A National Player With a Local Focus

18/03/2019

Why This Matters: Nexstar founder Perry Sook has won the Golden Mike Award for his role building the company into an industry leader.

Nexstar media group founder, chairman, president and CEO Perry Sook started his company in 1996 with a single station in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a belief that the television station business, out of favor in the late '90s, was ready for a resurgence. Over the past 23 years, Sook has dedicated himself to proving that theory right and later this year, after its $6.4 billion purchase of Tribune Media is closed, Nexstar will be the largest station group in the country, with more than 200 stations in more than 100 markets and covering 39% of U.S. television households.

Sook has been a guiding force in the industry through Nexstar and his participation on many industry boards he is chairman of the CBS Affiliates Board, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) board of directors and The Ohio University Foundation Board.

On March 6, he was awarded the Broadcasters Foundation of America's Golden Mike Award for his contributions to the industry and to philanthropy. The Broadcasters Foundation helps men and women in broadcasting who have lost their livelihood through a catastrophic event, debilitating disease or other unforeseen tragedy. The Golden Mike is the group's highest honor, and foundation chairman Dan Mason said in a statement that the growth of Nexstar under Sook has benefited the entire TV industry. As a member of our board, he has championed our mission of helping broadcasters in acute need and spread the word about the assistance we can provide, Mason said. He is admired among his colleagues, and it is a privilege to honor him.

Sook spoke recently with B&C. An edited transcript follows.

B&C: You started Nexstar in 1996 with one station, during a time when television stations weren't considered to be a particularly attractive asset. What was your thinking behind this?

Perry Sook: I believe, and still do today, in the essential mission of local broadcast television, which is to create local content to inform viewers and to help local businesses sell their wares. We exist as a local service business and I've always believed in that mission. Technology may, over time, change how we do it, but our essential mission is serving our local communities by facilitating business-to-consumer communication, and by providing local contextual, interesting, engaging, content, which is primarily local news. That mission hasn't changed and that's what attracted me to the business. Starting the company when local television was out of favor and building it for the last 23 years opportunistically has allowed us to create a company, when we close on Tribune, that will have almost 15,000 employees and almost $4 billion in revenue and will be the largest owner of commercial television stations in the United States.

B&C: Was the goal always to be a large station group, or did it just work out that way?

PS: The goal was never to be the biggest. Our goal was to try to be one of the best and one of the most valuable, create opportunities for our employees and create value for our shareholders. We continued to acquire opportunities that made sense for us, and really just woke up one day and realized that when we close on Tribune, we'll be the largest television broadcast group in the country. That was never the goal. I would say finding good acquisition opportunities, integrating them, performing, all were the goal, and where we are today and where we will be soon is the byproduct of that strategy.

B&C: The Golden Mike is a pretty prestigious honor. Past recipients include Graham Media Group president and CEO Emily Barr, former Hearst TV president and CEO David Barrett, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NAB president and CEO Gordon Smith. How does it feel to be a part of that group?

PS: I am very humbled for my name to even be mentioned with many, if not all, of those who have received this award before. The thing that is special for me is that I have received a number of awards for achievement in our industry; this award has particular ties to philanthropy and helping those less fortunate, and that is something very important to myself and my family. The combination of those elements is what makes this award very special to me.

B&C: What do you see as being the most exciting thing happening in broadcasting right now?

PS: We're spending a lot of time working on the transition to ATSC 3.0. We think that is going to be the next value driver and will open up opportunities for those of us that operate in the local side of our industry. We think there is an opportunity to provide enhanced services to advertisers and consumers, as well as data transmission, working with autonomous cars. We are in point-to-multipoint wireless communications and we think that there are going to be opportunities to do things that we aren't even thinking of today with ATSC 3.0.

The other area that we're spending a lot of time on at the senior roles in our company is the TIP [TV Interface Practices] initiative, which is an attempt to make broadcast television less expensive to do business with from a process perspective. In other words, if you have one employee that can make three clicks and buy ads on YouTube or Facebook, but you have an entire department to place media, reconcile invoices across 40 or 50 stations, we need to get it to the point where we can be more profitable for the agencies to do business with us. We think those two elements taken together could really drive value.

B&C: What's the scariest trend?

PS: The audiences are more fragmented today than they were five years ago, and five years ago they were more fragmented than they were 20 years ago. That is just a fact of life. With so much video out there, ou

LINK:	https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/a-national-player-with-a-local-...
	See more stories from bandc

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

02/03/2026

NBC Sports Selected Imaginary Forces to Create Cinematic Main Title Sequence for Primetime In Milan

NBC Sports selected Imaginary Forces to create the main title sequence for the M...

