Television Broadcasting Stations (U.S.)

NAICS 2022 code 516120 — An investor's primer

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1. Overview

Television broadcasting stations are the local over-the-air TV businesses in your market — the ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, and independent or Spanish-language "channels" that show up on antennas and inside your cable or streaming lineup. The industry covers the stations and the station groups that own them, not the national networks' programming arms and not the cable, satellite, or streaming companies that deliver signals to homes.

A local station is a spectrum-licensed business that turns audience attention into two things advertisers and distributors pay for: advertising inventory and per-subscriber carriage fees. Its franchise is durable — local news, weather, live sports, and emergency information are hard to replicate — but audience and ad dollars are migrating steadily to streaming, social media, and connected devices. That sets up the industry's central tension: strong, largely fixed-cost-leveraged free cash flow and cheap valuations, set against slow secular decline. It is a classic value-versus-"melting-ice-cube" debate.

Public-market investors can own the pure-play station groups directly — Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps — or get station exposure inside a diversified media parent such as Fox, Disney, Comcast, or Paramount. Private investors meet the industry through private equity (several of the largest owners are privately held), station-level mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and asset swaps, operating and service agreements between groups, and the high-yield debt these heavily levered operators issue.

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2. What it is and how it's structured

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 516120 covers establishments primarily engaged in broadcasting images together with sound over the air — operating the studios and transmission facilities and producing or acquiring the programming that goes out on a licensed TV channel.[2]

A typical local station:

• Holds a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadcast license and transmits over the air.
• Produces local news, weather, sports, and public-affairs programming.
• Carries national programming from a network or syndicated suppliers.
• Sells local, regional, national, and political advertising.
• Negotiates carriage fees with cable, satellite, and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) — internet-delivered pay-TV bundles.
• Runs websites, mobile apps, digital sub-channels, and connected-TV feeds.

What 516120 excludes (adjacent NAICS codes to keep separate):[2]

• 516110 Radio Broadcasting Stations — the audio equivalent.
• 516210 Media Streaming, Social Networks, and Other Media Content Providers — cable networks (ESPN, CNN), streaming services, and the national-network content operations. A local NBC affiliate is 516120; NBCUniversal's cable and streaming businesses are not.
• Cable and satellite distribution (NAICS 517, e.g., 517111) — Comcast, Charter, DirecTV. These "pay-TV" distributors pay stations to carry them; they are not broadcasters.
• 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production — the studios that make programming.

Split ownership and operating control. A station's legal license holder, its economic owner, and the company that actually runs it can be three different entities. Groups use local marketing agreements (LMAs), shared-services agreements (SSAs), joint-sales agreements (JSAs), and time-brokerage agreements (TBAs) to operate stations they do not legally own — and often to consolidate them for accounting purposes. Nexstar's filings show how independently owned stations (for example, those of Mission Broadcasting) can be operated and consolidated by a larger group without being legally owned by it.[22][37] This "sidecar" structure is central to how the industry works within ownership limits.

Ownership mix. The population splits in two:

• Commercial for-profit stations, overwhelmingly owned by a small number of large station groups (Nexstar, Gray, Sinclair, Scripps, the networks' own owned-and-operated stations, and privately held Hearst, Cox, and TelevisaUnivision). These generate essentially all of the industry's revenue.
• Noncommercial educational stations — the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations — which are numerous but nonprofit, funded by donations, grants, and public money rather than ad and carriage revenue. They sit largely outside the for-profit revenue statistics below.

The U.S. is carved into about 210 local TV markets — Nielsen's "designated market areas" (DMAs) — covering roughly 128 million TV households.[6] A station's economics are set by the size and competitiveness of its DMA and by which network it carries.

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3. How big it is

Per our federal ground-truth (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, NAICS 516120):

• Industry receipts: about $32.4 billion (2022; $32,446,252 thousand).[1]
• Firms: 413.[1]
• Concentration is high. The largest 4 firms took 73.6% of revenue (the CR4 concentration ratio); the top 8, 85.7%; the top 20, 90.8%; the top 50, 96.1%.[1] The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, the standard single-number concentration gauge) is suppressed in the source, so we do not report it.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) size standard for this industry is $47 million in average annual receipts (2023) — below that, a firm counts as "small."[3] Note how low the bar sits relative to the multibillion-dollar groups that dominate revenue.

