E W Scripps Co (SSP) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Scripps Fourth Quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. If you should require assistance during the call, please press star then zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Executive Vice President of Investor Relations, Carolyn Micheli. Please go ahead.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加史克里普斯 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。稍後，我們將進行問答環節。屆時將給予指示。如果您在通話過程中需要協助，請按星號，然後按零。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給我們的東道主、投資者關係執行副總裁卡羅琳·米凱利 (Carolyn Micheli)。請繼續。

Thanks, Rich. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for a discussion of the E.W., Scripps Company's financial results and business strategies. You can visit scripps.com for more information and a link to the replay of this call.

謝謝，里奇。大家早安，感謝您加入我們討論 E.W.、史克里普斯公司的財務表現和業務策略。您可以造訪 scripps.com 以了解更多資訊以及本次通話重播的連結。

A reminder that our conference call and webcast include forward-looking statements and actual results may differ. Factors that may cause them to differ are outlined in our SEC filings. We do not intend to update any forward-looking statements we make today included on this call will be a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures that are provided as supplements to assist management and the public in their analysis and valuation of the company. These metrics are not formulated in accordance with GAAP and are not meant to replace GAAP financial measures and may differ from other companies' uses or formulations included in our earnings release or the reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP measures reported in our financial statements.

請注意，我們的電話會議和網路廣播包含前瞻性陳述，實際結果可能有所不同。我們向 SEC 提交的文件中概述了可能導致它們出現差異的因素。我們不打算更新今天所做的任何前瞻性聲明，本次電話會議將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標，這些指標作為補充材料提供，以協助管理層和公眾對公司進行分析和估值。這些指標並非根據GAAP 制定，也不旨在取代GAAP 財務指標，並且可能與我們的收益發布中包含的其他公司的使用或表述或非GAAP 財務指標與我們財務報告中報告的GAAP 指標的調節有所不同。

We'll hear first this morning from Scripps' Chief Financial Officer, Jason Combs, then from Scripps Chief Operating Officer, Lisa Knutson, and finally from President and CEO, Adam Symson. Here's Jason.

今天早上我們將首先聽取斯克里普斯首席財務官賈森·庫姆斯的發言，然後是斯克里普斯首席營運官麗莎·克努森的發言，最後是總裁兼首席執行官亞當·賽姆森的發言。這是傑森。

Thanks, Sheryl, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us.

謝謝謝麗爾，大家早安，謝謝您加入我們。

Let's start today with a look at our strong finish to 2023. I want to review a few fourth quarter and year-end highlights, then I'll give guidance for the first quarter and several full year items. And I'll conclude with capital allocation and our debt picture. We were very pleased in 2023 by significantly exceeding our free cash flow expectations on our last earnings call in November, we set a range of $50 million to $60 million in full year free cash flow, and we ended at about $77 million. The overperformance was driven by our highest political advertising revenue for an off-cycle election year as well as stronger than expected ad revenue results in Scripps Networks also in 2023, we achieved $752 million in distribution revenue as we renewed 75% of our Pay TV households. That was up 15% over 2022, and those results drove net distributions of more than 40%. We are pleased we were able to successfully avoid any blackouts with the cable and satellite providers throughout all of those negotiations.

讓我們從今天開始回顧 2023 年的強勁表現。我想回顧一些第四季度和年底的亮點，然後我將為第一季和幾個全年項目提供指導。最後我將介紹資本配置和我們的債務狀況。我們對2023 年感到非常高興，在11 月的上次財報電話會議上，我們的自由現金流大幅超出了預期，我們將全年自由現金流設定在5000 萬美元至6000 萬美元的範圍內，最終約為7700 萬美元。業績超預期的原因是我們在非週期選舉年獲得最高的政治廣告收入，以及Scripps Networks 的廣告收入結果強於預期（2023 年），隨著我們續訂了75% 的付費電視家庭，我們實現了7.52 億美元的發行收入。比 2022 年增長了 15%，這些結果推動淨分配超過 40%。我們很高興能夠在所有這些談判過程中成功避免與有線和衛星提供者發生任何停電。

For the fourth quarter of 2023, we reported financial results that nearly all met or exceeded the expectations we set in November. We executed tight expense management and our Scripps Networks revenue came in better than expected at down only 7% driving network segment profit performance. Scripps Networks revenue for the fourth quarter was $230 million exceeding our guidance because of better than expected revenue from all three key areas, general market, connected TV and direct response, Scripps Networks. Q4 segment expenses were $166 million, down 1.2% from the prior year quarter. Segment profit in Networks was $64 million. In our Local Media division, total revenue was down 12% from the prior year quarter due to the absence of election year political advertising political ad revenue in Q4 2023 did exceed our expectations at $60 million, driven by spending in Montana and Ohio. Total political ad revenue for 2023 was $33 million, as I mentioned before, the highest for an off-cycle election. Fourth quarter local core advertising revenue was up 1% from the prior year period and local distribution revenue was up 22%, fueled by renewals of our cable and satellite agreements. Local Media expenses were up less than 5% from the prior year quarter. This increase reflects higher programming fees and the cost of sports rights agreements with two National Hockey League teams. Local Media Segment profit was nearly a $86 million in the segment labeled Other, we reported a fourth-quarter loss of $12 million. The segment includes spend on promoting our Tableau over the air viewing device shared services and corporate expenses were $24 million. Up a bit from our November guidance is better than expected. Quarterly results drove our various variable compensation higher. The loss attributable to shareholders of Scripps was $268 million or $3.17 per share. Pretax cost for the quarter included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge for Scripps Networks of $266 million. In addition, we reported $9.4 million in restructuring charges. These charges increased the loss attributable to shareholders by $3.15 per share. The restructuring costs are related to our company-wide reorganization. We are on track to realize annualized savings of more than $40 million by the middle of this year. As of quarter end, cash and cash equivalents totaled $35 million. Our net debt at quarter end was $2.9 billion. We ended the year with net leverage of 5.7 times for the calculations in our credit agreements.

對於 2023 年第四季度，我們報告的財務表現幾乎全部達到或超出了我們 11 月設定的預期。我們執行了嚴格的費用管理，Scripps Networks 收入優於預期，僅下降了 7%，推動了網路部門的利潤表現。Scripps Networks 在第四季的營收超出了我們的預期 2.3 億美元，因為 Scripps Networks 所有三個關鍵領域（一般市場、連網電視和直接回應）的收入都比預期好。第四季部門支出為 1.66 億美元，比去年同期下降 1.2%。網路部門利潤為 6,400 萬美元。在我們的本地媒體部門，由於沒有選舉年的政治廣告，總收入比去年同期下降了12%。我們的預期，達到6000 萬美元。正如我之前提到的，2023 年的政治廣告總收入為 3,300 萬美元，是非週期選舉的最高收入。第四季本地核心廣告收入較上年同期成長 1%，本地發行收入成長 22%，這得益於我們續簽有線和衛星協議。本地媒體支出較去年同期成長不到 5%。這一增長反映了更高的節目製作費以及與兩支國家冰球聯盟球隊簽訂體育版權協議的成本。本地媒體部門的利潤接近 8,600 萬美元，在「其他」部門中，我們報告第四季度虧損 1,200 萬美元。該部門包括用於推廣 Tableau 無線觀看設備共享服務的支出，公司支出為 2,400 萬美元。較我們 11 月的指引上升，好於預期。季度業績推動我們的各種可變薪酬更高。史克里普斯股東應佔虧損為 2.68 億美元，即每股虧損 3.17 美元。該季度的稅前成本包括 Scripps Networks 2.66 億美元的非現金商譽減損費用。此外，我們報告了 940 萬美元的重組費用。這些費用使股東應佔虧損每股增加 3.15 美元。重組成本與我們公司範圍內的重組有關。我們預計在今年年中實現每年超過 4000 萬美元的節省。截至季末，現金和現金等價物總計 3,500 萬美元。季度末我們的淨債務為 29 億美元。根據信貸協議的計算，我們年底的淨槓桿率為 5.7 倍。

And now I'd like to discuss a few key guidance items for the first quarter and full year 2024 for the first quarter. In the Scripps Networks division, we expect revenue to be flat to down low single digits. We expect first quarter network segment expenses to be down low single digits. We expect total local media revenue to be up in the low 10s percent range. We expect local core ad revenue to be flat to up low-single digits. Lisa will give more color in a moment about our strong start to the quarter with key categories, including auto. We expect Q1 local media expenses to be up about 10%. If you back out the costs associated with our new sports deals, network fee step-ups and one-time facility work. Local Media expenses would be up in the low to mid-single digits. First quarter shared services costs are expected to be about $24 million. We expect the segment labeled other to generate a loss of about $7 million in Q1 as we continue to educate consumers about free over-the-air viewing and promote our Tableau device.

