BALTIMORE, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group,
Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) announced today that in light of recent retransmission
agreements entered into that it is revising its estimate for its 2007
retransmission revenues from approximately $48 million to approximately $53
million. The prior estimate included retransmission revenues based on
anticipated deal terms with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA; CMCSK) at that time.
The new estimate includes the final Comcast agreement terms, which were
entered into today, as well as recent deals with some smaller independent
cable companies. It does not include potential retransmission revenues from
Charter or Cox with whom the Company is negotiating.
"In response to certain statements made by Comcast today, I note that
Sinclair's policy is that it does not enter into retransmission consent
agreements without receiving compensation for retransmission rights and we
did not violate that policy in our agreement with Comcast," commented Barry
Faber, VP and General Counsel of Sinclair. "While we acknowledge the
accuracy of public statements made by a Mr. David Cohen of Comcast stating
that we are providing advertising and other services to Comcast, we
disagree that such consideration is equivalent to the value that we are
receiving from Comcast. To the extent that Mr. Cohen, who was not part of
the negotiations between our companies, implied that our agreement reflects
nothing more than an exchange of equivalent value with no compensation
being paid for the right to carry our stations, we believe he has
mischaracterized the economic terms of the deal. In addition, we believe
that Mr. Cohen's statement that Comcast did not pay "cash for broadcast
carriage that would need to be passed on to [Comcast's] customers," is not
a denial that Comcast agreed to pay cash, but instead represents a claim
that any such payments will not need to be passed on to subscribers. Since
we believe that customers are already paying cable operators such as
Comcast for the right to receive all of the programming carried, including
broadcast stations, we are pleased to know that our agreement with Comcast
will not require their subscribers to pay any additional amounts."
"We are extremely pleased with the results of our deal with Comcast,"
stated David Smith, Sinclair's President and CEO, "and believe it
represents a further step in our goal of monetizing the value of our
retransmission consent rights. Contrary to statements made by Comcast, in
our opinion this agreement, together with other agreements we have entered
into recently, does in fact represent a shift in the retransmission consent
paradigm. This view is well supported by the expectation of $53 million in
retransmission consent revenue. In fact, we would be more than happy to
waive the confidentiality clause included in the agreement with Comcast and
disclose the specific terms to the general public."
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified
television broadcasting companies, currently owns and operates, programs or
provides sales services to 58 television stations in 36 markets. Sinclair's
television group reaches approximately 22% of the U.S. television
households and is affiliated with all the major networks.
Forward-Looking Statements:
The matters discussed in this press release include forward-looking
statements regarding, among other things, future operating results. When
used in this press release, the words "outlook," "intends to," "believes,"
"anticipates," "expects," "achieves," and similar expressions are intended
to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a
number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results in the future could
differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking
statements as a result of various important factors, including and in
addition to the assumptions identified herein this release, the impact of
changes in national and regional economies, successful execution of
outsourcing agreements, pricing and demand fluctuations in local and
national advertising, volatility in programming costs, the market
acceptance of new programming, the CW Television Network and MyNetworkTV
programming, our news share strategy, our local sales initiatives, the
execution of retransmission consent agreements and the other risk factors
set forth in the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K,
as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no
assurances that the assumptions and other factors referred to in this
release will occur. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly
release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.sbgi.net
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110203.html /
CONTACT:
Barry Faber, VP & General Counsel,
+1-410-568-1500, for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
|
