certainly not going to put a full year estimate on '24 political, as you can imagine, only to say it's going to be a large number. Political comes cash in advance. So for all intents and purposes, goes direct free cash flow.

你說得完全正確，希爾頓幾分鐘前基本上也說了同樣的話，從歷史上看，正如你所知，在政治年份裡，我們表現得異常出色，而且在人均政治指數上的表現比我們記憶中的要長。來自這個同行空間中任何人的收入。我們認為 24​​ 世紀沒有理由不相似。正如你可以想像的那樣，我們當然不會對“24”政治全年進行估計，只是說這將是一個很大的數字。政治是提前現金的。因此，無論出於何種意圖和目的，都是直接自由現金流。

So we will be able to make a significant payment of debt, especially the latter part of next year. I'll remind people that for every political season, except for '22, and it changed slightly in '22. But history has said that about half of our political, and in '22, it was slightly less than half of our political. But anyways, the vast majority of political shows up in the fourth quarter of the year, which in '24 will allow us to make a significant debt paydown. You can look at our investor deck and see what we've done in prior political years to -- I can't guarantee the past is the future. But if you look at the investor deck and see what we've been able to do in free cash in political years, I think it will be very instructive to everyone.

因此，我們將能夠償還大量債務，特別是在明年下半年。我會提醒人們，對於每個政治季節，除了'22，它在'22中略有變化。但歷史表明，我們政治的一半左右，而在 22 年，這一比例略低於我們政治的一半。但無論如何，絕大多數政治事件都會在今年第四季度出現，這將使我們能夠在 24 年償還大量債務。你可以看看我們的投資者套牌，看看我們在之前的政治年裡做了什麼——我不能保證過去就是未來。但如果你看看投資者的表現，看看我們在政治生涯中能夠用自由現金做些什麼，我認為這對每個人都非常有啟發。

And maybe to follow up on that political theme, this could be for Jim or for Pat. I think your guidance for Q3 in political is lower than what you did pro forma in 2019. Is that just some conservatism after some of the more dynamic nature of political spending? And maybe related to that, Pat, how many political impressions do you pick up in core in the back half of the year? Because I imagine that's a pretty big tailwind given the level of crowd out you had last year.

也許為了跟進這個政治主題，這可能是針對吉姆或帕特的。我認為你們對第三季度政治支出的指導低於你們在 2019 年的預估水平。這是否只是在政治支出更具活力之後的一些保守主義？也許與此相關，帕特，你在今年下半年獲得了多少核心政治印象？因為我認為考慮到去年的擁擠程度，這是一個相當大的推動力。

It'll definitely -- it'll be impactful in September, October in terms of crowd out. You're right, we are being conservative, and for obvious reasons. Obviously, the former President is a huge wildcard, and his situation, I think, sort of dictates conservatism. So it could turn out significantly better or it could fall into a wide range. But I think -- particularly in October of last year, there was a significant sort of crowd out factor September and October.

就擠出而言，它肯定會在九月、十月產生影響。你是對的，我們很保守，而且原因很明顯。顯然，這位前總統是一個巨大的通配符，我認為他的處境在某種程度上決定了保守主義。因此，結果可能會明顯更好，也可能會落入一個很大的範圍。但我認為，尤其是去年 10 月，九月和十月存在明顯的排擠因素。

Yes. But obviously, if you look at -- Steven, again, if you're comparing to '19, yes, we're probably a little more conservative. As Pat said, there's probably a reason to be. We've obviously had an extremely strong first half performance. We started the year with a political guide. I'd have to go back and look, but I think it was closer to $40 million than the current $60 million guide. So certainly, our expectations have been improving as we've gone (inaudible).

是的。但顯然，如果你再看看史蒂文，如果你與 19 年相比，是的，我們可能會更保守一些。正如帕特所說，這可能是有原因的。顯然我們上半場的表現非常強勁。我們以政治指南開始了這一年。我得回去看看，但我認為它比當前的 6000 萬美元指南更接近 4000 萬美元。當然，隨著我們的離開，我們的期望一直在提高（聽不清）。

I think, again, keeping in mind that this year is -- except for the early '24 presidential money, it is a traditional off year. The traditional off year is progressing kind of like we would expect it to. I don't think any of us have seen any major red flags yet there. And as Pat said, the wildcard in political, whether it's Q3 or Q4, is going to be what happens with the early '24, especially the early primary states. We certainly expect that we will be getting more money on the early primary states as we go through the latter part of the year because we're very strong positioned in those states.

