Nexstar Media Group Names Christopher McDonnell Vice President and General Manager of San Francisco, California Television and Digital Operations

Accomplished Local Media Executive With Over 25 Years of Major Market Broadcasting, Digital Media and Sales Management Experience to Lead KRON-TV (MyNet) and KRON4.com

SAN FRANCISCO, California and IRVING, Texas – Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced today that Christopher McDonnell has been appointed Vice President and General Manager of KRON-TV (MyNet) and its associated digital and mobile services, including KRON4.com, serving the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, CA (DMA #6). The appointment is effective immediately and Mr. McDonnell will report to Brian Jones, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Chris McDonnell brings to his new role at Nexstar over two decades of executive leadership and management experience across all facets of the media industry. He began his career at Leo Burnett Worldwide, a leading global advertising agency, before moving to Petry Television where he served as a national spot television sales advertising rep and then later, entering local broadcast television business in sales and management.  With a diverse local media industry background and extensive large market experience, Mr. McDonnell has long-standing record of success developing new revenue-generating opportunities through the creation and delivery of unique local cross-platform content. Importantly, he has an exceptional reputation for building sales teams that deliver effective multi-platform solutions to local and national advertisers that have resulted in impressive market and revenue share growth.

Before joining Nexstar, Mr. McDonnell most recently served as the President and General Manager of WSNS-TV (Telemundo) in Chicago, IL (DMA #3), where earlier in his career he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. To address the needs of the local Spanish-speaking communities in Chicago, he successfully launched new local news programming and community-focused content initiatives that expanded audience reach and engagement, resulting in the highest revenue and market share growth in this station’s history. Prior to WSNS-TV, Mr. McDonnell held various sales management roles at WMAQ-TV (NBC) in Chicago, KNSD-TV (NBC) in San Diego, CA (DMA #28) and  KXAS-TV (NBC) in Dallas, TX (DMA #5).

Commenting on the appointment, Brian Jones commented, “Chris has an impressive, diversified industry background and is a highly respected leader whose exceptional service and community involvement is acknowledged by both English and Spanish-speaking viewers, advertisers, businesses and community organizations. In addition to leading teams that delivered effective marketing solutions for local and national advertisers, he has consistently exceeded economic goals by implementing innovative programming strategies and unique digital concepts while elevating the level of service provided to local communities at the stations he has managed. Throughout his career, Chris has developed cohesive, highly-effective sales and marketing training programs and directed internet sales and new media initiatives, focused on deeply integrating station service with community activities. His strategic approach and results-oriented business acumen will be valuable attributes in meeting the competitive marketing needs of our local and national clients, while also achieving Nexstar’s business objectives and financial targets for a top-ten market station.  With Chris’ many years of success and notable achievements, we have the highest degree of confidence in his ability to continue elevating the value and service of our Northern California operations.”

Commenting on his new role, Chris McDonnell stated, “Nexstar has established a long-term reputation for serving the public interests and needs of local communities in the markets where it operates. The Company’s strong commitment to superior local content production and service combined with its scalable diversified marketing solutions will yield distinct competitive advantages for our clients. In my new role, I will utilize the management and marketing experience I have garnered over my career to further grow the operations while delivering excellent results and superior levels of service to our local viewers and advertisers. I look forward to working with the exceptional local media teams at KRON-TV and KRON4.com as we continue our work in developing local viewership and enhancing the effectiveness and value of our broadcast, digital and mobile services in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. I’m excited to relocate to Northern California with my family and plan to immediately immerse myself into the local community and become an active participant in the Bay area economic development by building enduring partnerships with local businesses and organizations.”

Mr. McDonnell is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and the Medill School of Journalism where he received a Bachelor of Science degree.

 

About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
Nexstar Media Group is a leading diversified media company that leverages localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers through its traditional media, digital and mobile media platforms. Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 171 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 100 markets or approximately 39% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar’s portfolio includes primary affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV and The CW. Nexstar’s community portal websites offer additional hyper-local content and verticals for consumers and advertisers, allowing audiences to choose where, when and how they access content while creating new revenue opportunities. For more information please visit www.nexstar.tv.

 

Forward-Looking Statements
This communication includes forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Forward-looking statements include information preceded by, followed by, or that includes the words “guidance,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “could,” or similar expressions. For these statements, Nexstar and Media General claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this communication, concerning, among other things, the ultimate outcome and benefits of a transaction between Nexstar and Media General and timing thereof, and future financial performance, including changes in net revenue, cash flow and operating expenses, involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors, including the timing to consummate the proposed transaction; the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied and the transaction may not close; the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated, the impact of changes in national and regional economies, the ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt, successful integration of Media General (including achievement of synergies and cost reductions), pricing fluctuations in local and national advertising, future regulatory actions and conditions in the television stations’ operating areas, competition from others in the broadcast television markets, volatility in programming costs, the effects of governmental regulation of broadcasting, industry consolidation, technological developments and major world news events. Nexstar and Media General undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this communication might not occur. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. For more details on factors that could affect these expectations, please see the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus of Nexstar and Media General and Media General’s and Nexstar’s other filings with the SEC.

 

Contact:
Brian Jones
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.
972-373-8800 or bjones@nexstar.tv

Joseph Jaffoni, Jennifer Neuman
JCIR
212/835-8500 or nxst@jcir.com

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