OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'B+' issue-level rating and '4' recovery rating to Gray Television Inc.'s proposed $525 million senior unsecured notes due 2024. The '4' recovery rating indicates our expectation for average recovery (30%-50%; lower half of the range) of principal in the event of a payment default. Our ratings on Gray Television's 5.875% senior unsecured notes due 2026 remain unchanged as a result of the company's plan to issue a $200 million add-on.

The company expects to use the net proceeds to repay the $675 million 7.5% notes due 2020. As a result, we expect that leverage, based on average-eight-quarter EBITDA, will remain unchanged in the mid-5x area. However, we expect adjusted trailing-eight-quarter leverage to decline to the 5x area by the end of 2016 due to strong cash flow generation from the upcoming elections--in line with our highly leveraged financial risk profile assessment.