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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

     
þ   Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 or
     
o   Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the transition period from __________ to __________.

Commission File Number 1-13796


GRAY TELEVISION, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
     
Georgia
(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation or Organization)
  58-0285030
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
     
4370 Peachtree Road, NE
Atlanta, GA

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
  30319
(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (404) 504-9828


Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
     
Title of each class
Class A Common Stock (no par value)
Common Stock (no par value)
  Name of each exchange on which registered
New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE
________________________________________

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o

     Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2). Yes þ No o

     The aggregate market value of the voting stock (based upon the closing sales price quoted on the New York Stock Exchange) held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2004: Class A and Common Stock; no par value — $578,012,923.

     The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s classes of common stock as of February 1, 2005: Class A Common Stock; no par value – 5,763,220 shares; Common Stock, no par value – 42,872,904 shares

     DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

     Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the annual meeting of shareholders to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A is incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

 
 

 


Gray Television Inc.

INDEX

             
PART OR ITEM   DESCRIPTION   PAGE  
           
  Business.     3  
  Properties.     20  
  Legal Proceedings.     24  
  Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.     25  
  Executive Officers of the Registrant.     25  
 
           
           
  Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.     27  
  Selected Financial Data.     29  
  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.     30  
  Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.     48  
  Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.     49  
  Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.     90  
  Controls and Procedures.     90  
  Other Information.     90  
 
           
           
  Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant.     90  
  Executive Compensation.     91  
  Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.     91  
  Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.     92  
  Principal Accountant Fees and Services.     92  
 
           
           
  Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.     92  
 
           
        97  
 EX-21.1 SUBSIDIARIES OF THE REGISTRANT
 EX-23.1 CONSENT OF PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
 EX-31.1 SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION OF THE CEO
 EX-31.2 SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION OF THE CFO
 EX-32.1 SECTION 906 CERTIFICATION OF THE CEO
 EX-32.2 SECTION 906 CERTIFICATION OF THE CFO

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PART 1

Item 1. Business.

     In this Annual Report, unless otherwise indicated, the words “Gray,” ”Company,” “our,” “us” and “we” refer to Gray Television, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Our discussion of the television stations that we own and operate does not include our interest in the stations owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc., which we refer to as “Tarzian.”

     The Company’s common stock, no par value, (the “Common Stock”) and its class A common stock, no par value, (the “Class A Common Stock’) have been listed and traded on The New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) since September 24, 1996 and June 30, 1995, respectively. The ticker symbols are “GTN” for its Common Stock and “GTN.A” for its Class A Common Stock.

     Unless otherwise indicated, all station rank, in-market share and television household data herein are derived from reports prepared by A.C. Nielsen Company (“Nielsen”).

General

     As of the filing date of the Annual Report, the Company owns 31 television stations serving 27 television markets. Sixteen of the stations are affiliated with CBS Inc., or “CBS,” eight are affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., or “NBC” and seven are affiliated with the American Broadcasting Company, or “ABC.” The combined station group has 23 stations ranked #1 in local news audience and 22 stations ranked #1 in overall audience within their respective markets based on the results of the average of the Nielsen February, May, July and November 2004 ratings reports. The combined TV station group reaches approximately 5.5% of total U.S. TV households. In addition, with 16 CBS affiliated stations, the Company is the largest independent owner of CBS affiliates in the country.

     The Company also owns and operates five daily newspapers, four located in Georgia and one in Goshen, Indiana.

     In 1993, the Company implemented a strategy to foster growth through strategic acquisitions and certain select divestitures. Since January 1, 1994, the Company’s significant acquisitions have included 29 television stations, three newspapers and a paging business and the divestiture of two television stations. As a result of the Company’s acquisitions and in support of its growth strategy, the Company has added certain key members of management and has greatly expanded its operations in the television broadcasting and newspaper publishing businesses.

Acquisitions, Investments and Divestitures

2005 Acquisition

     On January 31, 2005, the Company announced that it had completed the acquisition of KKCO-TV from Eagle III Broadcasting, LLC for approximately $13.5 million plus fees. KKCO-TV, Channel 11 serves the Grand Junction, Colorado television market and is an NBC affiliate. The Company used a portion of its cash on hand to fully fund this acquisition.

2004 Purchase of Federal Communications Commission License

     On August 17, 2004, the Company completed the acquisition of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) television license for WCAV-TV, Channel 19, in Charlottesville, Virginia from Charlottesville Broadcasting Corporation. Gray’s cost to acquire that FCC license was approximately $1

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million. CBS, Inc. has agreed to a ten-year affiliation agreement to allow Gray to operate WCAV-TV as a CBS-affiliated station.

     Gray also has an FCC license to operate a low power television station, WVAW-TV, in the Charlottesville, Virginia television market. The American Broadcasting Company has agreed to an affiliation agreement expiring December 31, 2013 to allow Gray to operate WVAW-TV as an ABC affiliate.