現在我想討論第一季和 2024 年全年第一季的幾個關鍵指導項目。在史克里普斯網路部門，我們預計收入將持平或下降到低個位數。我們預計第一季網路部門支出將下降至低個位數。我們預期當地媒體總收入將成長百分之十左右。我們預期本地核心廣告收入將持平或成長低個位數。麗莎稍後將詳細介紹我們本季在包括汽車在內的關鍵類別上的強勁開局。我們預計第一季本地媒體費用將成長 10% 左右。如果您取消與我們新的體育賽事、網路費用上漲和一次性設施工作相關的費用。本地媒體費用將增加低至中個位數。第一季共享服務成本預計約 2,400 萬美元。我們預計，隨著我們繼續向消費者宣傳免費無線觀看並推廣我們的 Tableau 設備，標記為「其他」的細分市場將在第一季產生約 700 萬美元的損失。

Now I'd like to touch on several full year items. We expect our local political advertising revenue to come in between $210 million and $250 million in this presidential election year, we expect connected TV revenue for the networks to increase by more than 40%, excluding the impact of our low margin programmatic product that we're sunsetting. We expect our distribution revenue growth to be modest this year because we're renewing only 5% of our pay-TV households. We expect capital expenditures of $70 million to $80 million. That includes onetime costs to build out a new station facility and to reconfigure office spaces where we're consolidating our footprint to lower operating expense. We expect cash interest this year of between $200 million to $210 million, cash taxes of $50 million to $60 million, and depreciation and amortization of $150 million to $160 million. We do not have any required pension contributions this year.

現在我想談談全年的幾個項目。我們預計，在這個總統選舉年，我們當地的政治廣告收入將在2.1 億至2.5 億美元之間，我們預期網路的連網電視收入將成長40% 以上，不包括我們的低利潤程式化產品的影響。我們預計今年的發行收入成長將溫和，因為我們只為 5% 的付費電視家庭續訂。我們預計資本支出為 7,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元。這包括建造新車站設施和重新配置辦公空間的一次性成本，我們正在整合我們的足跡以降低營運費用。我們預計今年的現金利息為 2 億至 2.1 億美元，現金稅為 5,000 萬至 6,000 萬美元，折舊和攤提為 1.5 億至 1.6 億美元。我們今年沒有任何必需的退休金繳款。

I'd like to end by discussing capital allocation and debt paydown. As you know, Scripps took on significant debt in early 2021 to acquire ION Media, the strategic purchase of ION form the foundation of our Scripps Networks segment, which has helped to Scripps to diversify its revenue base and to build strong nationwide over the year. Audience reach the new segment has increased the durability and profitability for enterprise. The ION television stations in the spectrum have opened up significant growth opportunity for the Company in local and national media through script sports. Remarkably in the three years. Since acquiring that debt, Scripps has already paid down 22% significantly outpacing our peer group. We brought our total debt down by nearly $1 billion from about $4 billion to about $3 billion. That represents 98% of our discretionary capital applied toward debt reduction.

最後我想討論一下資本配置和債務償還。如您所知，Scripps 在2021 年初承擔了巨額債務收購ION Media，對ION 的策略性收購構成了我們Scripps Networks 部門的基礎，這有助於Scripps 實現收入基礎多元化，並在一年內在全國範圍內建立強大的實力。受眾群體進入新的細分市場提高了企業的耐用性和獲利能力。該領域的 ION 電視台透過體育賽事劇本為公司在當地和國家媒體領域開闢了重大成長機會。三年來，成績斐然。自從收購該債務以來，斯克里普斯已償還了 22%，大大超過了我們的同行。我們將總債務減少了近 10 億美元，從約 40 億美元減少到約 30 億美元。這代表我們 98% 的可自由支配資本用於減少債務。

Focusing on debt paydown, we have elected to defer the payment of our preferred equity dividends to Berkshire Hathaway this quarter. This deferral is permitted under the terms of our agreement with Berkshire deferral will allow us to maximize the paydown of our traditional bank debt and provide us with more flexibility in refinancing our upcoming maturities. This will change our rate on the preferred dividend from 8% to 9% this year. It is our intention to de-lever aided by cash from our political advertising revenue, incremental cash flow that may come from other top-line revenue, operating expense levers and financing offers. So when you hear us say every quarter that our top capital allocation priority is paying down debt we are backing that up with REX. Now here's Lisa share highlights from both the local media and Scripps Networks operations.

著眼於償還債務，我們選擇延後本季向波克夏支付優先股股息。根據我們與波克夏海瑟威簽訂的協議條款，這種延期是允許的，延期將使我們能夠最大限度地償還傳統銀行債務，並為我們即將到期的再融資提供更大的靈活性。這將使我們今年的優先股股息率從 8% 更改為 9%。我們打算在政治廣告收入的現金、可能來自其他營收、營運費用槓桿和融資優惠的增量現金流的幫助下去槓桿化。因此，當您每個季度聽到我們說我們的首要資本配置優先事項是償還債務時，我們都會透過 REX 來支持這一點。現在，麗莎分享了當地媒體和史克里普斯網路營運的亮點。

Thanks, Jason, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to start by sharing that the advertising momentum we saw begin to build in the fourth quarter has continued as we move through the first quarter. That's true across both our operating segments from local media core advertising to several of our national network revenue streams. This morning I will give you color on our local core advertising categories for Q4 and Q1 and then discuss the trends we are seeing in the national and national advertising with Scripps Networks. Then I'd like to look ahead to this season's upfront, which will be upon us very quickly, and we'll wrap up with our political outlook in local media. For Q4, we saw our top five categories end up higher year over year. The top performer was automotive, up 9%, followed by home improvement, up 8% and the media and communications category up 6%. Also notable was Services, our largest category, which was up 3%. That is the first quarter services has finished up year over year in five quarters.

謝謝傑森，大家早安。首先，我很高興與大家分享，我們在第四季開始建立的廣告動能在第一季仍在繼續。從本地媒體核心廣告到我們的幾個全國網路收入來源，我們的兩個營運部門都是如此。今天早上，我將為您介紹我們第四季和第一季的本地核心廣告類別，然後與 Scripps Networks 討論我們在全國和全國廣告中看到的趨勢。然後我想展望本季的前期內容，這將很快到來，我們將在當地媒體上介紹我們的政治前景。在第四季度，我們看到排名前五的類別最終同比增長。表現最好的是汽車，上漲 9%，其次是家居裝修，上漲 8%，媒體和通訊類別上漲 6%。同樣值得注意的是我們最大的類別服務，成長了 3%。這是第一季服務業五個季度以來同比增長的結果。

Moving into the first quarter, the services category is up quarter to date as our automotive home improvement and retail, we see continued momentum as we move through this quarter and are optimistic about a solid finish.

