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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission File Number: 333-68964

NEXSTAR FINANCE HOLDINGS, L.L.C.

NEXSTAR FINANCE HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None

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 it was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  x     No  ¨

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.    x

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2)     Yes  ¨    No  x

As of December 31, 2002, Nexstar Finance Holdings, L.L.C. had one member, Nexstar Finance Holdings II, L.L.C., and Nexstar Finance Holdings, Inc. had 1,000 shares of common stock outstanding.

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General

As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and unless the context indicates otherwise, (1) “Nexstar” refers to Nexstar Finance Holdings, L.L.C. and its consolidated subsidiaries including Nexstar Finance Holdings, Inc.; (2) “Nexstar Finance” refers to Nexstar Finance L.L.C. and its consolidated subsidiaries including Nexstar Finance, Inc.; (3) “Nexstar Broadcasting Group” refers to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, L.L.C. but not its direct or indirect subsidiaries; (4) ”Nexstar Broadcasting” refers to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, L.L.C., and all of Nexstar Broadcasting Group, L.L.C.’s direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Nexstar; (5) “Mission” refers to Mission Broadcasting, Inc.; and (6) all references to “we,” “our,” “ours,” and “us” refer, collectively, to Nexstar and Mission. Nexstar has time brokerage, shared services and joint sales agreements relating to the television stations owned by Mission, but does not own any of the equity interests in Mission. For a description of the relationship between Nexstar and Mission, see Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.”

In the context of describing ownership of television stations in a particular market, the term “duopoly” refers to owning or deriving the economic benefit, through joint sales agreements, time brokerage agreements and shared services agreements, from two or more stations in a particular market. For more information on how we derive economic benefit from a duopoly, see Item 1. “Business” and Item 13. “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions.”

There are 210 generally recognized television markets, known as Designated Market Areas, or DMAs, in the United States. DMAs are ranked in size according to various factors based upon actual or potential audience. DMA rankings contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are from the Nielsen Station Index dated November 2002 as estimated by the A.C. Nielsen Company as published in BIA Investing in Television 2002 4^th Edition.

Unless the context indicates otherwise: (1) data relating to market rank, television household data and audience share are from The Nielsen Station Index for Sunday to Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. dated November 2002 and (2) the term “station” or “commercial station” means a television broadcast station and does not include non-commercial television stations, cable program services or networks (for example, CNN, MTV and ESPN) or stations that do not meet the minimum Nielsen reporting standards (for example, weekly cumulative audience share of at least 2.5% for Sunday to Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.); and (3) the term “independent” describes a commercial television station that is not affiliated with the ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, PAX or UPN television networks.

Reference is made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the following trademarks/tradenames which are owned by the third parties referenced in parentheses: The Simpsons, Divorce Court and M.A.S.H. (20^th Century Fox Film Corporation); Seinfeld and The Steve Harvey Show (Columbia Tristar Television Distribution, a unit of Sony Pictures); Judge Judy, Entertainment Tonight, Montel Williams, Frasier, Cheers and Spin City (Paramount Distribution); Friends (Warner Brothers Domestic Television Distribution, a division of Time Warner Entertainment Co. LP); The Maury Povich Show (Studios USA Television Distribution LLC); That 70’s Show and Third Rock From the Sun (Carsey Werner Distribution LLC); Everybody Loves Raymond (Eyemark Entertainment); and The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Hollywood Squares and Dr. Phil (King World Productions, Inc.), The Hughleys (20^th Television, Inc.).

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements” for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including: any projections or expectations of earnings, revenues, financial performance, liquidity and capital resources or other financial items; any statements of our plans, strategies and objectives for our future operations; performance, liquidity and capital resources or other financial items; any statements concerning proposed new products, services or developments; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements of belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements may include the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” and other similar words.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in any of our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ from a projection or assumption in any of our forward-looking statements. Our future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements are subject to change and inherent risks and uncertainties discussed under Item 1. “Business—Risks Related to Our Company” and “Business—Risks Related to Our Industry” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are made only as of the date hereof and we do not have or undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or subsequent events or circumstances unless otherwise required by law.

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PART I

Overview

We are a television broadcasting company focused exclusively on the acquisition, development and operation of television stations in medium-sized markets in the United States, primarily markets that rank from 50 to 150, as reported by A.C. Nielsen Company. We currently own and operate 14 stations, and provide management, sales or other services to an additional six stations. In six of the 13 markets that we serve, we operate or provide services to more than one station. We refer to these markets as duopoly markets. We have doubled the size of our portfolio over the last four years, having acquired seven stations and begun providing services to four additional stations. The stations that we operate or provide services to are clustered in three regions: the Northeast, consisting of five stations in Pennsylvania and New York; the Midwest, consisting of eight stations in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri; and the Southwest, consisting of seven stations in Texas and Louisiana. These stations are diverse in their network affiliations: 18 have primary affiliation agreements with one of the four major networks––six with NBC, five with CBS, four with ABC, three with Fox –– and the remaining two have agreements with UPN.

We believe that medium-sized markets offer significant advantages over large markets, most of which result from a lower level of competition. First, because there are fewer well-capitalized acquirers with a medium-market focus, we have been successful in purchasing stations on more favorable terms than acquirers of large market stations. Second, in many of our markets there exist only two or three other local commercial television stations. As a result, we achieve lower programming costs than stations in larger markets because the supply of quality programming exceeds the demand. Lastly, we believe that the stations we operate or provide services to are better managed than many of our competitors’ stations. By providing equity incentives, we have been able to attract and retain station general managers with experience in larger markets who employ marketing and sales techniques that are not typically utilized in our markets.

We seek to grow our revenue and broadcast cash flow by increasing the audience and revenue shares of our stations. We strive to increase the audience share of our stations by creating a strong local broadcasting presence based on highly-rated local news, local sports coverage and active community sponsorship. We seek to improve revenue share by employing and supporting a high-quality local sales force that leverages our strong local brand and community presence with local advertisers. Additionally, we have further improved our broadcast cash flow by maintaining strict control over operating and programming costs. The benefits achieved through these initiatives are magnified in our duopoly markets by broadcasting the programming of multiple networks, capitalizing on multiple sales forces and achieving an increased level of operational efficiency. As a result of our operational enhancements, we expect revenue from the 11 stations we have acquired or begun providing management services to in the last four years to grow faster than that of our more mature stations.

We are a Delaware limited liability company (“L.L.C.”) formed in 2000. Our principal offices are at 909 Lake Carolyn Parkway, Suite 1450, Irving, TX 75039. Our telephone number is (972) 373-8800 and our website address is www.nexstar.tv.

Business Strategy

We seek to generate revenue and broadcast cash flow growth through the following strategies:

Develop Leading Local Franchises.    Each of the stations that we operate or provide services to creates a highly recognizable local brand, primarily through the quality of local news programming and community presence. In 10 of our 13 markets, we rank number one or number two in local news viewership. Strong local news typically generates higher ratings among attractive demographic profiles and enhances audience loyalty, which may result in higher ratings for programs both preceding and following the news. High ratings and strong community identity make the stations that we operate or provide services to more attractive to local advertisers. For the year ended December 31, 2002, we earned approximately one-third of our advertising revenue from spots aired during our local news programming. We continually invest in the news product of the stations and have increased the local news programming of the stations that we operate or provide services to, in the aggregate, by more than 25% to 280 hours per week since acquisition or our commencement of services. Extensive local sports coverage and active sponsorship of community events further differentiate us from our competitors and strengthen our community relationships and our local advertising appeal.

        Emphasize Local Sales.    We employ a high-quality local sales force in each of our markets to increase revenue from advertisers in our community by capitalizing on our investment in local programming. We believe that local advertising is attractive because our sales force is more effective with local advertisers, giving us a greater ability to influence this revenue source. Additionally, local advertising has historically been a more stable source of revenue than national advertising for television broadcasters. For the year ended December 31, 2002, the percentage of our total spot revenue, excluding political, from local advertising was 65.6%. In most of our markets we have increased the size and quality of our local sales force. Since acquiring our stations, we have added a net total 26 commission-based account executives, a 34.0% increase in our overall sales force in the 14 stations that we own. We also invest in our sales efforts by implementing comprehensive training programs and employing a sophisticated inventory tracking system to help maximize advertising rates and the amount of inventory sold in each time period.

