Nexstar says charter deal with Disney is ‘positive’ for TV broadcasting – Deadline

courtesy

In a 12-page promotional slide deck published this morning, Nexstar Media Group, owner of Top Stations Group and parent company of The CW, makes the case for broadcast television and honors last month’s charter horse-drawn carriage deal with Disney. expressed.

The presentation argued that broadcast television networks have the widest reach, especially when it comes to broadcasting live sports, but are proportionately compensated less than cable networks. This sets you up for future distribution revenue growth.

Disney and Charter’s deal is “positive for broadcast television,” Nexstar said, as it combines direct-to-consumer streaming services with broadcast and cable networks. A more unified approach “should reduce customer churn,” Nexstar said. “By offering viewers more content they want at competitive/better prices than DTC bundles, subscriber trends should stabilize.”

The cable bundle has also become “bloated,” the company added. In the case of Disney Charter, networks such as Freeform and Disney Junior lost distribution on the nation’s second-largest cable platform as the distributor continues to cull its field. This suggests that funds from pay-TV operators, previously spent on securing networks with ever-rising broadcast prices, will be “reallocated to premium content such as broadcast TV.” There is.

Nexstar acquired a 75% stake in The CW last fall, with previous 50-50 partners Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning 12.5%. The company had already been beating the drum for television broadcasting at the local level, but now it has become a vocal advocate for installation at the national level. The CW launched its first weekend show and entered the sports business by securing rights to college sports, auto racing, and professional golf.

Despite all the optimism, times are difficult for traditional TV bundles. The bundle has continued to lose millions of paying customers every year since peak penetration reached his 100 million households just 10 years ago. The economic downturn has undermined the efforts of many media companies by jeopardizing the dual revenue streams of advertising and distribution. While pursuing a resolution with Charter, Disney has been in discussions with a number of parties (including Nexstar) regarding its linear TV properties, including ABC and local stations.