進入第一季度，隨著我們的汽車家居裝修和零售，服務類別迄今為止已經季度增長，我們看到本季度的持續增長勢頭，並對穩健的完成持樂觀態度。

Turning to Scripps Networks, the fourth quarter saw us begin to build back of some of the direct response advertising dollar dollars that had declined as inflation spiked in recent quarters and easing of inflation has brought back DR advertisers who are reliant on tapping consumers' discretionary income demand is up and therefore store ad rates. As you know, the entire national advertising marketplace was challenged by last year's weak upfront, which was down 10% for Scripps. The upfront typically lays in a nice foundation, 30% or so our first quarter dollars for making up ground with our aggressive tactics to drive rate in DR and scatter. And that accounts for the momentum you see in our first quarter guide. In fact, scatter pricing is up more than 35% over upfront pricing. Connected TV revenue has continued to be strong for Scripps Networks 2023 saw a year-over-year increase of nearly 70% after backing out the impact of the low margin programmatic products we are discontinuing. Looking ahead, we're expecting more than 45% growth in our Connected TV revenue for Q1. And for the full year, we are guiding to more than 40% increase in CTV again, after removing the programmatic product to show the extent of organic growth. We're benefiting from continued audience growth as Americans seek out new options for ad-supported free TV, and we continue to expand our distribution within the marketplace. In Q4, we launched ion on Pluto and it quickly grew to be the number one network on its entertainment tier. Likewise, ION was named by Google TV as one of the most watched live channels of 2023. Ion is the only broadcast network available in the fast marketplace, which is a premium programming lineup that includes top-rated procedurals and live sports. If the analysts are correct in describing fast as the new cable than ION and the Scripps Networks are exceptionally positioned for more CTV revenue growth, I want to talk now about our aggressive approach to selling the upfront this coming season, why we expect significant significantly improve our outcome this year under the direction of our new Chief Revenue Officer, who came to us from NBCU. We are taking a much more aggressive stance. We have scheduled our upfronts for April ninth a month ahead of the large conglomerates in-person events. We are expecting several hundred buyers to attend the new approaches commensurate with the stronger position we hold as a result of our expansion into live sports, the most valuable content genres for linear TV, Scripps sport and our partnership with the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League are the foundation for recasting ion into an entertainment destination for younger and more diverse audiences. Of scale, which is more attractive than ever to advertisers. Our National Sports sales efforts are drawing new premium advertisers to ION and other Scripps Network brands across all time periods, sports advertising is serving as the tip of the spear for scatter market advertising in general. To that end, we are focused on growing our base of regular advertisers drawn by our sports programming and expanding into CTV into our product and into our popular entertainment brands with a specific focus on multicultural.

轉向 Scripps Networks，第四季度我們開始恢復一些直接反應廣告美元，這些廣告美元因近幾季通膨飆升而下降，而通膨的緩和使依賴消費者可自由支配收入的 DR 廣告商重新回歸。 ，因此儲存廣告費率。如你所知，整個全國廣告市場都受到去年前期疲軟的挑戰，斯克里普斯的前期費用下降了 10%。預付款通常奠定了良好的基礎，大約是我們第一季美元的 30% 左右，用於透過我們積極的策略來提高災難復原和分散的速度。這就是您在我們的第一季指南中看到的勢頭。事實上，分散定價比預付費用高出 35% 以上。Scripps Networks 的連網電視收入持續強勁，在排除我們即將停產的低利潤程式化產品的影響後，2023 年年增近 70%。展望未來，我們預計第一季連網電視營收將成長 45% 以上。就全年而言，在去除程式化產品以顯示有機成長程度後，我們預計 CTV 再次成長 40% 以上。隨著美國人尋求廣告支援的免費電視的新選擇，我們受益於觀眾的持續成長，並且我們繼續擴大我們在市場上的發行範圍。第四季度，我們在 Pluto 上推出了 ion，它迅速成長為娛樂層的第一大網絡。同樣，ION 被 Google TV 評為 2023 年收視率最高的直播頻道之一。Ion 是快速市場中唯一可用的廣播網絡，它是一個優質的節目陣容，包括頂級節目和現場體育節目。如果分析師的描述是正確的，因為新有線電視比ION 和Scripps Networks 處於特殊地位，可以實現更多的CTV 收入增長，那麼我現在想談談我們在下一季銷售預付款的積極方法，為什麼我們預計會有顯著的改善我們今年的成果是在來自 NBCU 的新任首席營收長的指導下取得的。我們正在採取更加激進的立場。我們已將預付款安排在 4 月 9 日，比大型企業集團現場活動提早一個月。我們預計將有數百名買家參加新的方式，這些新方式與我們由於擴展到體育直播、線性電視最有價值的內容類型、斯克里普斯體育以及我們與WNBA 和國家女子足球隊的合作而保持的更強大地位相稱。從規模上來說，這對廣告商來說比以往任何時候都更具吸引力。我們的全國運動銷售工作正在為各個時期的 ION 和其他 Scripps Network 品牌吸引新的優質廣告商，體育廣告總體上是分散市場廣告的矛尖。為此，我們致力於擴大我們的體育節目所吸引的常規廣告客戶群，並將業務擴展到 CTV、我們的產品以及我們特別關注多元文化的流行娛樂品牌。

In addition to the different sports, we are seeing ratings successes that also position us well to benefit as the ad market recovers. In fact, the Scripps Networks are the only national entertainment portfolio showing year-over-year growth in the first quarter, both in prime and total day, we are delivering 7% more households and 5% more total viewers than at the same time last year. This growth is separate and in addition to the audience growth and momentum we see we are experiencing on CTV.

除了不同的運動項目之外，我們還看到收視率的成功，這也使我們能夠隨著廣告市場的復甦而受益。事實上，斯克里普斯網路是唯一一家在第一季呈現同比增長的全國性娛樂投資組合，無論是在黃金時段還是全天，我們的家庭用戶數量比去年同期增加了7%，觀眾總數比去年同期增加了5%年。這種成長是獨立的，除了我們在 CTV 上看到的觀眾成長和勢頭之外。

I'd like to conclude by giving you color on our political ad revenue opportunity for 2024. As you know, each raised each market and each election year a different spending as determined by where the top-ups are taking place and where the national parties impact put their dollars to work. What we know for sure is that the ecosystem system of spending will be larger than ever. And we know that local broadcasters will continue to take the lion's share of that spending, it impact puts the total election spend at $10.2 billion compared to $9 billion in 2020. And the firm says 52% of the advertising spend will go to local broadcasters compared to 48% last year.

最後，我想向您介紹我們 2024 年的政治廣告收入機會。如您所知，每個市場和每個選舉年都會籌集不同的支出，具體支出取決於充值的地點以及全國性政黨的影響力將其資金投入到何處。我們確信的是，支出生態系統將比以往任何時候都更大。我們知道，當地廣播公司將繼續佔據該支出的最大份額，這使得選舉總支出達到 102 億美元，而 2020 年為 90 億美元。該公司表示，52% 的廣告支出將流向當地廣播公司，而去年這一數字為 48%。

For script, Jason mentioned our clearest line of sight now is the range of $210 million to $250 million. Presumably, we're going to see the same two candidates running as in 2020, but there are a couple of new factors to think about here. One Biden support is not what it was in 2020. And too much of the money Trump has raised is going to his legal defense not to its campaign. So while experts say there will be a greater level of fundraising for this cycle. It won't necessarily be spent on the presidential race. The states where Scripps does expect to benefit from presidential election spending our Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan.

對於劇本，傑森提到我們現在最清晰的目標是 2.1 億美元到 2.5 億美元的範圍。據推測，我們將看到與 2020 年相同的兩位候選人參選，但這裡有一些新因素需要考慮。拜登的支持率已不如 2020 年。川普籌集的太多資金都用於他的法律辯護，而不是用於競選活動。因此，儘管專家表示，本週期的募款規模將會更大。它不一定會花在總統競選上。史克里普斯確實希望從總統選舉中受益的州包括亞利桑那州、內華達州、威斯康辛州和密西根州。

Turning to the U.S. Senate races, scripted local stations in seven competitive states, all of which have Democrats defending their currency. Montana is a big one with Senator Jon Tester, we're already seeing significant orders coming into Montana, where Scripps commands strong market share across the state. We're also well positioned in Ohio with two big ABC stations and in Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan and Arizona, which also are projected to have tight Senate races with national money pouring into the support party's candidates in Nevada, our Las Vegas stations will benefit from both a contested Senate race and being in a prestigious presidential swing states. We have no contested governor's races this cycle and fewer competitive House races because of Jerry Mandarin and redistricting efforts nationwide. However, another area of opportunity that could be beneficial is our best is develop referendums in some of our bigger states, including Florida. It's estimated that up to seven states could have controversy or ballot issues. One such measure in Ohio last fall helped to drive our overperformance with political for the year. So we'll be watching to see whether those issues make it onto the ballot in key states this summer.

