Gray Media Inc (GTN) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Gray Media Q2 2025 GTN earnings release. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，早安。歡迎閱讀 Gray Media 2025 年第二季 GTN 收益報告。（操作員指示）

And without further ado, I will now turn the call over to Chairman and CEO, Hilton Howell.

不用多說，我現在將電話轉給董事長兼執行長希爾頓豪厄爾。

Thank you so much, Chris. We really do appreciate it. Good morning, everyone. This is Hilton Howell, the Chairman and CEO of Gray Media, and I want to thank all of you for joining our second quarter 2025 earnings call. We have a lot to talk about today.

非常感謝，克里斯。我們真的很感激。大家早安。我是 Gray Media 董事長兼執行長希爾頓‧豪厄爾 (Hilton Howell)，感謝大家參加我們的 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。今天我們有很多事要談。

With me here in Atlanta are all of our executive officers; pat LaPlatney, our President and Co-CEO; Sandy Breland, our Chief Operating Officer; Kevin Latek, our Chief Legal and Development Officer; and Jeff Gignac, our Chief Financial Officer. And as usual, we will begin with the disclaimer that Kevin will provide. Kevin?

和我一起來到亞特蘭大的還有我們所有的執行官：我們的總裁兼聯合首席執行官帕特·拉普拉特尼 (Pat LaPlatney)、我們的首席營運官桑迪·布雷蘭 (Sandy Breland)、我們的首席法律和發展官凱文·拉泰克 (Kevin Latek) 和我們的首席財務官傑夫·吉尼亞克 (Jeff Gignac)。像往常一樣，我們將從凱文提供的免責聲明開始。凱文？

Thank you, Hilton. Good morning, everyone. Today, we filed with the SEC on Form 8-K, our earnings release and an updated investor slides. Later today, we will file with the SEC our quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Materials are all available on our website, which is www.graymedia.com.

謝謝你，希爾頓。大家早安。今天，我們向美國證券交易委員會提交了 8-K 表格、收益報告和更新的投資者幻燈片。今天晚些時候，我們將向美國證券交易委員會提交 10-Q 表季度報告。所有資料均可在我們的網站 www.graymedia.com 上找到。

Included on the call may be a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures and in particular, adjusted EBITDA, leverage ratio denominator and certain leverage ratios. These metrics are not meant to replace GAAP measurements, but are provided as supplements to assist the public in its analysis and valuation of our company. Further discussions and reconciliations of the company's non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures can be found on our website.

電話會議可能包括對非公認會計準則財務指標的討論，特別是調整後的 EBITDA、槓桿率分母和某些槓桿。這些指標並非旨在取代 GAAP 衡量標準，而是作為補充，幫助公眾分析和評估我們的公司。您可以在我們的網站上找到有關公司非 GAAP 財務指標與可比較 GAAP 指標的進一步討論和對帳。

All statements and comments made by management during this conference call other than statements of historical facts should be deemed forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results in the future could differ from those described in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors that are contained in our most recent filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

管理階層在本次電話會議期間所作的所有陳述和評論（除歷史事實陳述外）均應視為前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響。由於我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中涉及各種重要因素，未來的實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中描述的結果不同。我們不承擔更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論其是否由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

Now I'll return the call to Hilton.

現在我將回電給希爾頓。

Thank you, Kevin. Today, we are very happy to announce that our results for the second quarter of 2025 finished better than our original guidance on both revenues and expenses and in line with our revised guidance announced on July 8, 2025.

謝謝你，凱文。今天，我們非常高興地宣布，我們 2025 年第二季的業績在收入和支出方面均優於我們最初的預期，並符合我們在 2025 年 7 月 8 日宣布的修訂預期。

Total revenue in the second quarter was $772 million, a decrease of 7% from the second quarter of 2024 and 1% above the high end of our original guidance for the quarter. Total operating expenses before depreciation, amortization, impairment and gain on disposal of assets in the quarter were slightly below the low end of our original guidance. We had a net loss of $56 million in the second quarter compared to net income of $22 million in the second quarter of 2024.

第二季總營收為 7.72 億美元，較 2024 年第二季下降 7%，比我們最初對該季度的預期上限高出 1%。本季折舊、攤提、減損和資產處置收益前的總營運費用略低於我們最初預期的低端。我們第二季的淨虧損為 5,600 萬美元，而 2024 年第二季的淨收入為 2,200 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $169 million in the second quarter, a decrease of 25% from the second quarter of 2024. Political advertising was obviously lower in the second quarter of 2024, yet similar to the first quarter this year, second quarter 2025 political finished well above our expectation for an off-cycle year.

第二季調整後EBITDA為1.69億美元，較2024年第二季下降25%。2024 年第二季的政治廣告明顯較低，但與今年第一季類似，2025 年第二季的政治廣告表現遠高於我們對非週期年份的預期。

In addition to these results, we have been very active on the M&A front in the past several weeks. If you recall that we reopened the TV industry M&A market in the spring when we obtained an FCC waiver to acquire the FOX affiliate in Rochester, Minnesota and created a duopoly with our NBC station there.

除了這些結果之外，過去幾週我們在併購方面也非常活躍。如果你還記得的話，我們在春季重新開放了電視行業併購市場，當時我們獲得了聯邦通信委員會的豁免，收購了明尼蘇達州羅徹斯特的 FOX 分支機構，並與那裡的 NBC 電視台形成了雙頭壟斷。

In July, we announced a first-of-its-kind five-market no-cash swap of assets with Scripps. That transaction will bring us into the Lafayette, Louisiana market and include a FOX affiliate in Lansing, Michigan, where we currently own the NBC affiliate. While our decision to sell our TV stations in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Twin Falls, Idaho was a very difficult one, we are excited that Gray and Scripps found a path that improves our respective strategic positions and creates more opportunities for the stations in these five markets with their new respective owners.

7 月份，我們宣布與 Scripps 進行首個五市場無現金資產互換交易。該交易將使我們進入路易斯安那州拉斐特市場，並包括密西根州蘭辛的 FOX 附屬公司，我們目前在那裡擁有 NBC 附屬公司。雖然我們決定出售位於科羅拉多斯普林斯、大章克申和愛達荷州雙瀑市的電視台是一個非常困難的決定，但我們很高興格雷和斯克里普斯找到了一條能夠改善我們各自戰略地位的道路，並為這五個市場的新主人創造更多機會。

Last Thursday, we announced the acquisition of two shared services stations from Sagamore Hill Broadcasting for less than $2 million. And then on Friday, we announced the acquisitions of all Block Communications television stations which are located in Louisville, Kentucky; Springfield-Decatur, Illinois; and Lima, Ohio for $80 million. And finally, this morning early, we announced an agreement to acquire television stations in 10 markets from Allen Media for $171 million, including the three new markets of Columbus-Tupelo, Mississippi; Terre Haute, Indiana; and West Lafayette, Indiana.

上週四，我們宣布以不到 200 萬美元的價格從 Sagamore Hill Broadcasting 收購兩個共享服務站。然後在周五，我們宣布以 8000 萬美元收購位於肯塔基州路易斯維爾、伊利諾伊州斯普林菲爾德-迪凱特和俄亥俄州利馬的所有 Block Communications 電視台。最後，今天早上，我們宣布了一項協議，以 1.71 億美元的價格從艾倫傳媒公司收購 10 個市場的電視台，其中包括密西西比州哥倫布-圖珀洛、印第安納州特雷霍特和印第安納州西拉斐特三個新市場。

So today, everyone, on the calls, please be nice to Kevin. He's been up all night last night and has had no sleep. So he has an errata on his answers. Together, the Scripps, Sagamore, Block and Allen transactions will add a net six new markets to our portfolio. We are particularly proud that we will enter each of these markets, the local news station that was ranked number one in their respective markets in 2024.

