"The CW Narrows Losses by $33 Million in Q2 as Nexstar Ad Sales Tick Up 2%"/ "‘The Librarians: The Next Chapter’ Lands At TNT After Being Pulled By The CW"

Aug. 8, 2024 "The CW Narrows Losses by $33 Million in Q2 as Nexstar Ad Sales Tick Up 2%": Today I found this article by Jennifer Maas on Variety: 

Nexstar reported its second-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing that the CW Network has narrowed its losses by $33 million.

Additionally, the TV station group giant saw its ad sales for the April 1-June 30 quarter inch up 2.2% from Q2 of 2023 ($522 million vs. $511 million). 

Nexstar says that includes a $37 million year-over-year rise in political advertising to $45 million ahead of the November presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. However, there was a $24 million drop in non-political ad sales.

Distribution revenue was up 5.5% for Q2 at $734 million.

Nexstar’s net income rose 41.3% to $106 million. Free cash flow stood at $78 million.

Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $4.17 on $1.3 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG, formerly Refinitiv. Nexstar reported diluted EPS of $3.54 on $1.27 billion in revenue.

“Nexstar delivered another period of solid financial results, building on our strong start to the year,” Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said in a letter to shareholders. 

“Following a first quarter in which Nexstar generated record first-quarter distribution and total net revenue, we did it again, generating our highest-ever second-quarter distribution and total net revenue. 

During the quarter, we continued executing on our plan at The CW, 

reducing operating losses by $33 million year-over-year 

and $83 million year-to-date 

as our organizational and programming changes are driving improved cash flows and the third consecutive quarter of ratings growth in primetime entertainment programming.

Overall, our strong year-to-date operating performance yielded $483 million of Adjusted Free Cash Flow and we returned $358 million, or 74% of Adjusted Free Cash Flow, to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. 

Looking ahead, we expect to benefit from anticipated record levels of political spending on broadcast television in the second half of the year.”

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/the-cw-losses-nexstar-earnings-q2-ad-sales-1236100081/

Aug. 23, 2024 "‘The Librarians: The Next Chapter’ Lands At TNT After Being Pulled By The CW": Today I found this article by Peter White on Deadline:

TNT is checking out The Librarians: The Next Chapter, the spinoff of the classic supernatural drama series that previously aired on the network, after it was pulled last week from The CW’s fall schedule.

This comes as the Warner Bros. Discovery network is moving back into original drama programming with new projects such as Debriefing The President, as revealed by Deadline.

The network acquired the show from Electric Entertainment, which produced the show.

Last week, The CW pulled the show from its fall schedule and replaced it with reality series The Wranglers, which will air in its timeslot of Thursdays at 9pm.

“The CW is incredibly proud to have worked alongside Dean Devlin and the entire team at Electric Entertainment to create an extraordinary continuation of The Librarians franchise,” Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment at The CW, said in a statement. 

“We are thrilled that the series’ original network TNT loves it as much as we do and saw great value bringing it to their audience. It’s a first for CW Studios and we cannot wait for fans to experience this incredible next chapter.”

From writer and executive producer Dean Devlin, The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a spinoff of the original TV series The Librarians, which followed the adventures of the custodians of a magical repository of the world’s most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series centers on a “Librarian” (McGowan) from the past, who time traveled to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent. He is given a new team to help him clean up the mess he made, forming a new team of Librarians.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter stars Callum McGowan, Jessica Green, Olivia Morris, Bluey Robinson and Caroline Loncq, along with guest star Christian Kane, who reprises his role as Jacob Stone, in the spinoff series.

Devlin serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. Noah Wyle is also executive producer. Mark Franco of Electric Entertainment and Jonathan English of Balkanic Media will also produce. WSJ broke the news of The Librarians: Next Chapter moving to TNT.

https://deadline.com/2024/08/the-librarians-the-next-chapter-tnt-1236048680/