Here are a few analogies to describe Tegna:

• Like a **Marriott or Hilton**, but for local broadcast TV stations, owning dozens across the country that broadcast major networks like NBC or CBS.
• The **Gannett** of local television, owning a large portfolio of local TV stations rather than newspapers.

• Local Television Broadcasting: Operates a portfolio of local television stations across the United States, broadcasting news, entertainment, and sports programming.
• Advertising Services: Sells commercial airtime on its television stations to local and national advertisers.
• Retransmission Consent: Charges cable, satellite, and streaming providers for the right to carry its broadcast signals.
• Original Content Production: Creates local news, investigative journalism, and other original programming for its stations.

Tegna Inc. (TGNA) is primarily a business-to-business (B2B) company. It owns and operates a portfolio of local television stations across the United States. Its main revenue streams are derived from retransmission consent fees paid by multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and from advertising revenue.

While no single customer accounts for 10% or more of Tegna's total net operating revenues, its major customers fall into the following categories:

• Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs): These are cable, satellite, and virtual streaming providers that pay Tegna for the right to carry its local broadcast signals. Tegna's annual filings (e.g., 10-K reports) explicitly name several major MVPDs as its customers. Specific public companies in this category include:
  • Charter Communications, Inc. (Symbol: CHTR)
  • Comcast Corporation (Symbol: CMCSA)
  • DISH Network Corporation (Symbol: DISH)
  • Other significant customers in this category include privately held Cox Communications, DIRECTV (majority owned by TPG Capital, not publicly traded as a standalone entity), and virtual MVPDs such as YouTube TV (owned by Alphabet Inc., Symbol: GOOGL or GOOG) and Hulu + Live TV (majority owned by The Walt Disney Company, Symbol: DIS).
• Advertisers: This category comprises a vast number of diverse businesses and political campaigns that purchase advertising slots on Tegna's television stations and digital platforms. Due to the fragmented nature of local and national advertising markets, no single advertising customer is typically identified as a major customer in public filings.

• Nielsen Holdings plc (NLSN)
• Reuters (RTR.L)

Mike Steib
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mike Steib became CEO of TEGNA in August 2024. Previously, he was CEO of Artsy, an online marketplace for art, from 2019 to 2024. Before Artsy, Steib was the CEO of XO Group Inc. (NYSE: XOXO), parent company of The Knot, where his tenure resulted in a 300% total shareholder return over five years. He also served as CEO for Vente-Privee USA, the U.S. arm of the French flash-sale e-commerce company Veepee. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Google, NBCUniversal, Walker Digital, and McKinsey & Company. He has served on the board of directors of Ally Financial and as chairman of the board for Change.org, Literacy Partners, and Career Gear.

Julie Heskett
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Julie Heskett is responsible for TEGNA's overall financial management, including accounting, internal audit, financial strategy, planning, analysis, corporate treasury, investor relations, and tax. She was previously SVP for financial planning and business operations and head of investor relations at TEGNA. From 2013 to 2017, she served as senior vice president of finance and technology for TEGNA and, previously, Gannett Co., Inc. Her career with the company began at KSDK, TEGNA's NBC affiliate in St. Louis, where she started as an accounting manager in 1998, then became a business manager in 2000, and was promoted to vice president of finance at Gannett in 2007. Before joining TEGNA, Heskett was a controller at a commercial construction company for three years.

Kurt Rao
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Kurt Rao leads TEGNA's technology strategy, including the development and implementation of next-generation client and customer technology solutions in content, advertising, data and insights, media distribution, broadcast operations, and information technology. Before joining TEGNA, Rao was chief information and technology officer for Time Inc., where he transformed the media publishing organization into a digital content platform company. He also served as the corporate chief information officer at Time Warner Inc.

Tim Fagan
Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer

Tim Fagan is responsible for setting the vision for TEGNA's multi-channel sales organization and its annual advertising and marketing services revenue. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Premion, TEGNA's OTT/CTV solution. Prior to his current role, Fagan was SVP, Digital Advertiser Solutions, overseeing TEGNA's digital marketing services, display, video, and extended reach products, as well as station sales of cars.com.

Adam Ostrow
Chief Digital Officer

Adam Ostrow joined TEGNA as Chief Digital Officer in August 2017, where he is responsible for the strategy, operations, and management of the company's digital consumer products. Since joining, he has significantly improved revenue and EBITDA for the digital business and grown the audience and video views. Before TEGNA, Ostrow was Chief Strategy Officer at Mashable, where he played a key role in generating additional revenue streams and leading the company's international expansion. He also served as Editor-in-Chief at Mashable, overseeing its traffic growth and establishing a strong social media presence. Earlier, Ostrow co-founded MindSay Interactive, a social networking and blogging platform.

The key risks to Tegna's business operations include the fundamental shifts in media consumption, intense competition within the media industry, and the significant regulatory hurdles and uncertainties surrounding its proposed acquisition by Nexstar Media Group.

The most significant risk is Tegna's heavy reliance on advertising revenue and the ongoing transformation in how consumers engage with media. Tegna's financial performance has shown declining revenue and net income, largely attributed to a decrease in advertising and marketing services revenue. Consumers are increasingly moving away from traditional broadcast television towards streaming services and on-demand content, posing a constant threat to Tegna's traditional business model and making its advertising income vulnerable to economic fluctuations and changes in advertising budgets. Political advertising, a substantial but volatile revenue source, also contributes to the instability of this income stream.

Secondly, Tegna operates within a highly competitive media landscape. The company faces stiff competition not only from other traditional broadcasters, such as Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group, and Gray Television, but also from a growing number of digital-native companies. This intense competition makes it challenging for Tegna to maintain and grow its market share and revenue, as these various entities vie for audience attention and advertising dollars.