轉向美國參議院競選，七個競爭性州的當地電視台都編寫了劇本，所有這些州都有民主黨人捍衛自己的貨幣。蒙大拿州對參議員喬恩·泰斯特來說是一個大訂單，我們已經看到大量訂單進入蒙大拿州，斯克里普斯在全州佔據強大的市場份額。我們在俄亥俄州也處於有利地位，擁有兩個大型ABC 電視台，在威斯康辛州、馬裡蘭州、密西根州和亞利桑那州，預計參議院競選也將激烈，國家資金將大量投入內華達州的支持黨候選人，我們的拉斯維加斯電視台將受益既來自競爭激烈的參議院競選，又來自享有盛譽的總統搖擺州。由於傑裡·曼達林（Jerry Mandarin）和全國範圍內的重新劃分選區的努力，本週期我們沒有競爭性的州長競選，競爭性的眾議院競選也減少了。然而，另一個可能有益的機會領域是我們最好的機會是在我們的一些較大的州（包括佛羅裡達州）進行公投。據估計，多達七個州可能存在爭議或選票問題。去年秋天在俄亥俄州採取的一項此類措施幫助推動了我們今年在政治方面的超常表現。因此，我們將關注這些問題是否會在今年夏天的關鍵州進行投票。

Before I turn it over to Adam, I'd like to thank Scripps employees for their hard work and perseverance during especially demanding time a year ago, the Company began a significant reorganization. In addition to realizing meaningful cost savings. We have made many changes to the way we do business. We have acted with urgency and rethinking the best ways to serve our audiences and our advertisers and to create new value for the enterprise while necessary. The changes haven't been easy and I credit, our resilient employees for making it work.

在我將其交給 Adam 之前，我要感謝史克里普斯員工在一年前特別艱難的時期（公司開始進行重大重組）的辛勤工作和堅持不懈。除了實現有意義的成本節省之外。我們對經營方式進行了許多改變。我們採取了緊急行動，重新思考服務受眾和廣告商的最佳方式，並在必要時為企業創造新價值。這些改變並不容易，我相信我們堅韌的員工使之得以實現。

And now here's Adam.

現在是亞當。

Thanks, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. It's been a tumultuous several months in the U.S. media landscape last September. After a 10-day impasse during which you would have thought we were witnessing the end of Pay TV, Disney and charter announced the landmark distribution agreement that reinforced the power of the cable bundle. Then just a few weeks ago, Disney Fox and Warner Brothers discovery announced the sports streaming partnership. And again, from the market's reaction, you would have thought it was literally the end of television. I completely understand why even the most seasoned immediate investor is struggling to sort through the chaos. I've been a part of this business for a while. And while it feels and it feels like the market is always ready to believe that worst about broadcast as a journalist, myself, leaving a company with a journalism mission. I prefer to deal in facts and steer clear of rumor, innuendo and speculation. So I thought I'd start this morning with what we actually know about these changes to the marketplace and how they impact Scripps to start the yet to be named sports focused streaming joint venture will be yet another virtual MVPD in an already crowded and somewhat established marketplace. It will also be competing with and likely cannibalizing other streaming products from the very same companies that make up the partnership at somewhere between $40 and $50 a month. It will be less expensive than most of its virtual MVPD competitors, and it will also be much less of a complete consumer proposition than the existing pay-TV bundles. If this is all about attracting the Sports Fanatic it's hard to say it's a slam dunk. March Madness will be incomplete. The Olympics will be missing out rate and subscribers will get only half of the NFL. The very sport that makes up the top 200 programs on TV. It's the introduction of yet another service into a fragmented landscape that will likely confuse and confound and already frustrated consumer. This is not to say that the new offering won't get subscribers as the partners say it will target cord cutters. We at Scripps will very much benefit from increased distribution fees and strengthen reach executives have confirmed over and over that affiliates like Scripps will be carried along and compensated just as we are with the other virtual MVPDs. I can't see why analysts nor investors would see this as some sort of killer app that, hey, if it adds new value to linear television, I'll be happy to report success and take advantage of its reach because we'll get paid for our ABC and Fox affiliates.

謝謝麗莎，大家早安。去年九月，美國媒體界經歷了動盪的幾個月。在經歷了長達 10 天的僵局之後，迪士尼和 Charter 宣布了具有里程碑意義的分銷協議，增強了有線電視捆綁的力量。就在幾週前，迪士尼福斯和華納兄弟探索頻道宣佈建立體育串流媒體合作夥伴關係。再一次，從市場的反應來看，你可能會認為這其實是電視的終點。我完全理解為什麼即使是最經驗豐富的直接投資者也在努力釐清混亂的局面。我參與這個行業已經有一段時間了。雖然感覺市場總是準備好相信身為記者的廣播最糟糕的情況，但我自己卻離開了一家肩負新聞使命的公司。我更喜歡處理事實，避免謠言、影射和猜測。所以我想今天早上我應該從我們對市場這些變化的實際了解以及它們如何影響斯克里普斯開始，以啟動尚未命名的專注於體育的流媒體合資企業，這將是一個已經擁擠且有些成熟的虛擬MVPD市場。它還將與組成合作夥伴關係的同一家公司的其他串流媒體產品競爭，並可能以每月 40 至 50 美元的價格蠶食其他串流媒體產品。它將比大多數虛擬 MVPD 競爭對手便宜，而且與現有的付費電視捆綁相比，它也不是一個完整的消費者主張。如果這一切都是為了吸引體育狂熱分子，那麼很難說這是一個灌籃。瘋狂三月將是不完整的。奧運會將會錯過，訂戶將只能觀看 NFL 的一半。這項運動佔據了電視節目前 200 名的位置。這是在分散的環境中引入另一種服務，這可能會讓消費者感到困惑和困惑，並且已經感到沮喪。這並不是說新產品不會吸引訂戶，因為合作夥伴表示它將針對掐線者。我們史克里普斯將受益於增加的分銷費用和加強影響力，高管們已經一再確認，像斯克里普斯這樣的附屬公司將像我們與其他虛擬 MVPD 一樣獲得收益和報酬。我不明白為什麼分析師或投資者會認為這是某種殺手級應用程序，嘿，如果它為線性電視增加了新的價值，我會很高興報告成功並利用它的影響力，因為我們會得到支付我們的ABC 和Fox 附屬公司的費用。

To be clear. Fragmentation and disruption were here well before the JV announcement. And Scripps has already been driving growth in this chaos, even if Wall Street has yet to recognize it, we continue to reap the benefits of retransmission revenue and expect to do so for years to come. Last year, we renewed 75% of our subs drove net distribution margin expansion and created new incremental value through agreements driven by our sports strategy. There should be more growth here to come from the productive relationships we have with both traditional and virtual pay TV platforms. Pay television is still a solid business that will support Scripps as we transition to our next growth phase because of our platform diversification strategy, distribution revenue accounts for less than a third of Scripps is total company revenue. So we are much less reliant on it than others. Our reach and revenue are buoyed by the growing over the year audience and our aggressive moves in connected TV strategies that are paying off and powering real financial growth aggressively tackling future opportunities even when they are disruptive has been a consistent thread in the Scripps story. And thanks to our foresight connected TV revenues for the enterprise should be well past $140 million this year. As Lisa pointed out, our networks portfolio stands alone growing ratings and with our focus on live sports momentum is on our side and the advertising market too. Once again, we benefit from pay TV reach but aren't limited by it. We are growing opportunity around it. Scripps is heavily leaning into the opportunity of free TV and we're making it even easier for media consumers with Tableau, which delivers the most popular linear programs via over the year, right, alongside another 65 or so premium FAST channels, you could even think of Tableau as the only fast platform to offer the NFL and college sports that in and of itself makes it a more compelling sports proposition than the new JV service and it's free. Tableau can now be found in most major retailers. Walmart.com launched in January, Amazon as the top retail partner accounting for about 60% of sales, the Home Shopping Network launch Tableau in October with exceptional results selling out its first airing in only a few minutes, and we expect Asia soon to drive significant portion of unit sales in 2024. As we move into this year, we'll continue to explore partnerships both regional and national to expand our footprint and scale. Since we launched our latest version in August, we have had incredible engagement with users. The first-party data shows that on average customers are watching two hours a day and that OTA programming accounts for most of that viewing 50% of that time is spent watching live sports news and talk shows speaking of data. Tableau is the only platform in the market that directly measures over the year viewing our back-end measures, all of the same data that set-top boxes do and more that valuable data and the monetization of the SaaS platform are the recurring revenue streams that drive value further downstream and will make up the average revenue per user metrics we'll share with you in the future.