所以今天，各位在通話中，請對凱文友善一點。他昨晚整夜未眠，沒有睡覺。因此他的答案有誤。Scripps、Sagamore、Block 和 Allen 交易將為我們的投資組合淨增加六個新市場。我們特別自豪的是，我們將進入這些市場，這些地方新聞台在 2024 年各自市場中排名第一。

These transactions also will create, and I'm really impressed with this, 11 new Big Four full powered duopolies. In all of these markets, we expect our leverage of our new sales and sports strategies for the benefits of their local communities and for the public interest.

這些交易還將創造 11 個新的四大巨頭全面壟斷局面，對此我印象深刻。在所有這些市場中，我們都希望利用我們的新銷售和體育策略為當地社區和公眾帶來利益。

Each of these transactions also furthers our commitment to pursuing tuck-in and duopoly creating transactions in a prudent manner. When totaled across all four transactions, we will be adding strong assets that will be immediately cash flow accretive and therefore, will contribute to our efforts to improve and enhance our company's balance sheet.

每筆交易都進一步表明了我們以審慎的方式追求壟斷和雙頭壟斷交易的承諾。當四筆交易加起來時，我們將增加強大的資產，這些資產將立即增加現金流，有助於我們改善和增強公司資產負債表的努力。

We have had a busy few weeks putting together these transactions, and we are not likely to continue at this pace in the next quarter or two. Instead, we will focus the balance of this year's strategic energy on obtaining the necessary regulatory and other approvals to ensure prompt closings of these announced transactions as well as working to ensure smooth transitions for the affected employees, advertisers and other stakeholders, all by the end of 2025.

我們花了幾週的時間忙於處理這些交易，但在接下來的一兩個季度裡，我們不太可能繼續保持這樣的速度。相反，我們將把今年的策略精力集中在獲得必要的監管和其他批准上，以確保這些已宣布的交易能夠迅速完成，並努力確保受影響的員工、廣告商和其他利益相關者在 2025 年底前順利過渡。

We also made significant progress on strengthening our balance sheet during the second quarter of this year and into the third quarter of this year. During the second quarter, we reduced our outstanding indebtedness by an additional $22 million. We finished the second quarter with a first lien leverage ratio of 2.99 times and a leverage ratio of 5.6 times, each as defined by our senior credit agreement.

今年第二季和第三季度，我們在加強資產負債表方面也取得了重大進展。在第二季度，我們又減少了 2,200 萬美元的未償債務。我們在第二季結束時的一級留置權槓桿率為 2.99 倍，槓桿率為 5.6 倍，均符合我們的高級信貸協議的定義。

In July of 2025, we completed an offering of $900 million of senior secured second lien notes, along with a $50 million increase in our revolver commitment, which now stands at $750 million. The exceptional demand from the second lien transaction allowed us to also extend a $775 million first lien debt issuance. Jeff will provide more details on each of these transactions later in the call.

2025 年 7 月，我們完成了 9 億美元優先擔保第二留置權票據的發行，同時循環信貸承諾增加了 5,000 萬美元，目前為 7.5 億美元。第二留置權交易的特殊需求使我們還可以延長 7.75 億美元的第一留置權債務發行。傑夫將在稍後的電話會議中提供有關每筆交易的更多詳細資訊。

I'd like to simply say thank you to our investors who are supporting us as we continue executing on our deleveraging and growth strategies.

我只想向我們的投資人表示感謝，感謝他們在我們繼續執行去槓桿和成長策略的過程中給予我們的支持。

As noted in our press release this morning, our Board of Directors declared the usual $0.08 per share quarterly dividends. As always, our Board will consider capital allocation each quarter in light of other opportunities to deploy capital for growth. Operationally, we continue to enhance our local content offerings in the second quarter of 2025. We now have local and regional professional sports deals covering nearly 80% of all of our markets.

正如我們今天上午的新聞稿中所述，我們的董事會宣布每股派發 0.08 美元的季度股息。與往常一樣，我們的董事會將根據其他部署資本實現成長的機會，每季考慮資本配置。在營運方面，我們將在 2025 年第二季繼續增強本地內容的提供。目前，我們的本地和區域職業運動交易已覆蓋近 80% 的市場。

Our stations and our people continue to receive national recognition for their outstanding journalistic efforts. We are incredibly proud of our combined 81 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in journalism to 38 of our television stations. I'm also exceptionally proud of KWTX in my hometown of Waco, Texas for spearheading a company-wide partnership with Graham Media on a campaign to raise money for the Texas floods in Kerrville, Texas. That campaign raised over $1.1 million, once again demonstrating the power of broadcast and our company's commitment to serving local communities.

我們的電台和工作人員因其出色的新聞工作而繼續獲得全國的認可。我們為 38 家電視台榮獲 81 項地區性愛德華·默羅獎（Edward R. Murrow Awards）而感到無比自豪。我也對我家鄉德州韋科的 KWTX 感到非常自豪，他們率先與 Graham Media 進行全公司範圍的合作，為德州克爾維爾的洪水籌集善款。該活動籌集了超過 110 萬美元，再次證明了廣播的力量和我們公司服務當地社區的承諾。

In June, we announced that we had renewed our affiliation agreement with CBS for two more years. As part of that agreement, WANF, our primary television station in Atlanta, will become an independent television station. There are numerous examples of very successful independent television stations across the country and indeed within our own company, which includes KTBK in Phoenix, Arizona's Family, which is the number one station in the market and across the state of Arizona. We are excited for WANF to officially make the transition next week, and our community should be excited to see their Braves, the Hawks and the Dream and all of our expanded local offerings that are uniquely Atlanta.

6 月份，我們宣布與 CBS 續簽了兩年的合作協議。根據該協議的一部分，我們在亞特蘭大的主要電視台 WANF 將成為獨立電視台。全國各地以及我們公司內部都有許多非常成功的獨立電視台，其中包括鳳凰城的 KTBK 電視台、亞利桑那州的 Family 電視台，後者是市場上和整個亞利桑那州排名第一的電視台。我們很高興 WANF 將於下周正式完成過渡，我們的社區應該很高興看到他們的勇士隊、老鷹隊和夢想隊以及我們所有獨具亞特蘭大特色的擴展本地產品。

The momentum at Assembly Studios also continued in the second quarter of this year. The CBS daytime soap opera, Beyond the Gates, which we discussed on our last call, was extended for a second season and will continue to contribute to the activity on site at Assembly.

Assembly Studios 的勢頭在今年第二季也得以延續。我們在上次通話中討論過的哥倫比亞廣播公司 (CBS) 日間肥皂劇《大門之外》已延長第二季，並將繼續為 Assembly 的現場活動做出貢獻。

We are actively engaged with potential development partners who are contributing or would be contributing their financial resources and development expertise to accelerate value creation at Assembly Studios. We expect to have more announcements about these exciting plans later in 2025. We have made a lot of progress so far this year and are excited that we are capitalizing on opportunities across multiple aspects of our business to enhance shareholder value.

我們積極與潛在的開發合作夥伴合作，他們正在貢獻或將貢獻他們的財務資源和開發專業知識，以加速 Assembly Studios 的價值創造。我們預計將在 2025 年稍後發布更多有關這些令人興奮的計劃的公告。今年到目前為止，我們已經取得了巨大進展，並且很高興能夠利用業務多個方面的機會來提升股東價值。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to Pat to address our operations.