Our federal extract does not include an employment count for 516120, so we do not state one; the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks employment only under its broader broadcasting categories.

Two scope caveats — the 413-firm count is not a station count and understates the picture:

1. These are employer firms, not broadcast licenses. The Economic Census is built around employer businesses and excludes nonemployer operations.[4] For scale, the FCC counted 1,389 licensed commercial TV stations, 388 noncommercial educational stations, 397 Class A stations, 1,760 low-power stations, and 3,092 translators as of December 31, 2025.[5] The 413 figure is best read as a measure of the commercial operating economy — the groups behind the licenses — not the number of stations on the air. Public, nonprofit, low-power, and translator operations are largely omitted or classified elsewhere.
2. The 2022 receipts figure understates today's dollar run-rate. Treat $32.4 billion as the anchored federal baseline. Trade estimates of the live business run higher: S&P Global projected roughly $36 billion of U.S. television advertising in the 2024 election year, lifted by record political spending, with retransmission fees adding a stream of comparable scale on top of advertising.[7][8] The gap reflects measurement timing and scope, not a contradiction.

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4. The investable universe

This is one of the more directly investable "local media" industries: several pure-play public station groups trade alongside diversified media parents and large privately held owners.

Publicly traded — pure-play and diversified (market caps as of mid-July 2026 where noted):

For the diversified parents, station exposure is a small slice of the whole — read the segment disclosures rather than treating total corporate revenue as television-station revenue.

Major private or network-owned holders (not directly investable as pure plays):

• Network owned-and-operated stations — Comcast/NBCUniversal (NBC, Telemundo), Disney (ABC), Paramount (CBS), Fox. Exposure comes only via the parent.
• Hearst Television — wholly owned by privately held Hearst; roughly 30-plus stations, ~$1.5B revenue.[35]
• TelevisaUnivision — private; the dominant Spanish-language station group.
• Cox Media Group — controlled by funds managed by Apollo Global Management, with Cox Enterprises retaining a minority interest.[34]
• Allen Media Group — founded by Byron Allen; broadcast stations alongside cable, digital, and streaming.[36]
• Mission Broadcasting — private group that operates largely through service agreements with Nexstar.[37]
• Weigel Broadcasting — family-owned station and multicast-network group.[38]
• Tegna — no longer independent; absorbed into Nexstar in 2026.[12]

Takeaway: the sector is investable but concentrated and mostly small- to mid-cap outside Nexstar and the diversified parents. The smaller pure-plays (Gray, Scripps) trade as leveraged, deep-value equities.

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5. How the money works

A station group's economics rest on two big revenue engines, one cost that offsets the second engine, and a lot of operating leverage.

Revenue engine 1 — Advertising (cyclical, structurally soft).

• Core advertising is local and national "spot" advertising, priced roughly on CPM (cost per thousand viewers) against the station's ratings. Autos, local services, and retail are the big categories. Core is in slow secular decline as ad dollars migrate to digital and connected TV.[7]
• Political advertising is the swing factor. It surges every even year — hugely in presidential years, strongly in midterms — because campaigns and political action committees must buy local broadcast to reach voters, and law entitles them to the station's lowest unit rate. In the 2024 cycle, record political spending drove TV-station ad revenue up double digits; Nexstar alone booked roughly $500 million of political.[7][23] Odd (non-election) years fall back sharply, which is why these companies report and are valued on a two-year average basis.

Revenue engine 2 — Retransmission consent (the growth story of the last 15 years). Under the 1992 Cable Act, cable, satellite, and virtual pay-TV distributors must obtain a station's permission — "retransmission consent" — to carry its signal, and stations charge a per-subscriber monthly fee for it.[20] A station choosing retransmission consent gives up its mandatory-carriage ("must-carry") right and negotiates price and terms instead. Retransmission ("retrans," or "distribution") revenue has grown into roughly half of many groups' revenue — about 53% of Nexstar's in 2024.[23] It is far steadier than advertising, but it is tied to the pay-TV subscriber base.

The offsetting cost — reverse compensation. Affiliated stations pay their national network (ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox) a share of that retrans money plus programming fees — "reverse comp." Reverse comp has been rising faster than retrans rates, squeezing the net the station keeps.[8] The tug-of-war between rising per-subscriber retrans (good) and rising reverse comp (bad), against a shrinking subscriber base (bad), is the central financial question for the industry.

