Stations Need Better Ratings, Targeted Ads
A new BIA/Kelsey study says that enhancing station ratings with third-party "Big Data” about viewers’ buying …
Jessell at large
E/I Rule For Diginets Is Unnecessary, Outdated
The FCC's 1996 requirement that stations air three hours a week of educational or informational programming was well meaning, but its …
MULTICASTING 2017 | PART 2
Bringing Justice To The Entire Country
That’s the goal of Steve Schiffman, Lonnie Cooper, John Ford and Barry Wallach who are moving the Justice Network diginet in that …
Ryvicker: What’s Not To Like About Nexstar
The Walls Fargo analyst reaffirms her Outperform rating for the station group's stock with a target of $85. "We could not be more …
Bush Will NOT Host Fox’s New ‘Top 30’ Show
Fox was busy today knocking down a story that it had selected the exiled Billy Bush to host its Top 30 newsmagazine, which is set to …
DMA 17 (Denver)
ND Holly Gauntt Jumps From KDVR To KMGH
Scripps has filled its news director vacancy at KMGH Denver by hiring Holly Gauntt from crosstown rival KDVR, a Tribune station. Gauntt grew …
Video Description Mandate Upped To 87 Hours
By an FCC vote today, leading networks will have to increase the hours of programming with video descriptions for the blind from 50 to 87.5 …
NAB’s Wharton Rips Microsoft Spectrum Grab
NAB chief spokesman Dennis Wharton calls Microsoft's push to permit broadband traffic on vacant TV channels the "height of arrogance" in …
Newspaper Group Targets Google, Facebook
The News Media Alliance, which represents leading newspaper publishers, is seeking an anti-trust exemption from Congress that will allow …
DMA 107
Gray Doubling Up In Tallahassee With WFXU
Gray is acquiring the Retro TV affiliate WFXU and its low-power companion for $600,000, according to an FCC filing.
Court Affirms FCC Cable Rate Deregulation
By affirming a 2015 FCC ruling, the federal appeals court in Washington will make it easier for cable operators to avoid regulation of their …
DMA 4
Univision Buys WMGM Philadelphia For $6M
Seller LocusPoint bought the fringe (Wildwood, N.J.) independent for $6 million in hopes of selling it in the incentive auction. That didn't …
Wells Fargo: It’s All Good At Scripps
After meeting with Scripps' top manager yesterday, Marci Ryvicker and her team of Wells Fargo analysts sounded all positive notes in a …
Nexstar Lost Tribune Bidding War To Sinclair
Between January and May, Nexstar outbid Sinclair three times in an effort to buy Tribune Media, but in the final round on May 6, Sinclair …
John Oliver Targets Right-Wing Sinclair News
Sinclair is "injecting Fox-worthy content into the mouths of your local news anchor," he warned in a 20-minute segment on Last Week Tonight. …
Jessell at Large
Safe Is The Word For Trump’s FCC, Thankfully
The newly constituted FCC is conservative and deregulatory, but in a way you would expect had any of the establishment Republicans won the …
Marquee Closes Buy, Names Gray COO
While it closes on the $5.6 million purchase of WNKY Bowling Green, Ky., it promotes the station's GM, Linda Gray, to COO of the station …
Trump Nominates Brendan Carr To FCC
President Trump has named the FCC's current general counsel as his pick to fill the final open Republican slot at the FCC. Brendan Carr's …
Updated 4:51 a.m. ET
Spin Offs Likely In Sinclair-Tribune Deal
The just-disclosed paperwork for the $6.6 billion Sinclair purchase of Tribune Media says Sinclair may have to sell stations in 10 markets …
Jessell at Large
Be Prepared To Defend Political Advertising
With elections looming in 2018 that look to generate lots of political advertising, broadcasters should be well versed in defending the …
DMAS 73 & 122
GM Holroyd Retiring From KAYU, KFFX-KCYU
At the end of the month, Doug Holroyd is ending a long TV career when he retires from leadership of Northwest Broadcasting's KAYU …
dmas 21, 77 & 106)
Ion Buys 3 Stations In Mo., S.C. And Idaho
The purchases of WRBU St. Louis; WZRB Columbia, S.C.; and KTRV Boise, Idaho, expand the group's portfolio to 63 stations in 58 markets, …
Top Of Mind At S&P: M&A, Retrans, Spot
S&P Global's 34th annual Radio and TV Summit last week addressed a range of topics, including the lack of consolidation following the …
Jessell at Large
Fox’s Hulu Deal Sets Disturbing Precedent
Fox has created a national feed of Fox programming that Hulu is substituting for Fox affiliates until they settle their …
S&P Global: Solid Retrans Rev Through ’23
They are predicted to climb to $12.8 billion, boosted by growing contributions from virtual MVPDs like DirecTV Now and Playstation Vue. …
JESSELL AT LARGE
Battle Over Local TV Ratings Gets Interesting
