Business

E.W. Scripps-owned ABC affiliate WMAR Baltimore (DMA 26) will premiere a new, lifestyle program, Midday Maryland, on Monday Sept. 11 at noon. The locally produced show, hosted by Wyatt Everhart and Elsa […]

Fox-owned KRIV Houston (DMA 8) will debut The News Edge at 10 p.m. on Aug. 21. This Monday-Friday half-hour newscast will follow the station’s current late newscast, Fox 26 News […]

The Sinclair Broadcast Group and Ajit Pai, the chairman of the FCC, see eye-to-eye on the need to unleash television. Both are reaping big rewards.

He will oversee investments, M&A and corporate finance for all entertainment studios corporate entities.

With cable TV subscribers fleeing, the sports giant has to look for customers online. That’s not where the money is.

TV giants like Turner and Viacom have been experimenting with cutting down the number of commercials they air in shows. They theorize that viewers will be happier, and they could even charge more for fewer ads, increasing revenue in the long run. But so far, there is no clear evidence of a financial payoff.

The Tampa, Fla., PBS outlet owned by the University of South Florida will go off the air following the sale of its spectrum for $18.7 million in the FCC’s incentive auction. The school’s two FM stations will remain on the air.

Time Warner’s HBO last month offered $250,000 to cyber criminals who hacked into its computer system, asking them to extend a deadline for paying a much larger ransom, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. The note said that HBO was willing to make the payment “as a show of good faith,” but needed time to fund an account for sending payments in bitcoin digital currency or obtain account information from the hackers so it could use a conventional bank wire to transmit the funds.

For the many digital publishers who have been shifting their focus to video content, Facebook’s new “Watch” video platform is a sight for sore eyes.  Facebook, with its 2 billion users, is open for business, joining rival YouTube. And it is taking the risk out of the content-creation endeavor for many publishers, either by paying to offset their production costs or offering to license or buy their content outright, people familiar with the arrangements say.

The $302 million purchase of Bounce, Grit, Escape and Laff is “an authentication of the entire multicasting business,” which has needed a feel-good story. The deal also confirms Scripps’ willingness to take some chances in a TV station industry that has been more about consolidation than innovation.

National TV advertising revenues were down 1% in the second quarter — an improvement from the 3% decline in the first quarter. Yet challenges remain. The estimates came from Brian Wieser, senior research analyst for Pivotal Research Group, and were based on recent second-quarter earnings results from major media companies. “The traditional medium is unlikely to return any time soon,” he writes.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are in talks with the Television Academy about a new licensing deal for the Primetime Emmy Awards. The TV Academy has retained heavyweight lawyer Ken Ziffren, who led the previous two negotiations in 2002 and in 2010-11.

University of Missouri-owned NBC affiliate KOMU Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo. (DMA 136) is overhauling its morning newscast with a “focus on immediacy.” Starting Monday, KOMU 8 News Today will feature a […]

Disney’s announcement this week that it will launch two Internet-based streaming-TV services — one for sports and one for family fare — is a declaration of independence from cable and satellite companies that would have subscribers pay for hundreds of channels they may never watch.

The social media company reported worse-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday, with a loss that was steeper than expected and revenue that missed estimates, as it added fewer users than Wall Street anticipated. Snap added 7 million daily users during the second quarter — a slower rate than the 8 million added in the first quarter. Its shares fell more than 17% to around $11.40 in after-hours trading, below the all-time intraday low of $11.91 set during regular trading on Aug. 3.

When you consider that NBC, ESPN and others take advantage of regional sports nets and affiliated channels as a means of providing regional coverage for esports events, it begs the question “How can local TV stations participate?” That idea may have seemed far-fetched at a time when stations needed to program for broader audiences. However, the digital world has created the same possibilities for local broadcasters.

CBRE Group recently began marketing 1771 N St. NW in Washington to prospective buyers on behalf of the NAB, which plans to move to a new headquarters being developed for it by Monument Realty and Angelo, Gordon & Co. in the Capitol Riverfront area.

The local TV veteran will oversee Raycom’s NBC affiliate in Memphis.

It’s time again for classic cars and chrome. Scripps-owned ABC affiliate WXYZ Detroit (DMA 13) will broadcast exclusive coverage of the Woodward Dream Cruise presented by Ford, on Saturday, Aug. […]

Sony has announced that it has signed on seven more CBS affiliate stations for its virtual MVPD service, PlayStation Vue. With the deals, Vue users in Houston, New Orleans, Washington and San Antonio now have live streaming access to their local CBS stations. Other regions gaining CBS local access: Greensboro, N.C., as well as Tampa and Orlando, Fla.

Fox-owned WTVT Tampa Bay, Fla. (DMA 11) is adding Julian Johnson as a general assignment reporter on various newscasts, effective Sept. 11. Most recently, Johnson has been a general assignment […]