Tom Cox: And Steven, I’m happy to take the question on Octillion and potential further M&A there. So as a starting point one of the key benefits of the marriage of Octillion and Premion is their technology with our sales force, and we believe that there could be further opportunities around M&A in and around the streaming landscape. That being said, as Dave mentioned, we’re looking at a variety of opportunities as we look to transform the company into a more dynamic set of assets. And from that perspective, again, we feel very good about where we’re positioned to compete and pursue those assets. Can’t really take you into the lab on any of those things at this particular moment in time, but certainly opportunities around streaming would be part and parcel of what we’d consider.
Steven Cahall: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Craig Huber with Huber Research Partners. Your line is open.
Craig Huber: Thank you. Maybe just a little bit further. Can you just give us a little more detail, if you would, on Octillion acquisition, what the benefit is specifically on the technology side, et cetera, that’s making you so optimistic about the fit here? That’s my first question.
Tom Cox: Sure. So I think the Octillion acquisition is both offensive and defensive. It’s offensive in the sense that it allows us to bring to market more cutting-edge software products and capabilities that we can use to maximize our local advertising relationships that we already have from our legacy business. It’s defensive in that it allows us to access inventory through yet another pathway that we have greater control and flexibility around. And so from that vantage point, we believe that Octillion, as Julie mentioned earlier, will allow us to accelerate the growth of Premion and over time, improve the overall margin of the business.
Craig Huber: Okay, thank you for that. And my second question on the net retrans, you touched on that, but I’m curious, the contracts for your affiliated agreements, are you saying you think the next, say, two to three years, you think those dollars you’ll be paying will be roughly flattish as opposed to [Multiple Speakers]
David Lougee: We’d only have one affiliated agreement up between now and the end of 2026. And it’s our smallest one. Correct. So we have the reverse comp side of the equation is very set for some period of time.
Craig Huber: And that’s what I’m asking. You’re quite comfortable, Dave, that that number in total, that dollars for reverse retrans cost will be relatively stable here the next two to three years.
David Lougee: The cost, as we said in the last earnings call, I think Julie mentioned her script, is that we said last time that any growth would be negligible and I added in the last earnings call negligible at best. Right. So if —
Craig Huber: You’re saying that beyond this year too, right, Dave? Not just this year, right?
David Lougee: That’s right. That’s right. Yes.
Craig Huber: Okay. Then my last question, guys, on the cost side, Julie, just give us a little bit more. Just so I understand better, what are you saying about costs for the remaining part of the year? Are you saying the year-over-year percent change will keep improving sequentially so we’ll get a better trend going forward the rest of the year? Or are you talking about the absolute dollar amount spent each quarter will be better relative to the quarter three months before?
Julie Heskett: The former, Craig, it’s about that percentage growth on year-over-year each quarter will improve, not absolute dollars.
Craig Huber: Okay, great. Thank you.
Julie Heskett: You’re welcome.
Operator: Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Jim Goss with Barrington Research. Your line is open.
James Goss: Okay. Thank you. Couple of things. First, you alluded to the notion that Premion and Octillion might provide some opportunity for political ad sales. I was just wondering if you could give us any scale of how important that could be and whether you think it would borrow from your broadcast side?
David Lougee: Sure. Great question. So one of the key advantages around Premion is that it’s not confined to our station footprint the way our core business is. So it allows us to participate in political races outside of our footprint. So we’ve already seen dollars come in from markets outside of the TEGNA footprint. Ultimately, as the political races get tighter and the availability of linear inventory gets tighter, we anticipate that those dollars will cascade over to the streaming ecosystem and there we’re well positioned to pick up those dollars. As you probably saw, we’ve also expanded our programmatic capabilities leading into this next political cycle and we believe that that will be another tool in our arsenal to compete for those political dollars. Ultimately, I would say they are additive and not cannibalistic to the linear opportunity that TEGNA already has.
James Goss: Okay, thank you. Another thing is a number of the sports programming opportunities you alluded to involve women’s sports, and I was wondering if you could talk about the dynamics there in terms of perhaps getting increasingly good viewing levels with less expensive rate fees. Is there an opportunity to arbitrage that a little bit?
David Lougee: That’s a little bit what the thinking is, Jim. Right. So obviously, for instance, with the Fever, the audiences that Caitlin Clark will bring were, to your point, index well over what the value of the assets are in the current marketplace from a cost standpoint, right. So, and that’s kind of the exception. I mean, frankly, like we’re very pleased to be the partner of the Seattle Reign, but women’s sports obviously just don’t have the marketplace acceptance yet from advertisers and others. But we think that’s going to change, to your question.
James Goss: Okay. And maybe one other thing, this is maybe getting a little ahead of things, but do you think there’s any potential for regulatory changes such as dual station ownership in top markets? Should there be a change in administration?
David Lougee: Yes, I think the last comment is the answer. It’s like, depends on what administration is in charge. So I think we’re going to have to kind of punt on what that question looks like until there’s a change in administration. And if there’s not a change in administration, there might be, will there be a change in leadership at the FCC, too. So a couple of variables there. But until we know the answers to that, we don’t have a lot of insight.
James Goss: Even in the past when there has been a republican administration, it doesn’t seem like you’ve made much headway in that particular area. And that seems to be the one potential change that would really be meaningful in terms of maybe rationalizing costs and getting a bigger advantage in big markets.