Ancillary revenue rounds out the model: digital and connected-TV services, multicast sub-channels, production, tower rentals, and spectrum-related services.

Why scale and operating leverage rule the business. A station's costs — tower, transmitter, news staff, network programming — are largely fixed. Incremental advertising and retrans dollars therefore fall to the bottom line at high margins, and the model rewards size:

• Bigger groups negotiate higher retrans rates with distributors and lower reverse comp with networks.
• Owning two stations in one market (a duopoly) lets one newsroom and back office serve both, spreading fixed costs.
• More households under one roof means more leverage everywhere.

That is why owners chase consolidation, and why they carry heavy debt to fund it. Because no single federal series tracks these figures, company filings are the right source for issuer-level comparisons. The metrics investors watch: core vs. political advertising, retrans per subscriber and subscriber trends, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), free cash flow, net debt / EBITDA leverage, the two-year political-cycle average, and the trajectory of net retrans.

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6. What drives demand

• The election cycle. The single biggest swing in profitability. More money in politics, more contested races, and presidential-year intensity all lift the biennial political-ad surge.[7]
• Live sports and live news. The NFL and other live sports, plus breaking local news, are the appointment viewing that keeps broadcast reach — and ad and retrans value — durable when everything else time-shifts to streaming.
• The pay-TV subscriber base. Retrans revenue scales with the number of cable/satellite/virtual pay-TV households carrying the station. Cord-cutting is the direct threat here.
• Local economic health and the auto sector. Core ad spending tracks small-business confidence and, heavily, automotive advertising — making the business macro-cyclical.
• Network affiliation strength. Carrying a "Big Four" affiliate (ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox) with strong prime-time and sports is worth far more than an independent or minor-network signal.
• Spanish-language and other culturally specific programming, which commands loyal local audiences advertisers pay to reach.
• New distribution. Over-the-air viewing, station apps, and streaming feeds extend reach; the ATSC 3.0 standard (below) may eventually add better reception, mobile viewing, and data services, but requires investment and does not immediately replace today's broadcast standard.[21]

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7. Regulation

Television broadcasting is one of the most heavily regulated industries an investor can buy, because stations use public spectrum under federal license. The FCC is the central regulator; station acquisitions require FCC license-transfer approval and may also draw Department of Justice (DOJ) or Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust review.

• Licensing. Stations hold 8-year, renewable FCC licenses and must serve the "public interest."[20] Foreign ownership is generally capped at 25%.
• National ownership cap. No single owner may reach more than 39% of U.S. TV households — with a legacy "UHF discount" (ultra-high-frequency) that counts a UHF station's reach at half.[19] This cap is in active flux: Nexstar needed a waiver to close the Tegna deal (the combination reaches ~80% of homes on paper),[11][12] and in July 2026 the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr moved to replace the blanket 39% cap with case-by-case review, with a vote scheduled.[15][16] The move is contested — critics argue only Congress, which wrote 39% into law in 2004, can change it, so litigation and legislative pushback are live risks.[17]
• Local ownership. In July 2025 the Eighth Circuit vacated the FCC's "top-four prohibition," which had barred one owner from holding two of a market's top-four stations — opening the door to more in-market duopolies.[18]
• Retransmission and carriage. The 1992 Cable Act's retransmission-consent / must-carry regime and "good faith" negotiation rules govern the fees.[20] Carriage disputes ("blackouts") are a recurring flashpoint.
• Political broadcasting rules. Equal-time and lowest-unit-rate obligations shape how the lucrative political-ad windows work; sponsorship-identification, children's-programming, equal-employment-opportunity, emergency-alert, and public-inspection-file rules add further compliance load.
• NextGen TV / ATSC 3.0. The FCC is overseeing a voluntary rollout of ATSC 3.0 (Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0), an internet-protocol-based broadcast standard promising better pictures, targeted advertising, and datacasting. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has asked for a hard transition timeline (top-55 markets by 2028, the rest by 2030), but as of late 2025 the FCC had not set mandatory cutoff dates or required new TVs to include 3.0 tuners.[21]

Net for investors: the regulatory wind is currently at the industry's back (deregulation, cap relief, duopoly relief), which is fueling consolidation — but the direction can reverse in the courts or Congress.