要明確的是。早在合資企業宣布之前，碎片化和顛覆就已經存在。斯克里普斯已經在這種混亂中推動了成長，即使華爾街尚未認識到這一點，我們仍將繼續獲得轉播收入的好處，並預計在未來幾年內將如此。去年，我們續簽了 75% 的訂閱者，推動了淨分銷利潤率的擴張，並透過體育策略推動的協議創造了新的增量價值。我們與傳統和虛擬付費電視平台之間的富有成效的關係應該會帶來更多的成長。付費電視仍然是一項穩固的業務，將在我們過渡到下一個增長階段時為斯克里普斯提供支持，因為我們的平台多元化戰略，發行收入佔斯克里普斯公司總收入的不到三分之一。所以我們比其他人對它的依賴要少得多。我們的影響力和收入受到了觀眾數量逐年增長的提振，以及我們在聯網電視戰略方面的積極舉措，這些舉措正在取得回報，並推動真正的財務增長，積極應對未來的機會，即使它們具有破壞性，這一直是史克里普斯故事中的一貫主線。由於我們的遠見，今年該企業的連網電視收入將遠遠超過 1.4 億美元。正如麗莎指出的那樣，我們的網路投資組合收視率不斷增長，我們對體育直播的關注勢頭在我們這邊，廣告市場也是如此。我們再一次受益於付費電視的影響力，但並不受其限制。我們正在圍繞它增加機會。史克里普斯非常重視免費電視的機會，我們正在透過Tableau 為媒體消費者提供更輕鬆的服務，它透過全年提供最受歡迎的線性節目，對吧，還有另外65 個左右的優質FAST 頻道，您甚至可以Tableau 是提供 NFL 和大學體育賽事的唯一快速平台，其本身就使其成為比新的合資服務更具吸引力的體育主張，而且它是免費的。現在，大多數主要零售商都可以找到 Tableau。Walmart.com 於1 月推出，亞馬遜作為最大的零售合作夥伴，約佔銷售額的60%，家庭購物網絡於10 月推出Tableau，取得了優異的成績，首次播出僅幾分鐘就售罄，我們預計亞洲很快將推動這一趨勢2024 年銷售的很大一部分。進入今年，我們將繼續探索區域和國家合作夥伴關係，以擴大我們的足跡和規模。自從我們八月推出最新版本以來，我們與用戶的互動令人難以置信。第一方數據顯示，客戶平均每天觀看兩小時，其中 OTA 節目佔觀看時間的大部分，其中 50% 的時間花在觀看直播體育新聞和談論數據的脫口秀節目。Tableau 是市場上唯一一個直接衡量全年數據的平台，可查看我們的後端指標，所有與機上盒相同的數據，以及更有價值的數據和 SaaS 平台的貨幣化是我們的經常性收入流進一步推動下游價值，並將構成我們將來與您分享的每用戶平均收入指標。

While the Tableau platform makes TV easy, it's live sports and live news that make linear television most relevant today. And that's why we continue to aggressively pursue sports rights that are appropriate to our local market depth and the scale of our national reach with ION for local broadcasters. In particular, winning sports rights is yet another catalyst for the growth of over the air among cord-cutters and for the durability of the Pay TV bundle. It's a growth strategy that's creating immediate new value for just the two National Hockey League partnerships that we already have underway in Los Angeles and Phoenix, we project a 3% lift in core advertising revenue for 2024. And we continue to see many partnership opportunities with Teams ahead in both the near term and long term.

雖然 Tableau 平台讓看電視變得簡單，但體育直播和新聞直播讓線性電視在當今最具相關性。這就是為什麼我們繼續積極尋求適合我們當地市場深度和我們與 ION 為當地廣播公司在全國範圍內覆蓋的體育賽事轉播權。特別是，贏得體育賽事轉播權是有線電視用戶成長和付費電視捆綁持久耐用的另一個催化劑。這是一項成長策略，可以為我們已經在洛杉磯和鳳凰城建立的兩個國家冰球聯盟合作夥伴關係創造直接的新價值，我們預計 2024 年核心廣告收入將成長 3%。我們繼續看到與未來團隊的許多近期和長期合作機會。

On the national side. Last year, we completed a very successful first season with the WNBA. Here's the power of ION's reach and our CT. V plus OTA plus pay TV strategy. The WNBA spotlight on ION, the Friday night franchise, we launched through the WNBA.s audience by 30%, while drawing a hefty premium above typical ad rates on ION for that time period, 65% of the revenue last season was from new to Scripps advertisers. This year we'll be back with the WNBA on Friday nights and it will be Women's Soccer on Saturday nights. Scripps is proud to be launching a franchise night double header for the NWSL. as part of the league's landmark rights agreements. We start the season on Saturday, March 16th, sponsorships and advertising sales are well underway and having the intended effect on our whole networks portfolio, 2023 was a tough year as a result of an unsteady and uncertain economy, but there's a lot to celebrate and the work this company is doing to best position itself for continuously improving near-term performance and long-term value creation. And now, operator, we're ready for your questions.

國家方面。去年，我們在 WNBA 度過了非常成功的第一個賽季。這就是 ION 的影響力和 CT 的力量。V+OTA+付費電視策略。WNBA 的焦點集中在周五晚上的 ION 上，我們透過 WNBA 觀眾推出了 30% 的廣告，同時比 ION 同期的典型廣告費率高出一大筆溢價，上賽季 65% 的收入來自新秀和新秀。斯克里普斯廣告商。今年，我們將在周五晚上回歸 WNBA，並在周六晚上回歸女子足球。斯克里普斯很自豪能夠為 NWSL 推出特許經營之夜雙打比賽。作為聯盟具有里程碑意義的權利協議的一部分。我們於3 月16 日星期六開始賽季，贊助和廣告銷售正在順利進行，並對我們的整個網路投資組合產生了預期的影響。許多值得慶祝和該公司正在做的工作是為了不斷提高近期業績和創造長期價值，從而使自己處於最佳位置。現在，接線員，我們已準備好回答您的問題。

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press one then zero on your touchtone phone. You may remove yourself from queue at any time by pressing one zero. Again, if you're using a speakerphone, please pickup the handset before pressing the numbers. Once again, if you have a question, please press one then zero at this time. One moment, please. For the first question, we'll begin with the line of Dan Kurnos with The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

謝謝。如果您想提問，請在按鍵式電話上按 1，然後按 0。您可以隨時按一零將自己從隊列中刪除。再次強調，如果您使用免持電話，請在按號碼之前拿起聽筒。再次強調，如果您有疑問，請此時按一，然後按零。稍等一會兒。對於第一個問題，我們將從 Benchmark Company 的 Dan Kurnos 開始。請繼續。

By excluding that, Adam, maybe just start with Sport. And can you just give us your thoughts on the impact of maybe diamonds being allowed to survive, I guess, for another 18 months, given the cash inflow over there and what that might mean for your ability to go after incremental local sports rights? And then look, obviously, you've been out there a lot on the on the JV and I think most people believe that it's going to be de minimus to the marketplace if it even gets off the ground.

亞當，透過排除這一點，也許可以從體育開始。考慮到那裡的現金流入，您能否告訴我們您對鑽石可能再存活 18 個月的影響的看法，以及這對您追求增量當地體育轉播權的能力意味著什麼？然後看，顯然，你已經在合資企業上進行了很多次，我認為大多數人都相信，即使它能夠啟動，對市場來說也是微不足道的。

But, you know, there's obviously been a lot of commentary about sports just moving to streaming over time. And I know that broadcast is included in all of these packages, but just kind of your thoughts on being able to sustain negotiating power and leverage within the sports industry is more and more sports shift to streaming.

但是，你知道，顯然有很多關於體育運動隨著時間的推移轉向串流媒體的評論。我知道所有這些套餐中都包含廣播，但您對能夠在體育行業內維持談判能力和影響力的想法是越來越多的體育賽事轉向串流媒體。

Yes, good morning, Dan. Thanks for the questions. On the Amazon investment into the RS. and um, I guess near term, it means the teams are committed to the RSN contracts until either the RS. and breaches those deals or in the event diamond seek some sort of discount that the team has decided to reject, which will then open up up the opportunity for teams to move in a different direction. Longer term, nothing about this investment changes the reality that the RSNs can't deliver the reach that team owners need, given the erosion we're seeing in Pay TV, and that's why they continue to turn to broadcasters. So all of this to say the RSN model is still in critical condition. I think you described it as sort of still thriving on this investment wasn't in any way a cure for what ails the RSN model. And I continue to expect that rates will move in the direction of local broadcast, and I continue to expect that Scripps will benefit from those moves relative to the joint venture. I don't know if there's more to say than what I already said in my prepared remarks. I guess I would say I think there is no math that supports the idea that local rights can move to streaming or move to a D2C product and support a teams need to field a good team and to win we've modeled it every other way. And while streaming will continue to be an important part on the local end for incremental reach, these teams need broadcast reach, and that's the direction they're and they're all moving in. So my enthusiasm for the opportunity for Scripps sports has not dampened at all on the national side, I will tell you speaking to the leaves the owners, um, you know, I think I think it's safe to say that reach continues to be the primary component for all of these team deals during the Super Bowl week you heard Roger Goodell say that he expects at least 90% of all games for the NFL to be broadcast on broadcast television, again, demonstrating the important power of retail. I don't think any of these leagues want to impair their asset over the long term by completely going behind a paywall and being inaccessible to most Americans, especially as we continue to see that streaming landscape get more fragmented, not consolidated. So we believe that there will be a continued opportunity for broadcast networks, new opportunity for networks like ION. And of course, we think the continued opportunity for our affiliates that are partnered with the with the big four networks.