     Both WCAV-TV and WVAW-TV began broadcasting in August 2004. Gray’s total cost to construct the combined broadcast facilities for both stations is currently estimated to be approximately $7.0 million. As of December 31, 2004 the majority of such construction costs had been incurred and paid.

2002 Acquisitions

     On October 25, 2002 the Company completed its acquisition of Stations Holding Company, Inc. (“Stations Holding”) by acquiring all of Stations Holding’s outstanding capital stock in a merger transaction. Effective with the completion of the transaction, Stations Holding changed its name to Gray MidAmerica Television, Inc. (“Gray MidAmerica Television”). With this transaction the Company acquired 15 network affiliated television stations serving 13 television markets. On December 18, 2002 the Company completed its acquisition of the assets of KOLO-TV, the ABC affiliate serving Reno, Nevada.

     The Company paid $516.5 million in aggregate cash consideration for Gray MidAmerica Television. This amount included a base purchase price of $502.5 million plus certain net working capital adjustments of approximately $5.7 million and fees of $8.3 million associated with the transaction. The Company funded the acquisition and related fees and expenses by issuing 30.0 million shares of Gray Common Stock to the public for net proceeds of $232.7 million, issuing additional debt totaling $275.0 million and cash on hand.

     For advisory services rendered by Bull Run Corp. (“Bull Run”) a related party, in connection with the acquisition of Gray MidAmerica Television, the Company paid to Bull Run an advisory fee of $5.0 million. This amount is included in the fees described above. The Company does not intend to engage Bull Run for any such advisory or similar services in the future.

     The Company paid $41.9 million in cash consideration for KOLO-TV. This purchase price included a base purchase price of $41.5 million and related fees of approximately $400,000. The Company financed this transaction by utilizing cash on hand and net proceeds of $34.9 million from the issuance of an additional 4.5 million shares of Gray Common Stock.

Television Broadcasting

The Company’s Stations and their Markets

     As used in the table for the Company’s stations (i) “in-market share of households viewing television” represents the average percentage of the station’s audience as a percentage of all viewing by households of local commercial stations in the market from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Saturday, as reported by Nielsen for November, July, May & February 2004; (ii) “station rank in DMA” is based on the average of Nielsen estimates for November, July, May & February 2004 for the period from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Saturday; (iii)“station news rank in DMA” is based on management’s review of the Nielsen estimates for November, July, May & February 2004, (iv) estimates of population, average household income, effective buying income and retail business sales growth projections are as reported in

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the BIA Guide; and (v) television households are as reported by Nielsen for the 2004-2005 television season. Designated Market Area is defined herein as “DMA.”

     The following is a list of all our owned and operated television stations. In markets where we have satellite stations and stations that serve distant communities, the figures have been combined.

Broadcasting Summary

                                                                     
                            FCC           Station           In Market    
                            License   Station   News   Commercial   Share of   Television
DMA           Analog   Affiliation   Expiration   Rank in   Rank in   Stations in   Household   Households (a)
Rank(a)   Market   Station   Channel   Network   Expiration   Date   DMA(b)   DMA(c)   DMA(d)   Viewing (b)   (in thousands)
59
  Knoxville, TN   WVLT     8     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/05     2       2       5       23 %     514  
 
                                                                   
64
  Lexington, KY   WKYT     27     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/05     1       1       4       36 %     481  
 
                                                                   
Note(f)
  Hazard, KY   WYMT     57     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/05     1       1       1       30 %     169  
 
                                                                   
66
  Wichita—Hutchinson, KS   KAKE     10     ABC   12/31/13   06/01/06     3       3       6       23 %     446  
  (Colby, KS)   KLBY (e)     4     ABC   12/31/13   06/01/06     3       3                          
  (Garden City, KS)   KUPK (e)     13     ABC   12/31/13   06/01/06     3       3                          
 
                                                                   
76
  Omaha, NE   WOWT     6     NBC   01/01/12   06/01/06     1       1       5       33 %     396  
 
                                                                   
85
  Madison, WI   WMTV     15     NBC   01/01/12   12/01/05     2       2       4       26 %     364  
 
                                                                   
92
  Colorado Springs, CO   KKTV     10     CBS   12/31/14   04/01/06     1       1       5       34 %     313  
 
                                                                   
95
  Waco-Temple-Bryan, TX   KWTX     10     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/06     1       1       5       44 %     309  
  (Bryan, TX)   KBTX (g)     3     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/06     1       1                          
 
                                                                   
103
  Lincoln—Hastings   KOLN     10     CBS   12/31/14   06/01/06     1       1       5       53 %     275  
  Kearney, NE   KGIN (h)     11     CBS   12/31/14   06/01/06     1       1                          
  (Grand Island, NE)                                                                
 
                                                                   
105
  Greenville—New Bern   WITN     7     NBC   01/01/12   12/01/04(k)     2       2       4       33 %     270  
  —Washington, NC                                                                
 