Operate Duopoly Markets.    Owning or providing services to more than one station in a given market enables us to broaden our audience share, enhance our revenue share and achieve significant operating efficiencies. Duopoly markets broaden audience share by

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providing programming from multiple networks with different targeted demographics. These markets increase revenue share by capitalizing on multiple sales forces.

Additionally, we achieve significant operating efficiencies by consolidating physical facilities, eliminating redundant management and leveraging capital expenditures between stations. We derived 62% of our broadcast cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2002 from our duopoly markets.

Maintain Strict Cost Controls.    We emphasize strict controls on operating and programming costs in order to increase broadcast cash flow. We continually seek to identify and implement cost savings at each of our stations and our overall size benefits each station with respect to negotiating favorable terms with programming suppliers and other vendors. By leveraging our size and corporate management expertise, we are able to achieve economies of scale by providing programming, financial, sales and marketing support to our entire station portfolio. Due to the significant negotiating leverage afforded by our scale and limited competition in our markets, we reduced our cash broadcast payments to 8.1% and 6.2% of net broadcast revenue for the years ended December 31, 2001 and 2002, respectively.

Capitalize on Diverse Network Affiliations.    We currently operate or provide services to a balanced portfolio of television stations with diverse network affiliations, including NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox/UPN affiliated stations which represented 38.7%, 37.0%, 17.7%, and 6.6%, respectively, of our 2002 net broadcast revenue. The networks provide these stations with quality programming, such as E.R., CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Friends, 24 and The Practice and numerous sporting events such as NFL football, NCAA sports, PGA golf and the Olympic Games. Because network programming and ratings change frequently, the diversity of our station portfolio’s network affiliations reduces our reliance on the quality of programming from a single network.

Attract and Retain High Quality Management.    We seek to attract and retain station general managers with proven track records in larger television markets by providing equity incentives not typically offered by other station operators in our markets. All of our station general managers have purchased equity interests in us and have an average of over 20 years of experience in the television broadcasting industry.

Our Stations

The following chart sets forth general information about our stations:

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Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WBRE, an NBC affiliate, in January 1998. For the November 2002 ratings period, WBRE ranked second in its market, with an in-market audience share of 26.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Wheel of Fortune, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil.

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WYOU, a CBS affiliate, in June 1996 and sold it to Mission in 1998, when a shared services agreement was entered into with WBRE. For the November 2002 ratings period, WYOU ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 21.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Seinfeld, Entertainment Tonight and Judge Judy.

Rochester, NY

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WROC, a CBS affiliate, in December 1999. For the November 2002 ratings period, WROC ranked first in its market, with an in-market audience share of 30.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Entertainment Tonight.

Shreveport, LA

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KTAL, an NBC affiliate, in November 2000. For the November 2002 ratings period, KTAL ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 19.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Wheel of Fortune, The Maury Povich Show and Divorce Court.

Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, IL

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WCIA, a CBS affiliate, in January 2001. For the November 2002 ratings period, WCIA ranked first in its market, with an in-market audience share of 36.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, Frasier and Dr. Phil.

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WCFN in conjunction with the WCIA acquisition. Nexstar formerly operated WCFN as a reduced-power satellite to simulcast WCIA’s signal in the southwest portion of the DMA. The FCC granted duopoly status for WCFN and Nexstar entered into an affiliate agreement with UPN to create an additional broadcasting outlet. WCFN was launched as a stand-alone station in April 2002, which allows the station to benefit from substantial operational efficiencies, and resulted in additional inventory to sell in the market. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Steve Harvey Show, Cheers and M.A.S.H.

Peoria-Bloomington, IL

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WMBD, a CBS affiliate, in January 2001. For the November 2002 ratings period, WMBD ranked second in its market, with an in-market audience share of 30.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

        Station Profile.    Nexstar entered into an outsourcing agreement with a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc. effective December 1, 2001. The agreement allows Nexstar to provide certain engineering, production, sales and administrative services for WYZZ, the Fox affiliate. The parties share the combined broadcast cash flow generated by WYZZ and WMBD. For the November 2002 ratings period, WYZZ ranked fourth in its market, with an in-market audience share of 9.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Everybody Loves Raymond, The Simpsons and Frasier.

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Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KBTV, an NBC affiliate, in January 1998. For the November 2002 ratings period, KBTV ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 19.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Jeopardy, Hollywood Squares and Montel Williams.

Wichita Falls, TX-Lawton, OK

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KFDX, an NBC affiliate, in January 1998. For the November 2002 ratings period, KFDX ranked first in its market, with an in-market audience share of 34.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Entertainment Tonight, Montel Williams and Dr. Phil.

Station Profile.    Mission acquired KJTL, a Fox affiliate, in June 1999. For the November 2002 ratings period, KJTL ranked fourth in its market, with an in-market audience share of 10.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Frasier, Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Station Profile.    Mission acquired KJBO-LP, a UPN affiliate, in June 1999. The station’s syndicated programming includes Spin City, Third Rock From The Sun and The Hughleys.

Joplin, MO-Pittsburg, KS

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KSNF, an NBC affiliate, in January 1998. For the November 2002 ratings period, KSNF ranked second in its market, with an in-market audience share of 32.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Judge Judy, Friends and Montel Williams.

Station Profile.    Mission acquired KODE, an ABC affiliate, in September 2002. From December 2001 through September 2002, Mission provided the programming and sold the advertising time on KODE pursuant to a time brokerage agreement with GOCOM Holdings LLC. For the November 2002 ratings period, KODE ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 29.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Seinfeld, Jeopardy and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Erie, PA

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WJET, an ABC affiliate, in January 1998. For the November 2002 ratings period, WJET ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 28.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Frasier, Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Station Profile.    Nexstar began its time brokerage agreement with WFXP, a Fox affiliate, in August 1998. In November 1998, Mission acquired WFXP. For the November 2002 ratings period, WFXP ranked fourth in its market, with an in-market audience share of 9.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes Friends, The Simpsons and That 70’s Show.

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Terre Haute, IN

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired WTWO, an NBC affiliate, in April 1997. For the November 2002 ratings period, WTWO ranked second in its market, with an in-market audience share of 39.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Odessa-Midland, TX

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KMID, an ABC affiliate, in September 2000. For the November 2002 ratings period, KMID ranked third in its market, with an in-market audience share of 20.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

Abilene-Sweetwater, TX

Station Profile.    Nexstar purchased KTAB, a CBS affiliate, in August 1999. For the November 2002 ratings period, KTAB ranked second in its market, with an in-market audience share of 30.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

St. Joseph, MO

Station Profile.    Nexstar acquired KQTV, an ABC affiliate, in April 1997. KQTV is the only commercial television station in its market. In the November 2002 ratings period, KQTV had an in-market audience share of 94.0%. The station’s syndicated programming includes The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune and Friends.

Industry Background

Industry Overview

All television stations in the country are grouped by A.C. Nielsen Company, a national audience measuring service, into 210 generally recognized television markets, known as designated market areas, or DMAs, that are ranked in size according to various metrics based upon actual or potential audience. Each DMA is an exclusive geographic area consisting of all counties in which the home-market commercial stations receive the greatest percentage of total viewing hours. A.C. Nielsen periodically publishes data on estimated audiences for the television stations in the various television markets throughout the country. The estimates are expressed in terms of a “rating,” which is a station’s percentage of the total potential audience in the market, or a “share,” which is the station’s percentage of the audience actually watching television. A.C. Nielsen provides this data on the basis of local television households and selected demographic groupings in the market. A.C. Nielsen uses two methods of determining a station’s ratings. In larger geographic markets, A.C. Neilsen uses a combination of meters connected directly to selected television sets and weekly diaries of television viewing, while in smaller markets A.C. Nielsen uses only weekly diaries.

Whether or not a station is affiliated with one of the four major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS or Fox) has a significant impact on the composition of the station’s revenue, expenses and operations. A typical network affiliate receives a significant part of its programming including prime-time hours from the network. This programming, along with cash payments for NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates, is provided to the affiliate by the network in exchange for a substantial majority of the advertising time during network programs. The network then sells this advertising time and retains the revenue. The affiliate retains the revenue from the remaining advertising time sold during network programs and from advertising time sold during non-network programs.

Broadcast television stations compete for advertising revenue primarily with other commercial broadcast television stations, and, to a lesser extent, with newspapers, radio stations and cable system operators serving the same market. Non-commercial, religious and Spanish-language broadcasting stations in many markets also compete with commercial stations for viewers. In addition, the Internet and other leisure activities may draw viewers away from commercial television stations.