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8. Competitive dynamics and consolidation

• A concentrated field getting more concentrated. Federal statistics put the top four firms at 73.6% of revenue,[1] and deregulation is accelerating M&A: Nexstar closed its ~$6.2B purchase of Tegna to become a clear #1 (though integration is constrained by a preliminary injunction);[12][13][14] Sinclair made a hostile run at Scripps;[25] and groups such as Gray and Scripps have swapped stations to build in-market duopolies.[10] Expect more if the national cap falls.
• National scale ≠ local monopoly. High national concentration does not by itself confer market power. Competition is organized around individual DMAs — a station's local ratings, news brand, network affiliation, and distributor leverage matter more than national station count.
• The real competition is for ad dollars, not just viewers. Local TV's rivals are Google, Meta, Amazon, and connected-TV platforms, which keep taking share of local and national ad budgets. Broadcast's defense is live sports, live news, and unmatched local reach.
• Networks vs. affiliates. The most important structural tension is between the station groups and the national networks that both supply them (reverse comp) and increasingly compete with them directly by streaming prime-time and sports on their own apps — chipping away at the affiliate's value.
• Scale as the strategy. Every move — buying groups, forming duopolies, seeking cap relief — is ultimately about negotiating leverage on the two things that matter: retrans rates up, reverse comp down. The risk is symmetric: antitrust, localism, and retransmission concerns can delay or block deals.

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9. Risks

• Cord-cutting erodes the retrans base. U.S. pay-TV households have fallen from a peak near 86 million (2014) toward roughly 56 million by 2025.[9] Even as per-subscriber fees rise, a shrinking subscriber count is turning retrans growth flat-to-negative at some groups.[8][9]
• Political revenue is lumpy. A weak or uncompetitive cycle can sharply dent an even-year forecast — and odd years are structurally soft.[7]
• Reverse-comp escalation can outpace retrans gains and compress margins.[8]
• High leverage. These are debt-heavy roll-ups (Gray's ~$5.6B long-term debt is illustrative);[9] refinancing risk and interest costs bite in a higher-rate world.
• Regulatory and antitrust reversal. Cap repeal could be blocked by courts or Congress; a change in FCC control could re-tighten ownership rules; and deals can face mandatory divestitures or injunctions.[14][17]
• Networks going direct-to-consumer could structurally devalue the local affiliate.
• Secular ad decline and macro cyclicality — especially auto advertising and recessions.
• Local-news cost-cutting that weakens ratings, trust, and long-term franchise value.
• ATSC 3.0 transition costs are real and near-term; the monetization payoff (datacasting, targeted ads) is unproven.[21]
• Compliance and disclosure exposure — defamation, sponsorship, cybersecurity, emergency-alert, and license-renewal risk; and, for private owners, limited disclosure that complicates underwriting.

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10. How to invest and the outlook

Public-market routes.

• Pure plays: Nexstar (NXST) is the largest, best-capitalized, and most diversified (owns The CW and NewsNation) and pays a growing dividend. Sinclair (SBGI), Gray (GTN), and Scripps (SSP) are smaller, more heavily leveraged, deeper-value equities — higher risk, higher potential reward if cash flow proves durable and debt comes down.[23][39]
• Diversified exposure: Fox (FOXA/FOX), Disney (DIS), Comcast (CMCSA), and Paramount Skydance (PSKY) carry owned-station exposure inside larger network-and-sports companies — read the segment disclosures, don't treat total revenue as station revenue.[28][30][31][32]
• Valuation frame: the pure-plays generally trade at low mid-single-digit multiples of EBITDA on a two-year-average basis, reflecting the market's discount for secular decline — a value screen, not a growth story.
• The screen to apply: strong local ratings and news brands; diversified DMAs and affiliations; durable retrans contracts; manageable leverage and recurring free cash flow; disciplined capital spending; credible digital/ATSC 3.0 monetization; and limited dependence on a single political cycle or distributor.

Private-market routes.

• Several of the biggest owners — Cox Media Group (Apollo), Hearst Television, TelevisaUnivision — are privately held; exposure comes through private equity or direct dealings.[34][35]
• Station-level M&A is fundamentally a private-market game (asset sales, swaps, duopoly builds). Underwrite the individual license: local ratings, DMA economics, retrans terms, affiliation agreements, news staffing, political mix, digital revenue, capital needs, and debt service. Sidecar arrangements deserve special attention — the legal owner, economic owner, and operating company may differ.[22][37]
• Credit: the sector's heavy use of high-yield bonds and leveraged loans makes its debt an investable asset class in its own right — often the more liquid way to express a view on cash-flow durability.