我想，再次記住，除了 24 年初的總統獎金之外，今年是傳統的淡年。傳統的小年正在像我們預期的那樣進行。我認為我們中的任何人都還沒有看到任何重大的危險信號。正如帕特所說，政治上的通配符，無論是第三季度還是第四季度，都將是 24 世紀早期發生的情況，尤其是早期的初選州。我們當然預計，在今年下半年，我們將在早期初選州獲得更多資金，因為我們在這些州的地位非常強大。

We'll kind of let the numbers take care of themselves. All in all, for a nonpolitical year, and we've commented about unimaginable early political spend in '23 going into '24 for the '24 presidential cycle. At the end of the day, we think political for '23 as an off year is going to take care of itself.

我們會讓數字自行處理。總而言之，對於非政治性的一年，我們評論了從 23 年到 24 年的 24 總統週期的難以想像的早期政治支出。歸根結底，我們認為 23 年的政治問題將會自行解決。

And then maybe just the last one for Kevin. We do kind of our own sub counts and forecasts as well, and your low single-digit number certainly sounds better than ours. I think some of the delta may be Paramount Plus and Peacock, which I know you do get paid on for your stations as well. So number one, is that correct in terms of the way you're doing your sub counts? And is there any way to think about the impact of Paramount Plus and Peacock within that low single-digit rate that you're at now?

也許這就是凱文的最後一次。我們也會進行自己的子計數和預測，你們的低個位數數字聽起來肯定比我們的要好。我認為三角洲的一些可能是派拉蒙Plus和孔雀，我知道你們的電視台也確實得到了報酬。那麼第一，就您進行子計數的方式而言，這是正確的嗎？有什麼方法可以在你現在所處的低個位數比率內考慮 Paramount Plus 和 Peacock 的影響嗎？

Steven, we have always included every distributor who pays us a fee for the linear distribution of our signals as a distributor when we do subscriber counts, and we have always counted a subscriber with Paramount Plus and before that, CBS All Access, when we count subscribers. We are getting paid a monthly fee per sub for the 24/7 distribution of our signal. So we have never excluded them, and I don't see a reason to exclude them otherwise.

史蒂文，當我們進行訂戶計數時，我們總是將每一個向我們支付信號線性分發費用的分銷商都包括在內，並且當我們進行訂戶計數時，我們總是對Paramount Plus 以及之前的CBS All Access 的訂戶進行計數訂戶。我們每月為每個子系統支付 24/7 信號分發費用。所以我們從來沒有排除過他們，而且我看不出有什麼理由排除他們。

In terms of the magnitude of Paramount Plus and Peacock, I'm concerned about giving that percentage out. We've been asked, I think, every call for that. We're not supposed to be disclosing the sub numbers for any distributor, and we provide the combined number. I think it provides a fairly easy road map for people to figure out what Paramount Plus' numbers are, and we're not prepared to do that. We are the biggest CBS affiliate. And so you can presume that between Peacock and Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus is a very large part of that, and Peacock is a fairly small part of that.

就 Paramount Plus 和 Peacock 的規模而言，我擔心給出這個百分比。我想，我們每次接到電話時都被要求這樣做。我們不應該披露任何分銷商的子號碼，我們會提供合併號碼。我認為它為人們提供了一個相當簡單的路線圖來弄清楚派拉蒙加的數字是什麼，但我們不准備這樣做。我們是哥倫比亞廣播公司最大的附屬機構。所以你可以假設，在 Peacock 和 Paramount Plus 之間，Paramount Plus 是其中非常大的一部分，而 Peacock 是其中相當小的一部分。

Our next question is going to come from Nick Zangler with Stephens Inc.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Nick Zangler。

First off, man, do I wish I received compliments like you just received from the [Artemis] investor there. So...

首先，伙計，我希望我能收到像你剛剛從那裡的[阿耳忒彌斯]投資者那裡收到的讚美嗎？所以...