現在，我將把電話轉給帕特來討論我們的營運情況。

Thank you, Hilton. As you saw in our July 8 guidance update, we finished the quarter at the better end of both our revenue and expense guidance. Let me provide a little more context about how the quarter played out. Q2 started with the same cautious tone amongst our advertisers that we experienced in the first quarter, particularly in the auto category. Through the quarter, we saw stronger core activity than we projected back in May, and we ultimately finished on the high side of guidance, down about 3% versus second quarter '24.

謝謝你，希爾頓。正如您在我們 7 月 8 日的指導更新中所看到的，我們在本季度的收入和支出都超出了指導預期。讓我提供一些有關本季度進展的更多背景資訊。與第一季一樣，第二季開始時，我們的廣告客戶也表現出同樣的謹慎態度，尤其是在汽車類別中。整個季度，我們看到核心活動比 5 月預測的要強勁，最終達到了預期的高位，比 2024 年第二季度下降了約 3%。

From a category perspective, like in first quarter and as we guided for second quarter, automotive came in down high single digits. Legal continues to grow nicely, up double-digit percentages versus last year and is a top five category. Other categories are a mixed bag, in some cases, surprisingly resilient. Restaurants were soft, but discount and department stores, tourism and entertainment, all linked to consumer discretionary spending were up over 5% versus last year. More essential categories like health, home improvement, education and financial services were flattish.

從類別角度來看，就像第一季一樣，正如我們對第二季的預測一樣，汽車銷售量下降了個位數。法律繼續保持良好成長勢頭，與去年相比增長了兩位數百分比，並躋身前五名類別。其他類別的情況好壞參半，在某些情況下，卻出乎意料地具有彈性。餐飲業表現疲軟，但折扣店、百貨公司、旅遊和娛樂等與消費者可自由支配支出相關的行業較去年同期增長了 5% 以上。健康、家居裝修、教育和金融服務等更重要的類別表現平平。

Digital was up again nicely at 8% and our new local direct business grew a little over 2% in the second quarter of '25. Our multimedia sales teams continue to partner with advertisers to bring new businesses to our trusted local platforms. Once again, political ad revenue, as Hilton said, was ahead of our expectations in the second quarter of '25. Our guide for the second quarter was about $2 million to $3 million, while our actual results came in at $9 million. Most of this revenue is generated from issue advertisers, supporting the President's legislative priorities, but we saw spending from the Arizona Governor's race as well as the Georgia Senate and state races in Virginia.

數位業務再次強勁成長，達到 8%，而我們的新本地直銷業務在 2025 年第二季度增長了 2% 多一點。我們的多媒體銷售團隊繼續與廣告商合作，為我們值得信賴的在地平台帶來新業務。正如希爾頓所說，2025 年第二季的政治廣告收入再次超出了我們的預期。我們對第二季的預期是 200 萬至 300 萬美元，而實際結果為 900 萬美元。這些收入大部分來自議題廣告商，用於支持總統的立法優先事項，但我們也看到了來自亞利桑那州州長競選以及喬治亞州參議院和維吉尼亞州競選的支出。

Providing guidance for the third quarter of '25 continues to be challenging. We have guided our core ad revenue to be down low to mid-single digits. It's important to remember, however, that the Olympics on NBC provided about a $20 million uplift in July and August of '24, of which about $4 million was political. If you factor that in, our third quarter guide is flat to slightly up.

為 25 年第三季提供指導仍然具有挑戰性。我們已將核心廣告收入控制在低至中等個位數的水平。然而，重要的是要記住，NBC 的奧運會在 1924 年 7 月和 8 月帶來了約 2000 萬美元的收入，其中約 400 萬美元是政治收入。如果考慮到這一點，我們的第三季指引將持平或略有上升。

Across the categories in the third quarter, we're seeing automotive and also restaurants facing lower. And we're also seeing some pockets of strength still in legal, consumer goods and entertainment. We expect digital revenue to be up low double digits in Q3 with a continuation of political spending.

從第三季的各個類別來看，我們看到汽車和餐飲業都面臨下滑。我們也看到，法律、消費品和娛樂領域仍存在一些優勢。我們預計，隨著政治支出的持續增加，第三季的數位收入將實現兩位數的低點成長。

Jeff will now address the key financial developments of the quarter.

傑夫現在將討論本季的主要財務發展。

Thanks, Pat. As Hilton mentioned earlier, reducing debt and leverage remains our top capital allocation priority, and we remain focused during the second quarter. We continue to chip away at our debt by repaying an additional $22 million in the second quarter of 2025. This is our total capital markets debt reduction since the beginning of 2024 to $560 million. Our expense reductions that we've been discussing on our prior calls are showing up in our results and supporting the other side of the equation.

謝謝，帕特。正如希爾頓之前提到的，減少債務和槓桿仍然是我們資本配置的首要任務，我們在第二季度仍將重點關注這一點。我們將繼續償還債務，並在 2025 年第二季償還額外的 2,200 萬美元。這是我們自 2024 年初以來資本市場債務總額減少至 5.6 億美元。我們在先前的電話會議上討論過的費用削減正在體現在我們的業績中，並支持等式的另一邊。

Notably, our operating expenses were flat in the second quarter of '25 versus the second quarter of 2024, and that follows a decline in the first quarter versus first quarter of '24.

值得注意的是，我們的營運費用在 2025 年第二季與 2024 年第二季持平，而第一季與 2024 年第一季相比有所下降。

We finished the quarter at 2.99 times first lien leverage and 5.6 times total leverage, each using the calculation in our senior credit agreement. On our first quarter call, we raised the possibility of M&A providing another avenue to reduce leverage and enhance our ability to serve our markets. As we described, our guiding principles on the M&A front focused on finding delevering transactions that are strategically important and/or create duopolies to strengthen our local market presence.

本季度，我們的第一留置權槓桿率為 2.99 倍，總槓桿率為 5.6 倍，均採用我們的高級信貸協議中的計算方法。在第一季電話會議上，我們提出了併購的可能性，這為降低槓桿率和增強我們服務市場的能力提供了另一種途徑。正如我們所描述的，我們在併購方面的指導原則側重於尋找具有戰略重要性的去槓桿交易和/或建立雙頭壟斷以加強我們在本地市場的地位。

Indeed, our transactions with Scripps, Sagamore Hill, Block and Allen will be immediately accretive to cash flow and to our leverage ratio when we close later this year. We estimate that if we close these transactions today, our leverage ratio would be approximately a 0.25 turn lower than where we finished the quarter.

事實上，當我們在今年稍後完成與 Scripps、Sagamore Hill、Block 和 Allen 的交易時，它將立即增加現金流和我們的槓桿率。我們估計，如果我們今天完成這些交易，我們的槓桿率將比本季末的水平低約 0.25 倍。

We're continuing to make progress on our net retransmission and moving towards sustainability on that front. This is a function of a multiyear effort that continues. We continue to work with our network partners to find mutually beneficial arrangements.

我們在網路轉播方面繼續取得進展，並朝著永續發展的方向邁進。這是多年持續努力的成果。我們將繼續與我們的網路合作夥伴合作，尋求互惠互利的安排。

In July, strong market conditions allowed us to access the debt market twice. As we evaluated our options, it became clear that raising some junior capital could accomplish a number of objectives. We also wanted to set the stage to refinance our first lien debt after 2026 political cash flows. We ended up raising $900 million of 9.625% senior secured second lien notes due 2032, and we concurrently increased our revolver by $50 million to $750 million and also extended our revolver maturity to December 1, 2028. The new second lien layer in our capital structure fully repaid our 2027 notes and reduced first lien leverage by repaying $403 million of our Term Loan F.

