Tegna 4Q TV Revenue Down 7%

Tegna, the former broadcasting and digital arm of Gannett Co., today released fourth quarter and full year results that included Media Segment revenues that were down 7% in the quarter, due to political advertising.

Media Segment 4Q revenue broken down by category:

• Core (local and national) was up 7% to $296.3 million.
• Political decreased 89% to $10.5 million.
• Retrans increased 27% to $120 million.

Media Segment operating expenses totaled $254.9 million compared to $246.2 million in the fourth quarter a year ago. That 3.5% increase was due, in part, to higher programming fees. Operating income totaled $207.3 million while adjusted EBITDA was $224.5 million.

Digital Segment 4Q revenue dropped 1.2% to $343 million in the quarter, while operating revenues were 2.2% higher on a pro forma, constant currency basis.

Gracia Martore, president-CEO, said: “We are very pleased with our tremendous progress in our first six months operating as a highly-focused media and digital company. During that time, Tegna Media successfully negotiated long-term network affiliation agreements and several carriage agreements, providing us with certain revenue streams for years to come.

“In Tegna Digital, Cars.com achieved solid organic revenue growth driven by the success of several new products and CareerBuilder’s ongoing shift toward Software as a Service solutions helped fuel double-digit revenue growth for its SaaS products.”

Martore continued, “We have accomplished a great deal over the last six months and we are well on our way to achieving the objectives we set forth at our Investor Day in June. We are more certain than ever that we have built a strong foundation for long-term growth and success. This, coupled with tail winds associated with the upcoming elections and 2016 Olympic Games, are expected to result in a banner year for Tegna.”

For all of 2015, the company as a whole reported revenue growth of 16.2% to $3.05 billion. It said the increase reflects substantially higher Digital Segment revenues and slightly lower Media Segment revenues. Digital Segment revenues were 46.5% higher due to the acquisition of and organic growth at Cars.com.

Media Segment revenue growth was negatively impacted by the absence of $200 million of political and Olympic revenue. Double-digit growth in retransmission and online revenues as well as higher core advertising partially offset the absence of political and Olympic revenue.

Read the company’s report here.