• by Wayne Friedman , May 3, 2023

As it continues to face challenges with its Diamond Sports Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group -- the second-biggest U.S. owner of TV stations -- witnessed a massive, and expected, 40% decline in first-quarter revenues to $773 million.

Taking out the local sports unit -- the largest business of regional sports networks, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March -- the TV station-group saw revenue sinking 7%, down from $831 million.

Overall advertising revenue was down 17% to $309 million due to issues around its Diamond Sports Group as well as the lack of political advertising, which the midterm elections typically bring.

Core advertising -- without political advertising -- was pushed down by 14%. Taking out Diamond Sports, its core TV station group saw a 6% decline in advertising revenue.

Another larger, major area was its declining distribution revenues -- also driven down by sharply lower Diamond Sports Group. Company-wide revenues here were slashed in half to $426 million from $873 million in the year ago period.

Recently, Diamond has had significant issues with making some payments to Major League Baseball and some NBA teams -- some of which have moved to starting up their own over-the-air or streaming services to cater to their local sports market fans.

Diamond has nearly $8 billion in debt. Bankruptcy proceedings could see Diamond becoming a standalone operation, according to the company. In 2019, Sinclair purchased the business from Walt Disney for $10.6 billion.

Sinclair’s net income crashed in the period -- down to $185 million versus $2.6 billion in the prior-year business.

In mid-day Wednesday stock market trading, Sinclair’s stock dropped 4% to $18.00. Over the past 12 months, its stock has dropped 23%.

Shoring up its stock, Sinclair announced in its earnings results that it bought back about 3.6 million of its common shares.