Near-term drivers and outlook (forward-looking).

• Consolidation should accelerate if the FCC's cap repeal survives challenge — favoring scale players that can push retrans rates up and reverse comp down.
• The 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential cycle provide the next biennial political-cash bursts.
• Retrans is maturing: per-subscriber increases are running into subscriber losses, so net distribution growth is the key line to watch.
• ATSC 3.0 is a call option, not a 2026–27 earnings driver.
• Bottom line: the durable-cash-flow-and-deleveraging thesis (buy cheap cash flows, harvest the political cycle, pay down debt) is in a tug-of-war with the terminal-decline thesis (cord-cutting and ad fragmentation shrink both engines). The strongest opportunities are likely operators with top local positions, moderate leverage, and credible digital execution — not simply the largest station count. Which thesis wins is the whole investment question in local television.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census — Concentration of Largest Firms, NAICS 516120 (Television Broadcasting Stations) (2022). https://api.census.gov/data/2022/ecnsize/groups/EC2200SIZECONCEN.html (ingested federal ground-truth: receipts $32,446,252 thousand; 413 firms; CR4 73.6%, CR8 85.7%, CR20 90.8%, CR50 96.1%; HHI suppressed).
2. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS Manual — definition and exclusions for 516120. https://www.census.gov/naics/reference_files_tools/2022_NAICS_Manual.pdf
3. U.S. Small Business Administration. Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to NAICS Codes (2023) — 516120 size standard $47 million. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
4. U.S. Census Bureau. Economic Census Frequently Asked Questions (employer-firm scope; nonemployers excluded) (2024). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/year/2022/about/faq/faq-general.html
5. Federal Communications Commission. Broadcast Station Totals as of December 31, 2025 (1,389 commercial, 388 noncommercial educational, 397 Class A, 1,760 low-power, 3,092 translators). https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-49A1.pdf
6. Nielsen. What is a DMA, and why does it matter? / DMA Regions (~210 markets; ~128M TV households) (2025). https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2025/what-is-a-dma-and-why-does-it-matter/
7. S&P Global Market Intelligence / NewscastStudio. Political ads driving increase in TV ad revenue to $36.2B, S&P projects (2024). https://www.newscaststudio.com/2024/10/23/local-markets-strong-as-national-ad-revenues-fall-for-broadcasters-sp-reports/
8. BIA Advisory Services. What's the Future of Retransmission Fees for Local TV Stations? (2025). https://www.bia.com/blog/whats-the-future-of-retransmission-fees-for-local-tv-stations/
9. TVREV. The Local TV Reckoning: How Pay TV "Singularity" Threatens American Broadcasting's Last Mile (pay-TV households ~86M in 2014 → ~56M by 2025; Gray debt) (2025). https://www.tvrev.com/news/pay-tv-singularity-threatens-american-broadcasting
10. TV News Check. Nexstar Again Tops Station Groups As Consolidation Prospects Grow (station swaps, duopolies) (2025). https://tvnewscheck.com/business/article/nexstar-again-tops-station-groups-as-consolidation-prospects-grow/
11. Variety. Nexstar Seeks FCC Approval of Tegna Acquisition, Requesting Waiver of 39% Ownership Cap Rule (2025). https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nexstar-fcc-tegna-acquisition-waiver-ownership-cap-rule-1236584991/
12. The Hollywood Reporter / NewscastStudio. Nexstar Closes TEGNA Mega Deal Creating Local TV Giant; divestitures and ~80% reach (2026). https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/nexstar-closes-tegna-deal-creating-local-tv-giant-1236541636/
13. Federal Communications Commission. Applications for Consent to the Transfer of Control of TEGNA Inc. to Nexstar Media Inc. — conditions and divestitures (DA-26-267A1) (2026). https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-267A1.pdf
14. Nexstar Media Group. Statement on Preliminary Injunction (integration constrained) (2026). https://www.nexstar.tv/nexstar-media-group-inc-statement-on-preliminary-injunction/
15. CNBC. U.S. agency to vote to end 39% local TV station ownership cap (July 2026). https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/15/fcc-to-vote-to-end-local-tv-station-ownership-cap.html
16. Federal Communications Commission. FCC to Vote on Replacing National Broadcast Ownership Cap (2026). https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-vote-replacing-national-broadcast-ownership-cap
17. Poynter. FCC move to lift ownership cap defies Congress — critics and litigation risk (2026). https://www.poynter.org/commentary/analysis/2026/fcc-local-tv-ownership-cap-brendan-carr-analysis/