7月份，強勁的市場條件使我們兩次進入債務市場。當我們評估我們的選擇時，很明顯地籌集一些初級資本可以實現許多目標。我們也希望為 2026 年政治現金流之後我們的第一留置權債務的再融資做好準備。我們最終籌集了 9 億美元的 2032 年到期的 9.625% 優先擔保第二留置權票據，同時將循環信貸額度增加了 5000 萬美元，達到 7.5 億美元，並將循環信貸額度延長至 2028 年 12 月 1 日。我們資本結構中的新第二留置權層完全償還了我們的 2027 年票據，並透過償還 4.03 億美元的定期貸款 F 降低了第一留置權槓桿。

Given the strong reception to the second lien, we quickly followed with an issuance of $775 million of 7.25% first lien notes that lowered our cost of debt and extended our maturities out to 2033. As a result of these actions, we have no material maturities until December 2028, and we have a clear path to address our remaining '28 and '29 first lien maturities.

鑑於第二留置權受到熱烈歡迎，我們迅速發行了價值 7.75 億美元的 7.25% 第一留置權票據，這降低了我們的債務成本並將我們的期限延長至 2033 年。由於採取了這些行動，我們在 2028 年 12 月之前沒有重大到期債務，並且我們有明確的途徑來解決剩餘的 28 年和 29 年第一留置權到期債務。

We completed the transactions with less than a 25 basis point increase in our overall cost of debt, and you'll see that reflected in our updated interest guide. Importantly, we also have access to balance sheet and internally generated capital to reduce debt and to pursue delevering M&A.

當我們完成交易時，總債務成本的增幅不到 25 個基點，您會在我們更新的利息指南中看到這一點。重要的是，我們也可以利用資產負債表和內部產生的資本來減少債務並進行去槓桿併購。

Taking into account the July refinancings, we estimate that our first lien leverage decreased from 2.99 times to 2.6 times, our secured leverage increased from 2.99 times to approximately 3.6 times, and our total leverage did not change other than from the impact of the transaction costs.

考慮到 7 月的再融資，我們估計我們的第一留置權槓桿率從 2.99 倍下降到 2.6 倍，我們的擔保槓桿率從 2.99 倍增加到約 3.6 倍，除了交易成本的影響外，我們的總槓桿率沒有變化。

One last thing I'll note, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act allows for greater interest deductibility. As a result, you will see that we lowered our tax guidance for the year, and we no longer expect to make any material tax payments for the remainder of 2025.

最後我要注意的一點是，《一項偉大的美麗法案》允許更大的利息扣除額。因此，您會看到我們降低了今年的稅收指導，並且我們不再預計在 2025 年剩餘時間內支付任何重大稅款。

This concludes my remarks, and I'll turn the call back to Hilton.

我的發言到此結束，我將把電話轉回給希爾頓。

Thank you so much, Jeff. And operator, we'd love to open up the line for any questions you guys may have.

非常感謝，傑夫。接線員，我們很樂意為你們解答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Dan Kurnos, the Benchmark Company.

（操作員指示） Dan Kurnos，Benchmark 公司。

Yes. A lot of ground to cover. Appreciate all the color, guys. I guess, well, first, I'll just say just a shout out to Jeff, heroic job with the balance sheet. So well done on that front. Second, I'll ask Hilton, I guess, kind of standing pat, does it mean -- I assume you'll continue to look at swaps and other things that could improve. Obviously, you have a lot to digest after what you've done, but just kind of where you're headed if an opportunity arises. And Jeff, I know you gave the color on leverage improvement post transaction, but just any way to think about synergies or buyers' multiples on some of these?

是的。有很多事情需要解決。欣賞所有的色彩，夥計們。我想，首先，我要向傑夫致敬，他在資產負債表方面做得非常出色。在這方面做得很好。其次，我想問希爾頓，我猜，維持現狀是否意味著——我認為你會繼續專注於掉期和其他可以改進的事情。顯然，在完成這些事情之後，你還有很多東西需要消化，但是如果機會出現，你就會知道該往哪裡走。傑夫，我知道您已經對交易後的槓桿改善進行了闡述，但是您能從哪些方面考慮協同效應或買家的倍數呢？

Well, Dan, let me just begin. First, thank you on your comments with regard to our balance sheet. It really was, in fact, heroic. And I'm really proud of Jeff Gignac for leading that and our whole team for that effort. With regard to the transactions that we have announced really since the announcement that I've covered in my comments in Rochester, Minnesota, we've done a lot of transactions. I think everybody that has spoken in the industry will tell you that everybody is talking to everybody else. And while we don't have any current plans on other transactions, we're always going to be listening, Dan. I mean -- but I do know that Sandy here, who's also with us is going to have -- it's a big lift. We've got a lot of markets here.

好吧，丹，讓我先開始吧。首先，感謝您對我們的資產負債表的評論。事實上，這確實是英勇的行為。我為傑夫·吉格納克 (Jeff Gignac) 的領導以及我們整個團隊的努力感到非常自豪。關於我們宣布的交易，實際上自從我在明尼蘇達州羅徹斯特的評論中提到這一消息以來，我們已經做了很多交易。我想，業內的每個人都會告訴你，每個人都在與其他人交談。雖然我們目前沒有其他交易計劃，但我們會一直傾聽，丹。我的意思是——但我確實知道，和我們在一起的桑迪將會——這是一個巨大的鼓舞。我們這裡有很多市場。

And the first thing that you have to do when you run any kind of business is to make sure what you've bitten off can be handled. I am very, very excited. And I want to publicly thank the entire management team at Scripps because it's hard for any two companies who are all justifiably proud of their assets and their operations to be able to reach an amicable swap, and we did so, and I'm immensely proud of it.

當你經營任何類型的業務時，你要做的第一件事就是確保你承擔的任務能夠得到處理。我非常非常興奮。我要公開感謝 Scripps 的整個管理團隊，因為對於任何兩家都對自己的資產和營運感到自豪的公司來說，達成友好交換都是很困難的，但我們做到了，我對此感到無比自豪。

And so it's going to be very good for Scripps. It's also going to be very good with Gray because really when we announced it, we had a duopoly in Lansing. But now with the acquisition through Scripps and what we have announced this morning with Allen, we get a second duopoly out of that transaction in Lafayette, Louisiana.

所以這對斯克里普斯來說會是非常好的。這對 Gray 來說也會非常有利，因為當我們宣布這一消息時，我們在蘭辛已經形成了雙頭壟斷。但現在透過 Scripps 的收購以及我們今天早上與 Allen 宣布的消息，我們在路易斯安那州拉斐特的交易中獲得了第二個雙頭壟斷。

But we also get new duopolies in lots of markets. And as Jeff mentioned, if all these deals were done, just the transactions themselves delever us by about 0.25 point, and that is just the transactions. We have done a tremendous number of other initiatives that's going to be reducing our debt on a ratio basis prospectively.

但在許多市場上，我們也出現了新的雙頭壟斷。正如傑夫所提到的，如果所有這些交易都完成了，那麼交易本身就可以降低我們的槓桿率約 0.25 個百分點，而這還只是交易。我們已經採取了大量其他舉措，旨在按比例減少我們的債務。

So with regard to other deals, yes, sure, we're going to talk about them. But right now, we've got a big job ahead of us, and we have to get these deals approved by the FCC. I don't see -- and Kevin is a better one to answer this question, but I don't see any real hurdles to getting every one of them done. And so for all of these -- just a handful, about six, I think, new net up increase in markets, we are really excited to welcome them to our portfolio, but to see our increased depth in our local markets. And as you know, Gray Media is known for its content.

