NFL's Cratering Ratings Starting To Hit Fox

Declining football game television ratings will cut into Twenty-First Century Fox's earnings, according to one Wall Street firm.

CNBC reports Credit Suisse lowered its price target and earnings per share forecasts for the media company, citing Fox's poor Sunday NFL ratings.

"We trim our 2018/19 EPS forecasts … ahead of Q1 earnings," analyst Omar Sheikh wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "The key near term headwinds are soft NFL ratings and the risk that the Sky transaction is blocked by UK regulators."

Fox is seeking to acquire the 61 percent of European pay-TV company Sky it does not already own.

Sheikh maintained his outperform rating on Twenty-First Century Fox shares, but reduced his price target to $35 from $37. The new forecast represents 34 percent upside to Wednesday's close.

The analyst said Fox's Sunday NFL game TV ratings declined 7 percent year over year during the first five weeks of the season.


NFL's anthem protests may be starting to hit Fox's bottom line from CNBC.


"NFL ratings [are] weak so far," he wrote. "This was negatively impacted during the first 2 weeks by hurricane disruption, but is disappointing given the soft comps – if ratings do not improve materially, we see a potential headwind to domestic advertising revenues in Q2/Q3 '18.".

President Donald Trump has claimed on social media that NFL television ratings are declining due to the controversy over players kneeling in protest during the national anthem.