Radio & Television Business Report

The big takeaway for the three-month period ending September 30? Ad revenues soared and enjoyed the fastest pace since the final stage of the post-COVID rebound in the first quarter of 2022. That said, broadcast media's performance was a bit different.

In one week, customers to Verizon Fios cable TV services in two cities where Cox Media Group owns stations could be left in the dark. That's because the TV stations' owner and the MVPD can't seem to be in agreement on terms for a new retransmission consent accord.

With The E.W. Scripps Co. under a hostile takeover attempt by Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group awaiting a regulatory nod for its industry-changing proposed merger with TEGNA, Gray Media is moving forward with an initiative that adjusts that media company's indebtedness, with repayment due in seven years.

Netflix, born out of a DVD-by-mail service, is acquiring Warner Bros. — including its film and television studios, the HBO Max platform in competition with Netflix, and the HBO cable TV network, from the David Zaslav-led Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount had questioned the sale process' "fairness and accuracy."

It’s the creation of Jonathan Katz, who founded the former Katz Broadcasting some 15 years ago and sold it to Scripps Networks in December 2020. Free TV Networks, with over-the-air digital broadcast networks and "FAST" channels at its heard, will soon be a sibling to the newly renamed MS NOW.

The radio industry is rolling out new in-car measurement of audio content consumption, and the Radio Advertising Bureau is giddy about it. Why? This "will dramatically change how broadcasters prove value to advertisers," the organization insists.

When core advertising remains a challenge and there aren't a lot of digital or political dollars to count on, what does one do? For SBS, the answer was cutting expenses and a key non-essential asset sale. The result? Third quarter income more than doubled, despite a dip in year-over-year net revenue.

Ten Crystal Radio Award winners will be chosen from the finalists by a panel of judges representing the broadcast industry, community service organizations and public relations firms. The awards will be presented during a special ceremony at the 2026 NAB State Leadership Conference.

As September ended, an AM/FM combo serving a small community on the western slopes of New York's Catskill Mountains were poised for a resurrection, after Townsquare Media shuttered them. Bold Gold Media Group had acquired the properties. Now, the company has formally taken over the radio stations.

The Chief of the Audio Division within the FCC's Media Bureau has denied a petition filed by Townsquare Media to renew the license of a 1-watt FM translator serving the Berkshires city of Pittsfield, Mass. However, the licensee has entered into a Consent Decree with the Commission in order to win it. 

It's a unique 3kw FM radio stations with no less than eight FM boosters assigned to it, so that it may overcome terrain concerns and best reach the Springfield, Mass., market from its city of license, Northampton. At present, the station is silent. But, that could change once a new owner takes control.

It is one of the largest-ever media transactions to be seen in modern times, and it will bring HBO, HBO Max and the Warner Bros. studio to Netflix.  Financial terms of the agreement and how WBD shareholders will be impacted were shared along with the acquisition announcement early Friday.

More than 100 stations owned and/or operated by the nation's largest single owner of broadcast TV stations are preparing to air their own New Year's Even special between 11pm on December 31 and 3:30am on January 1, Eastern time. Partner stations are also in the mix — including a former ABC affiliate in South Florida.

There's an industry shift in media and entertainment companies' perspective on how to store their file footage and archival data, with some 85% of respondents to a first-ever global "State of Media Archiving" survey noting they plan to shift to "a horizontally integrated approach to their asset and media management."

Ad tech platform Taboola has reached a new partnership with LG Ad Solutions, one that will allow it to offer Performance Enhancer, a product designed to bridge the gap between premium TV exposure and measurable digital outcomes.

U.S.-based employers cut thousands of jobs during the month of November. In fact, the reduction-in-force initiatives resulted in a 24% rise in job cuts on a year-over-year basis. Here's the silver lining: the November 2025 job cuts are down 53% from those announced in October.