Aren't you going to follow up? I mean come on.

你不打算跟進嗎？我的意思是來吧。

It's always nice to hear and nice of them to do so, I'd say. But if you -- moving on to the questions here. If you strip out auto's contribution to growth in the quarter, which I imagine this back-of-the-envelope math is pretty sizable, assuming auto is maybe 20% of the mix at this point and obviously growing 20%. Just curious how you gauge, I guess, local performance in the quarter and the outlook, stripping out auto, and if there's really any other verticals to call out that is contributing to the growth outlook and commentary.

我想說，聽到他們這麼做總是很高興。但如果你——繼續討論這裡的問題。如果你剔除汽車對本季度增長的貢獻，我認為這個粗略的數學計算相當大，假設汽車目前可能佔整個組合的 20%，並且顯然增長了 20%。我想你只是好奇你如何衡量本季度的本地表現和前景，排除汽車，以及是否真的有任何其他垂直行業可以指出，這有助於增長前景和評論。

As we've said consistently for multiple quarters, home improvement has continued to be very strong quarter after quarter. Q2 is no different. And our expectations for Q3 for that is not different as well based on a long track record. And as we've also commented for the last -- at least a year, if not longer, legal has done exceedingly well.

正如我們在多個季度中一直所說的那樣，家居裝修逐季持續強勁。 Q2 也不例外。根據長期記錄，我們對第三季度的預期也沒有什麼不同。正如我們過去也評論過的那樣——至少一年，如果不是更長的話，法律表現得非常好。

So you're right. Part of it is a story about auto [rebounding], which we had said for a long time would eventually happen, and guess what, it did. But there's also, again, other bright spots, some categories that you would expect, like fast food, probably a little challenged, but that's been challenged for longer now than I can remember. No surprise there and things like that. And again, I think that new local business development month after month, quarter after quarter is -- I mean, that's basically not auto, that's mom-and-pop growing business the good old-fashioned way.

所以你是對的。其中一部分是關於汽車[反彈]的故事，我們長期以來一直在說這最終會發生，你猜怎麼著，它確實發生了。但同樣，還有其他亮點，一些你所期望的類別，比如快餐，可能會受到一些挑戰，但這種挑戰已經比我記憶中的時間更長了。諸如此類的事情並不奇怪。再說一次，我認為新的本地業務發展月復一月、季復一季是——我的意思是，這基本上不是汽車，而是夫妻店以老式方式發展的業務。

Got it. No, that's helpful. And then I did want to talk on the sports rights because you guys kind of brought it up. But basically, I'm wondering if you're able to provide really any details on the structure that you've got with the Phoenix Suns and Mercury. And perhaps alternatively, you spoke to just many different types of structures these sports deals can take. I'm wondering maybe if you could just actually just walk us through that. Like what types of structures do you see, just like whether or not there's typically fixed payments, potential advertising rev share agreements? Just anything to kind of help us understand what these structures look like as potentially more are to be announced as we push forward.

知道了。不，這很有幫助。然後我確實想談談體育權利，因為你們提出了這個問題。但基本上，我想知道您是否能夠提供有關菲尼克斯太陽隊和水星隊的結構的任何細節。或者，也許您談到了這些體育交易可以採取的許多不同類型的結構。我想知道你是否可以真正引導我們完成這個過程。比如您看到什麼類型的結構，就像是否有通常的固定付款、潛在的廣告收入分成協議？只要能幫助我們了解這些結構的任何內容，隨著我們的推進，可能會宣布更多結構。

So I'll start. It's Pat. There are an infinite number of ways you can structure these deals. There's variances in distribution, whether it's all over-the-air, whether it's some over-the-air, some cable, some direct-to-consumer, some over-the-air with direct-to-consumer. There's a lot of ways that can be played.

那麼我就開始吧。是帕特。您可以通過無數種方式來構建這些交易。分銷方式存在差異，無論是全部通過無線方式，還是部分無線方式、部分有線方式、部分直接面向消費者、部分無線與直接面向消費者的方式。可以玩的方式有很多種。

There are differences in the ways the inventory gets sold. Does the rights acquirers sell the inventory? Does the team sell the inventory? Who does the production? Is there pre and post? There's just a ton of different variables that impacts those types of discussions.

