Gray Television (GTN) Risk Analysis

Television stations compete for audiences, certain programming (including news) and advertisers. Signal coverage and carriage on MVPD systems also materially affect a television station's competitive position. With respect to audiences, stations compete primarily based on broadcast program popularity. We cannot provide any assurances as to the acceptability by audiences of any of the programs we broadcast. Further, because we compete with other broadcast stations for certain programming, we cannot provide any assurances that we will be able to obtain any desired programming at costs that we believe are reasonable. Cable-network programming, combined with increased access to cable, satellite TV, vMVPDs, as well as internet video services (such as YouTube) and internet streaming channels and services including subscription video on demand ("SVOD") and advertising video on demand ("AVOD") have become significant competitors for television programming viewers. Cable networks' viewership and advertising share have been declining in recent years, while streaming viewership has accelerated and recently surpassed the combined viewership of broadcast and cable-network programming combined. Further increases in the advertising share of cable networks, internet video services, social and short-form platforms and internet streaming channels and services could materially adversely affect the advertising revenue of our television stations. In addition, new technologies and methods of buying advertising present an additional competitive challenge, as competitors may offer products and services such as the ability to purchase advertising programmatically or bundled offline and online advertising, aimed at more efficiently capturing advertising spend. The number of viewers and ratings of our television stations and advertising revenues in general may be impacted by viewers moving to these programming alternatives and alternate media content providers, and by eliminating or reducing subscriptions to traditional MVPD services ("cord cutting" and "cord shaving," respectively). As these programming alternatives continue to drive changes in consumer behavior and other consumption strategies, including the fragmentation of audiences across platforms and devices, our business and results of operations may be materially affected. Our inability or failure to broadcast popular programs, or otherwise maintain viewership for any reason, including as a result of increases in programming alternatives, or our loss of advertising due to technological changes, could result in a lessening of advertisers, or a reduction in the amount advertisers are willing to pay us to advertise, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our main source of revenue is the sale of advertising time and space. Our ability to sell advertising time and space depends on, among other things: - economic conditions in the areas where our stations are located and in the nation as a whole;- the popularity and performance of the programming offered by our television stations;- changes in population demographics in the areas where our stations are located;- local and national advertising price fluctuations, which can be affected by the availability of programming, the popularity of programming, and the relative supply of and demand for commercial advertising;- our competitors' activities, including increased competition from other advertising-based mediums, particularly digital and streaming platforms, cable networks, MVPDs and other internet companies;- the duration and extent of any network preemption of regularly scheduled programming for any reason;- decisions by advertisers to withdraw, reduce or delay planned advertising expenditures for any reason;- the competitiveness of local, regional, and federal elections and ballot initiatives;- labor disputes or other disruptions at major national advertisers, programming providers or networks; and - other factors beyond our control. Our results are also subject to seasonal and cyclical fluctuations. Seasonal fluctuations typically result in higher revenue and broadcast operating income in the second and fourth quarters than in the first and third quarters of each year. This seasonality is primarily attributable to advertisers' increased expenditures in the spring and in anticipation of holiday season spending in the fourth quarter, as well as increased television viewership during these periods. In addition, we typically experience fluctuations in our revenue and broadcast operating income between even-numbered and odd-numbered years. In years in which there are impending elections for various state and national offices, which primarily occur in even-numbered years, political advertising revenue tends to increase, often significantly, and particularly during presidential election years. We consider political broadcast advertising revenue to be revenue earned from the sale of advertising to political candidates, political parties and special interest groups of advertisements broadcast by our stations that contain messages primarily focused on elections and/or public policy issues. In even-numbered years, we typically derive a material portion of our broadcast advertising revenue from political broadcast advertisers. For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, we derived approximately 1% and 14%, respectively, of our total revenue from political broadcast advertisers. If political broadcast advertising revenues declined, especially in an even-numbered year, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Also, our stations affiliated with the NBC Network broadcast Olympic Games and typically experience increased viewership and revenue during those broadcasts. As a result of the seasonality and cyclicality of our revenue and broadcast operating income, and the historically significant increase in our revenue and broadcast operating income during even-numbered years, it has been, and is expected to remain, difficult to conduct meaningful period-over-period comparisons of our revenue and results of operations.

