Nexstar Media Group Names Coby Cooper Vice President and General Manager of Knoxville, Tennessee Television and Digital Operations

March 17, 2017

Nexstar Veteran and Accomplished Local Broadcasting and Sales Management Executive Promoted to Lead WATE-TV (ABC) and WATE.com

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee and IRVING, Texas – Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) announced today that Coby Cooper has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of WATE-TV (ABC) and associated digital services, including WATE.com, serving Knoxville, TN (DMA #62). Since 2010, Mr. Cooper has served as Vice President and General Manager of Nexstar-owned WCIA-TV (CBS) and WCIX-TV (MyNetwork) in Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, IL (DMA #86). Mr. Cooper will assume his new responsibilities immediately and report to Mike Vaughn, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager of Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.

A respected leader within the industry and the Nexstar organization, Mr. Cooper brings over three decades of broadcasting experience to his new role, including 10 years with Nexstar, with expertise in sales management, local and digital content creation, new business development and strategic planning across multiple media platforms.

During his tenure at WCIA-TV / WCIX-TV, Mr. Cooper led teams that delivered effective marketing solutions for local and national advertisers, while also implementing innovative programming strategies and unique digital concepts that expanded audience reach and community engagement. Importantly, his efforts and initiatives resulted in revenue and viewership share growth, new local client partnerships and overall increased station profitability. Prior to that, Mr. Cooper served as VP and General Manager of Nexstar’s WMBD-TV (CBS) in Peoria-Bloomington, IL (DMA #118) where he was also responsible for overseeing the Company’s relationship with Cunningham Broadcasting-owned WYZZ-TV (FOX) under an outsourcing agreement. In this role, he enhanced productivity, grew market share and outperformed revenue targets.

Before joining Nexstar, Mr. Cooper served as VP and General Manager at KGBT-TV (CBS) in Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen, TX (DMA #84) where he consistently delivered excellence in client service and sales performance. Earlier in his career, he was the Director of Broadcasting at WIS-TV (NBC) in Columbia, SC (DMA #77) and was a Manager of Ten Productions from 1991 to 1998. Mr. Cooper began his broadcast career in 1982 at KAIT-TV (ABC) in Jonesboro, AR where he served in various production and operational roles.

Commenting on the appointment, Mike Vaughn stated, “Coby’s efforts and initiatives have successfully advanced our Champaign-Springfield-Decatur operations into a long-term position of market leadership in local news production, community-focused content, live-event sports and entertainment programming, as well as digital and mobile service offerings. A well-respected leader, he has a deep understanding of our critical functions focused on exclusive local content development for our viewers and digital users, as well as effective multi-platform marketing opportunities for our clients. Importantly, he brings to his new role a long-term record of strengthening station operations and exceeding economic goals by implementing sales, marketing and new media initiatives that resulted in better service to local viewers, businesses and public organizations. With his entrepreneurial approach and deep dedication to the local communities he serves, we are confident in Coby’s ability to lead our Knoxville operations and look forward to his contributions as we continue to enhance the effectiveness and value of WATE-TV and WATE.com.”

Commenting on his new position, Coby Cooper said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur community and to the local clients, businesses and public organizations I’ve proudly served over the past six years, as well as the fantastic teams at WCIA-TV and WCIX-TV. I am excited to take on this new opportunity at Nexstar with this promotion and to return to the South, a region of the country where I have deep personal, business and community relationships. In this new role, I will utilize the management and marketing experience garnered over my career to further grow the operations while delivering excellent results and greater levels of service to our local viewers and advertisers in Knoxville. I look forward to working with the exceptional local media teams at WATE-TV and WATE.com as we continue build upon the foundation of our client service excellence across our multi-distribution marketing solutions platform.”

Mr. Cooper is a graduate of Purdue University and has served the boards of several non-profit and civic organizations including, Success by 6, the Columbia City Ballet, the NE Arkansas and Columbia Advertising Federations, Arkansas JCs, the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, as well as several Chambers of Commerce, Convention and Visitors boards and Children’s Hospital groups. Additionally, he is the past Chairman and current board member of the Illinois Broadcaster’s Association and a board member of Operation Honor Guard. Mr. Cooper is also a member of Mensa International.

Mr. Cooper and his wife Deana will be immediately relocating to the Knoxville area.

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 170 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 claims 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, 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 impact of changes in national and regional economies, the ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt, successful integration of acquired television stations and digital businesses (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 undertakes 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 Nexstar’s other filings with the SEC.

Contact:
Mike Vaughn
SVP and Regional Manager
Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.
501-340-4962

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