We’ve also locked in pretty much all of our reverse for our big — biggest three network affiliations that ABC, Fox and CBS. Those are multiyear agreements. We only — we have NBC, which is our smallest group, up at the end of this year. So, it’s — we have a lot of certainty on the reverse side, and we have good market data with major MVPDs with recent renewals that give us confidence for our outlook, which most of those deals that I mentioned really what will set in the next two years or even three years is going to be those renewals over the next 10 months.
Barton Crockett: Okay, that’s helpful. And then just one other quick thing, if I could. On the settlement with the Diamond Group, is there any potential impact on that settlement if the restructuring is not approved, if they aren’t able to emerge? It seems like they probably will. But is there any tie between that and actually completing the restructuring?
Christopher Ripley: No, there is no contingencies related to the broader restructuring. On Monday, the judge approved both the dip financing for Diamond, but also this settlement. So, that was the only sort of contingency that we had at the judge would need to approve. There’s some documentation that we’re looking to finish up here in the next couple of days, but that should not be an issue in terms of getting to the finish line. And then from there, there’s no other contingencies.
Barton Crockett: Okay. Thank you.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Aaron Watts with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed.
Aaron Watts: Hey everyone. Thanks for having me on. A couple of questions. I’ll start on the core advertising front. You and others seem to be seeing a modest slowdown here at the start of the year. Any signs you can point to that give confidence on an improving picture as we move through the year, acknowledging you’ll probably have some crowd out to deal with later on this year?
Christopher Ripley: Let me jump in and then I’ll let Rob add some color. But 1 of the things that affects our Q1 is that we have significant sporting events, including Super Bowl and March Madness. And we had Fox to the Super Bowl last year, and we had CBS do the Super Bowl this year. We have way more Foxs than CBSs. But when you take out the impact of Super Bowl and March Madness, we’re actually still trending in line with what we saw last year. So, the slowness, at least when you really dissect the numbers, it hasn’t shown up yet. I’ll let Rob add any more color if he wants.
Robert Weisbord: Sure. National had a very soft January and has recovered as the months have gone on in the quarter. Local has remained steady. I think our shifting to a full media company mentality and selling all screens and being trained over the past decade has aided our core business and to be able to offset any weaknesses that we are focused on marketing solutions versus just selling spots and dots, so that helps offset any pure core weakness because of our tool sets and our specialty sales that we focus on in service industry, the legal industry, the auto industry. So, they’re all run by experts coming out of those categories. and it allows us, I believe, a first mover’s advantage, which led the 2023 results heading into 2024 with the safe consistency.
Aaron Watts: Okay. Thank you. Helpful context. And then maybe a bit of a housekeeping question for Lucy, but with the Diamond settlement, you noted you’ll pay $50 million to start this week out of the venture silo. Any further clarity you can provide on how much of the remaining payments will be paid from ventures versus STG.
Christopher Ripley: That is something that will be determined over the next 60 days, the independent Board members of the two silos are going through a process to determine that.
Aaron Watts: Okay, got it. And then lastly, Chris or Lucy, I heard your comments that capital allocation likely stays focused on the debt side near-term. With that in mind and given the increased investor scrutiny on leverage around the space, where would you like to see leverage live? And when do you see being able to get there on a blended EBIT on your basis?
Lucy Rutishauser: Yes. So, Aaron, our target leverage, which is high 3s, low 4s, that target has not changed. Now, pro forma for the Diamond settlement, we do expect leverage to naturally decline this year on the strength of political and EBITDA.
Aaron Watts: Okay, got it. Thank you very much.
Operator: We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session and I will now turn the call over to Chris Ripley, President and Chief Executive Officer for closing remarks.
Christopher Ripley: Thank you for joining us today. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our IR department.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