On the one side there’s comScore, the upstart ratings firm that’s making headway using data gleaned from cable and satellite …
Sinclair Turns To ComScore For All TV Ratings
In a letter to advertisers, EVP Steve Marks says the mega-station group will use comScore exclusively for audience measurement starting in …
Jessell at Large
Sinclair Poised To Become Major Syndie Force
When Sinclair melds with Tribune, it will surpass the Fox station group in terms of market reach and becomes, I believe, the first stop of …
DMA 2 : Los Angeles
$10M Zombie Station Sale Withdrawn
The seller of the spectrumless license and assets of KBEH Los Angeles to Meruelo Television for $10 million pulls the FCC application …
Court Asked To Stay FCC’s Ownership Action
Several advocacy groups led by Free Press have petitioned the federal appeals court in Washington for an emergency stay of the FCC April …
Jessell at Large
Road To FCC 3.0 Order Could Be Bumpy
Cable and satellite operators want nothing to do with ATSC 3.0 and are staking out positions at the FCC squarely at odds with broadcasting's …
Jessell at Large
The Three Disparate Visions Of ATSC 3.0
The Pearl station groups are betting on targeted advertising and see TV sets with consumer-friendly interfaces as a critical stepping …
Jessell at Large
Sinclair + Tribune = Transformative Force
With Tribune, Sinclair goes from a large collection of TV stations to a national broadcasting platform with ambitions that go far beyond …
Broadcasters Spell Out 3.0 Recommendations
"The commission should allow the market, not regulatory dictates, to determine whether or not Next Gen is successful," said the NAB, …
earnings call
Nexstar Details 1Q Minus Media General
According to CFO Tom Carter, 1Q revenue that excludes the contributions from the recently acquired Media General stations broke down …
Tribune Didn’t Make Sense For Nexstar
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook told analysts today: "We made an appraisal of Tribune at some point," he said. "I think you can safely assume since …
Jessell At Large
Fox Enthralled By Stations Again. But Why?
The news this week that Fox and Blackstone are forming a joint venture to acquire Tribune Media had researchers, analysts and plain old …
earnings call
Sinclair Seeing Weak Core In 1Q And 2Q
The company attributes the softness to weakness in the food and retail categories and the loss of revenue from for-profit technical …
Zombie Station Goes For $10M In Los Angeles
Hero Licenseco LLC, which sold the spectrum of KBEH Los Angeles for $146.6 million in the FCC incentive auction, now has a deal to sell that …
Jessell at Large
The Gleanings Of My NAB Week In Las Vegas
From speeches, sessions, cocktail parties and bars, I gained some insight that I can share with you on Chairman Pai's deregulatory …
NAB 2017
Pai Moves To Overhaul, ‘Modernize’ FCC Regs
NAB Show attendees liked what they heard from the new FCC chairman today, the introduction next month of an overarching review of the …
Jessell at Large
Lessons Learned From The Trump Campaign
There is unlikely to be another presidential campaign like the one that made Donald Trump our 45th president last year. But there are …
Sinclair Buying Bonten Stations For $240M
The deal will add Bonten Media Group’s 14 stations in eight markets that reach approximately 1% of the U.S. TV households. Sinclair's …
Ion’s Burgess Lauds Pai For Ownership Relief
Ion Media CEO Brandon Burgess commended FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for restoring the UHF discount in calculating compliance with the 39% …
updated
FCC Takes Lid Off National Station Ownership
It did so by restoring the 50% discount on the coverage of UHF stations in calculating groups' coverage. With the discount, a group can now …
Jessell at Large
Post-Auction TV Won’t Be That Different
While a number of broadcasters made some big bucks in the incentive auction and almost 1,000 will have to change frequencies in the spectrum …
dma 50
Raycom Buys WVUE New Orleans For $51.8M
Tom Benson's Fox affiliate will be the first station in the market for Raycom, which has operated it since 2013.
Jessell at Large
Sizing Up Broadcasting’s New World Order
By my labored calculations, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to restore the UHF discount would allow 10 of the 11 largest station groups to …
FCC To Restore U Discount, Up Cap To 78%
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says he wants to restore the national ownership cap's UHF discount at the FCC's April 20 meeting and he has the …
Tribune, Sinclair Pick Up Daily Mail TV Show
Sources say Sinclair and Tribune have agreed to carry the show from Dr. Phil McGraw and his son Jay, first announced in June 2015, giving it …