Sinclair Broadcast Group

Tech executives from Sinclair, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Fox Television Stations, Imagine and TAG Video Systems will offer predictions for the most important trends in the coming year including building IP networks, cloud production and playout, cybersecurity and streaming technology in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch webinar on Dec. 1. Register here.

With media companies prioritizing streaming, the pressure to raise programming fees on affiliates appears to be easing, according to Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley. On the company’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts and investors Wednesday morning, Ripley said “there has been a shift in terms of negotiating position” as networks have moved some of their best content to streaming.

CFO Lucy Rutishauser tells analysts Wednesday morning that “we expect a record amount of mid-term political ad revenue for the fourth quarter of $174 million to $179 million.

After discounting comparisons that included the Diamond Sports Group (RSNs), which was “deconsolidated,” total revenues increased 5% to $843 million in the prior year period and media revenues also increased 5% from $795 million.

Big viewing gains at Sinclair Broadcast Group’s digital multicast networks have the company looking to expand its portfolio, adding another network as soon as next year.

The new agreement covers the group’s 30 ABC affiliates, plus three stations for which Sinclair provides sales and other services under JSAs.

Tech executives from Tegna, Sinclair and CBS Owned Stations are looking to the cloud for major changes to their processes that offer new flexibility and scalability for their businesses. A single, cloud-based control room is near top of their wish list. Above (l-r): Tegna’s Kurt Rao, Sinclair’s Mike Kralec, Vizrt’s Jon Raidel and CBS Owned Stations’ Jeff Birch (Alyssa Wesley photo).

Progress is being made implementing automation technology for multiplatform buying, but challenges with measurement remain. L-r: Rob Weisbord, Sinclair Broadcast Group; Tracy Chavez, Publicis; moderator Paige Albiniak; and Media Monitors’ Philippe Generali. (Alyssa Wesley photo)

With NBC considering giving its final hour of primetime back to affiliates, many station groups are thinking about how to take best advantage of any additional time. L-r: Chris Ripley, Valari Staab, Jordan Wertlieb and Catherine Badalamente (Alyssa Wesley photo)

Anthony Zuiker and Sinclair Broadcast Group have struck an unusual arrangement that calls for the CSI creator to work with the station group giant on crafting original content, some drawn from Sinclair’s wealth of local news archives. The plan is to sell shows in syndication to other stations as well as to assemble docuseries pulled from the archives of its 185 TV stations that can be licensed to outside buyers. Zuiker will also consult with Sinclair’s news directors and journalists on amping up the storytelling qualities of local news reports, particularly on big national stories.

Technology executives from Sinclair, Gray, WLS Chicago and Dalet shared some of the more enduring remote workflows holding over from the pandemic in a TVNewsCheck webinar last week, noting that improvements in IP connectivity and public cloud technology are pushing innovation even further.

The FCC has proposed fining TV stations owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nexstar Media Group more than $3 million collectively for alleged violations of the agency’s children’s-TV programming rules. The stations “apparently willfully and repeatedly violated rules limiting commercial matter in children’s programming,“ the FCC said, but conceded the actions were inadvertent.

Sinclair’s local news OTT streaming service NewsON has signed a licensing deal with CBS News and Stations and its owned-and-operated stations. As part of the deal, NewsON will add 13 CBS local stations to its platform. The new stations include the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco markets. NewsON will offer live newscasts, CBS News Local FAST channels, and short form story clips from each of the stations, including the upcoming Detroit channel when it launches.

MLB, the NBA and the NHL may orchestrate a buyout of the nation’s dominant owner of regional sports TV networks, whose shaky finances pose an increasing threat to their teams. The trio of pro-sports leagues are expected to soon begin talks with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Diamond Sports, which operates 21 regional Bally Sports networks that account for more than half the local broadcast markets around the country, sources close to the situation say.

The regional sports subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group has hired two investment banks that are active in sports media deals, according to a recent report. Last week, the Sports Business Journal said executives at Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group think the hiring of the two investment banks — LionTree LLC and Moelis & Co. — may suggest that the broadcaster is interested in divesting its regional sports business.

Broadcasters are more receptive than ever to buying their tech on an opex basis, but that doesn’t mean the capex model is anywhere near extinction, nor has a standard definition of software as a service settled in across the industry.

Tammy Dupuy and Dave Howitt are elevated to SVPs of programming.

Seventy-four percent of those who sign up for a free seven-day trial of  Bally Sports Plus end up with a paid subscription, and users of the DTC streaming service spend, on average, 33% more time on the platform than they do for the respective TV Everywhere platforms of the 19 Bally Sports regional sports network. Oh, and usage of Bally Sports Plus interactive features has been “better than expected.” Those were the early takeaways from the first quarterly earnings report for Diamond Sports Group, the wholly owned subsidiary that runs the Bally Sports channels, which was spun off from Sinclair Broadcast Group on March 1.

Capping a challenging multi-year development process, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports unit has set Sept. 26 as the nationwide launch date for direct-to-consumer streaming service Bally Sports+. At $19.99 a month or $189.99 a year, Bally Sports+ will be among the priciest streaming options in the marketplace, but the company expects many diehard sports fans lacking pay TV subscriptions to pony up to watch their local teams.

Executives from Sinclair, Gray Television and ABC-owned WLS Chicago will address innovations in remote production and their knock-on effects for storytelling, new facilities and studio design in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch webinar on Sept. 29. Register here.

Sinclair Broadcast Group says it plans to create more original content and use the digital tools available to engage viewers and create revenue opportunities. “The creation of new content continues to be a priority for our company,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley, speaking on the company’s 2Q earnings call Wednesday. “The new content will appear on one or multiple Sinclair platforms or might even be sold to third parties,” Ripley said.

President-CEO Chris Ripley noted: “Political revenues were not only very strong, but they were the highest second quarter and year-to-date political revenue in our company’s history. We expect political revenue to drive total ad sales for the remainder of the year, resulting in growth over last year.”

The collaboration with Korean Broadcast System and Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. includes the development of NextGen TV technology and Data Distribution as a Service (DDaaS) business opportunities using the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.

The veteran broadcast exec will oversee operations at Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Fox-CW duopoly in Oklahoma.

Scott Ehrlich, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s chief innovation officer, said that broadcasters are excited about NextGen TV because it will give them some of the benefits of streaming (a one-to-one interaction with a viewer) while retaining the benefits of broadcasting (a one-to-many blast to viewers). He said: “Streaming is just moving video over IP. If 3.0 is bringing internet protocol to broadcast, it’s essentially bringing broadcast into streaming.”

Sinclair moves her up from general sales manager to the top spot at its Nebraska ABC-Fox duopoly.

Tech executives from Warner Bros. Discovery, Sinclair, Hearst, Vizrt and Vice Media Group told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week the public cloud’s appeal is growing for content sharing and archiving workflows but cautioned the entire metadata process needs more care and attention to maximize cloud storage’s advantages.

Sinclair Broadcast Group promotes the sales director to lead its CBS-CW duopoly in the New York state capital.