因此，關於其他交易，是的，當然，我們會談論它們。但現在，我們面臨著一項艱鉅的任務，我們必須獲得聯邦通訊委員會的批准。我沒有看到——凱文更適合回答這個問題，但我認為完成每項任務並沒有什麼真正的障礙。因此，對於所有這些——我認為只有少數，大約六個，市場中新的淨增長，我們非常高興地歡迎它們加入我們的投資組合，但看到我們在當地市場的深度增加。如您所知，Gray Media 以其內容而聞名。

The recognition with 81 Edward R. Murrow Awards is remarkable, and we're going to be able to increase local news, increase new local sports and increase new exciting content in each and every one of those markets.

獲得 81 項愛德華默羅獎的認可令人矚目，我們將能夠在每個市場中增加本地新聞、增加新的本地體育賽事和新的令人興奮的內容。

Dan, this is Kevin. I'll just interject on the transactions. Everyone is talking about how everyone is really busy with transactions, but Gray has announced five this year, four in the last four weeks. The Scripps deal, as Hilton said, is historic. No one's ever done anything like what we did there.

丹，這是凱文。我只是想插播一下交易的情況。每個人都在談論每個人都忙於交易，但格雷今年已經宣布了五筆交易，其中四筆是在過去四周宣布的。正如希爾頓所說，斯克里普斯的交易具有歷史意義。從來沒有人做過像我們在那裡做過的事情。

The Allen Media transaction announced a couple of hours ago, the Block transaction required a tremendous amount of time to, as you can imagine, negotiate, put together. And we have a lot of work to do to get through all the approvals. And then as you mentioned, we have essentially 17 new markets and duopolies to plan for and integrate, and that is where our focus is at.

Allen Media 交易幾個小時前宣布了，你可以想像，Block 交易需要花費大量時間來進行談判和整合。我們還有很多工作要做才能獲得所有批准。正如您所提到的，我們基本上有 17 個新市場和雙頭壟斷需要規劃和整合，而這正是我們的重點所在。

So while we're not saying we're not looking at anything, Hilton's precise comments where our focus is going to be on executing the transactions that we have announced, not chasing another four or five or six transactions over the next couple of months.

因此，雖然我們並不是說我們沒有考慮任何事情，但希爾頓的確切評論是，我們的重點將放在執行我們已經宣布的交易上，而不是在接下來的幾個月裡追逐另外四、五或六筆交易。

So that's the comment. You asked about cash flow. We're not commenting -- we don't comment on multiples and cash flows. I think we've been pretty clear for a couple of calls now that we were going to pursue transactions only when they were deleveraging, and that's exactly what we've done here.

這就是評論。您詢問的是現金流。我們不發表評論——我們不評論倍數和現金流。我想，我們在幾次電話會議中已經非常明確地表示，我們只會在去槓桿時進行交易，而這正是我們在這裡所做的。

I'll mention when I joined the company a number of years ago, Gray was more highly levered than it is today. And part of how we got out of that was we started doing some transactions that we're delevering, right? We started with a little one and then we progressively got larger. And those transactions were done at multiples that were lower than our leverage ratio, and we grew our way out of our leverage ratio through a couple of measures, but those transactions were really key to getting that done. And so we're kind of repeating that playbook here.

我想說的是，當我幾年前加入公司時，Gray 的槓桿率比現在更高。我們擺脫這種困境的部分原因是我們開始進行一些去槓桿交易，對嗎？我們從一個小的開始，然後逐漸變大。這些交易的倍數低於我們的槓桿率，我們透過一些措施擺脫了槓桿率，但這些交易確實是實現這一目標的關鍵。所以我們在這裡重複了那個劇本。

But just to emphasize, we do not anticipate another several transactions over the next several months because our focus is going to be on getting these over the finish line and getting them integrated to close, get the money into the bank accounts, get these people into working with us, get the news expanded and the other strategies that we've talked about.

但需要強調的是，我們預計未來幾個月不會再有其他幾筆交易，因為我們的重點是完成這些交易並將它們整合到一起，將資金存入銀行帳戶，讓這些人與我們合作，擴大新聞範圍以及我們討論過的其他策略。

Steven Cahall, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的史蒂文·卡霍爾 (Steven Cahall)。

Just wanted to dig a bit more in the M&A as well. So Jeff, I was wondering if you could break the quarter turn improving leverage down to help us understand maybe what the net cash out is and what the EBITDA contribution is. And should we think of that as inclusive of synergies? Or is that prior to, I'm sure, what are some really significant synergies that you'll be able to drive through?

只是想對併購進行更深入的了解。所以 Jeff，我想知道您是否可以將季度改善槓桿率細分，以幫助我們了解淨現金流出量和 EBITDA 貢獻。我們是否應該將其視為包括協同效應？或者在此之前，我敢肯定，您能夠實現哪些真正重要的綜效？

Yes, Steven. So we really -- we don't want to comment beyond the quarter turn reduction in our total leverage ratio, inclusive of funding and synergies.

是的，史蒂文。因此，我們真的——我們不想對我們的總槓桿率（包括融資和協同效應）的季度下降做出評論。

Okay. Got it. And then just on the Q3 guide. So I know you went through a change in the way WANF is going to receive certain fees and expenses with its CBS affiliation. So I was just trying to understand if that had a meaningful impact on the retrans revenue guide for Q3 and overall EBITDA as well for Q3, which I think is quite a bit below where you were in Q3 2023.

好的。知道了。然後就進入 Q3 指南。所以我知道你們經歷了 WANF 透過與 CBS 的合作收取某些費用和開支的方式的改變。因此，我只是想了解這是否對第三季的轉播收入指南以及第三季的整體 EBITDA 產生了重大影響，我認為這比 2023 年第三季的水平低得多。

Yes. So the short answer to your question is yes. The P&L, we're not going to get into the details on exactly what the numbers are around any one station. Obviously, everybody is investing in the whole company. The P&L at -- just generically speaking, the P&L at WANF will shift much more in favor of advertising. So a piece of the retrans revenue side is a reduction in the rates that we'll get at WANF. You can see what we -- our guide incorporates what we see today on both sides of that, inclusive of everything that we know as of today.

是的。所以對你的問題的簡短答案是肯定的。對於損益表，我們不會詳細了解任何一個站點的具體數字。顯然，每個人都在投資整個公司。整體而言，WANF 的損益表將更有利於廣告。因此，轉播收入的一部分是我們在 WANF 獲得的費率的降低。您可以看到我們的指南包含了我們今天所看到的兩方面的內容，包括了我們今天所知道的一切。

And Steven, let me just add something because I think color is kind of important, if you don't mind. With regard to WANF, we hosted our Board of Directors meeting there yesterday. It had been planned for some time. It couldn't have gone better. But one thing that we did, we utilized about two weeks ago -- Assembly Studios had a full mini Atlanta-based upfront.

史蒂文，如果你不介意的話，我想補充一點，因為我認為顏色很重要。關於 WANF，我們昨天在那裡舉辦了董事會會議。這件事已經計劃了一段時間了。一切進展得非常順利。但我們做了一件事，大約兩週前我們就利用了這一點——Assembly Studios 在亞特蘭大有一個完整的迷你預付款。

And we had more than 300 guests that attended. It could not have gone better. And we expect to have a, candidly, a very robust sort of advertising opportunity, not just with the local community, but also for the political community. We've got a lot of political races that will be coming up in 2026. We're going to have a tremendous amount of local news, local sports, local entertainment and content that's really good.