18. Wiley Rein LLP. Federal Court Vacates Portions of Local Television Ownership Rule (Eighth Circuit, top-four prohibition) (2025). https://www.wiley.law/alert-Federal-Court-Vacates-Portions-of-Local-Television-Ownership-Rule
19. Congressional Research Service (Congress.gov). FCC Media Ownership Rules (R45338) — national 39% cap, UHF discount. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45338
20. Federal Communications Commission. Good-Faith Negotiation for Retransmission Consent — 1992 Cable Act retrans/must-carry regime; 8-year licenses. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-12-1086A1.pdf
21. Federal Register / FCC. Authorizing Permissive Use of the "Next Generation" Broadcast Television Standard (ATSC 3.0) (2025). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/11/20/2025-20437/authorizing-permissive-use-of-the-next-generation-broadcast-television-standard
22. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nexstar Media Group 2025 Form 10-K — structure, operating/service agreements, distribution mix. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1142417/000119312526078361/nxst-20251231.htm
23. Nexstar Media Group / Business Wire. Record annual revenue of $5.41 billion in 2024; ~$500M political; distribution ~53% of revenue (2025). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250227983204/en/
24. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sinclair, Inc. 2025 Form 10-K — local-station portfolio, national programming, digital/sports. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1971213/000197121326000012/sbgi-20251231.htm
25. Sinclair, Inc. / Wikipedia. Sinclair Broadcast Group — 9.9% Scripps stake and rejected ~$7/share offer (2025). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group
26. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gray Media 2025 Form 10-K — ~114 markets, ~37% household reach. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/43196/000143774926005803/gtn20251231_10k.htm
27. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. E.W. Scripps 2025 Form 10-K — Local Media, ION, Scripps News. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/832428/000083242826000010/ssp-20251231.htm
28. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fox Corporation 2025 Form 10-K — Fox network, Tubi, 29 owned-and-operated stations. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1754301/000162828025038077/fox-20250630.htm
29. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Entravision Communications 2025 Form 10-K — Univision/UniMás affiliates, ad representation, radio. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1109116/000119312526093993/evc-20251231.htm
30. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Walt Disney Company FY2025 Annual Financial Report — ABC network and eight owned ABC stations. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448926000012/ars_2025.pdf
31. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Comcast 2025 Form 10-K — NBC and Telemundo networks plus owned stations. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1166691/000162828026004994/cmcsa-20251231.htm
32. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Paramount Skydance 2025 Form 10-K — CBS network and CBS Stations. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2041610/000204161026000011/psky-20251231.htm
33. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Graham Holdings 2025 Form 10-K — Graham Media Group local stations. https://www.ghco.com/static-files/f03c4ae6-b720-420c-bbd7-d78fb04f3a93
34. Apollo Global Management / Cox Enterprises. Funds managed by Apollo to buy majority stake in Cox Media Group television stations (2019). https://www.apollo.com/institutional/insights-news/pressreleases/2019/02/cox-enterprises-reaches-agreement-for-funds-managed-by-affiliates-of-apollo-global-management-to-buy-majority-stake-in-cox-media-group-television-stations-175945059
35. Hearst Television. About Us (wholly owned by privately held Hearst); BIA Advisory Services, Top Local TV Groups (Hearst ~$1.5B revenue). https://joinhearsttelevision.com/about-us/; https://www.bia.com/blog/top-local-tv-groups-revealed-but-ma-may-change-the-usual-line-up/
36. Allen Media Group. Investor Relations — Byron Allen; broadcast, cable, digital, streaming. https://allenmedia.tv/ir/
37. Mission Broadcasting. About — privately held group operating via service agreements with Nexstar. https://missionbroadcastinginc.com/about/
38. Weigel Broadcasting. About — family-owned station and multicast-network group. https://www.weigelbroadcasting.com/about/
39. Companiesmarketcap / StockAnalysis. Market capitalizations, mid-July 2026 (NXST ~$5.6B; SBGI ~$1.0B; GTN ~$390M; SSP ~$265M) (2026). https://companiesmarketcap.com/nexstar-media/marketcap/