If All Else Fails, Spectrum Remains
Fear not broadcasters: Even if streaming ultimately pushes linear TV over the precipice, your spectrum still has value for datacasting or auction.
If Sohn Fails In FCC Bid, Broadcasters Need One Of Their Own
Gigi Sohn’s nomination to the FCC is on a lot shakier ground than that of Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. If Sohn fails to be confirmed, broadcasters should lobby for a candidate who better understands how the agency can give the industry its best chance to flourish.
Television Station Owners On The Bread Line: Not A Good Look
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which if passed would see the federal government subsidizing the hiring of local reporters and newsroom employees via tax credits, is a troubling and ill-advised giveaway to commercial TV broadcasters.
Harry Jessell: Affiliates with whom I spoke were clearly ticked off by last week’s show, with many preempting it. “Bone-headed,” said one. Compounding the insult of being asked to air an infomercial for a host of competitors was their feeling that that they had paid through their reverse comp for actual entertainment programming on Thursday night.
Jessell | Put Affils, Not Nets, In Control of vMVPD Dollars
Local broadcasters could use some regulatory help from the FCC by declaring that vMVPDs or “skinny bundles” must be treated like regular MVPDs and thus subject to retransmission consent obligations. Doing so would put the affiliates in a much stronger position to hang on to vMVPD fees than they are now.
Jessell | Pandemic Shows Need For 3.0 Phone Mandate
The coronavirus will not be the last disaster to rock the United States. In preparing for the next, policymakers must make sure that broadcasting is just as capable and resilient as the internet and wireless networks. To that end, they must mandate that smartphones, so crucial in emergencies, be equipped to receive FM and the new ATSC 3.0 TV signals.
Exclusives
Jessell | Let’s Do Away With Anti-Retrans Quinquennials
Every five years, satellite operators ask Congress to renew the law that gives them the right to import network affiliated broadcast signals into “white areas” where subscribers cannot get local affiliates off air. And every five years, the operators and their cable allies try to dirty the bill with provisions that will make it more difficult for broadcasters to negotiate for retransmisson consent fees. NAB’s job is clear: Convince Congress to kill the renewal legislation or pass a “clean” bill and make it permanent.
TVN’s Harry Jessell Talks TV On Kreiner’s Korner
WHBF: Equal On-Air Opportunity Employer
Kudos to Nexstar’s WHBF Rock Island, Ill., for recognizing that the First Amendment is about more than freedom of the press. It is also about religious liberty. You may have […]
The newest directors at the Library of American Broadcasting are Harry A. Jessell, TVNewsCheck; Heather Birks, Broadcast Education Association; Ruth Gaviria, Entercom; and Walter Podrazik, University of Illinois.
TVNewsCheck Editor Harry A. Jessell was a recipient of a 2017 Ward L. Quaal Leadership Awards today presented by Broadcasters Foundation of America in recognition of career contributions to the broadcast industry and the community at large (the complete list of winners is here, The awards were handed out at the group’s annual luncheon during the NAB Show in Las Vegas. L-r: Jim Thompson, Broadcasters Foundation president; Jessell; and Dan Mason, Broadcasters Foundation chairman.
The Best Man For The Trump FCC? Me
Why not? I’d like a cushy government job as a bridge to retirement and I’m fully qualified. I’m a winner, I can tell it like it is using old newsroom language and I’ll schlong anybody who gets in Trump’s way. Here’s my pitch.
FCC Needs To Give OVDs MPVD Status
That’s why I think the FCC’s Sky Angel proceeding — in which it’s considering whether it should regulate online video distributors like Sky Angel just as it now does cable and satellite operators — is so important. It could give stations a big and badly needed boost toward the Internet and on all those millions of desktops and mobile screens.