出席的嘉賓超過 300 人。一切進展得非常順利。坦白說，我們希望獲得一個非常強大的廣告機會，不僅針對當地社區，也針對政治界。2026 年我們將迎來多場政治競選。我們將提供大量本地新聞、本地體育、本地娛樂和真正精彩的內容。

And honestly, it's what a lot of folks want to watch. And so we're actually very excited about Atlanta, our commitment to the city and the state of Georgia. And I think it's going to be amazing what we do as an independent here in the city.

老實說，這也是很多人想看的。因此，我們對亞特蘭大以及我們對這座城市和喬治亞州的承諾感到非常興奮。我認為，作為這座城市的獨立人士，我們所做的將會是令人驚嘆的。

Craig Huber, Huber Research Partners.

胡貝爾（Craig Huber），胡貝爾研究夥伴公司（Huber Research Partners）。

My first question will just start with the CBS Atlanta station stuff. Can you just talk about what happened there exactly? I mean why the switch? I mean this obviously rarely happens in the industry when an affiliation is not renewed. What can you comment there, please?

我的第一個問題是關於哥倫比亞廣播公司亞特蘭大站的事情。能具體說說那裡發生了什麼事嗎？我的意思是為什麼要切換？我的意思是，當合作關係沒有續約時，這種事情在業界顯然很少發生。請問您對此有何評論？

Craig, this is Kevin. In the mid-1990s, CBS and Paramount came together. Paramount had a station group of independent stations. CBS had O&Os affiliated with the CBS network in all of those markets other than a small handful. The only markets in the United States where a network owned a TV station not affiliated with their network was Atlanta, Seattle and Tampa.

克雷格，這是凱文。1990 年代中期，CBS 和派拉蒙合併。派拉蒙擁有一個由獨立電台組成的電台群。除了少數市場外，CBS 在所有這些市場都有與 CBS 網路有關的 O&O。在美國，電視網擁有不屬於其電視網的電視台的唯一市場是亞特蘭大、西雅圖和坦帕。

And that's simply CBS. We have expected -- at least as long as I've been in the industry, which is going on three decades, we have long expected that CBS would have a strong interest in moving its affiliation to those independent stations at some point in time.

這就是哥倫比亞廣播公司 (CBS)。我們預料到——至少在我從事這個行業三十年的時間裡，我們早就預料到 CBS 會在某個時間點對與這些獨立電台的合作關係產生濃厚的興趣。

When Gray acquired Meredith, we knew there was a strong possibility that CBS would move the affiliation to the independent at some point in time. When we closed on the station, we made significant investments we've talked about in prior calls and press releases. We changed the call letters to Atlanta News First, WANF. We made that our -- everything about the station was Atlanta News First. It's not about anything else.

當格雷收購梅雷迪斯時，我們知道哥倫比亞廣播公司很有可能在某個時間點將合作關係轉為獨立。當我們關閉該站時，我們進行了大量投資，我們在先前的電話和新聞稿中已經談到這一點。我們將呼號改為亞特蘭大新聞第一（WANF）。我們讓電台的一切都成為亞特蘭大新聞第一。這與其他任何事情都無關。

It's about Atlanta News First. we added dozens of reporters, tons of hours of local news, tremendous amounts of additional resources. And it shows in research, shows in the ratings, it shows in the station sales. At some point, that station was going to stand on its own as an independent.

這是關於亞特蘭大新聞第一的。我們增加了數十名記者、大量小時的當地新聞和大量額外資源。這體現在研究、收視率和電台銷售。將來某個時候，該電台將獨立運作。

With the Super Bowl coming to Atlanta in February 2027, it seemed likely to us that CBS is going to want the affiliation back under independent station at some point prior to the Super Bowl and therefore, probably prior to the 2026 NFL season. So as we were negotiating with CBS this time around, the opportunity came up to take our station independent at this time. We felt very good about what the station has done, what it has accomplished, having gone from three regional Emmy nominations, the year we bought it to, I think they had 30-some out last year, and they won a national award in about 150 nominees for over 50.

隨著超級盃於 2027 年 2 月在亞特蘭大舉行，我們認為 CBS 很可能希望在超級盃之前的某個時間點，也就是很可能在 2026 年 NFL 賽季之前，重新以獨立電台的身份加入。因此，當我們這次與 CBS 談判時，我們有機會讓我們的電台獨立出來。我們對電視台所做的事情和所取得的成就感到非常滿意，從我們買下它那年起，他們獲得了三個地區艾美獎提名，我記得去年他們有 30 多個作品獲得提名，並且在 150 多個提名作品中獲得了全國獎項，超過了 50 個。

Nominated for over 50. I mean we have -- the list of awards goes on and on, and that's not just awards recognizing journalism, it shows up in every other measure of that station. We felt very good. This was the right time to take the station to an independent, not during a political year, but this year. So we worked out a transition with CBS in which our station will stand on its own this month.

已獲提名超過 50 項。我的意思是，我們獲得的獎項不勝枚舉，而且不僅僅是對新聞報道的認可，它還體現在該電視台的所有其他衡量標準中。我們感覺非常好。這是將該電台推向獨立的最佳時機，不是在政治年，而是在今年。因此，我們與哥倫比亞廣播公司 (CBS) 達成了一項過渡協議，我們的電台將於本月獨立運營。

So that's the back story. This is something that started in like 1990s when Paramount and CBS came together. And so we've gotten like 50 phone calls saying, is this because of something that happened in May or June or July or the Skydance deal or whoever won the Super Bowl. It has nothing to do with what's happened in the last six months or the last five years. There is a situation that has existed since the mid-1990s, and Gray saw the challenge, stepped up to the plate and got ready for what we are doing today.

這就是背景故事。這件事始於 20 世紀 90 年代，當時派拉蒙和 CBS 合併。因此，我們接到了大約 50 通電話，詢問這是因為 5 月、6 月或 7 月發生的事情，還是 Skydance 交易，或者誰贏得了超級盃。這與過去六個月或過去五年發生的事情無關。這種情況自 20 世紀 90 年代中期就已存在，格雷看到了挑戰，勇敢面對，為我們今天所做的事情做好了準備。

We could not be more prepared and excited and ready for that station to be Atlanta's News First in every metric, and we expect it will be there in time.

我們已經做好了充分的準備，並且非常興奮，希望該電台能夠成為亞特蘭大各方面新聞第一，我們也期待它能夠及時實現這一目標。

And Craig, let me just emphasize in a public fashion. I mean, we still are a very excited CBS affiliate group. We renewed in 52 markets, and we're friends with the management team. This transition has gone well. And we wish at the CBS Atlanta, Channel 69, all the best in the future, and we will be happy competitors with them. And so there is no problem there. And I think that the broadcast affiliate relationship, while always challenging, will still remain one of the great partnerships in business.

克雷格，請容許我公開強調一下。我的意思是，我們仍然是一個非常興奮的 CBS 附屬團體。我們在 52 個市場進行了續約，並且與管理團隊成為了好朋友。這次過渡進展順利。我們祝福哥倫比亞廣播公司亞特蘭大分部第 69 頻道未來一切順利，並樂意與他們競爭。所以那裡沒有問題。我認為，廣播聯盟關係雖然總是充滿挑戰，但仍然是商業領域最偉大的合作夥伴關係之一。

(Operator Instructions) Alan Gould, Loop Capital.