Television Broadcasting History

        Commercial television broadcasting began in the United States on a regular basis in the 1940s. There are a limited number of channels available for broadcasting in any one geographic area. Television stations can be distinguished by the frequency on which they broadcast. Television stations that broadcast over the very high frequency or VHF band (channels 2-13) of the spectrum generally have some competitive advantage over television stations which broadcast over the ultra-high frequency or UHF band (channels above 13) of the spectrum because the former usually have better signal coverage and operate at a lower transmission cost. However, the improvement of UHF transmitters and receivers, the complete elimination from the marketplace of VHF-only receivers and the

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expansion of cable television systems have reduced the VHF signal advantage. Any disparity between VHF and UHF is likely to diminish even further in the coming era of digital television.

Through the 1970s, network television broadcasters enjoyed virtual dominance in viewership and television advertising revenue because network-affiliated stations competed only with each other in most local markets. Beginning in the 1980s and continuing through today, however, this level of dominance changed as more local stations were authorized by the FCC and marketplace choices expanded with the growth of independent stations, new networks such as UPN, WB and PAX, and cable and satellite television services.

Cable television systems, which grew at a rapid rate beginning in the early 1970s, were initially used to retransmit broadcast television programming to paying subscribers in areas with poor broadcast signal reception. In the aggregate, cable-originated programming has emerged as a significant competitor for viewers of broadcast television programming. With the increase in cable penetration, the advertising share of cable networks has increased. Notwithstanding these increases in cable viewership and advertising, over-the-air broadcasting remains the primary distribution system for mass market television advertising. Basic cable penetration (the percentage of television households which are connected to a cable system) in our television markets ranges from 52.0% to 80.0%.

Direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, systems have also rapidly increased their penetration rate in the last decade, capturing more than 13% of U.S. households. DBS services provide nationwide distribution of video programming (including in some cases pay-per-view programming and programming packages unique to DBS) using small receiving dishes and digital transmission technologies. In November 1999, Congress passed the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act, which gives DBS operators the ability to distribute the signals of local television stations to subscribers in the stations’ local market areas, or local-into-local service. Although DBS providers are not currently offering local-into-local service in any of our markets, the ability to offer local stations in some markets has resulted in an increase in the DBS penetration rate in other markets.

In acquiring programming to supplement network programming, network affiliates compete with other broadcasting stations in their markets. Cable systems generally do not compete with local stations for programming. In the past, the cost of programming increased dramatically, primarily because of an increase in the number of new independent stations and a shortage of desirable programming. Recently, however, program prices have stabilized as a result of increases in the supply of programming.

The FCC finalized its allotment of new advanced television channels to existing broadcast stations in the first half of 1998. Advanced television is a digital television, or DTV, transmission system that delivers improved video and audio signals including high definition television and also has substantial multiplexing and data transmission capabilities. For each licensed television station, the FCC has allocated a matching DTV channel. Under current FCC guidelines, all commercial television station operators were required to complete construction of and begin broadcasting with their digital transmission systems no later than May 1, 2002, unless they obtained extensions of time. Network affiliated stations in the top 10 markets were required to begin digital broadcasting by May 1999, and in the top 30 markets by November 1, 1999. By the end of 2006, the FCC expects television broadcasters to cease non-digital broadcasting and return one of their channels to the U.S. government, provided that 85.0% of households within the relevant DMA have the capability to receive a digital signal.

Advertising Sales

General

Television station revenue is primarily derived from the sale of local and national advertising. Television stations compete for advertising revenue primarily with other broadcast television stations, radio stations, cable system operators and programmers, and newspapers serving the same market.

All network-affiliated stations are required to carry advertising sold by their networks which reduces the amount of advertising time available for sale by our stations. Our stations sell all of the remaining advertising to be inserted in network programming and the advertising in non-network programming, retaining all of the revenue received from these sales. A national syndicated program distributor will often retain a portion of the available advertising time for programming it supplies in exchange for no fees or reduced fees charged to the stations for such programming. These programming arrangements are referred to as barter programming.

Advertisers wishing to reach a national audience usually purchase time directly from the networks, or advertise nationwide on a case-by-case basis. National advertisers who wish to reach a particular region or local audience often buy advertising time directly from local stations through national advertising sales representative firms. Local businesses purchase advertising time directly from the stations’ local sales staffs.

Advertising rates are based upon a number of factors, including:

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Advertising rates are also determined by a station’s overall ability to attract viewers in its market area, as well as the station’s ability to attract viewers among particular demographic groups that an advertiser may be targeting. Advertising revenue is positively affected by strong local economies, national and regional political election campaigns, and certain events such as the Olympic Games or the Super Bowl. Because television broadcast stations rely on advertising revenue, declines in advertising budgets, particularly in recessionary periods, adversely affect the broadcast industry, and as a result may contribute to a decrease in the revenue of broadcast television stations.

Local Sales

Local advertising time is sold by each station’s local sales staff who call upon advertising agencies and local businesses, which typically include car dealerships, retail stores and restaurants. Compared to revenue from national advertising accounts, revenue from local advertising is generally more stable and more controllable. We seek to attract new advertisers to television and to increase the amount of advertising time sold to existing local advertisers by relying on experienced local sales forces with strong community ties, producing news and other programming with local advertising appeal and sponsoring or co-promoting local events and activities. We place a strong emphasis on the experience of our local sales staff and maintain an on-going training program for sales personnel.

National Sales

National advertising time is sold through national sales representative firms which call upon advertising agencies, whose clients typically include automobile manufacturers and dealer groups, telecommunications companies, fast food franchisers and national retailers (some of which may advertise locally).

Network Affiliations

Each station is affiliated with its network pursuant to an affiliation agreement, as described in the following table:

Each affiliation agreement provides the affiliated station with the right to broadcast all programs transmitted by the network with which it is affiliated. In exchange, the network has the right to sell a substantial majority of the advertising time during these broadcasts. In addition, for each hour that the station elects to broadcast network programming, the network pays the station a fee (with the exception of Fox and UPN), specified in each affiliation agreement, which varies with the time of day. Typically, prime-time programming (Monday through Saturday from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., Eastern Standard time and Sunday from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., Eastern Standard time) generates the highest hourly rates.

Competition in the Television Industry

Competition in the television industry takes place on several levels: competition for audience, competition for programming (including news) and competition for advertisers. Additional factors that are material to a television station’s competitive position include signal coverage and assigned frequency. The broadcasting industry is continually faced with technological change and innovation, the possible rise in popularity of competing entertainment and communications media, and governmental restrictions or actions of federal regulatory bodies, including the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, any of which could have a material effect on our operations.

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Audience.    Stations compete for viewership generally against other leisure activities in which one could choose to engage rather than watch television. Broadcast stations compete for audience share specifically on the basis of program popularity, which has a direct effect on advertising rates. A portion of the daily programming on our NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and UPN affiliated stations that we own or provide services to is supplied by the network with which each station is affiliated. In those periods, the stations are dependent upon the performance of the network programs in attracting viewers. Our stations program non-network time periods with a combination of self-produced news, public affairs and other entertainment programming, including movies and syndicated programs purchased for cash, cash and barter, or barter only.

Through the 1970s, network television broadcasting enjoyed virtual dominance in viewership and television advertising revenue because network-affiliated stations competed only with each other in most local markets. However, the development of methods of video transmission other than over-the-air broadcasting, and in particular the growth of cable television, has significantly altered competition for audience share in the television industry. In addition, DBS providers, such as DirecTV and EchoStar, offer nationwide distribution of video programming (including, in some cases, pay-per-view programming and programming packages unique to DBS) using small receiving dishes and digital transmission technology. These other transmission methods can increase competition for a broadcasting station by bringing into its market distant broadcasting signals not otherwise available to the station’s audience. Other sources of competition include home entertainment systems, such as VCRs, DVDs and television game devices. Transmission of video programming over broadband Internet may be a future source of competition to television broadcasters.

Although cable television systems were initially used to retransmit broadcast television programming to subscribers in areas with poor broadcast signal reception, significant increases in cable television penetration and cable programming services occurred throughout the 1970s and 1980s in areas that did not have signal reception problems. As the technology of satellite program delivery to cable systems advanced in the late 1970s, development of programming for cable television accelerated dramatically, resulting in the emergence of multiple, national-scale program alternatives and the rapid expansion of cable television and higher subscriber growth rates. Historically, cable operators have not sought to compete with broadcast stations for a share of the local news audience. Recently, however, certain cable operators have elected to compete for these audiences and the increased competition could have an adverse effect on our advertising revenue.