02/03/2026

NFL Launches Draft-Inspired Innovation Challenge to Advance Future of Fan and Event Technology

The NFL announces the launch of the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a new crowds...

02/03/2026

DataMiner SatOps Named Finalist for 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year

The World Teleport Association (WTA) has named Skyline Communications' DataMiner SatOps solution as a finalist for the 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year ...

02/03/2026

Ventum Tech Partners with Pixotope to Expand Virtual Production Capabilities Across the GCC

Ventum Tech announces a strategic partnership with Pixotope, a real-time graphic...

02/03/2026

Victory+ Launches NWSL Content Hub, Taps Top Creators to Redefine How Fans Connect with League

Victory , a free, ad-supported sports streaming service, announces the launch of...

02/03/2026

Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria

Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovi...

02/03/2026

SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek solutions for a more inclusive country

SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek ...

02/03/2026

NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night

NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night Media releases A Midweek Hub for Blak Sport Flagship NRL program Over The Black Dot moves to Wednesdays at 9:30pm ...

02/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness

Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have reached another pivotal ...

02/03/2026

L3Harris Appoints Ken Sharp Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ken Bedingfield President of Missile Solutions

MELBOURNE, Fla., March 2, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) today announc...

02/03/2026

Nielsen reveals New Zealand's top ad spenders and categories for 2025

Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages sure Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...

02/03/2026

aconnic and Arqit join forces to present the first quantum-safe industrial OT security gateway firewall at Mobile World Congress 2026

aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, and Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ, A...

02/03/2026

Advanced Systems Group Promotes Jody Boatwright to Chief...

Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, has appointed Jody Boatwright as Chief Strategy Of...

02/03/2026

Lightware TPN ecosystem powers smarter networks and strea...

Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is reinforcing its commitment to simplifying complex AV environments with the continued evolution of its TPN...

02/03/2026

ZEISS Cinema Hosts First US Aatma Lens Demo Event in LA

ZEISS Cinema opens its doors to an exclusive screening, filmmakers Q&A and hands-on showcase of the new ZEISS Aatma lens family on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-9:00 ...

02/03/2026

DoPchoice Introduces SNAPBAG Round for the New Astera Qui...

To expand the creative potential of the compact Astera QuikBeam, DoPchoice introduces the SNAPBAG Round. The new light-shaping accessory transforms the powerfu...

02/03/2026

Douglas Dubler Master of Light - Five Decades Shooting w...

Douglas Dubler On a rooftop in New York City, veteran photographer Douglas Dubler watched the sun's angle shift across the urban landscape, his internal cl...

02/03/2026

ZEISS Expands Otus ML Lineup with the New 1435

ZEISS is expanding its Otus ML lens family with the introduction of the new ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35. This manual-focus lens is designed for photographers who live ...

02/03/2026

Matthews Intros White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit by D...

Matthews Studio Equipment now offers the new Dinkum Systems White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit, a compact, highly adaptable setup for mobile content creation...

02/03/2026

SES and Africa Mobile Network Reach Milestone: Connecting 5.8 Million in DRC, Expanding Rural Coverage

Luxembourg, February 26, 2026 - SES and Africa Mobile Network (AMN) have expande...

02/03/2026

Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative

02 03 2026 - Media release Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative Ausfilm and Screen Australia have announced Partner with Australia (...

02/03/2026

Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team

Monday 2 March 2026 Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team L-R: Jonno Johnson; Charlie Skelton; Celya AB; Omar Badawy; Gr inne Maguire; Laura Claxton; ...

02/03/2026

Netflix Unveils the Trailer for '53 Sundays', the New Film by Cesc Gay

Back to All News Netflix Unveils the Trailer for 53 Sundays, the New Film by Cesc Gay Entertainment 02 March 2026 GlobalSpain Link copied to clipboard Dis...

02/03/2026

Fox Corporation President and Chief Operating Officer John Nallen to Participate in Upcoming Deutsche Bank's 34th Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference 2026

28/02/2026

FOX Sports Waves Green Flag on 2026 IndyCar Season With Driver's Eye, Heads Up Display, Live Drones

With two features seen in Formula 1 coverage, the broadcaster aims to bring view...

28/02/2026

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Visits L3Harris Solid Rocket Motor Site

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addresses a crowd of approximately 1,500 L3Harris employees in Camden, Arkansas, as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour....