Nexstar’s TV Industry Forecast – Cloudy with a Chance of Extinction

BREAKING: Altice USA today reported a second-quarter 2025 net loss of $96.3 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, a sharp reversal from a $15.4 million profit a year earlier. Revenue declined 4.2% year over year to $2.15 billion. The company lost 35,000 broadband subscribers during the quarter, ending with 4.3 million. While still negative, the loss improved from 51,000 lost in Q2 2024 and 37,000 in Q1 2025.

39% Cap: Hurry the FCC up. That’s Nexstar Media Group’s basic message to the national media regulator with regard to TV station ownership restrictions. Nexstar, the largest TV station owner in the U.S. based in Irving, Texas, wants the FCC abolish the 39% cap, the percentage of TV households a single TV station owner may reach nationally. “Without immediate regulatory relief, local broadcasting companies will cease to exist, taking jobs with them, causing negative economic consequences for local communities, and signaling the end of trusted local journalism. The FCC must repeal the National Cap,” Nexstar lawyers at Wiley Rein said in an Aug. 4 filing with the FCC. According to BIA Advisory Services, Nexstar is now slightly over the cap at 39.1%, though no one has made a fuss about it at the FCC. In the filing, Nexstar praised the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr for recognizing the industry’s struggles by refreshing the record on the cap. “Local broadcasting is at a dangerous juncture and time is of the essence. This is not hyperbole as evidenced by Chairman Carr’s warning that we are at a ‘break glass moment for broadcasters,’” Nexstar said. (More after paywall.)