（操作員指示）艾倫·古爾德 (Alan Gould)，Loop Capital。

I've got two, please. First, Jeff, congratulations on stretching out those -- extending those maturities till after two more political cycles. If your pro forma debt is now 5.75 times levered right now, rough ballpark, how much do you think that can go down between now and the end of '28 with two more political cycles?

我有兩個，謝謝。首先，傑夫，恭喜你將這些期限延長至另外兩個政治週期之後。如果您現在的預期債務槓桿率為 5.75 倍（粗略估計），您認為從現在到 28 年底，再經歷兩個政治週期，這個數字還能下降多少？

Without giving a specific number, Alan, we think it's going to go down a lot. We're at 5.6 today. There's been some pressure on the denominator, which we expect will not be as intense as we move forward, given all the actions that we've taken. And so if you look out, pick your number for what cash flow you think we generate in the '26 and '28 political cycles. And we've been very clear not only through our words, but through our actions, what we're doing with capital allocation and paying down debt. And when you have 10.5% debt in your capital structure, there's a pretty good return on repaying that as quickly as you can.

艾倫，雖然沒有給出具體的數字，但我們認為這個數字會大幅下降。今天是 5.6。分母上存在一些壓力，但考慮到我們採取的所有行動，我們預計這種壓力不會像我們前進時那麼大。因此，如果你留意的話，請選擇你認為我們在 26 年和 28 年政治週期中產生的現金流的數字。我們不僅透過言語，而且透過行動，非常清楚地表明了我們在資本配置和償還債務方面所採取的措施。當您的資本結構中有 10.5% 的債務時，盡快償還債務可以獲得相當不錯的回報。

So the second lien deal was designed to get us to -- and you can see in the investor deck that we published how we're thinking about the plan and the sequence going forward. We're trying to be very transparent about how we're tackling the delevering piece here. It's capital allocation, but when we have the opportunities on the M&A side, allocating some capital there is actually a good way to accelerate the deleveraging. It's immediate. And then looking forward, it gives us additional cash flow on an ongoing basis.

因此，第二留置權協議旨在讓我們——你可以在投資者簡報中看到，我們發布了我們對未來計劃和順序的看法。我們正努力透明地展示我們如何解決去槓桿問題。這是資本配置，但當我們在併購方面有機會時，在那裡配置一些資本實際上是加速去槓桿的好方法。這是立即的。展望未來，它將持續為我們提供額外的現金流。

So it's too soon to tell you where I think we end 2028, but our longer-term objectives, we've been clear about, which is to drive to get back below 4 times, which will have a pretty significant benefit on the equity. It will benefit our cost of debt. It's helpful in a lot of ways.

所以現在告訴你我認為 2028 年的結果還為時過早，但我們的長期目標已經很明確，那就是努力回到 4 倍以下，這將對股權產生相當大的好處。這將有助於降低我們的債務成本。它在很多方面都有幫助。

Alan, this is Hilton. Let me just share a little piece of history, and I'm not going to throw dates at you, but I'm going to throw transactions at you. When we closed on the Raycom transaction 2019, more or less. I'm sorry. I don't do dates, but I guess I am. Within 18 months, we went -- because we levered up to close Raycom. We got to 5.5 times, 5.6 times. Within 18 months, we were down to 3.5 times, all right?

艾倫，我是希爾頓。讓我分享一小段歷史，我不會向你們列出日期，但我會向你們列舉交易。當我們在 2019 年完成 Raycom 交易時，或多或少。對不起。我不約會，但我想我會。在 18 個月內，我們就透過槓桿關閉了 Raycom。我們達到了5.5倍、5.6倍。在 18 個月內，我們下降到了 3.5 倍，好嗎？

Now the world has changed. But the biggest delta between that deal and then the Meredith transaction, which is really the last time that we added any kind of debt to our portfolio, has been the last four years with interest rates going up to battle the inflation that was caused by a lot of excessive government spending. We're now in an interest rate, I hope, I believe it's going to be a decreasing environment. We have things balanced out. And so I just would put out to you the Raycom transaction as a historical antecedent to consider.

現在世界已經改變了。但那筆交易與梅雷迪思交易（實際上是我們最後一次在投資組合中增加任何類型的債務）之間最大的差距是過去四年，當時利率不斷上升，以對抗由大量過度政府支出引起的通貨膨脹。我們現在處於利率下降的環境中，我希望，我相信這將是一個下降的環境。我們已經平衡了一切。因此，我只是想向你們提出 Raycom 交易作為值得考慮的歷史先例。

Eli Lapp, BMO.

Eli Lapp，BMO。

Sort of a two-part, maybe following up on some prior questions. But I was wondering if you think about acquisitions, how does the size factor play in? Meaning your goal is to delever with these transactions. Does size play a decent role in that endeavor? And then also, can you give us a bit of a timetable for when the synergies get leveraged to that lower 0.25 times that you're outlining?

有點像兩部分，也許是對一些先前問題的後續回答。但我想知道，如果您考慮收購，規模因素會如何發揮作用？這意味著您的目標是透過這些交易來去槓桿。規模在這項努力中發揮了重要作用嗎？另外，您能否提供我們時間表，說明何時綜效能夠達到您所概述的 0.25 倍以下？

Well, this is Hilton. I think that those decreases in leverage happen almost upon closing. And so it could be very, very rapidly with regard to when those are realized.

嗯，這是希爾頓。我認為槓桿率的下降幾乎是在收盤時發生的。因此，這些目標的實現速度可能會非常非常快。

Yes. And Eli, with regard to --

是的。以利--

Did you realize day one?

你第一天就意識到了嗎？

I'm sorry, Eli. So yes, yes, look, there is some short implementation period, but they're realized fairly quickly after we close those transactions. So that piece of it, it will start to come into the run rate of the actual cash generation of the business fairly quickly after close.

對不起，伊萊。是的，是的，看，有一些短暫的實施期，但在我們完成這些交易後，它們很快就會實現。因此，這部分收入將在交易結束後很快開始進入企業實際現金產生的運作率。

With regard to the size of the transaction, I don't think we can comment on anything specific. We look at what's available that's out there that makes sense for us. And you can see what we've done. I'd say, the beauty of creating duopolies in these markets for most of the transactions that we're talking about or most of the stations that we're acquiring -- the beauty of those is that they are less risky in terms of integration, implementation, et cetera. They fit together.

關於交易規模，我認為我們無法對任何具體內容發表評論。讓我們研究一下有哪些對我們有意義的資源。您可以看到我們所做的一切。我想說，對於我們正在談論的大多數交易或我們正在收購的大多數電台來說，在這些市場上建立雙頭壟斷的美妙之處在於，它們在整合、實施等方面的風險較小。它們很契合。

We already know the markets. We have people in a lot of those -- by definition in those markets. So for us, this was a really elegant opportunity to go ahead and add an additional heft in market that really accomplishes exactly what we want to do, which is to be the news leader in our markets and serve our communities and our advertiser clients. So we'll see what else comes along, but we've got a lot to digest right now. And I think we're pretty happy with what we've announced. But I can't predict the future entirely in terms of what else comes along and could make sense. That answers your question.