Further advances in technology may increase competition for household audiences and advertisers. The increased use of digital technology by cable systems and DBS, along with video compression techniques, will reduce the bandwidth required for television signal transmission. These technological developments are applicable to all video delivery systems, including over-the-air broadcasting, and have the potential to provide vastly expanded programming to highly targeted audiences. Reductions in the cost of creating additional channel capacity could lower entry barriers for new channels and encourage the development of increasingly specialized “niche” programming. This ability to reach very narrowly defined audiences is expected to alter the competitive dynamics for advertising expenditures. We are unable to predict the effect that these or other technological changes will have on the broadcast television industry or on the future results of our operations.

Programming.    Competition for programming involves negotiating with national program distributors or syndicators that sell first-run and rerun packages of programming. Our stations compete against in-market broadcast station operators for exclusive access to off-network reruns (such as Seinfeld) and first-run product (such as Entertainment Tonight) in their respective markets. Increasingly, our stations are competing against other networks with respect to first-run programming. The broadcast networks are rerunning the same episode of a network program on affiliated cable or broadcast networks, often in the same week that it aired on one of our stations. Cable systems generally do not compete with local stations for programming, although various national cable networks from time to time have acquired programs that would have otherwise been offered to local television stations. AOL/Time Warner, Inc., General Electric Company, Viacom Inc., The News Corporation Limited and the Walt Disney Company each owns a television network and also owns or controls major production studios, which are the primary source of programming for the networks. It is uncertain whether in the future such programming, which is generally subject to short-term agreements between the studios and the networks, will be moved to the networks. Television broadcasters also compete for non-network programming unique to the markets they serve. As such, stations strive to provide exclusive news stories, unique features such as investigative reporting and coverage of community events and to secure broadcast rights for regional and local sporting events.

Advertising.    In addition to competing with other media outlets for audience share, our stations compete for advertising revenue with:

Competition for advertising dollars in the broadcasting industry occurs primarily within individual markets. Generally, a television broadcasting station in a particular market does not compete with stations in other market areas.

Federal Regulation of Television Broadcasting

The following is a brief discussion of certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 (“Communications Act”), as amended, and the FCC’s regulations and policies that affect the business operations of television broadcasting stations. For more

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information about the nature and extent of the FCC regulation of television broadcasting stations you should refer to the Communications Act and FCC’s rules, public notices, and rulings. Over the years, Congress and the FCC have added, amended and deleted statutory and regulatory requirements to which station owners are subject. Some of these changes have a minimal business impact whereas others may significantly affect the business or operation of individual stations or the broadcast industry as a whole. The following discussion summarizes statutory and regulatory requirements and policies currently in effect.

License Grant and Renewal.    Television broadcast licenses are granted for a maximum term of eight years and are subject to renewal upon application to the FCC. The FCC is required to grant an application for license renewal if during the preceding term the station served the public interest, the licensee did not commit any serious violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules, and the licensee committed no other violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse. The vast majority of renewal applications are routinely renewed under this standard. If a licensee fails to meet this standard the FCC may still grant renewal on terms and conditions that it deems appropriate, including a monetary forfeiture or renewal for a term less than the normal eight-year period.

During certain limited periods after a renewal application is filed, interested parties, including members of the public, may file petitions to deny a renewal application, to which the licensee/renewal applicant is entitled to respond. After reviewing the pleadings, if the FCC determines that there is a substantial and material question of fact whether grant of the renewal application would serve the public interest, the FCC is required to hold a trial-type hearing on the issues presented. If, after the hearing, the FCC determines that the renewal applicant has met the renewal standard the FCC must grant the renewal application. If the licensee/renewal applicant fails to meet the renewal standard or show that there are mitigating factors entitling it to renewal subject to appropriate sanctions, the FCC can deny the renewal application. In the vast majority of cases where a petition to deny is filed against a renewal, the FCC ultimately grants the renewal without a hearing.

No competing application for authority to operate a station and replace the incumbent licensee may be filed against a renewal application unless the FCC first determines that the incumbent licensee is not entitled to license renewal.

In addition to considering rule violations in connection with a license renewal application, the FCC may sanction a station operator for failing to observe FCC rules and policies during the license term, including the imposition of a monetary forfeiture.

The FCC prohibits the assignment or the transfer of control of a broadcasting license without prior FCC approval.

Foreign Ownership.    The Communications Act limits the extent of non-U.S. ownership of companies that own U.S. broadcast stations. Under this restriction, a U.S. broadcast company such as ours may have no more than 25% non-U.S. ownership. Because our majority shareholder, ABRY, has a substantial level of foreign investment, the amount of additional foreign investment that may be made in us is limited.

Other Ownership Restrictions.    The FCC has rules which establish limits on the ownership of broadcast stations. These ownership limits apply only to attributable interests in a station licensee held by an individual, corporation, partnership or other entity. In the case of corporations, officers, directors and voting stock interests of 5% or more (20% or more in the case of qualified investment companies, such as insurance companies and bank trust departments) are considered attributable interests. For partnerships, all general partners and non-insulated limited partners are attributable. Limited liability companies are treated the same as partnerships. The FCC also considers attributable the holder of more than 33% of a licensee’s total assets (defined as total debt plus total equity), if that person or entity also provides over 15% of the station’s total weekly broadcast programming or has an attributable interest in another media entity in the same market which is subject to the FCC’s ownership rules, such as a radio or television station or daily newspaper.

Local Ownership (Duopoly Rule).    Prior to August 1999, no party could have attributable interests in two television stations if those stations had overlapping service areas (which generally meant one station per market), although the FCC did not attribute local marketing agreements involving a second station with an overlapping service area. In August 1999, the FCC adopted new rules which allowed the ownership of two stations in a single market (defined using A.C. Nielsen Company’s DMAs) if (1) the two stations do not have overlapping service areas, or (2) after the combination there are at least eight independently owned and operating full-power television stations and one of the combining stations is not ranked among the top four stations in the DMA. The FCC will consider waivers of the rule to permit the ownership of a second station in a market in cases where the second station is failed, failing or an unbuilt station. Absent these circumstances, ownership of only one television station in a market is permitted. “Satellite” stations were an exception to the prior FCC local ownership/duopoly rules and remain an exception under the new rules.

        The FCC now attributes and counts towards the local ownership limits another in-market station that a station owner programs pursuant to a local marketing agreement if it provides more than 15% of the second station’s weekly broadcast programming. However, such local marketing agreements entered into prior to November 5, 1996, are exempt from attribution for approximately five years from the adoption of the revised rule (which was adopted in 1999); this “grandfathered” period is subject to possible extension. Parties to local marketing agreements entered into on or after November 5, 1996, that would result in attribution of two stations in a market in violation of the ownership limits had until August 5, 2001, to come into compliance with the new ownership rules. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has remanded this rule to the FCC for further consideration with respect to the number of media “voices” that must remain in the market to allow a duopoly. On September 12, 2002, the FCC initiated an “omnibus” rulemaking proceeding in which it is considering revisions to this rule. Comments were due in this rulemaking proceeding by January 2, 2003, and reply comments by February 3, 2003. This proceeding is now under consideration by the FCC.

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The only market in which we currently operate stations that has the eight or more stations that allow us to own two stations in the market is Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Illinois. In all of the markets where we have entered into local service agreements, except for one, we do not provide programming other than news (comprising less than 15 percent of the second station’s programming) to the second station and are not therefore attributed with the second station. In the one market where we do provide greater than 15% of the programming to the second station, WFXP in Erie, Pennsylvania, the local marketing agreement was entered into prior to November 5, 1996. Therefore, it is grandfathered under from the FCC’s ownership rules and we may continue to operate under the terms of that agreement until at least 2004. When the FCC enacted this rule, it stated that it would review such agreements as part of its 2004 Biennial Review.

National Ownership.    There is no nationwide limit on the number of television stations which a party may own. However, no party may have an attributable interest in television stations which, in the aggregate, cover more than 35.0% of all U.S. television households. In calculating the nationwide audience coverage, the ownership of UHF stations is counted as 50.0% of a market’s percentage of the total national audience. The stations we own have a combined national audience reach of approximately 3.0% of television households. On February 19, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the FCC’s decision not to modify or repeal this rule and remanded this rule to the FCC for further consideration. The National Association of Broadcasters and the FCC filed with the Court of Appeals a request for rehearing or rehearing en banc of this decision. The Court of Appeals denied rehearing. Revisions to this rule now are under consideration in the FCC’s “omnibus” rulemaking proceeding on broadcast ownership referred to above.