庫存銷售方式存在差異。版權收購方是否出售庫存？團隊是否出售庫存？誰生產？有前置和後置嗎？有大量不同的變量會影響這些類型的討論。

And I think we're at a point where all -- that's sort of starting to get figured out. But it's a very fluid situation and -- as is the Diamond situation, and we're just monitoring where we need to monitor. We're acting where we need to act, and -- but we do believe there will be opportunity there.

我認為我們現在正處於這樣一個時刻——一切都開始得到解決。但這是一個非常不穩定的情況，就像鑽石的情況一樣，我們只是在需要監控的地方進行監控。我們正在需要採取行動的地方採取行動，而且——但我們確實相信那裡會有機會。

Got it. And then -- all right. Last one for me here, just on political, given I think some estimates are coming out, maybe $11 billion in this cycle, maybe $12 billion for the cycle and obviously, the potential for there to be some pull-forward, I guess, into 2023. As you look across your markets, are there any maybe worth highlighting where you are seeing political ad spend at this point in time significantly above or just different from what you would have seen at this point in time in the last presidential election that might be a leading indicator of just how large the spend might be as we think about the whole cycle?

知道了。然後——好吧。我在這裡的最後一個，只是關於政治，因為我認為一些估計即將出來，這個週期可能會產生 110 億美元，這個週期可能會產生 120 億美元，顯然，我想，有可能會出現一些拉動2023 年。當你縱觀你的市場時，是否有任何可能值得強調的地方，你在這個時間點看到的政治廣告支出明顯高於或只是不同於你在上一次總統選舉中此時看到的可能當我們考慮整個週期時，它是支出可能有多大的領先指標嗎？

Short answer is no. People aren't really advertising outside of the -- for early primary states to any noticeable extent. I mean, look, getting any money now for presidential primary is still a big deal. That's why Iowa is doing really well. And the other states that are generally performing well are governor's race in 2 states, state House race in Virginia. And then there are some issues that have popped up from time to time, but presidential primary money has historically been -- in '19, it was a fourth quarter event. It's now happening a little early, but it's happening in the primary -- primarily Iowa for us.

簡短的回答是否定的。人們並沒有真正在早期初選州之外做任何明顯的廣告。我的意思是，你看，現在為總統初選籌集資金仍然是一件大事。這就是愛荷華州表現出色的原因。其他表現良好的州還有兩個州的州長競選、弗吉尼亞州的州眾議院競選。然後，有時會出現一些問題，但從歷史上看，總統的初選資金一直是——在 19 年，這是第四季度的事件。現在發生的有點早，但它發生在初選中——對我們來說主要是愛荷華州。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is going to come from Alan Gould with Loop Capital.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自 Loop Capital 的 Alan Gould。

First question, Kevin, can you drill down a little bit more about what the affiliate Boards are doing to negotiate to get the virtual distribution? Any benchmarks we should be looking for? Are you trying to literally change laws? So what's -- can you just give us some more details there?

第一個問題，凱文，你能更深入地了解一下附屬委員會正在做什麼來談判以獲得虛擬發行嗎？我們應該尋找什麼基準？你真的想改變法律嗎？那麼，您能給我們提供更多細節嗎？

The focus of the coalition is to encourage the FCC to reopen -- basically to request comment on a 2014 rulemaking that was asking whether the FCC should update its rules to reflect potential arrival of virtual MVPDs. Comments submitted in 2014 are obviously stale in 2023. We are simply -- at this point, the ask is for the FCC to reopen proceeding, let people tell the FCC what's going on. That's literally where we're at.

該聯盟的重點是鼓勵 FCC 重新開放——基本上是要求對 2014 年的規則制定發表評論，該規則制定詢問 FCC 是否應該更新其規則以反映虛擬 MVPD 的潛在到來。 2014 年提交的評論在 2023 年顯然已經過時了。我們只是——在這一點上，要求 FCC 重新啟動程序，讓人們告訴 FCC 發生了什麼。這就是我們現在的處境。

There has been support both sides of the aisle and the Senate, supporting the FCC to again, just open the window and let us -- let the FCC hear what's going on and what has developed in the 9 years since they asked questions about an industry that literally did not exist at that time.

