Sinclair's Ripley 'Bullish' on MVPDs

Sinclair Broadcast CEO Chris Ripley is “bullish” about the future of MVPDs, he said Tuesday, and he reiterated his willingness to offload broadcast stations and the Tennis Channel. “A lot of changes are afoot in the industry” and Sinclair wants “to be nimble,” Ripley said at the Deutsche Bank 32nd Annual Leveraged Finance Conference. “We are here to maximize shareholder value.” The MVPD industry will improve because companies such as Charter are offering customers a better deal through packages that combine MVPD service and streaming offerings, he said. Meanwhile, streaming companies are raising subscription prices and cracking down on password sharing. “It's really dramatically changing the value proposition for the consumer,” Ripley said. “Consumers don't like complicated; they don't like too much choice.” Sinclair is seeing extremely high levels of political advertising along with increased core advertising, he said, and it recently raised its 2024 political ad guidance. The company has seen “large uplifts” in ad spending since Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race, Sinclair CFO Lucy Rutishauser said.