Radio/Television Cross-Ownership Rule.    The “one-to-a-market” rule limits the common ownership or control of radio and television stations in the same market. In August 1999, the FCC amended its rules to increase the number of stations that may be commonly owned, subject to standards based on the number of independently owned media voices that would remain in the market after the combination. In markets with at least 20 independently owned media outlets, ownership of one television station and up to seven radio stations, or two television stations (if allowed under the television duopoly rule) and six radio stations is permitted. If the number of independently owned media outlets is fewer than 20 but greater than or equal to 10, ownership of one television station (or two if allowed) and four radio stations is permitted. In markets with fewer than 10 independent media voices, ownership of one television station (or two if allowed) and one radio station is permitted. In calculating the number of independent media voices the FCC includes all radio and television stations, independently owned cable systems (counted as one voice if cable is generally available in the market), and independently owned daily newspapers which have circulation that exceeds 5 percent of the households in the market. When the FCC adopted the new one-to-a-market limits in August 1999, it eliminated the waiver policy that previously applied for failed stations.

Local Television/Cable Cross-Ownership Rule.    For many years, an FCC rule prohibited any cable television system (including all parties under common control) from carrying the signal of any television broadcast station that had a predicted service area that overlapped, in whole or in part, the cable system’s service area, if the cable system (or any of its attributable principals) has an attributable interest in the television station. On February 19, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit directed the FCC to repeal this rule in its entirety. The Court of Appeals denied petitions for rehearing of this decision, and the FCC decided not to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Therefore, this rule no longer exists.

Local Television/Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rule.    The FCC prohibits any party from having an attributable interest in a television station and a daily newspaper if the television station’s Grade A signal contour encompasses the entire community in which the newspaper is published. In September, 2001, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in which the FCC proposed to eliminate its local television/daily newspaper cross-ownership prohibition. Comments were filed in December 2001 and reply comments were due February 15, 2002. However, the FCC has consolidated this proceeding with its “omnibus” proceeding that began on September 12, 2002.

Cable “Must-Carry” or Retransmission Consent Rights.    Every three years television broadcasters are required to make an election whether they choose to exercise their “must-carry” or retransmission consent rights in connection with the carriage of their analog signal on cable television systems within their DMA. The most recent election was made October 1, 2002, and is effective for the three-year period beginning January 1, 2003.

If a broadcaster chooses to exercise its must-carry rights, it may request cable system carriage on its over-the-air channel or another channel on which it was carried on the cable system as of a specified date. A cable system generally must carry the station’s signal in compliance with the station’s carriage request, and in a manner that makes the signal available to all cable subscribers. However, must-carry rights are not absolute, and whether a cable system is required to carry the station on its system, or in the specific manner requested, depends on variables such as the location, size and number of activated channels of the cable system and whether the station’s programming duplicates, or substantially duplicates the programming of another station carried on the cable system. If certain conditions are met, a cable system may decline to carry a television station that has elected must-carry status, although it is unusual for all the required conditions to exist.

        If a broadcaster chooses to exercise its retransmission consent rights, a cable television system which is subject to that election may not carry the station’s signal without the station’s consent. This generally requires the cable system and television station operator to negotiate the terms under which the television station will consent to the cable system’s carriage of the station.

In most instances, Nexstar’s stations have elected to exercise their retransmission consent rights rather than must-carry status, and have negotiated retransmission consent agreements with cable television systems in their markets. The terms of these agreements

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generally range from three to ten years and provide for the carriage of the stations’ signals. Except for WYOU and KODE, Mission’s stations generally have opted for must-carry status.

Direct-to-Home Satellite Services and Must-Carry.    In November 1999, Congress enacted the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, or SHVIA. This statute requires providers of direct broadcast satellite services such as DirecTV and EchoStar, by January 1, 2002, to carry upon request the signals of all local television stations in a DMA in which the satellite service provider is carrying at least one local television station’s signal. Satellite providers also may provide network service from a station outside a local market to subscribers in the market who are “unserved” by a local station affiliated with the same network. Unserved generally refers to a satellite subscriber who is unable, using a conventional outdoor rooftop antenna, to receive a “Grade B” signal of a local network affiliated station. If a subscriber is able to receive a Grade B quality signal from a local network affiliate then, subject to certain exceptions, the subscriber is not eligible to receive that network’s programming from an out-of-market affiliate carried on the satellite service.

Prior to January 1, 2002, in those markets where satellite providers had elected to provide carriage of local television stations, such carriage was generally limited to the local affiliates of the major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. As of January 1, 2002, satellite carriers that provide any local-into-local service in a market must carry, upon request, all stations in that market that have elected mandatory carriage, and DBS operators are now providing other local stations in local-into-local markets, including some noncommercial, independent and foreign language stations. A judicial challenge to the SHVIA must-carry requirement was unsuccessful. At this time there is no satellite carriage of any local stations in any of our markets; however, EchoStar and DirecTV have provided notice that they intend to begin such service in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton market. We cannot state when or if such carriage will commence.

In November 2000, the FCC adopted rules implementing the requirements of SHVIA. These include requiring commercial television stations to elect between retransmission consent and must-carry status. The first election, which was to be made by July 1, 2001, for carriage to commence January 1, 2002, is for a four-year period. Beginning in 2006, the cable and satellite election periods will coincide and occur every three years. Market areas are based on A.C. Nielsen’s DMAs. Satellite carriers are not required to carry duplicative network signals from a local market unless the stations are licensed to different communities in different states. Satellite carriers are required to carry all local television stations in a contiguous manner on their channel line-up and may not discriminate in their carriage of stations.

Potential Relaxation of Certain Rules.    Certain of the FCC’s rules and regulations regarding the ownership of television broadcast stations are under review by the FCC and may be relaxed in the future, including the Local Ownership Duopoly Rule, the National Ownership Rule and the Local Television/Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rule. The FCC launched an “omnibus” rulemaking proceeding on September 12, 2002, to determine whether to keep, relax or eliminate several of its media ownership rules, and incorporated its existing open proceeding on the Local Television/Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rule into the new omnibus proceeding. The FCC has completed internal and external economic studies designed to provide more and better data on which to base its decisions to keep, relax or eliminate its television ownership rules. The FCC released these studies on October 2, 2002. Comments and reply comments have been filed and this proceeding is now under consideration by the FCC.

Digital Television.    Advanced television is a DTV transmission system that delivers video and audio signals of higher quality (including high definition television) than the existing analog transmission system. DTV also has substantial capabilities for multiplexing (the broadcast of several programs concurrently) and data transmission. The FCC assigned new DTV channels to existing television stations in the first half of 1997. For each licensed television station the FCC allocated a matching DTV channel (which is different from the station’s analog channel). In general, the DTV channels assigned to television stations are intended to allow stations to have their DTV coverage areas replicate their analog coverage areas. However, there are a number of variables which will ultimately determine the extent to which a station’s DTV operation will provide such replication. Under certain circumstances, a station’s DTV operation may cover less geographic area than the station’s current analog signal. The introduction of digital television will require consumers to purchase new televisions that are capable of receiving and displaying DTV signals, or adapters to receive DTV signals and convert them to an analog signal for display on their existing receivers.

FCC regulations require that, absent an extension, all commercial television stations had to begin broadcasting with DTV transmission systems no later than May 1, 2002. Seven of our stations and one of the stations we provide services to began digital operations by December 31, 2002, and we received extensions until May 1, 2003 with respect to our other stations.

Stations affiliated with the four largest networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) in the top 10 markets were required to begin digital broadcasting by May 1, 1999, and in the top 30 markets by November 1, 1999. Once a station begins broadcasting its DTV signal, it may broadcast both its analog and DTV signals until December 31, 2006, after which, subject to certain conditions described below, the FCC expects to reclaim one of the channels and each broadcaster will operate a single DTV channel. Starting April 1, 2003, commercial station operators must simulcast at least 50% of the video programming broadcast on their digital channel. The required simulcast percentage increases annually until April 1, 2005, when an operator must simulcast 100% of its programming on its analog and DTV channels.