Finally, the proposed acquisition of Tegna by Nexstar Media Group presents substantial regulatory and legal risks. While this acquisition could be transformative, it is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other regulatory bodies. The combined entity would likely exceed the FCC's national ownership cap and face scrutiny under local ownership rules, potentially necessitating divestitures or regulatory overhauls. Tegna has also encountered legal challenges from stockholders concerning alleged misleading information in merger proxy statements, adding another layer of uncertainty to the deal's completion. Tegna's history includes a previous takeover attempt that faced regulatory challenges, underscoring the inherent difficulties in such large-scale media mergers. If the acquisition does not proceed, it could significantly impact Tegna's future strategic direction and stock performance.

• Accelerating Cord-Cutting and the Shift to Streaming Services: As more consumers abandon traditional cable and satellite TV subscriptions, Tegna faces a declining subscriber base for its linear broadcast signals. This directly impacts the company's ability to negotiate favorable retransmission consent fees with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Furthermore, the shift of viewership to a fragmented landscape of streaming services (SVOD, AVOD, FAST channels) reduces the audience for Tegna's traditional linear broadcasts, thereby eroding its advertising revenue base.
• Diversion of Advertising Spending to Digital and Connected TV (CTV) Platforms: Advertisers are increasingly reallocating budgets from traditional linear television towards digital platforms, including social media, search, and particularly Connected TV (CTV) platforms. These digital alternatives offer enhanced targeting capabilities, more robust audience measurement, and often more efficient delivery for reaching specific demographics, presenting a significant competitive challenge to Tegna's core advertising revenue streams.

For Tegna Inc. (symbol: TGNA), the addressable markets for its main products and services in the U.S. are as follows:

• Local Broadcast TV Advertising: The addressable market for all local TV-based advertising efforts in the U.S., which includes over-the-air, TV digital media, and local connected TV/OTT ad revenues, is projected to be approximately $21.3 billion in 2025.
• Retransmission Consent Fees: The overall revenue from distribution fees for broadcasters in the U.S., after accounting for reverse compensation payments, is expected to be approximately $7.27 billion by the end of 2025.
• Digital Media Advertising (Locally Targeted CTV/OTT and TV Station-Owned Digital Platforms):
  • For locally targeted Connected TV (CTV) and Over-the-Top (OTT) advertising revenues in the U.S., the market is expected to be approximately $2.8 billion in 2025.
  • For digital advertising specifically owned and operated by TV stations in the U.S., the market is expected to be approximately $2.0 billion in 2025.

Tegna (TGNA) is expected to see several key drivers contribute to its future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years, primarily stemming from the cyclical nature of its business, strategic digital expansion, and ongoing negotiations for content distribution.

Here are 3-5 expected drivers of future revenue growth:

1. Cyclical Political Advertising: Tegna's revenue significantly benefits from even-year election cycles. While 2025 is an "off-cycle" year with expected declines in political advertising revenue, 2026 will be a major presidential and midterm election year, which historically drives a substantial increase in political ad spending. This predictable cycle positions political advertising as a strong revenue driver in the next even-numbered year.
2. Retransmission Consent and Subscription Revenue Growth: Distribution revenue, which includes fees paid by cable, satellite, and streaming providers to carry Tegna's signals, remains a stable and growing component of the company's revenue. Despite subscriber declines in traditional pay-TV, Tegna has successfully implemented contractual rate increases and actively seeks higher fees from these distributors, including virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like Fubo, YouTube TV, and Hulu with Live TV. The company has ongoing renewals for a significant portion of its traditional subscribers, which are expected to contribute to continued growth in this segment.
3. Expansion of Digital Advertising and Owned & Operated Digital Products: Tegna is focusing on digital innovation and has reported strong double-digit year-over-year growth in its owned and operated digital products for several consecutive quarters. This includes initiatives such as new streaming local news programming and the development of AI-driven content. While its digital marketing services platform, Premion, experienced some headwinds due to a reseller partnership change, it is expected to return to growth and contribute to overall digital revenue expansion.
4. Potential Mergers, Acquisitions, and Market Swaps: The evolving regulatory landscape, particularly regarding potential FCC deregulation, could create opportunities for Tegna to engage in mergers, acquisitions, or market swaps. These strategic actions could expand Tegna's market reach, enhance its competitive positioning, and ultimately drive future revenue growth through consolidation and increased scale.

Share Repurchases

• TEGNA committed to nearly $800 million in share repurchases in 2023, with approximately 45-50 million shares expected to be retired by the end of March 2024. This included an initial $300 million accelerated share repurchase (ASR) program completed by August 2023 and a new $325 million ASR agreement initiated in November 2023.
• In Q3 2024, Tegna returned approximately $70 million to shareholders through share repurchases, acquiring 4.9 million shares.
• In February 2024, the company authorized a new equity buyback program for up to $650 million, scheduled to run through December 31, 2025. Share repurchases were suspended in Q3 2025 due to a pending acquisition.

Inbound Investments

• On August 19, 2025, Nexstar Media Group announced a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of TEGNA for $22.00 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.2 billion, with the closing anticipated by the second half of 2026.
• In February 2022, TEGNA entered into an agreement to be acquired by Standard General, with Apollo Global Management, for $8.6 billion, or $24 per share in cash; however, this merger agreement was later terminated.

Capital Expenditures

• TEGNA's reported capital expenditures were $45 million in 2020, $63 million in 2021, $51 million in 2022, $55 million in 2023, and $52 million in 2024.
• Expected capital expenditures for Q3 2025 were projected to be between $50 million and $60 million.
• The primary focus of capital expenditures includes investments in technology infrastructure, digital initiatives, AI deployment, and local sports rights.