Business

Young talent is fleeing local television, feeling overworked, dramatically underpaid and no longer lured by TV’s once-gleaming promise. Executives need to act now to stop the exodus, says an industry talent recruitment and retention expert.

Tegna’s stations were blacked out to Dish TV’s 3 million subscribers Wednesday evening after the two companies were unable to reach a new retransmission deal. The blackout affects Dish customers in 53 markets.

AC Dotdash is acquiring Meredith Corp. in an all-cash deal valued at $2.7 billion, the companies announced Wednesday. Dotdash is the publishing division of Barry Diller’s IAC holding company. Meredith’s wide-ranging portfolio includes publications like People, InStyle and Real Simple. The combined company will be called Dotdash Meredith.

Stocks edged higher Wednesday as Wall Street shook off volatility. The market rallied back from a morning loss shortly after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell offered Democrats an emergency short-term extension to the federal debt ceiling into December.

Claudia Eller: It will be a downright fiasco if the leadership of Hollywood’s studios, networks and streamers doesn’t do everything in its collective bargaining power to prevent the labor union representing camera operators, editors, production designers, grips and other workers from going out on strike.

How Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration’s choice to be the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, became a progressive foe of Big Tech.

Negotiations between the studios and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees are expected to continue on Wednesday as the sides try to avoid a strike that would shut down production and immediately cripple Hollywood’s content pipeline. In what could be taken as a sign of progress, the two sides are not saying much publicly about the negotiations.

The purchase of KVME Bishop, Calif., by Weigel Broadcasting tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

The broadcaster is telling the satellite provider’s customers that with an extension to the current carriage agreement set to expire, they could lose access to its stations.

Stocks rose on Wall Street Tuesday, led by tech, banks and the price of oil. The rally, which lost some momentum in the final hour of trading, left the S&P 500 1.1% higher. About 73% of the companies in the benchmark index rose.

It’s typical for Hollywood’s labor unions to support for each other during labor disputes, but the support for IATSE during its current contract dispute with film and TV producers goes beyond the usual labor solidarity. That’s because the below-the-line workers’ union could be setting a standard for all future Hollywood contracts in the streaming era.

The multi-pronged commitment seeks to apply research, data and quantifiable targets to effect societal change, starting with racial equity and mental health.

It plans to soon launch a local news operation to serve Spanish-speaking audiences in the New Mexico DMA.

“Opportunities Await — Ready … Reinvent Revenue” seminar, free for MFM members, will be held virtually Oct. 19-20.

CEO Carlos Watson has dismissed reports that his embattled company is shutting down, but it remains to be seen if wary advertisers will come rushing back.

Stocks fell Monday as tech retreated and the price of oil hit a seven-year high. The S&P 500 fell 1.3%. Big communication companies also fell.

YouTube on Monday introduced an option for performance advertisers that allows them to drive and measure conversions on connected television (CTV) by increasing the ability for viewers to shop from the messages in the ads they see on the screen. Now, for the first time, performance advertisers can take advantage of YouTube on CTV to drive and measure conversion through the expansion of Video action campaigns.

In an overwhelming show of union solidarity, IATSE members have voted to authorize a nationwide strike against film and TV productions if last-ditch negotiations with the AMPTP fail to produce a fair deal. The vote — 98% in favor — now gives IATSE President Matthew Loeb indisputable authority to call a strike if he and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini can’t reach an agreement in the coming days.

After less than two years as Hulu’s president, Kelly Campbell has left the Disney-controlled streaming service. Campbell’s sudden departure was announced to staff by Rebecca Campbell, Disney’s chairman of international operations and direct-to-consumer, who said that Kelly was no longer with Hulu “effective immediately” but did not provide a specific reason.

Facebook said late Monday that “the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change” and that there is “no evidence that user data was compromised as a result” of the outage. The company apologized and said it is working to understand more about the cause, which began around 11:40 a.m. ET Monday.

As the business of broadcasting continues to add platforms, pressure grows to produce more content more efficiently. The Weather Company, an IBM business, has responded with a major technology announcement, set for Oct 12. TVNewsCheck and The Weather Company will follow up this announcement on Oct. 28 with an in-depth conversation about what the future of digital weather storytelling will look like. Join us.

A trio of TVB Forward sessions last week laid out the golden promises of 2022 political spending and the ongoing growth of sports betting, offsetting auto’s precipitous fall.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for two general managers, three sales managers, an assistant news director, a producer, a maintenance tech and a master control op.

The story behind the story is about the elite investors who plowed millions into a media dream without much due diligence, persuaded by the charm of Ozy’s head, Carlos Watson.

Major TV networks notched a win recently when a New York federal court permanently barred streaming service Locast from transmitting broadcast content over the internet, but the ruling could also leave the door open for successor companies to attempt alternative streaming tactics, experts say.