S&P changes Cox Media view to stable

S&P said it revised the outlook for Cox Media Group (Terrier Media Buyer Inc.) to stable from negative and affirmed all its ratings, including the CCC+ rating on its senior unsecured due 2027.

“We expect core TV advertising will largely recover in 2021. Core advertising (excluding political) revenue is highly correlated with GDP growth because expectations for consumer spending drive advertising budgets,” the agency said in a press release.

For radio advertising, S&P said it sees it returning to near pre-pandemic levels, but recovery will extend into 2022.

The outlook reflects an expectation that FOCF to debt will remain above 5% in 2021 and Cox's leverage will decline to around 7.5x in 2021 driven by a recovery in core television and radio advertising revenue and double-digit percent increases in retransmission revenue, S&P said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.