The National Trust for Local News will take over five of the six daily papers in the state and 17 weeklies.
Record levels of money have poured into Maine’s competitive race between U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and House Speaker Sara Gideon, shaking up the TV market for candidates and non-candidates and raising questions about how it can all be spent effectively by Election Day. But that accounts for only a fraction of the ad spending in Maine this year. The Portland-Auburn TV market alone has seen $89 million in political ad spending this year, according to Advertising Analytics, more than massive markets like Dallas and Chicago.
A first-in-the-nation Maine law seeking to force cable providers to offer a la carte services has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a decision that renders the new requirement unlikely to ever take effect.
Comcast, ViacomCBS, Discovery and Disney achieve a narrow victory on a preliminary injunction motion concerning the state’s novel à la carte mandate.
Exclusives
Comcast, joined by Disney, Fox Cable and NBCUniversal, is seeking a temporary restraining order to delay a Maine law requiring cable companies to offer channels on an a la carte basis.
The Maine Senate delegation is calling out DirecTV and parent AT&T for importing TV station distant signals into Presque Isle, Maine, rather than delivering the local stations. Unlike cable operators, satellite operators don’t have to carry local TV stations, though if they carry one they must carry all. Presque Isle is one of a dozen of the smallest markets where DirecTV has chosen not to carry the stations.