是的，早安，丹。感謝您的提問。關於亞馬遜對RS的投資。嗯，我想短期內，這意味著球隊將致力於遵守 RSN 合同，直到 RS.並違反這些協議，或者如果鑽石尋求團隊決定拒絕的某種折扣，這將為團隊轉向不同的方向提供機會。從長遠來看，鑑於我們在付費電視中看到的侵蝕，這項投資不會改變 RSN 無法提供團隊所有者所需的覆蓋範圍的現實，這就是他們繼續轉向廣播公司的原因。所有這些都表明 RSN 模型仍處於危急狀態。我認為你所描述的這種投資仍然蓬勃發展並不能以任何方式治癒 RSN 模型的問題。我仍然預計費率將朝著本地廣播的方向發展，我仍然預計斯克里普斯將從與合資企業相關的這些舉措中受益。我不知道除了我準備好的發言中已經說過的內容之外，是否還有更多的話要說。我想我會說，我認為沒有數學可以支持這樣的想法：本地版權可以轉移到串流媒體或轉移到D2C 產品，並支持團隊需要組建一支優秀的團隊並贏得勝利，我們已經以其他方式對其進行了建模。雖然串流媒體將繼續成為本地端擴大覆蓋範圍的重要組成部分，但這些團隊需要廣播覆蓋範圍，這就是他們正在前進的方向。因此，我對斯克里普斯體育機會的熱情在國家方面並沒有絲毫減弱，我會告訴你與葉子業主的談話，嗯，你知道，我認為我認為可以肯定地說，觸及範圍仍然是首要的在超級盃週期間所有這些球隊交易的組成部分，您聽到羅傑·古德爾說，他預計NFL 至少90% 的比賽將在廣播電視上轉播，這再次證明了零售的重要力量。我認為這些聯盟中的任何一個都不希望透過完全付費牆和大多數美國人無法訪問來長期損害其資產，特別是當我們繼續看到串流媒體格局變得更加分散而不是整合時。因此，我們相信廣播網絡將會有持續的機會，對於像 ION 這樣的網絡來說，將會有新的機會。當然，我們認為與四大網路合作的附屬公司將繼續獲得機會。

Had it for the record. Adam, I said survive not thrive for the RS. and I think it's close to, but that's a different story.

已記錄下來。亞當，我說的是 RS 的生存而不是繁榮。我認為這很接近，但那是另一個故事了。

Can you just early-stage just quickly give us a thought on the shape of national for the year, just given sort of the mix between general market and D are still kind of lagging a bit?

您能否在早期階段快速給我們一個關於今年國家賽的形狀的想法，只是考慮到一般市場和 D 之間的組合仍然有點滯後？

Yes. As part of my prepared comments, I talked about the fact that obviously across the marketplace we had a of a lower upfront. And so therefore, we're really on being aggressive in that making up that ground in the scatter marketplace, but also in DRIM. seeing. Certainly we saw it in Q4, and we're seeing it again in Q1 where CPMs on fourth quarter were up 4% and over 2022 to Q4 and this year, we're seeing CPMs continue to be up versus our upfront pricing. In January alone, they were up 35%. So and seeing good momentum certainly in the general market space in the scatter marketplace.

是的。作為我準備好的評論的一部分，我談到了這樣一個事實：顯然，在整個市場上，我們的前期費用較低。因此，我們確實在積極進取，在分散市場以及 DRIM 市場上佔有一席之地。看到。當然，我們在第四季度看到了這一點，並且在第一季度再次看到這一情況，第四季度的每千次展示費用增長了4%，從2022 年到第四季度，我們看到每千次展示費用相對於我們的前期定價持續上漲。僅一月份就上漲了 35%。因此，在分散市場的整體市場空間中肯定會看到良好的動力。

I think and the other really interesting story for Scripps and I think in Adam's remarks, were really really well positioned to capture CTV revenue, both from an upfront perspective as we go to market, but also on YouTube, continuing to drive organic growth, but also some of the new launches that I mentioned in my remarks.

我認為斯克里普斯的另一個非常有趣的故事以及亞當的言論中，我們確實處於非常有利的位置，可以捕獲CTV 收入，無論是從我們進入市場時的前期角度來看，還是在YouTube 上，繼續推動有機成長，但還有我在發言中提到的一些新產品。

Got it. Super helpful. Thank you, both. Appreciate it.

知道了。超有幫助。謝謝你們倆。欣賞它。

Thanks.

謝謝。

And we'll now go to the line of Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

現在我們將討論史蒂文卡霍爾 (Steven Cahall) 與富國銀行 (Wells Fargo) 的合作。請繼續。

Thanks. So three for me. So maybe first, Adam, I appreciate your comment about some facts on the sports streaming JV rather than speculation. So I was wondering if you could just tell us what discussions you've had, especially with ABC and Fox as well. And whether those discussions have confirmed that this will be classified as a PD. in the minds of those counterparties, I think that would be really constructive to the market.

謝謝。所以對我來說三個。所以，也許首先，亞當，我很欣賞你對體育串流媒體合資公司的一些事實的評論，而不是猜測。所以我想知道您是否可以告訴我們您進行了哪些討論，特別是與 ABC 和福克斯的討論。以及這些討論是否已確認這將被歸類為 PD。在這些交易對手看來，我認為這對市場來說確實是有建設性的。

And then, Lisa, just on national and maybe picking up on the last question. So a big sequential improvement in the Q1 guide, does that turn positive by Q2?

然後，麗莎，只是關於全國性的問題，也許會回答最後一個問題。那麼，第一季指南的大幅連續改善，到第二季會轉為正值嗎？

It sounds like there's a lot of potential for it to do so, especially with where scatter is.

聽起來它有很大的潛力這樣做，特別是在分散的地方。

And then finally, just on the political guide, how do we think about the how much of that versus your 2020 political is due to just the difference in races. I think there you just have fewer congressional races and then how much of that is attributable to the comment you made about Trump's pack, putting more towards legal and less towards that?

最後，就政治指南而言，我們如何考慮與 2020 年政治相比，有多少是由於種族差異造成的。我認為你的國會競選次數減少了，其中有多少是由於你對川普陣營的評論，更多地關注合法性，而不是合法性？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Well, Steve, I think I've said over and over I've had direct conversations with executives at the top of Disney and with Fox. And they they describe this as it is the virtual MVPDs and they describe the arrangement will be consistent with the arrangement affiliates have with other virtual MVPDs that will be carried along because clearly our broadcast, our broadcast networks or their broadcast networks are our core to the offering, given how much of the NFL or really the only NFL offering will come through the broadcast stations and that we will be compensated in exactly the same mechanism that we're compensated for other virtual MVPDs. So I don't know if we can make it any clearer if in fact, these and this is literally what was said to me on the day of the announcement if these executives, as they say, are true to their word and will aggressively pursue cord cutters in order to bring them back to linear television. This stands to benefit Scripps in increment incremental distribution and incremental fees. Is that I mean is I think that that is that helpful.

好吧，史蒂夫，我想我已經說過一遍又一遍，我與迪士尼和福克斯的高層進行了直接對話。他們將其描述為虛擬 MVPD，他們描述的安排將與附屬公司與其他虛擬 MVPD 的安排一致，這些虛擬 MVPD 將繼續進行，因為顯然我們的廣播、我們的廣播網絡或他們的廣播網絡是我們的核心考慮到有多少NFL 或真正唯一的NFL 節目將透過廣播電台播出，並且我們將以與其他虛擬MVPD 的補償機製完全相同的方式獲得補償。因此，我不知道我們是否可以說得更清楚，事實上，如果這些高管如他們所說，信守諾言，並會積極追求，那麼這些和這確實是在宣布當天對我說的。 ，以便將他們帶回線性電視。這將使斯克里普斯受益於增量分配和增量費用。我的意思是我認為這很有幫助。

It is yes.

