Company: GHC
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000104889-25-000022
Chunk: 161

Company: Graham Holdings Co
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 161
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 station’s market share or from a network’s choice to move an affiliation between stations in a market. In March 2024, the National Association of Broadcasters and several broadcast groups filed petitions for review of the 2023 Order, challenging the 2023 Order as contrary to the Communications Act. The litigation has been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri. Briefing has been completed, but no date for oral argument has yet been set.

The 2022 quadrennial review, which the FCC initiated in December 2022, is pending.

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It remains to be seen whether and how the pending litigation challenging the FCC’s 2023 Order might affect the FCC’s action in the 2022 quadrennial review proceeding. GMG’s ability to enter into certain transactions in the future may be affected by resolution of the legal challenge to the ownership rules articulated in the 2023 Order and/or by the resolution of the 2022 quadrennial review proceeding.

Under the national television ownership rule, a single person or entity may have an attributable interest in an unlimited number of television stations nationwide, as long as the aggregate audience reach of such stations does not exceed 39% of nationwide television households and as long as such interest complies with the FCC’s other ownership restrictions. That calculation takes into account the 50% Ultra High Frequency (UHF) discount, under which stations broadcasting on UHF channels are credited with only half the number of households in their market. In December 2017, the FCC initiated a rule-making proceeding seeking comments regarding its authority to modify or eliminate the national television ownership cap, as well as the potential elimination of the UHF discount. That proceeding remains open. 

Programming.  Six of GMG’s seven stations are affiliated on their primary stream with one of the national television networks that provides a substantial amount of programming to their television station affiliates. The expiration dates of GMG’s affiliation agreements are set forth in the table at the beginning of this Television Broadcasting section. WJXT, one of GMG’s Jacksonville stations, has operated as an independent station since 2002. In addition, each of the GMG stations receives programming from syndicators and other third-party programming providers. GMG’s performance depends in part on the quality and availability of third-party programming broadcast by its stations, and any substantial decline in the quality or availability of this programming could materially affect the ability of GMG and its competitors to attract viewers, generate advertising and distribution revenues,