Channels now used for analog broadcasts range from 2 through 69. The FCC designated Channels 2 through 51 as the “core” channels which will be used for DTV broadcasts. However, because of the limited number of available core DTV channels currently available, the FCC assigned many stations DTV channels above Channel 51 (Channels 52 through 69) for use during the transition period from simultaneous digital and analog transmission to DTV-only operation. At the end of the transition period these stations will

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have to change their DTV operation to one of the DTV core channels. This has created three categories of television stations with respect to their analog and DTV channel assignments: (1) stations with both their analog and DTV channels within the “core” channels; (2) stations with either an analog or DTV channel inside the core and the other outside the core; and (3) stations with both their analog and DTV channels outside the core. All of our stations currently fall within the first or second group: three of the stations we operate have their DTV assignments outside the core and one of the stations we provide service to has its current analog channel outside the core. We have no markets in which both our analog and DTV channels are outside the core.

Station operators with both their analog and DTV channels inside the core will be required to select which of their assigned channels they will use for permanent DTV operation before the end of the transition period. (The FCC has not set a date for this election.) These operators may elect to continue to use their current DTV channel or switch their DTV operation to their current analog channel. The channel not selected for permanent DTV operation will be returned to the FCC at the end of the transition period. Most of our stations and those stations with which we have local service agreements fall in this category. The FCC has not yet established the permanent DTV channel selection process for stations that have one or both channels outside the DTV core channels.

The Communications Act provides that under certain conditions the DTV transition period may be extended beyond December 31, 2006. The transition is to be extended in any market in which one of the following conditions is met: (1) a station licensed to one of the four largest networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) is not broadcasting a digital signal and that station has qualified for an extension of the FCC’s DTV construction deadline; (2) digital-to-analog converter technology is not generally available in the market; or (3) 15% or more of the television households in the market do not subscribe to a multichannel video programming distributor (cable, direct broadcast satellite) that carries the digital channel of each of the television stations in the market broadcasting a DTV channel, and do not have at least one television receiver capable of receiving the stations’ DTV broadcasts or an analog television receiver equipped with a digital-to-analog converter capable of receiving the stations’ DTV broadcasts. We cannot predict whether conditions will exist in any of our markets such that the DTV transition period will be extended under any of these provisions.

We estimate that the conversion to DTV will require an average initial capital expenditure of approximately $0.2 million per station for low-power transmission of digital signal programming and an average additional capital expenditure of approximately $0.7 million per station to modify the transmitter for full-power digital signal programming. In addition, for some of our stations, we may have to undertake capital expenditures to modify tower structures and purchase studio and production equipment that can support digital format.

With respect to cable system carriage of television stations that are broadcasting both an analog and DTV signal, such stations may choose must-carry status or retransmission consent for their analog signals, but only retransmission consent for their digital signals. Such stations do not presently have the right to assert must-carry rights for both their analog and DTV signals or to assert must-carry rights for their DTV signals in lieu of analog carriage. The FCC has pending a rulemaking proceeding examining whether to allow such stations to assert must-carry rights for both their analog and DTV signals, but has tentatively concluded that it will not do so. The FCC has requested further comments on this issue in order to develop a more complete record before issuing a final decision. If a television station operates only a DTV signal, or returns its analog channel to the FCC and converts to digital operations, it may assert must-carry rights for its DTV signal.

The exercise of must-carry rights by a television station for its DTV signal applies only to a single programming stream and other program-related content. If a television station is concurrently broadcasting more than one program stream on its DTV signal it may select which program stream is subject to its must-carry election. Cable systems are not required to carry internet, e-commerce or other ancillary services provided over DTV signals if those services are not related to the station’s primary video programming carried on the cable system. Digital television signals that are carried on a cable system must be available to subscribers on the system’s basic service tier.

With respect to direct-to-the-home satellite service providers, the FCC in November 2000 declined to address whether television stations’ must-carry rights regarding satellite service providers, which went into effect January 1, 2002, will also apply to stations’ DTV signals. The FCC said it would address this issue at the same time it considers digital carriage issues for cable television.

Television station operators may use their DTV signals to provide ancillary services, such as computer software distribution, internet, interactive materials, e-commerce, paging services, audio signals, subscription video, or data transmission services. To the extent a station provides such ancillary services it is subject to the same regulations as are applicable to other analogous services under the FCC’s rules and published policies. Commercial television stations also are required to pay the FCC 5% of the gross revenue derived from all ancillary services provided over their DTV signals for which a station received a fee in exchange for the service or received compensation from a third party in exchange for transmission of material from that third party, not including commercial advertisements used to support broadcasting.

        Programming and Operation.    The Communications Act requires broadcasters to serve “the public interest.” Since the late 1970s, the FCC gradually has relaxed or eliminated many of the more formalized procedures it had developed to promote the broadcast of certain types of programming responsive to the needs of a station’s community of license. However, television station licensees are still required to present programming that is responsive to community problems, needs and interests and to maintain certain records demonstrating such responsiveness. The FCC may consider complaints from viewers concerning programming when it evaluates a station’s license renewal application, although viewer complaints also may be filed and considered by the FCC at any time. Stations also must follow various rules promulgated under the Communications Act that regulate, among other things:

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On November 7, 2002, the FCC adopted new EEO rules. These new rules require broadcasters to provide broad outreach for all full-time (greater than 30 hours per week) job vacancies. In addition, broadcasters with five or more full-time employees must engage in two long-term recruitment initiatives over each two-year period, and broadcasters in larger markets with more than ten full-time employees must engage in four long-term recruitment initiatives every two years. The new EEO rules also impose annual reporting requirements on all broadcast licensees. These new rules became effective March 10, 2003.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the FCC to establish, if the broadcast industry does not do so on a voluntary basis, guidelines and procedures for rating programming that contains sexual, violent, or other indecent material. A multi-industry task force developed a ratings plan which the FCC has ratified. The FCC also has issued rules that require television manufacturers to install appropriate technology, such as a “V-Chip” that can block programming based on an electronically encoded rating, to facilitate the implementation of the ratings guidelines.

The FCC imposes restrictions on the terms of network affiliation agreements. Among other things, these rules prohibit a television station from entering into any affiliation agreement that: (i) requires the station to clear time for network programming that the station previously scheduled for other use; and (ii) precludes the preemption of network programs that the station determines are unsuitable for its audience and the substitution of network programming with a program the station believes is of greater local or national importance. The FCC is currently reviewing several of its rules governing the relationship between networks and their affiliates. We are unable to predict the outcome of this review.

Proposed Legislation and Regulations.    The FCC’s ongoing rulemaking proceeding concerning implementation of the transition from analog to digital television broadcasts and revisions of its media ownership rules are likely to have a significant impact on the television industry and the operation of our stations. In addition, the FCC may decide to initiate other new rulemaking proceedings, on its own or in response to requests from outside parties, any of which might have such an impact. Congress also may act to amend the Communications Act in a manner that could impact our stations or the television broadcast industry generally.

Employees

As of December 31, 2002, we had a total of 1,106 employees, comprised of 958 full-time and 148 part-time or temporary employees. As of December 31, 2002, 208 of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We believe that our employee relations are satisfactory, and we have not experienced any work stoppages at any of our facilities. However, we cannot assure you that our collective bargaining agreements will be renewed in the future or that we will not experience a prolonged labor dispute, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Company

Our substantial debt could limit our ability to grow and compete.

As of December 31, 2002, we had $320.0 million of debt, which represented 89.3% of our total capitalization. Our high level of debt could have important consequences to our business. For example it could:

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In addition, our high level of debt requires us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt which will reduce the funds available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes. The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2002, the approximate aggregate amount of principal scheduled to mature for the periods referenced.

We could also incur additional debt in the future. The terms of our senior credit facilities, as well as the indentures governing our publicly-held notes, limit, but do not prohibit us from incurring substantial amounts of additional debt. To the extent we incur additional debt, we would become even more susceptible to the leverage-related risks described above.

The agreements governing our debt contain various covenants that limit our management’s discretion in the operation of our business.

Our senior credit facilities and the indentures governing our publicly-held notes contain various covenants that restrict our ability to, among other things:

In addition, our senior credit facilities require us to maintain or meet certain financial ratios, including consolidated leverage ratios and interest coverage ratios. Future financing agreements may contain similar, or even more restrictive, provisions and covenants. As a result of these restrictions and covenants, our management’s ability to operate our business at its discretion is limited, and we may be unable to compete effectively, pursue acquisitions or take advantage of new business opportunities, any of which could harm our business.

If we or any subsidiary of ours fails to comply with the restrictions in present or future financing agreements, a default may occur. A default could allow creditors to accelerate the related debt as well as any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. A default could also allow creditors to foreclose on any collateral securing such debt.

