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Dow Closes Down 104, Nasdaq Loses 29
U.S. stocks declined Thursday, breaking the S&P 500’s three-day winning streak. The modest sell-off came as investors weighed mixed economic data and company earnings reports while keeping an eye on Washington, where U.S. and Chinese negotiators resumed high-level talks aimed at ending their costly trade dispute.
Tegna Announces Quarterly Dividend
The broadcaster will pay a dividend of 7 cents per share on April 1 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 8.
Brand Connections
Congress Tells FCC To Review Market Modifications
The recently passed 2019 Appropriations bill — the one that avoided a second government shutdown — was a massive tome that included directing the FCC to provide a “full analysis” of its treatment of market modification petitions. Those are petitions by broadcasters or satellite operators or county officials to modify a market so that satellite viewers in a Nielsen market that crosses state lines can get local news and sports from TV stations from another Nielsen market in their own state instead.
‘Chicago PD’ Reaches Season High
A crossover between Chicago Fire and Chicago PD paid dividends for both NBC shows Wednesday. Survivor opened its new season with fairly steady ratings on CBS, and The Masked Singer continued it strong run on Fox.
Exclusives
NBC Stations Eye Growth In Instagram, Voice
Jessell | Satellite TV’s Orbit Is Failing Fast
A Broadcaster’s Guide To Washington Issues
Collins | Diversity’s Vital Contribution To Industry Growth
Flexibility, Efficiency Driving Master Control
The Last Hour Of Prime Is Still A Big Deal
Leading A Tech Revolution At ABC’s Owned TVs
Market Forces Threaten Future Of Cox Reps
Jessell | Who Put The DOJ In Charge of Broadcast Regs?
Noland And Auerbach: TVN’s Bright Futurists
The recipients of TVNewsCheck’s inaugural Women in Technology Futurist Awards — the TVB’s Abby Auerbach and LG and ATSC’s Madeleine Noland — epitomize the quality of taking a long-range view of where the television industry should be moving and figuring out how to get it there.
Liz Zamora Named WTVA News Director
Heartland Media chooses the KRNV Reno, Nev., assistant news director to lead news operations at its NBC-ABC affiliate in Columbus-Tupelo, Miss.
Police: Smollett Staged Attack To Promote Career
Empire actor Jussie Smollett staged a racist and homophobic attack because he was unhappy about his salary and wanted to promote his career, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnso said Thursday. Producers Fox Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television issued a statement Thursday saying that they were “evaluating the situation” and “considering our options.”
Wendy Williams To Return March 4
After a six-week leave with health issues, Wendy Williams is set to return to her syndicated daytime talk show on March 4. Williams has been on leave from The Wendy Williams Show since Jan. 18 to deal with health issues including a fractured shoulders and complications from Graves disease, an immune system disorder which the host was diagnosed with last year.
Brand Connections
Disney To Sell Fox Sports In Brazil, Mexico
Walt Disney Co., on the brink of sealing its $71 billion takeover of 21st Century Fox Inc. entertainment assets, will agree to sell the Fox Sports channels in Brazil and Mexico to win regulatory approval there, according to people close to the discussions
Sports Betting Media Startup Raises $17.5M
Sports betting media startup The Action Network said on Thursday it has raised $17.5 million of funding from private equity, team owners and media and esports investors. The investments come as the sports and media industries try to figure out how to capitalize on the nascent American sports betting market.
Sean Spicer Now An ‘Extra’ Correspondent
Former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer says he’s helping to “bridge that divide” between Hollywood and the nation’s capital, taking a new job as a “special D.C. correspondent” for the syndicated Extra.
Bevacqua To Oversee NBC Sports Division
NBC Sports Group President Pete Bevacqua has been given oversight of the entire NBC Sports division, effective immediately. Bevacqua will have oversight, among other things, of NBC Olympics, which had been run by Jim Bell, who is now showrunner of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. Bevacqua also gains control of production and operations.
NBC Names Shelby Shaftel SVP of Alternative
Shelby Shaftel has been promoted to senior vice president of alternative programming and development at NBC. There, as part of her position, she will oversee projects from concept through post-production and direct creative, staffing decisions, talent, marketing and high-level brand partnerships.
Men Dominate News, Entertainment, Digital Media
A new report from The Women’s Media Center comprising 94 studies details the shape and scope of women’s participation in every part of news, entertainment and digital media and finds it is significantly smaller than that of men.
ABC Sells Out Oscars For $2.6M Per :30
With many returning advertisers, ABC has now sold out all commercial inventory in The”91st Oscars show. The Academy Awards remain the least-glutted awards show for paid commercial content — just 32 minutes of advertising time in 2018. Some marketers are paying a top 30-second commercial price tag of $2.6 million.
RTDNA Takes First Amendment Fight To States
Local journalists are reckoning with a new reality: The greatest threat to working in journalism is public contempt for us as a workforce. Journalists should be able to go to work without fear of being attacked or intimidated. In addition to providing training on increased safety measures, journalists need legislative action to ensure violence is not an acceptable form of criticism and to penalize those who recklessly interfere efforts to seek and report the truth on behalf of the public.
Andrew McCabe, Franchise Shows Power CBS
A 60 Minutes interview with fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe helped make the CBS newsmagazine one of TV’s top-rated programs. With six of the top 10 shows and 13 of the most-watched 20, CBS had an average of 6.3 million weekly viewers. NBC had 5.2 million, ABC had 3.8 million, Fox had 3.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million and The CW had 880,000.
Smollett Goes From Victim To Accused Felon
Following three weeks of mounting suspicions, Empire actor Jussie Smollett was charged Wednesday with making a false police report, a charge that could bring up to three years in prison and force the actor, who is black and gay, to pay for the cost of the investigation into his report of a Jan. 29 beating. Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police Thursday morning and is expected to appear in court later in the day.
Lara Logan Says She’s Been ‘Targeted’
Former CBS News foreign correspondent Lara Logan appeared on Fox News Channel’s Hannity Wednesday evening to expand on her recent remarks characterizing the media as mostly liberal. “It’s obvious, right, because you get targeted,” she said, explaining her earlier comments that she was committing “professional suicide” by criticizing the media. “It’s the same group of people, they’re already starting to target me again now and I was expecting it. I know they’re gonna come after me again. The same people come after you.”
More Companies Pull YouTube Advertising
Walt Disney Co. is said to have pulled its advertising spending from YouTube, joining other companies including Nestle SA, after a blogger detailed how comments on Google’s video site were being used to facilitate a “soft-core pedophilia ring.” Some of the videos involved ran next to ads placed by Disney and Nestle.
Charter To Launch Streaming Video Service
Charter Communications said it plans to launch an over-the-top streaming video service at the end of March dubbed TV Essentials to its broadband-only customers without a video service, in the cable industry’s latest effort to recapture pay TV subscribers.
Battling Takeover, Gannett Touts Digital Growth
Under the cloud of an aggressive takeover bid, Gannett reported a dip in fourth quarter revenue Wednesday. But the company said it was encouraged by growth in digital advertising.
What Is FCC’s Role In Regulating ‘Vice’ Ads?
In recent months, there have been many calls to regulate e-cigs, and potentially to regulate the marketing of all sorts of vaping products, including a call last week by an FCC Commissioner in an op-ed article in USA Today. So far, the FCC has had no real role in regulating these products. In fact, one wonders if it really has any authority to take action against the advertising of e-cigs without congressional action.