Perry A. Sook | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1958 (age 66–67) |
| Education | Ohio University |
| Occupation | Media mogul |
| Known for | Founder, Chairman and CEO of Nexstar Media Group (1996 - Present) |
| Spouse | Sandra |
| Children | 3 |
Perry A. Sook is an American media mogul who founded Nexstar Media, one of the largest television and digital media corporations in the United States. He continues to serve as Chairman and CEO of Nexstar, and in 2022, his contract as CEO was extended through 2026. [1] Sook is also the Chairman of the Joint Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters. [2]
Sook founded Nexstar in 1996, with the acquisition of a single local television station in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In the decades since, the corporation has grown into the largest owner of television stations in the United States, in addition to amassing additional media holdings such as The Hill.
In 2003, Sook took Nexstar public after acquiring Quorum Broadcasting. [3] He subsequently led a project to convince satellite companies to pay for his stations' content, but the cable companies, like Cox Cable did not like the idea. This is referred to as a "retransmission consent dispute." Cox and 21 TV stations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas and Missouri engaged in a campaign against the idea. As part of their campaign, they published Sook's home phone number in advertisements and encouraged customers to call him. Sook responded in kind and put the home phone number of the general manager of Cox cable. After about a year, Cox agreed to pay for carrying Nexstar's stations' signals. The revenue impact was significant. Sook said in 2020, "We went from a penny a day [$3.65 a year]...to $2 billion in revenue to [Nexstar] and $18 billion in revenue to local television stations across the country." [3]
Sook's compensation at Nexstar, over $40 million in 2022, made him the highest paid corporate executive in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. [4] However, in 2018 and 2019, Nexstar shareholders rejected multimillion dollar compensation packages for Sook. [3] The editorial board of Variety named Sook to the 2023 edition of the Variety500, a list of top entertainment industry leaders. [5]
