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 Media Bureau of the FCC on Friday shared its new compliance date for revised sponsorship identification requirements for foreign government-provided programming from a Second Report & Order linked to MB Docket No. 20-299.

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. 

The DIRECTV app includes access to its Genre Packs, free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels, and "Signature Packages," as well as on-demand content and a personalized viewing experience directly through the TV.

The first weekly looks at the play count for commercials airing on broadcast and cable TV stations, respectively, from Media Monitors are out. At Spot Cable, there's an auto insurance specialist that has soared to the top. That said, there's one brand that saw big gains last week at both Spot TV and Spot Cable.

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.