Sinclair, Inc.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Sinclair fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. At this time, all participants are placed on a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Chris King, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Sinclair's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Chris Ripley, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Nurnur Sahai, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Rob Rice-Ford, our COO and President of Local Media. Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that slides for today's earnings call are available on our website, sbgi.net, on the events and presentation page of the investor relations portion of the site. A webcast replay will remain available on our website until our next quarterly earnings release. Certain matters discussed on this call may include forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, future operating results. Such statements are subject to several risks and uncertainties. Actual results in the future could differ from those described in the forward-looking statements because of various important factors. Such factors have been set forth in the company's most recent reports as filed with the SEC and included in our fourth quarter earnings release. The company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Included on the call will be discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, specifically adjusted EBITDA. These measures are not formulated in accordance with GAAP, are not meant to replace GAAP measurements, and may differ from other companies' uses or formulations. Further discussions and reconciliations of the company's non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP financial measures can be found on our website. Please note that unless otherwise noted, all year-over-year comparisons throughout today's call are presented on an as-reported basis. Let me now turn the call over to Chris Ripley.

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin on slide three with a look at what we accomplished in 2025. This was a year defined by disciplined execution, meaningful simplification of the portfolio, and a deliberate positioning of the company for stronger performance in 2026 and beyond. First, we delivered strong financial results. For the year, total revenue was $3.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA was $483 million, both above the midpoint of our guidance. In the fourth quarter, we generated a total revenue of $836 million and adjusted EBITDA of $168 million. Importantly, we saw encouraging trends in our core advertising business. Core advertising grew 14% year over year in the fourth quarter, and we're beginning to see early signs of churn stabilization across key MVPD partners. That progress reflects both improving operational execution and the durability of our local content portfolio. Within Ventures, the portfolio generated $104 million of cash distributions during the year. And we ended 2025 with $465 million of cash at Ventures. That liquidity provides flexibility as we move forward with our Ventures separation planning. Beyond financial performance, we took concrete steps to optimize our portfolio. We are progressing on a strategic review of the broadcast business to ensure we are maximizing long-term shareholder value. At the same time, we began planning and preparing for the potential separation of ventures. We also continue to expect approximately $30 million in annualized run rate synergies by the second half of 2026 related to the JSA and LMA buy-ins, reinforcing the long-term earnings power of the core business. We have closed on 15 partner station acquisitions to date and anticipate almost all of the optimization process to be completed by mid-year. And finally, we strengthened our balance sheet and created a deleveraging runway. During the year, we completed a comprehensive debt refinancing in February, retired the final 89 million of our 2027 notes in October, and established a 375 million accounts receivable facility in November. As a result, our nearest debt maturity is now December, 2029. We ended the year with total debt of 4.4 billion, total liquidity of approximately $1.5 billion, and total cash of $866 million. Deleveraging remains our top priority, and we expect cash generation from 2026 through 2028 to support that objective. Taken together, 2025 was a year of strong execution and structural progress, positioning Sinclair with improved flexibility, enhanced focus, and a solid foundation as we enter 2026. Turning to slide four, I'd like to provide an update on the current regulatory landscape. The industry is awaiting several important decisions that are now in front of the Federal Communications Commission. At the same time, the broader environment remains constructive for local broadcasters, and we continue to feel optimistic about the direction of significant issues. Starting with ownership, FCC Chairman Carr has repeatedly indicated support for modernizing what many consider outdated national ownership rules. President Trump also expressed support for lifting the national ownership cap to facilitate transactions for local broadcasters. We believe there is growing recognition that the regulatory framework should better reflect today's competitive media landscape. Our ability to provide the impactful local journalism that our communities rely on hinges on these reforms. With respect to ATSC 3.0 transition, the FCC's proceeding on accelerating the rollout remains pending. The Commission is reviewing the record, and a final decision is possible within the next six to nine months. Advancing 3.0 remains important to the industry as it enhances spectral efficiency and enables new revenue streams for broadcasters over time. The Eighth Circuit decision vacating the top four prohibition Sorry, the Eighth Circuit's decision vacated the top four prohibition and the FCC is approving transactions pursuant to that ruling. In addition, the onerous multicast rules were vacated and broadcasters are now again allowed to place a second top four station on a multicast channel. Also, as part of the FCC's quadrennial review, the Commission is reviewing the potential to allow more than two stations to be owned by the same broadcaster in the same market. thus potentially creating even more opportunities for portfolio optimization. In addition, the FCC proceeding regarding network affiliation agreements is still open. The FCC is reviewing the issue, though there has been no indication of timing or ultimate resolution. We remain engaged in that process and continue to believe that policies that strengthen local broadcasters are essential. Lastly, late this afternoon, the FCC launched an inquiry seeking public comment on the sports media marketplace, specifically examining how streaming exclusives affect consumers, broadcasters, and free over-the-air access. We applaud the inquiry on TV sports rights. Sports programming has long supported localism and local news, and we believe the commission is asking the right questions in this new inquiry. In summary, While several items remain in process, the overall regulatory tone is supportive, and we believe the environment presents meaningful opportunity for the industry over time. Turning to ventures. We continue to manage the portfolio with a clear focus on disciplined capital allocation and liquidity. In the fourth quarter, ventures generated 86 million of cash distributions, bringing the full year total to 104 million. Included in these distributions are exit proceeds from three residential apartment complexes generating $75 million. These distributions reflect ongoing minority exits and attractive portfolio management, and they demonstrate our ability to monetize investments while preserving upside in the broader portfolio. At the same time, we remain selective on new capital deployment. We made incremental investments of 25 million in the fourth quarter and 50 million for the full year. That measured pace reflects our disciplined underwriting standards and our commitment to prioritizing returns and balance sheet flexibility. We ended the year with $465 million in cash and cash equivalents at Ventures. That strong liquidity position provides optionality as we advance separation planning and continue to evaluate capital allocation opportunities. Overall, Ventures continues to generate meaningful cash while maintaining a solid capital base, positioning the portfolio to support shareholder value creation going forward. Building on that performance, slide six highlights how the portfolio itself is evolving with over half the minority investment portfolio now in cash. Our strategy continues to shift from passive minority investments towards majority-controlled operating businesses. The objective is straightforward. greater operational influence, stronger alignment with long-term value creation, and improved visibility into earnings and cash flow. As part of that transition, during the quarter, we initiated a process to monetize select legacy private equity and venture capital fund positions through secondary market transactions. This represents a deliberate step in repositioning the portfolio and reallocating capital towards areas where we can drive more direct impact. At the same time, we're actively developing a pipeline of acquisition opportunities. Our focus remains on control investments in businesses characterized by durable demand, recurring or non-discretionary revenue streams, and strong free cash flow conversion. Collectively, these actions reflect a portfolio that is becoming more focused, more strategic, and increasingly aligned with our long-term objectives. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rob to walk through our operational highlights.