Gray Television said it turned in a fourth-quarter loss following record political advertising revenue a year ago.
Gray’s net loss was $22 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared to net income of $173 million, or $1.90 a share, a year ago.
Revenue fell 19% to $864 million. The company said the decline was “entirely the result” of the reduced political spending in a non-election year.
The company said core advertising -- not including political spending -- rose 2% to $415 million.
Gray said it saw continued improvement in the automobile advertising category with a 16% year-over-year increase.
Retransmission revenue rose 3% to $365 million.
For the first quarter, Gray forecasts total revenue of $810 million to $830 million.
Total core revenue is expected to be between $365 million and $375 million, which would represent a low- to mid-single-digit increase.
The company expects $18 million in net revenue from airing the Super Bowl on its 49 CBS affiliates. That compares to $6 million it generated last year when the Super Bowl was on Gray’s 27 Fox affiliates.
Retransmission revenue in the first quarter is expected to be between $375 million and $380 million and political revenue is forecast to be in the $30 million to $33 million range.
