Meredith Local Media Group

The app generates customized newscasts for consumers who have registered their preferences on everything from location to topics of interest. Broadcasters on board include the Tribune, Meredith, Scripps, Bonten and Lilly station groups and Cowles-owned KHQ Spokane, Wash.

Joshua Pila moves from LIN Media to succeed Perry Bradshaw, who is retiring in January 2015 after a 36-year career at Meredith. 

Patrick McCreery, VP-GM of KPTV-KPDX Portland, Ore., is promoted to Meredith Local Media Group news and marketing VP. Succeeding him is Andy Delaporte, the duopoly’s sales director.

The rise comes from higher ad sales, greater retrans money and one month of operating KMOV St. Louis.

For some group owners, especially those with multiple stations in major markets, the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction is starting to look like an opportunity to reap a cash windfall. Both LIN and Meredith say they’re considering participating. And for others like Ion and Univision, the financial rewards are very tempting.

On Oct. 3, at an investors’ conference in Texas, LIN Media CEO Vince Sadusky and CTO Brett Jenkins acknowledged that the station group might sell some of its TV spectrum […]

Paul Karpowicz, president, Meredith Local Media Group: “Without accounting for time shifting, we are leaving a significant number of impressions unaccounted for our advertisers, and that shortfall will only increase as the industry adds more time-shifting to the ratings standard.”

Darrin McDonald moves from KVUU Las Vegas to head KCTV-KSMO Kansas City and is succeeded by KVVU general sales manager, Todd Brown.

Bob Saunders, president of the broadband DSL cable provider, sees a business in streaming broadcast signals and other programming via the Internet to paying subscribers in small, rural communities. While broadcasters are wary of others distributing their signals, Saunders says he’s not trying to get something for nothing: “We want to pay retransmission where it’s required. We want to be a good actor on the scene.”

A NATPE panel offered predictions on the future of retransmission consent at stations. Deb McDermott of Young Broadcasting said that she was not opposed to sharing the retrans revenue with the networks “as long as it is the right division of revenue — as long as they don’t get greedy.” And Nexstar’s Perry Sook suggested that even sending half of the revenue to the networks is not unreasonable.

A NATPE panel offered predictions on the future of retransmission consent at stations. Deb McDermott of Young Broadcasting said that she was not opposed to sharing the retrans revenue with the networks “as long as it is the right division of revenue — as long as they don’t get greedy.” And Nexstar’s Perry Sook suggested that even sending half of the revenue to the networks is not unreasonable.

LiveU, a provider of portable video-over-cellular solutions, has been chosen by the Meredith Local Media Group to provide its mobile uplink technology for electronic newsgathering operations within the TV station […]

Over the past year or so, dozens of TV stations have begun quietly experimenting with technology that can deliver content to Internet-connected TV sets and conventional TVs linked to the Net through Blu-ray players, game consoles, DVRs and specially designed set-top boxes from Roku, Western Digital and others. These over-the-top (OTT) apps promise to extend their brands and drive revenue.

They are the market’s final stations to convert their news operations to high def. Sinclair’s WZTV will feature an interactive set, while Young’s WKRN has HD capability from the field ready to go. And Nashville’s other news producers — WSMV and WTVF — aren’t resting on their laurels either, adding new sets, graphics, file-based editing systems and news automation to stay cutting edge.

McGraw-Hill has begun shopping its four-station group and is said to be drawing interest from the likes of Nexstar, Meredith and Belo. Based on its financials for 2010 and 2011, the group is worth between $150 million and $200 million, although bidding and the expection of big revenue gains from political advertising in 2012 could push the number higher.

Meredith Local Media Group has completed the roll out of 10 of its television station Web sites usinge WorldNow’s Web publishing platform.

Four years after leaving WorldNow, Meredith Local Media Group has returned to the company for its online technology and sales support. The two companies signed a four-year contract that covers all 12 Meredith stations and starts in June.

Tom Cox becomes VP of digital sales while Steve Schwaid is named VP of digital content at Meredith’s Local Media Group.