兩黨和參議院都得到了支持，再次支持 FCC，打開窗戶，讓我們——讓 FCC 聽聽自從他們提出有關行業的問題以來 9 年來發生了什麼以及發生了什麼當時根本不存在。

Any time frame when we should hear whether the FCC chooses to open that window again?

我們什麼時候應該聽到聯邦通信委員會是否選擇再次打開這個窗口？

It's entirely up to the Chairwoman. So I don't know. It's entirely up to the Chairwoman.

這完全取決於主席。所以我不知道。這完全取決於主席。

And Jim, 2 questions for you. Easy one, is that free cash flow estimate 1-1-5 million or 1-5-0 million? And on Diamond Sports, is that all behind us now? Or is there any potential liability remaining?

吉姆，有兩個問題要問你。簡單來說，自由現金流估計是 1-1-5 百萬還是 1-5-0 百萬？在鑽石體育上，這一切現在都已經過去了嗎？或者是否還有任何潛在的責任？

So free cash, as we define it, is approximately 1-5-0. And the issues with the Diamond bankruptcy and the impact on our historic agreement is behind us. Obviously, as we said, technically, that's a Q3 event, but you've got the numbers there, but it is all behind us at this point. And as we've said, we -- as a result of the Diamond rejection of the contract, we were able to put a new contract in place with the CW for ACC games. And I would say that the -- clearly, the net impact on the company with the ins and outs as we move forward is going to be a significantly immaterial number.

因此，正如我們所定義的，自由現金大約是 1-5-0。鑽石破產的問題以及對我們歷史性協議的影響已經成為過去。顯然，正如我們所說，從技術上講，這是第三季度的事件，但你已經得到了數據，但此時一切都已經過去了。正如我們所說，由於 Diamond 拒絕了合同，我們能夠與 CW 就 ACC 比賽簽訂一份新合同。我想說的是，很明顯，隨著我們的前進，對公司的來龍去脈的淨影響將是一個非常無關緊要的數字。

Our next question is going to come from Craig Huber with Huber Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Huber Research 的 Craig Huber。

I wanted to ask, first off, obviously, your core advertising numbers are much, much better than your peers out there. I wanted to give you a chance to just explain why you think you guys are outperforming your peers so much out there? I mean we all have our thoughts on it, but I'd like to hear your bullet points on why you think you're outperforming so much on core, please.

我想問，首先，顯然，你們的核心廣告數據比你們的同行要好得多。我想給你一個機會解釋一下為什麼你認為你們的表現遠遠優於同齡人？我的意思是我們對此都有自己的想法，但我想听聽您的要點，說明為什麼您認為自己在核心方面表現出色。

Well, this is Jim. I'm going to start, and then I'm going to let Pat and Sandy jump in. I'm not going to comment on the peers only to acknowledge that, obviously, the results that we published today seem to be leading the peer group in core advertising, both in the quarter and year-to-date. You'd have to ask them -- respectfully, I'm not going to comment on a peer. You should ask peers what -- why they think their results are their results. I certainly cannot and will not answer for them.

嗯，這是吉姆。我要開始，然後讓帕特和桑迪加入。我不會對同行發表評論，只是為了承認，顯然，我們今天發布的結果似乎領先於同行本季度和年初至今，核心廣告業務均處於領先地位。你必須問他們——恕我直言，我不會對同行發表評論。你應該問同事為什麼他們認為他們的結果就是他們的結果。我當然不能也不會為他們負責。

Answering for Gray, I think it goes back to what we have been saying literally for decades. And Q2's results, I think, again, as it many times in the past, prove it. We have the preeminent portfolio with asset quality in the television broadcast business, and we have had that for decades. We have always had a focus on strong local operations with an exceedingly laser focus on strong local news operations.

對於格雷的回答，我認為這可以追溯到我們幾十年來一直在說的內容。我認為，第二季度的結果再次證明了這一點，正如過去多次發生的那樣。我們在電視廣播業務中擁有資產質量卓越的投資組合，而且我們已經擁有了數十年。我們始終關注強大的本地業務，尤其是強大的本地新聞業務。

And when you've got a strong local news operation wrapped around a strong, larger overall television operation in most of the 113 markets you operate in, you have a chance to consistently form well to exceedingly well to outperforming the peer group. So what we're saying in this quarter is really no different than what we have said lots of times and lots of other quarters.