我們已經了解市場。根據定義，我們在許多這樣的市場都有人員。因此，對我們來說，這是一個絕佳的機會，可以繼續前進並在市場上增加額外的影響力，真正實現我們想要做的事情，那就是成為我們市場上的新聞領導者，為我們的社區和廣告客戶提供服務。因此，我們會看看還會發生什麼，但我們現在有很多事情需要消化。我認為我們對所宣布的消息感到非常滿意。但我無法完全預測未來還會發生什麼事情，以及會發生什麼事。這回答了你的問題。

Well, I'll just add one other thing, too. I mean we all expect to see significant changes in the regulatory environment. But at some point, bigger transactions are going to depend upon what happens with the FCC, the DOJ and the regulatory environment. So it's kind of tough to say, all right, we want to do some huge deal or we want to put our companies together with another company or anything else because we need to see the parameters of what the world looks like from a regulatory standpoint before we can do anything one way or another. And so we're kind of in a wait and see things on bigger things.

好吧，我還要補充一點。我的意思是我們都希望看到監管環境發生重大變化。但在某種程度上，更大的交易將取決於聯邦通訊委員會、司法部和監管環境的狀況。因此，很難說我們想做一些大交易，或者我們想把我們的公司與另一家公司合併，或者做其他任何事情，因為我們需要從監管的角度了解世界的參數，然後才能以某種方式做任何事情。因此，我們有點在等待並觀察更大的事情。

Avi Steiner, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的 Avi Steiner。

I've got a couple of questions. First, and if I missed this, I apologize. I recognize that everyone is talking to everyone, but I'm curious if the two groups of TV assets you just bought from Block and Allen Media, were those competitive auctions? Or did the sellers approach you because of maybe particular benefits Gray brings to the table? And then I've got a couple more.

我有幾個問題。首先，如果我錯過了這一點，我深表歉意。我知道大家都在談論這件事，但我很好奇，您剛從 Block 和 Allen Media 購買的兩組電視資產是否是競爭性拍賣？或者賣家是否因為 Gray 能帶來特殊好處而與您聯繫？然後我又得到了一些。

Yes. Avi, sorry, with time constraints and the number of callers, we're taking one question per folks. And I think we have you on our schedule for a call later today, so we can address the others later. We're under NDAs with our sellers, so we can't talk about their processes.

是的。Avi，抱歉，由於時間限制和呼叫者數量，我們每位成員只能回答一個問題。我想我們今天晚些時候會和您通話，所以我們可以稍後再討論其他問題。我們與賣家簽訂了保密協議，所以我們不能談論他們的流程。

I would say that, look, it's a small industry, folks know each other. On the Block side, I'm pleased to say I've worked with Block folks literally since I started in this industry in 1997. So I've known them for a very long time. And we all know -- we know Byron, we've done number of transactions with him in the past. I've served with him on the CBS affiliate Board for four years.

我想說，看，這是一個小行業，人們彼此認識。在 Block 方面，我很高興地說，自從 1997 年進入這個行業以來，我一直與 Block 員工合作。所以我認識他們很久了。我們都知道——我們了解拜倫，過去我們與他進行過多次交易。我和他在哥倫比亞廣播公司附屬董事會共事了四年。

We all know them from a number of industry events. So it's not like we need a broker to introduce us to people. Everybody knows everyone. Sometimes bankers are involved, sometimes they're not. I think they're not with us on these transactions. But whether people go to an auction process or hire bankers or just call us, it just depends on their situation, and we can't really comment on their decisions.

我們都透過許多行業活動來了解他們。所以我們不需要經紀人來把我們介紹給別人。每個人都認識每個人。有時銀行家會參與其中，有時則不會。我認為他們並不贊同我們進行這些交易。但無論人們是參加拍賣程序、聘請銀行家還是直接給我們打電話，這都取決於他們的情況，我們無法對他們的決定發表評論。

I would say that -- I think our relationships with the counterparties here, which would include Scripps, have a lot to do with how we got these transactions done. There's a lot of trust that's required here and a lot of history with folks make these transactions go smoothly and putting them together and getting them closed, and that's really important to us. We have, I think, a call with you in a little bit, we can hit your other questions at that time.

我想說的是——我認為我們與包括 Scripps 在內的交易對手的關係與我們如何完成這些交易有很大關係。這裡需要很多信任，並且需要與人們建立許多歷史關係，才能讓這些交易順利進行、整合並完成，這對我們來說非常重要。我想，我們稍後會和您通電話，屆時我們可以解答您的其他問題。

David Hamburger, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的戴維·漢堡格。

Your guidance for the third quarter shows a sequential decline in retransmission consent revenue of about $25 million, and it shows a decline in network affiliate fees of about $19 million. I don't think we've seen such a big kind of step function in sequential trends in those two line items. Does this have to do with the CBS affiliate change? Or is there something else that we should think about? And should we think about that going forward as well?

您對第三季的預測顯示，轉播授權收入季減約 2,500 萬美元，網路附屬費用較上季下降約 1,900 萬美元。我認為我們從未見過這兩個項目的連續趨勢出現如此大的階躍函數。這與 CBS 附屬機構的變化有關嗎？或者我們還應該考慮其他什麼事情？我們是否也應該考慮這個問題？

Yes. So look, there definitely is an impact from WANF. This is Pat LaPlatney, by the way. But the change in the reverse payments, the drop in reverse payments is the result of a multiyear effort to create a sustainable model, and we feel like we're getting there. That effort is ongoing. And look, there's a lot of pieces to these network deals. Obviously, the financial piece is big, but there's a lot of pieces, and we're doing everything we can to find agreements that make sense for not only us but our network partners. So it's not just WANF, it's a lot of things.

是的。所以看起來，WANF 肯定是有影響力的。順便說一下，這是 Pat LaPlatney。但反向支付的變化、反向支付的下降是我們多年努力創建可持續模式的結果，我們覺得我們正在實現這一目標。此項努力仍在持續進行中。看看吧，這些網路交易有很多部分。顯然，財務部分很重要，但還有很多部分，我們正在盡一切努力尋找不僅對我們而且對我們的網路合作夥伴都有意義的協議。所以這不只是 WANF，還有很多東西。

Well, I think that's the last question. And so in closing, let me first thank everyone for joining us this morning. And I want you all to be nice to folks if you have calls scheduled later today because we literally finished off at dawn this morning on the Allen transaction. And literally, everyone from our Board of Directors to everyone sitting around this table today has been involved, and we're very excited. I think these transactions are tremendously accretive, but it's even more than that.

嗯，我認為這是最後一個問題。最後，首先讓我感謝大家今天早上的參加。如果您今天晚些時候安排了電話會議，我希望你們都能夠友善地對待大家，因為我們今天早上黎明時分就完成了艾倫的交易。事實上，從我們的董事會到今天坐在這張桌子旁的每個人都參與其中，我們非常興奮。我認為這些交易具有巨大的增值潛力，但意義遠不止於此。

They're immensely strategic. They're going to help us in terms of the growth of our sports portfolios, whether it's the Pelicans out of New Orleans or the Braves out of Atlanta. Across the board, they expand what we can do and what we can deliver as a local broadcaster of note. We are very proud of our company, and thank you for your support and your interest this morning. We'll talk to you guys next quarter.

他們非常具有戰略眼光。它們將幫助我們擴大體育投資組合，無論是新奧爾良鵜鶘隊還是亞特蘭大勇士隊。總體而言，它們擴展了我們作為一家知名本地廣播公司所能做的事情和所能提供的服務。我們為我們的公司感到非常自豪，感謝您今天早上的支持和關注。我們將在下個季度與你們交談。

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your call. You may now disconnect your lines, and thank you again for joining us today.

女士們、先生們，你們的通話到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路了，再次感謝您今天的加入我們。