CLOSING BELL
Dow Climbs 701, Nasdaq Gains 140, S&P Rises 61
Wall Street leaped Friday, nearly escaping its bear market after a strong jobs report. Stocks got a boost after a report showed employers unexpectedly accelerated their hiring last month. It’s the latest signal that the job market remains remarkably solid despite much higher interest rates, and it offers a hefty pillar of support for an economy that’s begun to slow.
Tanya Vea’s new position is effective Aug. 1. She succeeds Darrell Brown, who is retiring at the same time.
Elan Closs Stephens has been named the acting chair of the BBC, replacing Richard Sharp who recently unveiled his resignation, effective June 27, following a report that said he had breached appointment rules by not fully disclosing his role in a loan given to former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Tegna said it received 8.64 million of its shares from Standard General, whose effort to buy the broadcaster failed as regulatory review extended beyond the data its financing expired. Standard General’s deal with Tegna called for a $136 million termination fee, and Tegna said the shares it received satisfied that obligation.
Kimberly Gilberti, a key executive in the launch of Nielsen’s Nielsen One measurement system, has joined Experian Marketing Services as chief product officer. Gilberti joins Experian as it is enhancing its product offerings by using technology from Tapad, which was acquired by Experian in 2020. Gilberti spent 23 years at Nielsen, which lost a number of senior executives at the end of last year.
Exclusives
A federal judge on Thursday disqualified himself from hearing Walt Disney Co.’s civil suit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials, citing a small financial interest in the company by a relative.
Widely used during the pandemic, AMC Theatres On Demand is now part of NBCU’s Fandango-operated movie sale and rental service.
In a symbolic rebuke of Netflix’s top executives, company shareholders voted against approving the compensation packages of leaders including co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. At the streamer’s June 1 annual shareholders meeting, investors failed to approve the proposed exec pay packages for 2023. But the vote was a non-binding “say-on-pay” advisory measure, meaning Netflix’s board can disregard the result. The board had unanimously recommended voting for the 2023 compensation plans.
Judge Christopher Lopez made the ruling on Thursday in Houston. Diamond Sports, which owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner, has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed in March. Diamond said in a financial filing last fall it had debt of $8.67 billion.
JESSELL AT LARGE
In Killing Kim’s Deal For Tegna, The FCC Showed Its Prejudice
Thwarted in his bid to buy Tegna by an overlong and deal-breaking FCC review process, Soo Kim (and his right hand Deb McDermott) is indeed a victim of prejudice and discrimination. Only it’s probably not the sort you may think.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has officially become Sinclair, a new holding company, following the exchange of Sinclair Broadcast Group stock for Sinclair shares, effective June 1. The company announced plans to set up the new holding company in April.
The award, NABLF’s highest individual citation, is presented in recognition of honorees’ charitable work and public service.
Dedrick Russell is returning to Gray Television’s CBS affiliate WBTV Charlotte, N.C., as executive producer of community content where the station says “he will have an integral role in the […]
The owners of All3Media, Britain’s largest independent TV production company, are exploring options that include cashing out on their joint venture in a deal worth more than 1 billion pounds ($1.26 billion), three people familiar with the matter said. Liberty Global and Warner Bros. Discovery are considering selling their stakes in All3Media to a third party or one of them buying the other out, the sources said.
Facebook parent company Meta is threatening to remove news content on its platforms Instagram and Facebook in California if the state legislature passes a new proposal that would make tech companies pay publishers for news content. “If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers,” reads a statement posted to Twitter by Meta spokesperson Andy Stone.
KARE President-GM Bill Dallman announced that he is leaving Tegna’s Minneapolis NBC affiliate nearly two years to the day he arrived. In a memo obtained by TVSpy, Dallman told staff they’d be hearing from Tegna Senior Vice President Larry Delia about what’s next.
John Rouse, who has been with The Walt Disney Co. for the past 33 years, most recently as EVP of affiliate relations for the ABC Television Network, is stepping down at the end of July. Rouse announced his upcoming retirement Wednesday in a note to ABC affiliates and station group heads. The position, which reports to Justin Connolly, president, Disney Platform Distribution, will be refilled.
Disney reached its 7,000 layoffs goal, handing out notices to the remaining employees impacted in its third round of job cuts last Friday ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Mouse House’s target was to conclude these companywide layoffs, which focused most heavily on the media divisions and left the parks largely untouched, ahead of the summer. The company still has plans to eliminate more roles internationally over a period of time, according to a source close to the situation.
CLOSING BELL
Dow Drops 135, Nasdaq Loses 82, S&P Falls 26
Wall Street slipped Wednesday as stocks slumped worldwide over worries about the strength of the global economy and inflation.
Frustrated by job losses, office policies and rising carbon emissions, white-collar Amazon workers are demanding more from leadership.
Today, NBCUniversal announced that Elyssa Byck will join NBCUniversal Advertising Sales & Partnerships as senior vice president, enterprise partnerships and operations, reporting directly to Krishan Bhatia, president-chief business officer. NBCU said in this newly […]
The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation (NABLF) says award-winning ABC News broadcaster Gio Benitez will host of the 2023 Celebration of Service to America Awards. The ceremony, which honors […]
Women In Media (WiM) has chosen Juliane Grosso to receive its Women In Media’s 2023 Icon Award. Grosso is the CEO of Cine Gear Expo which she founded with her late husband, […]
Citing “macroeconomic factors,” Dentsu this morning became the latest major agency holding company to revise its 2023 ad outlook downward. Dentsu now estimates global ad spending will rise 3.3%, down half a point from the 3.8% it projected in its last forecast in December 2022. Dentsu also reduced its U.S. at growth projection for the year down nearly a percentage point, to 2.6% from the 3.7% growth rate it predicted in its year-end 2022 forecast.
Diamond Sports, which owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner, said in a statement Tuesday that it decided “not to provide additional funding to the San Diego RSN that would enable it to make the rights payment to the San Diego Padres during the grace period and will no longer be broadcasting Padres games after Tuesday.” The Padres become the first team that MLB will take over production of its broadcasts. MLB set up a local media department during the offseason to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Diamond Sports, which took place in March.
WEEK ENDING MAY 29
Station Trading Roundup: 1 Deal, $1,000,000
The purchase of WSNN-LD Sarasota, Fla., by Nexstar Media Group tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.
CLOSING BELL
Dow Drops 51, Nasdaq Rises 42, S&P Finishes Flat
Wall Street churned to a mixed finish on Tuesday. Tuesday marked the U.S. stock market’s first trading since President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal to allow the U.S. government to borrow more money, which would let it avoid a default on its debt. They now must convince Congress to approve it before the U.S. government runs out of cash to pay its bills, which could happen as soon as Monday.