當您在所經營的 113 個市場中的大部分市場中擁有強大的本地新聞業務和強大、規模更大的整體電視業務時，您就有機會始終保持良好甚至極好的表現，從而超越同行。因此，我們在本季度所說的內容實際上與我們多次和其他季度所說的內容沒有什麼不同。

I would add on that. It's Pat. I would add, at the risk of being a little bit repetitive, we talked about our new local direct efforts. We're packing on north of $30 million a quarter in new business every quarter, and that's growing. We talked a little bit about the Meredith impact, which we telegraphed back when we closed on Meredith. We thought there was revenue upside there, and there is, and you're seeing the impact of that.

我想補充一點。是帕特。我想補充一點，冒著有點重複的風險，我們討論了我們新的本地直接努力。每個季度我們的新業務收入超過 3000 萬美元，而且還在不斷增長。我們討論了一些關於梅雷迪斯的影響，當我們關閉梅雷迪斯時，我們將其發回電報。我們認為那裡的收入有上升的空間，而且確實存在，而且你已經看到了它的影響。

Finally, and again, something I've talked about quite a bit on previous calls, our training efforts in our category-focused approach, that's paying great dividends. We have a really well-trained sales staff, and we invest in category experts to move our business forward. And I think you're seeing the result of all that right now.

最後，我再說一遍，我在之前的電話會議上多次談到過，我們在以品類為中心的方法中所做的培訓工作，正在帶來巨大的回報。我們擁有訓練有素的銷售人員，並投資品類專家來推動我們的業務向前發展。我想你現在已經看到了這一切的結果。

And my second question, if I could. Your comments earlier about the Phoenix Suns arrangement for games on your stations there, how -- just discuss, if you would, what percent of the games or number of games are you anticipating showing in your television stations in the season?

我的第二個問題，如果可以的話。您之前關於菲尼克斯太陽隊在您的電視台上安排比賽的評論，如果您願意的話，請討論您預計本賽季在您的電視台播放的比賽或比賽數量的百分比是多少？

So we would guess it's -- the number is flexible depending on how many games go to networks, but historically, somewhere on the order of 70 games.

所以我們猜測——這個數字是靈活的，具體取決於有多少游戲進入網絡，但從歷史上看，大約是 70 款遊戲。

That's a lot. Okay. Obviously, you're trying to do more of these in other markets if the opportunity arises, I assume, because economics must be quite favorable to you.

好多啊。好的。顯然，我認為，如果有機會的話，您會嘗試在其他市場做更多這樣的事情，因為經濟狀況一定對您非常有利。

Yes.

是的。

Okay. And also, on your local news ratings, early morning news and maybe late night, can you give us a sense on how those rating trends are doing, if you could separate the 2, early and late day?

好的。另外，在你們當地的新聞收視率、清晨新聞甚至深夜新聞收視率方面，您能否讓我們了解這些收視率趨勢的情況，如果您可以將清晨和深夜這兩個時間區分開來？

So -- yes. Look, we have a bunch of good television stations. And I can't sit here and tell you that there's this dramatically -- dramatic spike up or down. The numbers are large and continue to be large. Morning news, there was a little bit of noise in morning news numbers around COVID. And -- but we're back, sort of returned -- do you have any thoughts on that, Sandy?

所以——是的。看，我們有很多不錯的電視台。我不能坐在這裡告訴你這種戲劇性的上升或下降。這個數字很大，而且還會繼續很大。早間新聞，關於新冠肺炎的早間新聞報導有一些噪音。而且——但是我們回來了，有點回來了——你對此有什麼想法嗎，桑迪？

Yes. It's kind of -- we are back to normal there. But we have seen in some -- especially in some of our larger markets, and quite frankly, some of the former Meredith markets where we've seen our audience in the morning news grow significantly. And we're very pleased with that. And the same, I would say, for late news as well, we're seeing that in several of those markets.