We rely on technology and data owned or controlled by us or our third-party service providers in substantially all aspects of our business operations. Our revenues are increasingly dependent on digital products and access to systems and data. Such use exposes us to cybersecurity threats arising from a variety of causes and forms, including from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. These cybersecurity incidents and similar attacks could include, but are not limited to, the deployment of harmful malware or ransomware, denial-of-services attacks, account takeovers and other attacks, which may affect business continuity and threaten the availability, confidentiality and integrity of our systems and information. These attacks and incidents can also include employee or personnel failures, fraud, phishing or other social engineering attempts or other methods to cause confidential information, payments, account access or access credentials, or other data to be transmitted to an unintended recipient, and attempts to gain unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, data corruption or operational disruption. Cybersecurity threat actors also may attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in widely used or bundled software, including software commonly used by companies in cloud-based services, and may target third parties on whom we rely for hosting, content delivery, advertising technology, audience measurements and other critical services. If we are subject to a cybersecurity incident or a similar attack, it could result in business interruption, disclosure of nonpublic information, alteration or corruption of data or systems, decreased advertising revenues, misstated financial data, liability for stolen assets or information, increased cybersecurity protection costs, litigation or investigations, including individual claims or consumer class actions, commercial litigation, administrative, and civil or criminal investigations or actions, regulatory intervention and sanctions or fines, investigation and remediation costs, financial consequences and reputational damage adversely affecting customer or investor confidence, among other things, any or all of which could materially adversely affect our business. While we have experienced cybersecurity incidents in the past, and may experience additional cybersecurity incidents in the future, we are not aware of any cybersecurity incident having a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition to date. However, there can be no assurance that we will not experience future cybersecurity incidents that may be material. Although we have systems and processes in place to try to protect against risks associated with cybersecurity incidents in the future, depending on the nature of a cybersecurity incident, these protections may not be fully sufficient or effective, particularly as threat techniques, tools and attack vectors evolve. In addition, because techniques used in cybersecurity threats change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. A cybersecurity incident may not be detected until well after it occurs and the severity and potential impact may not be fully known for a substantial period of time after it has been discovered. We may also be required to comply with evolving cybersecurity and data protection laws, regulations, and industry standards, including incident reporting, notification and disclosure requirements, which could increase compliance costs and exposure to enforcement. Although we maintain a cyber insurance policy, there is no guarantee that such coverage will be sufficient to address costs, liabilities and damages we may incur in connection with a cybersecurity incident, that it will cover all types of events or losses (including fines, penalties or certain categories of business interruption), or that such coverage will continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Our business depends in large part on the success of our network affiliations. One or more stations in each of our operating markets other than Atlanta are affiliated with at least one of the four major broadcast networks pursuant to individual affiliation agreements. Each affiliation agreement provides the affiliated station with the right to broadcast all programs transmitted by the affiliated network during the term of the related agreement. Our affiliation agreements with the Big Four networks expire at various dates from mid-2027 through December 31, 2028. If we cannot enter into NEW affiliation agreements to replace any agreements in advance of their expiration, we would no longer be able to carry the affiliated network's programming. This loss of programming would require us to create and/or obtain replacement programming. Such replacement programming may involve higher costs and may be less attractive to our target audiences, thereby reducing our ability to generate advertising revenue, and potentially having a material adverse effect on our results of operations. On the other hand, replacement programming may provide additional advertising inventory than that provided to affiliated stations by their networks. Our concentration of CBS and/or NBC affiliates makes us particularly sensitive to adverse changes in our business relationships with, and the general success of, CBS and/or NBC. If we are able to renew or replace existing affiliation agreements, we can give no assurance that any future affiliation agreements will have economic terms and conditions equivalent to, or more favorable than, our current agreements. If, in the future, a network or networks impose more adverse economic terms upon us, such event or events could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, if we are unable to renew or replace any existing affiliation agreements, we may be unable to satisfy certain obligations under our existing or any future retransmission consent agreements with MVPDs and/or to secure payment of retransmission consent fees under such agreements. Furthermore, if in the future a network limited or removed our ability to retransmit network programming to MVPDs, we may be unable to satisfy certain obligations or criteria for fees under any existing or any future retransmission consent agreements. In either case, such events could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Uncertainty regarding financial, economic and political conditions over the longer term and the continuation or worsening of such conditions could reduce consumer confidence and adversely affect our business, results of operations and/or financial condition. A decline in consumer confidence could negatively affect our advertising customers' businesses and their advertising budgets. In addition, volatile economic conditions and/or the adoption or expansion of trade restrictions or other governmental actions related to tariffs or trade policies could negatively impact our industry or the industries of our customers who advertise on our stations, resulting in reduced advertising sales. Furthermore, actions taken by any governmental or regulatory body for the purpose of stabilizing the economy or financial markets may not achieve their intended effects. In addition to any direct negative consequences to our business or results of operations arising from these financial, economic and political developments, some of these actions may adversely affect financial institutions, capital providers, advertisers or other consumers on whom we rely, including for access to future capital or financing arrangements necessary to support our business. Our inability to obtain financing in amounts and at times necessary could make it more difficult or impossible to meet our obligations or otherwise take actions in our best interests.