LETTER TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS syndicated shows. Adding to expenses, however, will be  higher network programming licensing fees. While some  may view these license fees as a negative to the business,  we believe they may actually benefit broadcasters in  multiple ways. First, it is our expectation that the money  paid by the affiliates to the networks will be invested in  higher quality programming that will further drive ratings  and ultimately grow revenues. More importantly, the  sharing of the retransmission revenue stream between the  networks and its affiliates underscores the value of the  programming that each brings to the multi-video program  distributors ("MVPDs") such as cable, satellite and  telephone video providers. It is estimated that the  MVPDs spend approximately $30 billion a year to acquire  programming. Broadcast programming, which consists of  highly  popular  network  prime-time  and  sports  programming, affiliate local news and syndicated product,  receives  less  than  10%  of  these  programming  expenditures even though broadcast television represents  approximately 40% to 50% of the viewing audience. We  believe that having the networks' and the affiliates'  interests aligned in terms of retransmission consent  compensation will help the industry to move to our goal of  achieving equilibrium with regard to the programming  payments made by the MVPDs. What a difference a year makes. When I wrote to you a  year ago, our nation was struggling to overcome one of the  worst recessions since the Great Depression. A year later,  the economy is in recovery, advertising spending is on the  upswing, and our Company enjoyed over an 18% net  broadcast revenue growth rate in 2010; growth which  came from multiple fronts. While this is all good news, we  are still not back to our pre-recession advertising revenue  levels, leading us to believe that our core business can  grow even in the upcoming 2011 non-election year. True,  the strength in our key advertising categories and the  improving economy are reasons we are optimistic about  our long term prospects, but we are equally enthusiastic  about potential benefits to be realized by pairing our "one- to-many" consumer reach with new technological  opportunities and alternate uses of our broadcast  spectrum. The network/affiliate relationship is one based in mutual  benefit. The network brings premier programming to the  local affiliate and the affiliate uses its local presence to  help promote and clear the network's shows, in turn  making the product more valuable to both parties. This  model has a long tradition of success, which is why we  believe the networks are recommitting to their affiliates. In the past year, we have extended our affiliation  agreements with the FOX Network (20 stations) and the  ABC Network (9 stations), and are in discussions for an  extension with the CW Network (10 stations). We have  also extended our programming service arrangement with  MyNetworkTV (16 stations). But first, let me review our 2010 financial performance  and the positive improvements we are experiencing. I am  pleased to report that in 2010, our net broadcast revenues  grew 18.2%, for an increase of $100.8 million as compared  to 2009. Included in that performance was $42.0 million  of political campaign and issue advertising; a record- setting year for us, representing a 2% increase over the  2008 presidential election year and a 34.9% increase over  2006. We believe the Congressional change of control, the  emergence of the Tea Party and increasing citizen activism  will result in political advertising being a growth category  for us for years to come. Current third party estimates call  for 2012 political ad spending to increase 8% over 2010's  levels. Growth in advertising by the auto sector was  another category where we enjoyed meaningful returns,  up 36.9% in 2010. While auto as a percent of our total  times sales increased from 15.2% in 2009 to 17.9% in  2010, it is still well below the 21% pre-recession  contribution levels. Current forecasts are for U.S. new  vehicle sales to increase nearly 12% in 2011 to  approximately 12.9 million units sold, which we expect to  result in increased advertising by the auto manufacturers  and local dealer groups. The increases in retransmission revenues, political  advertising, and the core business contributed not only to  our top-line performance, but to our free cash flow  generation$^{2}$. In 2010, we generated $160.4 million of free  cash, of which $34.6 million was returned to our  shareholders in the form of a $0.43 per share special  dividend, representing an approximate 5.3% dividend  yield when declared. As you may recall, Sinclair had been  a regularly paying dividend company prior to the  recession. Given the confidence in our future cash flow  and growth prospects, our Board of Directors reinstated  our dividend policy in 2011 and declared a $0.12 quarterly  dividend per share, representing annualized shareholder  distributions of almost $40 million. On the expense side, we continue to manage our costs  using the same discipline that you have come to expect  from us over the years. The revenue growth coupled with  moderate expense growth helped drive our EBITDA 1 in  2010 to the highest level it has been in the past 10 years,  based on our current portfolio of stations. In other words,  you would need to look back to the year 2000 to find  EBITDA higher than the $276.1 million we reported in  2010. As compared to 2009, this was a 45.1% increase,  representing a margin of 36.0%, as compared to 29.0% in  2009. The strength of our performance was evident not only in  our peak EBITDA and free cash flow, but in our balance  sheet as well. Last year, we continued our focus of  refinancing our near term debt maturities and reducing  our leverage. We successfully issued $250 million in  8.375% 8-year notes which were used to redeem our 8.0%  senior subordinated notes due 2012. We also applied $58  million of our free cash to tender for a portion of our 6.0%  convertible bonds and prepaid $60 million of our bank  debt. As a result, our next meaningful debt maturity does  not occur until 2016. In total, we reduced debt, net of  cash on hand, by $93 million during 2010 and reported  our lowest total net leverage in the past 15 years. We are  pleased to report that our equity performance was just as  notable. In 2010, investors once again took note of our  Company's improving financial performance and lower  risk profile. In response, our stock increased 103% for the  year. Coupled with the 5.3% dividend yield, we generated  a 108.3% total return for shareholders, as compared to the  Looking ahead to 2011, there are two significant cash flow  changes we expect. First, we are estimating a decline in  our programming cash payments by approximately $21  million due to a shift to more first-run and barter 