是的。我們已經恢復正常了。但我們已經看到了一些——特別是在一些較大的市場，坦率地說，在一些以前的梅雷迪斯市場，我們看到早間新聞的觀眾顯著增長。我們對此非常滿意。同樣，我想說，對於最新消息，我們在其中幾個市場中也看到了這一點。

Sorry. So are you suggesting maybe versus prepandemic 2019 levels, the ratings are, say, flat or up?

對不起。那麼，您是否認為與 2019 年大流行前的水平相比，收視率是持平還是上升？

No, we're just saying there's been a bit of a normalization. And we're also saying that in the Meredith markets, which are the larger markets we have, we're seeing audience growth in a number of those markets.

不，我們只是說已經有點正常化了。我們還說，在梅雷迪思市場（我們擁有的更大的市場）中，我們看到其中許多市場的觀眾人數在增長。

Okay. My last question, if I could. This ongoing Hollywood strike, if this thing continues here, do you anticipate any negative ramifications for your TV stations here?

好的。我的最後一個問題，如果可以的話。正在進行的好萊塢罷工，如果這種情況繼續在這裡，您預計會對您的電視台產生任何負面影響嗎？

This is Jim. I'll start off and Pat or Sandy are welcome to join in, but we don't see that as a significant headwind one way or the other. Obviously, it will have, to a modest degree, we think, some impact on prime time as we move through the fall. Obviously, it will all depend on how quickly the strikes are settled. And as Hilton said, we hope that they're settled amicably for all parties concerned sooner than later, but any strike eventually gets settled.

這是吉姆。我將首先歡迎帕特或桑迪加入，但我們並不認為這是一個重大的阻力。顯然，我們認為，隨著秋季的到來，它將在一定程度上對黃金時段產生一些影響。顯然，這完全取決於罷工的解決速度。正如希爾頓所說，我們希望有關各方早日友好解決，但任何罷工最終都會得到解決。

We don't -- given the limited amounts of inventory that we have available to sell prime time, the impact to us as we move through September and fourth quarter is not significant at all. I mean we've seen it before. It's not a big deal, given, again, the local broadcast niche that we occupy. We are not a network. So it's not a super big deal to us.

我們不這樣做——考慮到我們可用於黃金時段銷售的庫存數量有限，在 9 月份和第四季度對我們的影響根本就不大。我的意思是我們以前見過它。考慮到我們所佔據的本地廣播利基市場，這並不是什麼大問題。我們不是一個網絡。所以這對我們來說並不是什麼大不了的事。

And our last question is going to come from Jim Goss with Barrington Research.

我們的最後一個問題將來自巴靈頓研究公司的吉姆·戈斯。

One more on the sports programming you've been talking about with Phoenix and the ACC. You're making compelling arguments for getting involved, and I do understand it's early stages in trying to figure this all out. But I'm wondering how far you do plan to take this, how extensive this effort might be. And I assume there's pretty good competition for those rights locally, you might comment on that. And the big issues obviously seem to be how does it fit into network scheduling because you're -- in all of the areas where you have a network feed, it would interrupt prime time in a lot of cases. I'm just wondering how it blends with that sort of situation.

關於您一直在與鳳凰城和 ACC 討論的體育節目的另一件事。你為參與其中提出了令人信服的論據，我確實理解現在還處於試圖解決這一切的早期階段。但我想知道你們計劃採取多遠的行動，這項努力可能會有多廣泛。我認為當地對這些權利的競爭相當激烈，你可能會對此發表評論。顯然，最大的問題似乎是它如何適應網絡調度，因為在所有擁有網絡饋送的區域，它在很多情況下都會中斷黃金時間。我只是想知道它如何與那種情況融合在一起。

Yes. Sure. I'll start, Jim. It's Pat. So we have a number of independent television stations in larger markets. Phoenix happens to be one of those markets. So in markets where we have these independents, it's not a problem. It's a great opportunity.

是的。當然。我要開始了，吉姆。是帕特。所以我們在更大的市場有很多獨立電視台。鳳凰城恰好是這些市場之一。因此，在我們擁有這些獨立人士的市場中，這不是問題。這是一個很好的機會。

And then I think what you'll see on affiliated stations is use of the subchannels to carry these games. So there's not just the CBS affiliate, but there's other channels that we air where it would be -- there would be no issues carrying pro sports games. So there's -- it's going to vary by market, but particularly in larger markets where we do have independents, which include Phoenix, Atlanta, Portland, we have 2 signals in Cleveland, there are great opportunities, and there should be great opportunities in those markets.