Mission may make decisions regarding the operation of its stations that could reduce the amount of cash we receive under our local service agreements.

        Mission is 100% owned by an independent third party. Mission owns the following television stations: WYOU, WFXP, KJTL, KJBO-LP and KODE. We have entered into various local service agreements with Mission pursuant to which we provide services to the Mission stations. Pursuant to each of the local service agreements, or LSAs, entered into with Mission, Nexstar receives substantially all of the available cash, after payment of debt service costs, generated by the Mission stations, and Nexstar Finance guarantees all of Mission’s debt, which debt has been incurred primarily in connection with the acquisition of the stations owned by Mission. In addition, the owner of Mission has granted to Nexstar purchase options with respect to each Mission station, which purchase options were amended as of October 18, 2002. Pursuant to the terms of the purchase options, Nexstar has the option to acquire the assets and liabilities of each station for consideration equal to the greater of (1) seven times the station’s broadcast cash flow less the amount of its indebtedness (as defined in the option agreement) or (2) the amount of its indebtedness. As a result of these arrangements, we consolidate the results of operations and financial position of the Mission stations with our results of operations and financial position in our consolidated financial statements. However, while Nexstar is deemed to have a controlling financial interest in Mission under GAAP, Mission still owns and controls each Mission station. In order for our arrangements with Mission under the LSAs to comply with FCC rules, Mission must maintain complete responsibility for and control over the programming, finances, personnel and operations of its stations. Because we do not own Mission or its stations, the individual who owns Mission can make decisions with which we disagree and which could reduce the cash flow generated by these stations and, as a consequence, the amounts we receive under our LSAs with Mission. For instance, Nexstar may disagree with Mission’s programming decisions, which programming may prove unpopular and/or may generate less advertising revenue. Furthermore, subject to Mission’s agreement with its lenders, the owner of Mission could choose to pay himself a dividend.

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The revenue generated by stations we operate or provide services to could decline substantially if they fail to maintain or renew their network affiliation agreements on favorable terms, or at all.

Due to the quality of the programming provided by the networks, stations that are affiliated with a network generally have higher ratings than unaffiliated independent stations in the same market. As a result, it is important for stations to maintain their network affiliations. Each of the stations we operate or provide services to has a network affiliation agreement––six stations have primary affiliation agreements with NBC, five with CBS, four with ABC, three with Fox and two with UPN. Each of NBC, CBS and ABC generally provides affiliated stations with up to 22 hours of prime time programming per week, while each of Fox and UPN provides affiliated stations with up to 15 hours of prime time programming per week. In return, affiliated stations broadcast the respective network’s commercials during network programming. Under the affiliation agreements with NBC, CBS and ABC, affiliated stations also receive cash compensation from these networks.

Nineteen of the network affiliation agreements of the stations that we operate or provide services to are scheduled to expire at various times beginning in December 2004 through December 2008. The other network affiliation agreement can be terminated upon 30 days prior written notice by the network. Network affiliation agreements are also subject to earlier termination by the networks under limited circumstances. For more information regarding these network affiliation agreements see, “Business––Network Affiliations.”

The loss of the services of our chief executive officer could disrupt management of our business and impair the execution of our business strategies.

We believe that our success depends upon our ability to retain the services of Perry A. Sook, our founder and President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Sook has been instrumental in determining our strategic direction and focus. The loss of Mr. Sook’s services could adversely affect our ability to manage effectively our overall operations and successfully execute current or future business strategies.

Our growth may be limited if we are unable to implement our acquisition strategy.

We intend to accelerate our growth by selectively pursuing acquisitions of television stations. The television broadcast industry is undergoing consolidation, which may reduce the number of acquisition targets and increase the purchase price of future acquisitions. Some of our competitors may have greater financial or management resources with which to pursue acquisition targets. Therefore, even if we are successful in identifying attractive acquisition targets, we may face considerable competition and our acquisition strategy may not be successful.

FCC rules and policies may also make it more difficult for us to acquire or enter into local service agreements with additional television stations. Television station acquisitions are subject to the approval of the FCC and, potentially, other regulatory authorities. The need for FCC and other regulatory approvals could restrict our ability to consummate future transactions if, for example, the FCC or other government agencies believe that a proposed transaction would result in excessive concentration in a market, even if the proposed combinations may otherwise comply with FCC ownership limitations.

In addition, future acquisitions pose certain risks, such as increasing leverage and debt service requirements and integrating company policies, systems and cultures. We may not be able to successfully implement effective cost controls, increase advertising revenue or increase audience share with respect to any acquired station. In addition, our future acquisitions may result in our assuming unexpected liabilities and may result in the diversion of our management’s attention from the operation of our business. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our operation results, particularly during the period immediately following any acquisition.

If we are unable to manage effectively our rapid growth, our operating results will suffer.

We have experienced rapid growth. Since the beginning of 1998, we have doubled the number of stations that we operate or to which we provide services. We will continue to actively pursue additional acquisition opportunities. Our growth has placed, and our anticipated growth will continue to place, a significant strain on our management resources. To manage effectively our growth and address the increased reporting requirements and administrative demands that will result from future acquisitions, we will need, among other things, to further develop our financial and management controls and management information systems. We will also need to identify, attract and retain highly skilled finance and management personnel. Failure to do any of these tasks in an efficient and timely manner could seriously harm our business.

FCC actions may restrict our ability to create duopolies under local service agreements, which would harm our existing operations and impair our acquisition strategy.

We have created duopolies in some of our markets by entering into what we refer to as local service agreements, or LSAs. While these agreements take varying forms, a typical local service agreement is an agreement between two separately-owned television stations serving the same market, whereby the owner of one station provides operational assistance to the other station, subject to ultimate editorial and other controls being exercised by the latter station’s owner. By operating or entering into local service agreements

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with more than one station in a market, we achieve significant operational efficiencies, broaden our audience reach and enhance our ability to capture more advertising spending in a given market.

While all of our existing local service agreements comply with FCC rules and policies, we cannot assure you that the FCC will continue to permit local service agreements as a means of creating duopoly-type opportunities, or that the FCC will not challenge our existing arrangements with Mission or Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. in the future. If the FCC, on its own initiative or in response to a third party complaint, were to challenge our existing arrangements with Mission or Sinclair and determine that such arrangements violate the FCC’s rules or policies, we may be required to terminate such arrangements and we could be subject to sanctions, fines and/or other penalties.

The interest of our principal stockholder, ABRY, in other media may limit our ability to acquire television stations in particular markets, restricting our ability to execute our acquisition strategy.

The number of television stations we may acquire in any market is limited by FCC rules and may vary depending upon whether the interests in other television stations or other media properties of persons affiliated with us are attributable under FCC rules. The broadcast or other media interest of our officers, directors and stockholders with 5% or greater voting power are generally attributable under the FCC’s rules which may limit us from acquiring or owning television stations in particular markets while those officers, directors or stockholders are associated with us. In addition, the holder of otherwise non-attributable equity and/or debt in a licensee in excess of 33% of the total debt and equity of the licensee will be attributable where the holder is either a major program supplier to that licensee or the holder has an attributable interest in another broadcast station, cable system or daily newspaper in the same market.

ABRY, our principal stockholder, is one of the largest private firms specializing in media and broadcasting investments. As a result of ABRY’s interest in us, we could be prevented from acquiring broadcast companies in markets where ABRY has an attributable interest in television stations or other media, which could impair our ability to execute our acquisition strategy. ABRY and its affiliates may from time to time identify, pursue and consummate additional acquisitions of television stations or other broadcast related businesses that may be complementary to our business and therefore such acquisitions opportunities may not be available to us.

We have a history of net losses and a substantial accumulated deficit.

We have had net losses of $46.8 million, $39.5 million and $2.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively, primarily as a result of amortization of intangible assets and debt service obligations. In addition, as of December 31, 2002, we had an accumulated deficit of $115.1 million. We may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

We have a material amount of intangible assets, and if we are required to write down intangible assets in future periods to comply with new accounting standards, it would reduce our net income, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

Approximately $281.7 million, or 70.2%, of our total assets as of December 31, 2002, consists of unamortized intangible assets. Intangible assets principally include network affiliation agreements, FCC licenses and goodwill. In July 2001, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,” which became effective for us on January 1, 2002. SFAS No. 142 requires, among other things, the discontinuance of the amortization of goodwill and FCC licenses, and the introduction of impairment testing in its place. SFAS No. 142 also required us to complete a transitional test of our goodwill and FCC licenses for impairment and, as a result, we recorded goodwill impairment loss of $27.4 million, net of taxes, which has been accounted for as a cumulative effect of change in accounting principle in the first quarter of 2002.