是的。

Okay. This comes directly from ABC and Fox, and this is consistent with what all of the affiliates have been saying. This is just another virtual MVPD, and we will be compensated for the carriage of our affiliates through this virtual MVPD.

好的。這直接來自美國廣播公司和福斯，這與所有附屬公司的說法一致。這只是另一個虛擬 MVPD，我們將透過該虛擬 MVPD 獲得我們附屬公司的運輸補償。

Stephen we are seeing positive momentum that started I think in on certainly in our performance in Q4 and moving into first quarter with our guide, we are optimistic on as we continue to see the strength in scatter and in MDR rates, both rates are up year over year and year to date in first quarter compared to 2023. So we're really aggressively pursuing on you that I think we mentioned in our guide coming in potentially flat to last year, which I think is just probably certainly best in peer performance. And we expect that momentum to continue throughout the year as for political and there, there are differences, and I mentioned some of those differences in my prepared remarks. And after redistricting, there's certainly a less competitive House races than we saw in 2020. And some of the presidential toss-up states have changed. And Florida was only always squarely a swing state and with sort of migration into Florida over the last several years that has changed. And so we're seeing some of those changes affect and give a little bit of less visibility into where the money will actually be spent given the Tulsa races this year. I think I mentioned the competitive races for the Senate, which was really were very, very strong this year. And and we expect and are already seeing really great spending in Montana in early this year and also in the back half of the year already lean in a good foundation for the year.

史蒂芬，我們看到了積極的勢頭，我認為肯定是在我們第四季度的表現中，並在我們的指導下進入第一季度，我們對此感到樂觀，因為我們繼續看到分散和MDR 率的實力，這兩個比率都在同比增長與 2023 年相比，今年第一季的同比情況和年初至今的情況。因此，我們非常積極地追求您，我認為我們在指南中提到的可能與去年持平，我認為這可能是同業表現中最好的。我們預計這一勢頭將在政治方面持續一整年，而且存在分歧，我在準備好的發言中提到了其中一些分歧。重新劃分選區後，眾議院競選的競爭肯定比 2020 年少。一些總統大選懸而未決的州也發生了變化。佛羅裡達州始終是一個搖擺州，在過去幾年隨著移民進入佛羅裡達州，情況發生了變化。因此，我們看到其中一些變化會影響今年的塔爾薩比賽，並讓人們不太清楚資金的實際用途。我想我提到了參議院的競爭，今年的競爭確實非常非常激烈。我們預計並且已經看到今年年初蒙大拿州的支出非常巨大，今年下半年也已經為今年奠定了良好的基礎。

Thank you.

謝謝。

We'll now go to the line of Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners. Please go ahead.

現在我們將轉到克雷格·胡貝爾 (Craig Huber) 和胡貝爾研究合作夥伴 (Huber Research Partners) 的專線。請繼續。

Yes, hi. Thank you. My first question, if I could. Let's focus on costs.

是的，嗨。謝謝。我的第一個問題，如果可以的話。讓我們專注於成本。

If we could please, maybe Jason or somebody else. How are you feeling about your cost base this year? I mean, you've obviously talked to this $40 million plus cost savings plan that should be, I guess, fully in the numbers by the middle of the year. Are you expecting that you're going to have to step up further on the cost front?

如果可以的話，也許是傑森或其他人。您對今年的成本基礎感覺如何？我的意思是，您顯然已經談到了這項 4000 萬美元以上的成本節約計劃，我想該計劃應該在今年年中之前完全實現。您是否預計必須在成本方面進一步提高？

Are you guys or are you guys pretty comfortable with your cost run rate now as you kind of think about your ad revenue trends are et cetera?

你們現在對自己的成本運行率感到滿意嗎？

And I think that from a cost perspective, we have been aggressive with the restructure. We will have 30 at more than $40 million sort of run rate annualized savings by the middle of this year. And I think the focal area would be just continuing to manage things as efficiently as possible. We have things this year when you talk about political, when you talk about some of the green shoots at least talking about in terms of national ad marketplace, that should have should be a great benefit to the bottom line.

我認為從成本角度來看，我們一直在積極地進行重組。到今年年中，我們將實現 30 個年化運行率超過 4000 萬美元的節省。我認為重點領域將是繼續盡可能有效地管理事情。今年，當你談論政治時，當你談論一些新芽時，至少在全國廣告市場方面，這應該會對利潤產生巨大的好處。

In addition to our tight expense management, but I think you'll see us continue to manage things really tightly as we move throughout the rest of the year.

除了我們嚴格的費用管理之外，我認為您會看到我們在今年剩餘時間繼續嚴格管理事情。

Jason, a housekeeping question, please. On your retrans subs, what was the decline year over year that goes into your retrans revenue number that you had in the fourth quarter, please?

傑森，有一個家事問題嗎？對於您的轉播訂閱者，您第四季的轉播收入年減了多少？

And we were down mid-single digits, which is consistent with where we've been for a while and actually was a slight improvement versus the prior quarter, but still in that mid single digits percent range.

我們的業績下降了中個位數，這與我們一段時間以來的情況一致，實際上與上一季相比略有改善，但仍處於中個位數百分比範圍內。

Okay, good. Thank you for that. And then your other revenue line and the EBITDA, can you just help us how should we think about that line EBITDA and revenue for the full year? What are you budgeting there? Please.

好的。謝謝你。然後您的其他收入線和 EBITDA，您能否幫助我們了解該線 EBITDA 和全年收入？你在那裡的預算是多少？請。

Yes. And so that other the other rollup includes a bunch of different things, including Tableau, which Adam talked about, where we continue to invest as we launch that. So we guided to a loss of about $7 million in the first quarter. I would say in general that will likely be somewhere between $7 million to $10 million each quarter. This year with revenue growing as the year moves forward.

是的。因此，其他總結包括一堆不同的東西，包括 Adam 談到的 Tableau，我們在推出它時會繼續投資。因此，我們預計第一季虧損約 700 萬美元。我想說，一般來說，每季的金額可能在 700 萬美元到 1000 萬美元之間。今年的收入隨著時間的推移而成長。

Okay. Very good. That's all I have right now.

好的。非常好。這就是我現在所擁有的一切。

Thank you.

謝謝。

As a reminder, your place yourself into the queue, you may press one, then zero on your telephone keypad. We'll now go to the line of [Jeff Pesch] and with Phoenix. Please go ahead.

提醒一下，當您將自己放入隊列時，您可以按電話鍵盤上的“1”，然後按“0”。現在我們將轉到[傑夫·佩什]和菲尼克斯的隊伍。請繼續。

Yes Thank you for your time here. Just one quick question.

是的，感謝您抽出寶貴的時間。只是一個簡單的問題。

It sounds like you're going to defer the Berkshire preferred payout. What's the plans for reducing the bank debt and pushing those out? Is there a plan for also going out past 2027?

聽起來你要推遲伯克希爾優先支付。減少銀行債務並擺脫這些債務的計劃是什麼？2027 年之後還有出去的計畫嗎？

Yes. So the decision to defer the Berkshire deal, and that's a decision that we make sort of on a quarterly basis get elected this quarter to defer that comment really allow us to focus on maximizing the paydown of our traditional bank debt. And it really gives us, from our perspective, more flexibility in terms of debt paydown and refinancing our upcoming maturities. And we also are very focused on the fact that we do have a maturity coming up in 26 that we're keeping a very close eye on the debt markets right now, which have improved their last couple of months to determine at what point in time we want to go out and take action and look to refinance that debt, which was the goal would be to have that refinance at least 18 months in advance of maturity.

是的。因此，推遲伯克希爾交易的決定，這是我們按季度做出的決定，本季度當選推遲這一評論，確實讓我們能夠專注於最大限度地償還傳統銀行債務。從我們的角度來看，它確實為我們在債務償還和即將到期的再融資方面提供了更大的靈活性。我們也非常關注這樣一個事實，即我們確實有 26 年的到期日，我們現在正在密切關注債務市場，債務市場在過去幾個月已經有所改善，以確定在什麼時間點我們希望走出去，採取行動，尋求對該債務進行再融資，目標是在到期前至少18 個月進行再融資。

Great.

