Nexstar Media Group NASDAQ: NXST reported record third-quarter revenue of $2.13 billion, as its acquisition of TEGNA and political advertising demand boosted results. The broadcaster also said it had reduced debt by $1.3 billion this year, including payments made after the quarter ended.
Net revenue rose 78% from a year earlier, with TEGNA contributing $765 million, Chief Operating Officer Michael Biard said on the earnings call. On a combined basis that includes both companies in the prior-year period, revenue increased 15.4%.
Adjusted EBITDA rose to $756 million from $358 million, while adjusted free cash flow increased to $443 million from $166 million. The prior-year consolidated figures did not include TEGNA. On a combined basis, adjusted EBITDA was $496 million in the third quarter of 2025.
Political advertising sets a record
Combined Nexstar and TEGNA net political advertising revenue reached a record $1.1 billion for 2026, up 31% from 2022 and 29% from 2024, founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Perry Sook said. Chief Financial Officer Lee Ann Gliha clarified that the figure includes TEGNA for the full year; approximately $32 million of TEGNA political revenue from the first quarter will not appear in Nexstar’s reported results.
Third-quarter political advertising revenue was $317 million, up 15% from the combined total in the same quarter of 2024 and 44% from the combined 2022 period, Biard said. Sook identified Ohio, Texas, California, Michigan and Maine among the company’s strongest markets.
Sook said he believed the extension of lowest-unit-rate pricing protections to political parties encouraged more spending on broadcast television. He described the strong spending environment as potentially a “new normal,” absent changes to campaign finance laws. He also said Nexstar anticipated it had gained market share through improvements in its political advertising sales operations.
Combined non-political advertising revenue fell 5% in the third quarter, partly because political ads displaced other advertisers, Biard said. Excluding the estimated impact of that displacement, the decline was in the low single digits, Sook said. For the fourth quarter, Nexstar expects combined non-political advertising revenue to decline by high single digits, also affected by political crowd-out.
Distribution and network updates
Third-quarter distribution revenue rose 53.9% to $1.09 billion, including $351 million from TEGNA. On a combined basis, distribution revenue increased 2.1%, as growth at legacy Nexstar was partly offset by a decline at TEGNA.
Biard said Nexstar completed its distribution agreements up for renewal during the quarter without service interruptions. In response to an analyst’s question, he confirmed that the company had concluded an agreement with DIRECTV but declined to discuss its terms.
Nexstar continues to expect The CW to post its first profitable quarter in the fourth quarter of 2026. Gliha also maintained the company’s expectation for an improvement of roughly 30% or more in the network’s full-year losses. Asked whether The CW would be profitable for all of 2027, she said she did not know.
Sook said The CW’s total-day viewership rose 9% year over year and that the network will air nearly 800 hours of sports annually following additions to its programming portfolio. NewsNation’s total-day viewership increased 34% year to date, he said.
Debt repayment and TEGNA litigation
Nexstar ended September with $11.4 billion in outstanding debt and $446 million in cash. It repaid $350 million of debt during the third quarter and another $525 million after quarter-end. The company paid $58 million in dividends during the quarter and made no share repurchases.
Gliha said debt repayment remains the priority for excess cash. Nexstar’s total net leverage was 4.04 times at quarter-end, and she said the company’s objective is to bring leverage closer to three times than four, without setting a specific threshold for changing its capital allocation priorities.
Nexstar continues to face a preliminary injunction preventing it from integrating with TEGNA. Biard said the company is appealing to narrow the injunction to 31 markets where both companies have major-network stations, and is also seeking to remove the states from the case. The Ninth Circuit is scheduled to hear the appeal on Nov. 17, 2026, while a trial on the underlying claims is set for July 6, 2027.
Gliha said Nexstar removed anticipated TEGNA synergies from its leverage calculation because of the limited time between the scheduled trial and the September 2027 deadline for realizing synergies under its credit agreement. The company’s first-lien covenant ratio was 3.03 times at quarter-end, below its 4.75-times limit.
About Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST)
Nexstar Media Group, Inc is a television broadcasting and digital media company headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company operates local television stations across the United States, with stations affiliated with major networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, The CW and MyNetworkTV. Its local media operations provide news, weather, sports, entertainment and other programming to audiences in markets nationwide.
Nexstar also owns and operates national media properties, including NewsNation, a cable and streaming news network, and The Hill, a political news and information platform.
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