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Risks Related to Our Industry

Our operating results are dependent on advertising revenue and as a result, we may be more vulnerable to economic downturns and other factors beyond our control than businesses not dependent on advertising.

We derive our revenue primarily from the sale of advertising time. Our ability to sell advertising time depends on numerous factors that may be beyond our control, including:

Because businesses generally reduce their advertising budgets during economic recessions or downturns, our reliance on advertising revenue makes our operating results particularly susceptible to prevailing economic conditions. In general, advertising revenue declined substantially in 2001 due in large part to the economic recession. We cannot assure you that our programming will attract sufficient targeted viewership or that we will achieve favorable ratings. Our ratings depend partly upon unpredictable and volatile factors beyond our control, such as viewer preferences, competing programming and the availability of other entertainment activities. A shift in viewer preferences could cause our programming not to gain popularity or to decline in popularity, which could cause our advertising revenue to decline. In addition, we and the programming providers upon which we rely may not be able to anticipate, and effectively react to, shifts in viewer tastes and interests in our markets.

Because a high percentage of our operating expenses are fixed, a relatively small decrease in advertising revenue could have a significant negative impact on our financial results.

Our business is characterized generally by high fixed costs, primarily for debt service, broadcast rights, operating leases and personnel. Other than commissions paid to our sales staff and outside sales agencies, our expenses do not vary significantly with the increase or decrease in advertising revenue. As a result, a relatively small change in advertising prices could have a disproportionate effect on our financial results. Accordingly, a minor shortfall in expected revenue could have a significant negative impact on our financial results.

The industry-wide mandatory conversion to digital television will require us to make significant capital expenditures for which we might not see a return on our investment.

The FCC required all commercial television stations in the United States to start broadcasting in digital format by May 1, 2002 unless the FCC granted an extension. Stations may broadcast both analog and digital signals until December 31, 2006, when they must abandon the analog format, provided that 85% of households within the relevant DMA have the capability to receive a digital signal. The digital transmissions may initially be low-power, but full-power transmission will be required by a date to be established by the FCC.

It will be expensive to convert from the current analog format to digital format. Our current estimate is that this conversion will require an average initial capital expenditure of approximately $0.2 million per station for low-power transmission of digital signal programming and an average additional capital expenditure of approximately $0.7 million per station to modify the transmitter for full-power digital signal transmission. We may have to undertake capital expenditures for some of our stations to modify our tower structures and to purchase studio and production equipment that can support digital format. The transition to digital television, or DTV, eventually will require consumers to purchase new televisions that are capable of receiving and displaying DTV signals, or adapters to receive DTV signals and convert them to analog signals for display on their existing receivers. Currently, very few households have either a digital television or an adapter. It is possible that most households will never make the switch to digital television. Such households would not be able to view our stations’ signals over-the-air if and when the FCC requires us to cease broadcasting analog signals. If this happens our investment in upgrading our stations to broadcast digitally will have been largely wasted with respect to such households.

In addition, digital technology could expose us to additional competition since digital technology allows broadcasting of multiple channels within the additional allocated spectrum, compared to only one channel today using analog technology. We do not know what effect this will have on the competitive landscape in our industry.

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If we are unable to meet our extended deadline for DTV broadcasting, we may be subject to FCC sanction.

FCC regulations require that, absent an extension, all commercial television stations had to begin broadcasting with DTV transmission systems no later than May 1, 2002. Seven of our stations and one of the stations we provide services to began digital operations by December 31, 2002, and we received extensions until May 1, 2003 with respect to our other stations. On May 16, 2002, the FCC proposed a graduated set of sanctions for television broadcasters who fail to meet the DTV deadline and fail to receive an extension of time. If adopted, the sanctions would range––depending on how long it took a station to complete DTV construction––from requiring broadcasters to submit their plans to complete DTV construction to the FCC, to rescinding broadcasters’ DTV authorizations and requiring them to surrender their analog licenses at the end of the DTV transition.

Federal satellite legislation could adversely affect our broadcast business by increasing competition within our markets.

The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 could have an adverse effect on our stations’ audience shares and advertising revenue. This legislation allows satellite carriers to provide, under certain circumstances, the signals of distant stations with the same network affiliations as our station to more television viewers in our markets than would have been permitted under previous law. The availability of another station with the same network affiliation as ours in our markets could negatively affect our audience share and, therefore, our revenue and earnings. In addition the legislation allows satellite carriers to provide local television signals by satellite within a station’s market so long as they carry all local stations in that market. To date, satellite carriers are not offering the carriage of any local stations in our markets; however, we have received notice that DirecTV and EchoStar intend to begin service in Wilkes Barre-Scranton in the near future.

Intense competition in the television industry could limit our growth and impair our ability to become profitable.

As a television broadcasting company, we face a significant level of competition, both directly and indirectly. Generally we compete for our audience against all the other leisure activities in which one could choose to engage in rather than watch television. Specifically, our stations compete for audience share, programming and advertising revenue with other television stations in their respective markets and with other advertising media, including newspapers, radio stations, cable television and the Internet.

The entertainment industry, and particularly the television industry, is highly competitive and is undergoing a period of consolidation. Many of our current and potential competitors have greater financial, marketing, programming and broadcasting resources than we do. The markets in which we operate are also in a constant state of change arising from, among other things, technological improvements and economic and regulatory developments. Technological innovation and the resulting proliferation of television entertainment, such as cable television, wireless cable, satellite-to-home distribution services, pay-per-view and home video and entertainment systems, have fractionalized television viewing audiences and have subjected free over-the-air television broadcast stations to increased competition. We may not be able to compete effectively or adjust our business plans to meet changing market conditions. We are unable to predict what form of competition will develop in the future, the extent of the competition or its possible effects on our businesses.

In addition, on February 19, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit directed the FCC to repeal in its entirety the local television/cable cross-ownership rule, which prohibits any cable television system from carrying the signal of any television broadcast station with a predicted service area that overlaps, in whole or in part, the cable system’s service area, if the cable system (or any of its attributable principals) has an attributable interest in the television station. As a result of such repeal, cable systems and co-located television stations now may be commonly-owned. This means that the operator of a cable system that carries one of our stations could become the owner of a competing station in the market.

Foreign hostilities and further terrorist attacks may affect our revenues and results of operations.

We may experience a loss of advertising revenue and incur additional broadcasting expenses in the event the United States of America engages in foreign hostilities or in the event there is a terrorist attack against the United States of America. A significant news event like a war or terrorist attack will likely result in the preemption of regularly scheduled programming by network news coverage of the event. As a result, advertising may not be aired and the revenue for such advertising may be lost unless the broadcasting station is able to run the advertising at agreed-upon times in the future. There can be no assurance that advertisers will agree to run such advertising in future time periods or that space will be available for such advertising. We cannot predict the duration of such preemption of local programming if it occurs. In addition, our broadcasting stations may incur additional expenses as a result of expanded news coverage of the local impact of a war or terrorist attack. The loss of revenue and increased expenses could negatively affect our results of operations.

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We lease our primary corporate headquarters, which are located at 909 Lake Carolyn Parkway, Suite 1450, Irving, Texas 75039 and occupy approximately 5,566 square feet. None of the individual station leases are material to our operations, and we do not anticipate difficulty in replacing those facilities or obtaining additional facilities, if needed.

We and Mission own and lease facilities in the following locations:

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From time to time, we are involved in litigation that arises from the ordinary operations of our business, such as contractual or employment disputes or other general actions. In the event of an adverse outcome of these proceedings, we believe the resulting liabilities would not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

Neither Nexstar Finance Holdings, L.L.C. nor Nexstar Finance Holdings, Inc. submitted any matter to a vote of its security holders during the fourth quarter of 2002.

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PART II

Market Information

This item is not applicable in that all of the equity securities of Nexstar Finance Holdings, L.L.C. are owned by its immediate parent company, Nexstar Finance Holdings II, L.L.C., and all of the equity securities of Nexstar Finance Holdings, Inc. are owned by Nexstar Finance Holdings II, L.L.C.

Item 6.     Selected Financial Data

The selected historical consolidated financial data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1998 has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements. The following financial data should be read in conjunction with Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.