然後我想你會在附屬電視台看到使用子頻道來承載這些遊戲。因此，不僅有哥倫比亞廣播公司的附屬機構，還有其他我們可以播放的頻道——播放職業體育比賽不會有任何問題。所以，這會因市場而異，但特別是在我們確實有獨立公司的較大市場，其中包括菲尼克斯、亞特蘭大、波特蘭，我們在克利夫蘭有兩個信號，有很大的機會，而且這些地方應該有很大的機會市場。

Okay. And one last thing. After years of scaling up your platform and developing Assembly Studio and a variety of other things, do you have any further growth ambition beyond focusing on your high-quality expanded platform, say, for the other 3% and get into the cap limit? Or are you sitting still for a while and just evaluating what you've been undertaking?

好的。最後一件事。經過多年擴展您的平台並開發 Assembly Studio 和各種其他東西之後，除了專注於高質量的擴展平台（例如，另外 3% 並進入上限）之外，您是否還有進一步的增長目標？或者你是否靜靜地坐了一段時間，只是評估你一直在做的事情？

Jim, with regard to the last 3 points of the cap, we have said consistently for a long time that there are no must-have stations left in our opinion. Over time, and I stress over time because clearly, there's absolutely nothing today. But over time, if the right thing came along at the right time when our -- we felt good about our leverage. Say it differently, when our leverage was lower, would we consider some transaction or a couple of transactions to get the last 3 percentage points? That's a definite maybe. But it would depend on the circumstances of the time, the outlook we have as a company, the price, our leverage because, again, there is no must-have left in our view.

吉姆，關於上限的最後3分，我們長期以來一直一致表示，我們認為已經沒有必爭之地了。隨著時間的推移，我會越來越緊張，因為很明顯，今天什麼都沒有。但隨著時間的推移，如果正確的事情在正確的時間出現，我們就會對自己的影響力感到滿意。換句話說，當我們的槓桿較低時，我們會考慮進行一筆交易還是幾筆交易來獲得最後3個百分點？這是肯定的也許。但這將取決於當時的情況、我們作為一家公司的前景、價格、我們的槓桿，因為我們再次認為沒有什麼必須具備的。

We have been very clear on Assembly that the Phase 1 studio project is essentially completed and will be complete -- will wrap up its completion over the next few months. We have said consistently that there is remaining acreage that remains to be developed. In Hilton's opening comments, he talked about that, that, that's a long-term project for the company that we'll be exceedingly thoughtful about.

我們在 Assembly 上已經非常明確地表示，第一階段工作室項目已基本完成並將完成 - 將在接下來的幾個月內完成。我們一直表示，還有剩餘土地有待開發。在希爾頓的開場白中，他談到，這是公司的一個長期項目，我們將對此進行深思熟慮。

But other than that, I think we've been very clear for a long time that we view Assembly Studios as a complementary business to the core operations of the company. And we've said for a long time that we are happy to entertain, when it makes sense to this company, further acquisitions of either, again, potentially core business in TV, although those opportunities are going to be exceedingly limited, or other complementary businesses. But it has to make sense to us, and we're not going to go off and completely change what we have been doing for many decades as far as our core business and our core philosophies.

但除此之外，我認為我們長期以來一直非常明確，我們將 Assembly Studios 視為公司核心業務的補充業務。我們長期以來一直表示，當對這家公司有意義時，我們很樂意進一步收購電視領域的潛在核心業務（儘管這些機會將極其有限）或其他補充性收購。企業。但它必須對我們有意義，而且我們不會徹底改變我們幾十年來一直在做的事情，包括我們的核心業務和核心理念。

There are no more questions in queue. So I'll turn it back over to you for any closing remarks.

隊列中沒有更多問題。因此，我會將其轉回給您以供結束語。

Thank you, operator, and thank all of you for joining us this morning, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter. Have a great weekend.

謝謝您，接線員，感謝大家今天早上加入我們，我們期待下個季度與您交談。週末愉快。

This concludes your call. You may now disconnect.

您的通話到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。