                                                                   
109
  Tallahassee, FL—   WCTV     6     CBS   12/31/14   04/01/05(k)     1       1       4       58 %     260  
  Thomasville, GA                                                                
 
                                                                   
110
  Lansing, MI   WILX     10     NBC   01/01/12   10/01/05     2       1       4       34 %     259  
 
                                                                   
114
  Reno, NV   KOLO     8     ABC   12/31/13   10/01/06     1       1       5       30 %     247  
 
                                                                   
115
  Augusta, GA   WRDW     12     CBS   12/31/14   04/01/05(k)     1       1       4       39 %     247  
 
                                                                   
127
  La Crosse— Eau
Claire, WI
  WEAU     13     NBC   1/1/12   12/01/05     1       1       4       36 %     206  
 
                                                                   
133
  Wausau—Rhinelander, WI   WSAW     7     CBS   12/31/14   12/01/05     1       1       4       43 %     182  
 
                                                                   
134
  Rockford, IL   WIFR     23     CBS   12/31/14   12/01/05     2       2       4       30 %     181  
 
                                                                   
137
  Topeka, KS   WIBW     13     CBS   12/31/14   06/01/06     1       1       4       50 %     171  
 
                                                                   
160
  Panama City, FL   WJHG     7     NBC   1/1/12   02/01/05(k)     1       1       3       49 %     135  
 
                                                                   
161
  Sherman,TX—Ada, OK   KXII     12     CBS   12/31/14   08/01/06     1       1       2       68 %     124  
 
                                                                   
172
  Dothan, AL   WTVY     4     CBS   12/31/14   04/01/05(k)     1       1       3       73 %     99  
 
                                                                   
181
  Harrisonburg, VA   WHSV     3     ABC   12/31/13   10/01/12     1       1       1       96 %     86  
 
                                                                   
182
  Bowling Green, KY   WBKO     13     ABC   12/31/13   08/01/05     1       1       2       85 %     81  
 
                                                                   
184
  Meridian, MS   WTOK     11     ABC   12/31/13   06/01/05     1       1       3       67 %     72  
 
                                                                   
185
  Charlottesville, VA   WCAV     19     CBS   8/15/14   NA (m)     2       2       2       (l )     70  
      WVAW(i)     27     ABC   12/31/13   10/01/12                                        
 
                                                                   
187
  Parkersburg, WV   WTAP     15     NBC   01/01/12   10/01/04(k)     1       1       1       96 %     65  
 
                                                                   
189
  Grand Junction, CO   KKCO     11     NBC   7/30/06   04/01/06     1       1       4       37 %     64  
 
                                                               
 
 
                                                                6,086 (j)


(a)   Based on data published by Nielsen.
 
(b)   Based on the average of Nielsen data for November, July, May and February 2004 rating period, Sunday to Saturday, 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

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(c)   Except for WYMT, in market share data is based on our review of the Nielsen data for the November, July, May and February 2004 rating period during various news hours. For WYMT, in market share data is based on our review of the Nielsen data for the November, May and February 2004 rating period during various news hours. WYMT does not receive data for the July period.
 
(d)   We have included only stations that BIA has reported at one share or more in three of the four most recent rating periods. The Company considers WYMT’s service area as a separate television market (see Note f below) and does not include the station in the reported number of commercial television stations in the Lexington, KY DMA.
 
(e)   KLBY and KUPK are satellite stations of KAKE under FCC rules.
 
(f)   Special 16 county trading area as defined by Nielsen and is part of the Lexington, KY DMA.
 
(g)   KBTX is a satellite station of KWTX under FCC rules.
 
(h)   KGIN is a satellite station of KOLN under FCC rules.
 
(i)   WCAV/WVAW began broadcasting in August 2004. Currently, there is no ranking data available.
 
(j)   Approximately 5% of all US television households.
 
(k)   License renewal application has been filed with the Federal Communication Commission (the “FCC”) and renewal is pending. As of the date of filing this Annual Report, the Company anticipates that all pending applications will be renewed in due course.
 
(l)   Data not yet available due to the station only beginning operations in the fourth quarter of 2004.
 
(m)   Original license application pending with the Federal Communications Commission. If license is granted as expected, the expiration date of the license is expected to be October 1, 2012.

     The percentage of the Company’s total revenues contributed by the Company’s television broadcasting segment was approximately 85%, 82%, and 74% for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively.

Television Industry Background

     There are currently a limited number of channels available for broadcasting in any one geographic area, and the license to operate a television station is granted by the FCC. Television stations which broadcast over the very high frequency (“VHF”) band (channels 2-13) of the spectrum generally have some competitive advantage over television stations which broadcast over the ultra-high frequency (“UHF”) band (channels above 13) of the spectrum, because the former usually have better signal coverage and operate at a lower transmission cost.

     Television station revenues are primarily derived from local, regional and national ad