偉大的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

We'll go to the line of Michael Kupinski with NOBLE Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

我們將跟隨 NOBLE Capital Markets 的 Michael Kupinski 的腳步。請繼續。

Thank you for taking my question. Just a quick one on. It seems like the network business, the OTA business is getting more competition. And a couple of your peers have indicated that they're crossing certain hurdles in terms of distribution across the country. And I know that you're seeing some improving trends there, but I was just wondering if you can kind of give us a taste of what advertisers are seeing in terms of maybe shifting some dollars to some of the competition that's out there and whether or not you're hearing anything like that. And if you could just kind of give us a state of just the business in general for the OTA market?

謝謝你回答我的問題。快點說一說吧。看來網路業務、OTA業務的競爭越來越激烈。您的一些同行表示，他們正在跨越全國分銷方面的某些障礙。我知道您看到了一些改善的趨勢，但我只是想知道您是否可以讓我們了解廣告商所看到的情況，即可能將一些資金轉移到現有的一些競爭中，以及是否或不是您聽到這樣的話。您能否向我們介紹一下 OTA 市場的整體業務狀況？

Yes. Mike, it's Lisa. We're not seeing really any competition from, I think the expanding OTA multicast networks. In fact, we're I've seen strength in our D. our ad rates. We're also seeing strength in demand for DR advertising. Typically when those other networks are launching OTA there primarily on D. our advertising and it's very sort of bottom of the barrel advertising and we really our networks are premium programming, and we're competing in both really the hybrid DR in the premium D, our ad rates. So we're not seeing any or worried about any of that competition.

是的。麥克，是麗莎。我認為我們並沒有看到來自不斷擴大的 OTA 多播網路的任何競爭。事實上，我已經看到了我們的 D. 我們的廣告費率的優勢。我們也看到對 DR 廣告的需求強勁。通常，當其他網絡主要在 D 上推出 OTA 時，我們的廣告，這是非常底層的廣告，我們的網絡確實是優質節目，而且我們在優質 D 中的混合 DR 方面進行競爭，我們的廣告費率。因此，我們沒有看到或擔心任何此類競爭。

Catch-up and interest in general in terms of core advertising on the local level? I mean, are you seeing much variance between local and national and the core level outside of political, of course.

地方層級核心廣告的追趕與興趣？我的意思是，你是否看到地方和國家以及政治之外的核心層面之間存在很大差異，當然。

Yes. I think some of the trends that we're seeing, both on the local level, which I included in my prepared remarks, sort of the categories that are up year over year that we have different categories, certainly in the national ad marketplace in the local marketplace. But I would say the certainly the momentum is equal across both across both segments.

是的。我認為我們在地方層面上看到的一些趨勢，我在準備好的發言中也提到了這些趨勢，這些趨勢是逐年上升的，我們有不同的類別，當然是在全國廣告市場中。但我想說，這兩個細分市場的勢頭肯定是相等的。

Okay. That's all I had.

好的。這就是我所擁有的一切。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. We will return to the line of Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners. Please go ahead.

謝謝。我們將回到克雷格·胡貝爾 (Craig Huber) 與胡貝爾研究合作夥伴 (Huber Research Partners) 的路線。請繼續。

Thank you for auto advertisers. I'd be curious to hear your updated thoughts there on both the national level and local for are we right, but does not look terribly. So therefore, I will give you a?

感謝汽車廣告商。我很想聽聽您在國家層面和地方層面的最新想法，因為我們是對的，但看起來並不可怕。因此，我會給你一個？

Yes, I will give you a little bit of Q4 and then full year and some remarks to take us into Qone. So fourth quarter auto was up as we said, 9% versus Q4 of 22. The full year 2023 auto was up 10%, which is really strong. This marks really the sixth consecutive quarter of growth and we sell to E&O really each quarter and last year was and we saw great growth in Q1 of 2024. So far in January, we finished up 3% and pacing to be up and potentially up to 7% in February. And it's just a little too early to say about March. So we're seeing that momentum continue and domestic dealer auto groups were up year over year last year. Foreign dealer groups were up, but it was really barely up. It was 1%. And we're continuing to see where things are lagging as manufacturers and from a domestic perspective, works were and were down year over year last year by 9%. And for Inmet, FineSim s manufacturers were up about 24%. So again, automotive last year, great story and continuing really that momentum into 2024.

是的，我將向您介紹第四季度的一些情況，然後是全年情況，以及一些帶我們進入 Qone 的評論。因此，正如我們所說，第四季度汽車行業增長了 9%，而第四季度汽車行業增長了 22%。2023年全年汽車上漲10%，確實很強勁。這實際上標誌著連續第六個季度的成長，我們每個季度都向 E&O 出售產品，去年也是如此，我們在 2024 年第一季看到了巨大的成長。1 月到目前為止，我們的漲幅為 3%，並預計在 2 月上漲，甚至可能達到 7%。現在談論三月還為時過早。因此，我們看到這種勢頭仍在繼續，國內經銷商汽車集團去年同比有所增長。國外經銷商集團上漲，但確實勉強上漲。是1%。我們正在繼續觀察製造商的落後情況，從國內角度來看，去年的工作量年減了 9%。而對於 Inmet 來說，FineSim 的製造商上漲了約 24%。再說一遍，去年的汽車產業是一個偉大的故事，並將這種勢頭真正延續到 2024 年。

And also, Jason, how you calculated your banks, your net debt to EBITDA ratio of trailing eight-quarter basis. What was that at the end of the year?

另外，傑森，你是如何計算你的銀行、過去八個季度的淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率的。年底的時候是什麼情況？

We just finished. What do you project it to be at the end of this year, please?

我們剛剛結束。請問您預計今年底會是什麼狀況？

Yes. So it was 5.7 at the end of last year. And we're focused, as I said in my prepared remarks, really focused on paying down debt and delevering. We're not giving a year end leverage target right now because of the wide range of outcomes. When you talk about, for example, the political guide we gave, which can really swing that number as well as some uncertainty in the timing of the advertising rebound, which again, can really move that number as well. So we're not giving a specific guide, but as I said, we're focused on de-levering this year and using the cash flow. We're going to get through the political cycle through growth and continued growth in connected TV and the benefits of our expense restructuring to paydown the maximum amount of debt costs.

是的。所以去年底是5.7。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們的重點是償還債務和去槓桿化。由於結果多種多樣，我們現在不會給出年終槓桿目標。例如，當你談論我們提供的政治指南時，它確實可以改變這個數字，以及廣告反彈時間的一些不確定性，這也可以真正改變這個數字。因此，我們不會提供具體的指導，但正如我所說，我們今年的重點是去槓桿化和利用現金流。我們將透過連網電視的成長和持續成長以及我們的費用重組的好處來度過政治週期，以償還最大數額的債務成本。

My final question I could ask on the CapEx side. You mentioned onetime project to take that out. What would your underlying CapEx be for the year, please?

我可以在資本支出方面提出的最後一個問題。你提到過一個專案來解決這個問題。請問您今年的基本資本支出是多少？

More than maintenance type level trying to get to?

超過試圖達到的維護類型等級？

It would be around $60 million.

大約是 6000 萬美元。

Okay, great. Thank you for guys.

好的，太好了。謝謝你們。

I think and with that, we have no further questions in queue at this time. Please continue.

我認為，目前我們沒有其他問題了。請繼續。

Thank you very much, Rich, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. Have a great day.

非常感謝 Rich，也感謝大家今天加入我們。祝你有美好的一天。

This conference will be available for replay after 11.30 A.M. Eastern today through May 24th at midnight. You may access the AT&T teleconference replay system at any time by dialing one eight six two zero seven one zero four one and entering the access code four seven five one zero three one. International participants may dial one four zero two nine seven zero zero eight four seven. Those numbers again are one eight six six two zero seven one zero four one or one four zero two nine seven zero zero eight four seven access code four seven five one zero three one.

本次會議將於上午 11.30 後重播。東部時間今日至 5 月 24 日午夜。您可以隨時撥打 1 8 6 2 0 7 1 0 4 1 並輸入存取碼 4 7 5 1 0 3 1 來存取 AT&T 電話會議重播系統。國際參與者可撥打一四零二九七零八四七。這些數字又是一八六六二零七一零四一或一四零二九七零八四七訪問碼四七五一零三一。

And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T teleconference. You may now disconnect.

我們今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與和使用 AT&T 電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。