Business

It’s just possible that Rupert Murdoch and his boutique media joint might be onto something that other media companies should be thoroughly investigating, too.

Cox Media Group’s TV rep firm promotes her from chief operating officer to oversee operations.

Politico, the 15-year-old digital media company covering politics and policy, is being sold to German publishing giant Axel Springer. The price was more than $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the terms. Axel Springer also will also acquire the remaining 50% share of its joint venture Politico Europe, and the tech news website Protocol from current owner Robert Albritton.

Wireless subscriber growth has been off the charts over the past year, with second quarter increases nearing records as mobile service providers like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile blanket the market with free offerings. But as subscriber numbers have surged, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research report that those new customers are a volatile bunch, meaning the industry may soon have to decide whether to keep heavy promotions going just to maintain the status quo, or risk losing them by turning off the promotional spigot.

The Tegna NBC affiliate taps Ogas to play a strategic role in supporting and championing diversity, equity and inclusion.

NBCUniversal intends to identify a group of partners for its ambitious measurement plans by mid September — and traditional measurement companies like Nielsen and Comscore are in the mix, the company disclosed Tuesday.

The purchase of W29EO-D Crozet, Va., by Lockwood Broadcasting tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

It’s the first partnership between a college bowl game and a company that specializes in sports betting. Caesars will host fan lounges at the Fiesta Bowl in suburban Glendale and at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, which is played at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.

The benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.2% Tuesday after a relatively quiet day in the market. Banks and a mix of retailers, travel companies and restaurant chains accounted for much of the upward move. Those gains offset a slide in health care companies, household goods makers and technology stocks.

NBCUniversal has created a new executive position to oversee diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across its television and streaming brands. Longtime ViacomCBS inclusion executive Jeanne Mau is moving to NBCU to serve as its first senior vice president, TV programming, diversity, equity & inclusion. She will dual report to Universal Studio Group chair Pearlena Igbokwe and entertainment content chair Susan Rovner.

The awards will be presented to Byron Allen, Pierre Bouvard, Ralph Oakley, Christine Travaglini and Dennis Wharton at the Broadcasters Foundation Breakfast on Tuesday, Oct. 12, During the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

ViacomCBS’s sell-off of its iconic real estate properties may next include the CBS Studio Center, popularly known as the “CBS Radford lot,” in Studio City, Calif. In a memo to staffers, CBS CEO George Cheeks confirmed that it had hired commercial real estate firm JLL to explore a potential sale of the Radford campus.

Executives from WarnerMedia, Sinclair, CBS Owned Stations and Hearst will look at the financial implications of full and partial migrations to the cloud in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s virtual TV2025: Monetizing the Future event on Sept. 23. Register here.

Stocks rose broadly on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, after spending much of the day within striking distance of notching its own record high. The benchmark index ended less than 0.2% below its all-time high set a week ago.

Stephen Eaton, a media executive with more than 25 years of local broadcast experience, will oversee KSVI and Mission Broadcasting’s KHMT in Montana.

Sinclair moves him from sales director at its Columbus, Ohio, duopoly to lead operations at the Fox and CW stations in Nebraska.

NBCUniversal, which has sparred publicly with Nielsen in recent years, has issued a call for “measurement independence” in the media industry. In an open letter, NBCU did not say it would outright shun Nielsen, which remains the dominant force in measurement despite challenges from Comscore and others. But it urged all measurement companies to offer alternative means of tracking viewing across linear TV and digital platforms.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings in news, sales, marketing, digital, engineering and media analysis.

RTDNA will be the canary in the coal mine for journalism conferences in September, when it convenes in Denver without the Society of Professional Journalists, its longtime partner. Executive Director Dan Shelley discusses plans for navigating the live event amid the Delta surge and the most pressing dangers and prerogatives facing journalists as unsteady times continue and attacks on reporters persist.

Stocks ended higher on Wall Street Friday, but still posted weekly losses. The S&P 500 index rose 0.8%, but still posted a weekly loss of 0.6% after two weeks of gains. Even so, the benchmark index is less than 1% from the all-time high it set Monday.

The bold QUEBE experiment Hauser undertook in Columbus, Ohio, in 1977 for Warner Communications helped usher in the modern era of multichannel digital cable television.

Focused tours on a variety of topics will take place Oct. 10-13 at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Each tour will be followed by a professional networking session.

Dave Morgan: “There was a time when the media measurement market was pretty simple. You had Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers for newspaper ad buys, BPA for magazines, Arbitron for radio and Nielsen for TV. No more. Digital disruption, the rise of performance advertising — and, most importantly, massive and accelerating audience fragmentation across an expanding number of media channels, suppliers and devices — are to blame.”

When Paw Patrol: The Movie hits theaters and the Paramount+ streaming service today, it will kick off one of ViacomCBS’s most ambitious efforts to take on Disney in the streaming wars. The release of the feature film based on the animated children’s series about a group of rescue dogs who protect their community, will be backed by an “eight figure” marketing blitz, with 1,800 TV ads across channels like Nickelodeon. It involves partnerships with almost 200 companies — from Kellogg’s cereal to Best Western hotels — on tie-ins for toys and other products, many of which will come with a free trial of Paramount+.