Advertisement
Banks weakened on Thursday, but small-company stocks held up well. Companies that make and distribute drugs fell after the Trump administration proposed changes to government rules on drug price rebates. Aluminum producers sank after Alcoa said the U.S. tariffs on imported aluminum are costing it at least $12 million a month.
Advertisement
The FCC on Thursday published its order calling for a hearing on the proposed $3.9 billion Sinclair Broadcast Group acquisition of Tribune Media. Sinclair revised the proposed deal on Wednesday after FCC Chairman Pai expressed concerns over some station spinoffs. To no avail. In today’s order, the FCC said: “Material questions remain because the real party-in-interest issue in this case includes a potential element of misrepresentation or lack of candor that may suggest granting other, related applications by the same party would not be in the public interest.” That could spell big trouble for the station group that goes far beyond the current proposed deal.
Investor Philip Falcone’s HC2 Broadcasting is buying up low-power stations that when aggregated and leveraged with OTT, cloud technology and the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard — will offer a near-national platform that he hopes will be attractive to cord-cutters and advertisers.
Advertisement
The “daily” White House press briefing is a thing of the past. The White House has only held three on-camera briefings in the past 30 days, according to the administration’s own records on WhiteHouse.gov.
The Big Four broadcasters are in the final stages of negotiating an eight-year renewal of the deal through which they share rights to televise the Primetime Emmy Awards. For their trouble, they will get to continue broadcasting for nearly a decade what is effectively a commercial for HBO, FX, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. (Coming soon: Apple!)
The Disney-owned network captured a larger amount of ad commitments for its primetime schedule than it did last year, a signal of Madison Avenue interest in programs like American Idol, The Good Doctorand black-ish. The volume surge at ABC comes despite the network’s loss of Roseanne, the once-celebrated reboot of the Roseanne Barr sitcom that had to be scrapped after its star posted controversial and racist tweets.
High-profile journalists are saying they might leave Twitter after tweets attacking them and family members. The latest controversy is underscoring how the popular social media platform has become toxic in the current political climate.
Advertisement
The 2018 ESPY Awards broadcast on ABC suffered noticeable declines in in the Wednesday overnight ratings compared to last year’s ceremony. Airing from 8-11 p.m., the ESPYs drew a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.9 million viewers. Compared to the 1.4 and 5.3 million viewers the 2017 awards show pulled in, this year’s show was down approximately 36% in the key demo and 26% in total viewers. This also marks the heaviest drop off year-to-year going back two years.
Did an AT&T price hike spark a Department of Justice appeal? Even if the telecom’s Time Warner acquisition ultimately is upheld, uncertainty threatens to impact everything in Hollywood, from the pending Fox sale to the auction for Sky.
Advertisement
The FCC Transparency Act, which mandates that the FCC publish the drafts of items to be considered in a public meeting 21 days ahead of the vote, was reintroduced by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Under FCC chair Ajit Pai, it had already become a matter of practice.
CNN President Jeff Zucker has revealed he will be taking a six-week leave for heart surgery. CNN’s senior media correspondent Brian Stelter just revealed the news on Twitter.
The new multicast network will debut on Sept. 3 featuring procedural dramas focusing on strong women. At launch, it will reach 42% of U.S. TV households anchored by the CBS Television Stations.
The withdrawal by Comcast leaves the path open for The Walt Disney Co. to buy the 21st Century Fox assets with its latest offer of $71 billion. The Department of Justice has OK’d Disney’s bid as long as it sells 22 regional sports networks. Fox shareholders are set to vote on Disney’s offer July 27.
Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, people familiar with the situation say. Such a move could be enormously costly for the retailer but would demonstrate its determination to compete on multiple fronts with Amazon in particular.
The FCC said late on Wednesday it had voted unanimously to refer Sinclair Broadcast Group’s $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media to an administrative law judge, a blow to the firms’ chances of winning approval. The decision came the same day Sinclair announced it was changing some of the divestitures proposed in the deal; it withdraw the proposed sales of KDAF Dallas and KIAH Houston to Cunningham Broadcasting.
The top executives of four TV station groups will survey the state of the TV broadcast business and its major growth opportunities at TVNewsCheck’s third annual TV2020: Monetizing the Future conference in New York. Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations; Perry Sook, chairman, president and CEO of Nexstar Media Group; Hilton Howell, chairman, president […]
At least four advertisers and 10 employees have left the Nexstar ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania’s capital since former Action News anchor Flora Posteraro exited in March after claiming harassment and verbal abuse.
Dan Shelley, executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association, took to USA Today to call out Fox News Channel for its interviews with President Donald Trump — conducted by Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson — following his joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but praised Chris Wallace’s one-on-one with Putin.
The Next Gen TV local simulcasting rules have received the approval of the Office of Management and Budget. This means that voluntary use of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard is a go — another milestone for TV operators seeking an addressable advertising solution and superior audio and visual quality.
David Zaslav, who helped orchestrate the $14.6 billion merger of Discovery and Scripps Networks earlier this year, will stay at the head of the combined company through 2023, Discovery revealed Wednesday. The executive, who has been at the helm of Discovery since 2007, had previously been on a contract slated to expire in 2020.
The U.S. Justice Department has proposed an expedited schedule for an appeal of a judge’s ruling that allowed AT&T to buy movie and TV show maker Time Warner, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
Rep. Devin Nunes is sitting on an eye-popping pile of money he’s raised in recent months, with little reason to spend it yet. Except for one splurge: an unusually aggressive — and sustained — offensive against his local newspaper, which he is tearing into as “fake news.” In a campaign ad running more than two minutes — and appearing not only online, but also on radio and TV — Nunes casts the dominant newspaper in his California district as a “band of creeping correspondents,” criticizing The Fresno Bee for its routine reporting practices and for its coverage of a controversy surrounding a winery in which the Republican congressman invests.
Led by CEO Jack Abernethy, the station group will become one of the centerpieces of the Murdochs’ TV holdings after they sell most of their Hollywood, regional sports, national cable entertainment and international assets to Disney or Comcast, which are now vying for them.
The New Yorker staff writer and author of Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business will introduce TVNewsCheck’s annual daylong conference with a look at advertising’s tumultuous new ecosystem.
