Radio & Television Business Report

It's a company that describes itself as a "systems integrator for safe, scalable beyond-visual line of sight operations for unmanned and autonomous aircraft." It is also an increasingly important technology entity to the broadcast TV industry, which explains why The E.W. Scripps Co. is teaming for a pilot project.

Fresh off a Senate Commerce Committee gathering that saw Democrats gang up on Chairman Brendan Carr by vociferously condemning his leadership, the House E&C Committee will be holding its own FCC Oversight Hearing next week.

Advertising has entered the artificial intelligence age in a whole new way, thanks to a partnership between NBCUniversal and Comcast's FreeWheel unit; independent agency RPA; and Newton Research. With the four entities working together, one can now buy "premium video" using agentic AI across both linear and digital platforms.

The Video Advertising Bureau is recommending the choice of either "Households" or "Persons 2+" as new co-standards for video audience guarantees. The recommended move "evolves the legacy buy/sell practice of guarantees on narrower, linear-TV-centric standards such as Adults 25-54," says the VAB.

A group of subscribers to Charter's Spectrum MVPD have filed a class action complaint with a U.S. District Court seeking a jury trial on the grounds that the company engaged in unfair competition, violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and fraud. Why? They say a "Broadcast TV Surcharge" is unlawful.

Many former listeners and radio industry brethren are remembering the accomplishments of Jerry Cesak, who unexpectedly passed away on January 4. As one-half of the "Jeff & Jer Showgram," the man also known as "Jerry St. James" was heard in San Diego for many years, following stints in Chicago and Detroit.

An independent omni-channel advertising measurement platform used to "verify, attribute and optimize" audio, streaming and video campaigns is now being used by the radio broadcasting company with majority control held by Soros Fund Management.

Just one month after his brother, Tom Hicks, passed away, Steve Hicks has died, Streamline Publishing has confirmed. Hicks served as CEO of Capstar Broadcasting, one of the foundational units of what is today iHeartMedia. He also led a pioneering interactive digital radio service.

The Copyright Royalty Judges have confirmed that they've started three proceedings that will eventually determine "reasonable rates and terms" for the use of sound recordings — including how much satellite radio service provider Sirius XM and public broadcasting entities will be asked to fork over between 2028 and 2032.

FM Broadcast Auction 109 is now complete, and as a result the Table of FM Allotments maintained by the FCC needed an edit. That's just transpired, with a Commission Order amending the table to remove vacant FM frequencies auctioned off. 

She's been associated with Beasley Media Group in a key revenue-focused C-Suite role. Now, she's working alongside Connoisseur Media head Jeff Warshaw as a Senior Vice President for the Western Region, taking a particular focus on the privately held company's Northern California broadcast assets.

Production professionals in radio, television, and streaming should be able to ensure that dialogues are always clearly understandable to the audience. Therefore, the Fraunhofer IDMT-HSA in Oldenburg developed the "Listening Effort Meter" (LE-Meter) for the objective evaluation of speech intelligibility.

At CES 2026, DirecTV Advertising introduced the programmatic enablement of inventory from DirecTV Remote, a move it says makes it easier for brands to reach TV audiences on the go.

U.S.-based employers announced 35,553 job cuts in December — down 50% from the 71,321 job cuts announced in November and down by 8% from the 38,792 job cuts announced in the same month of 2024. That's according to data released Thursday from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

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The fitness industry is positioned for "significant expansion" in 2026, with health clubs projected to grow 8%.  What does this mean for audio advertising? "This surge creates a compelling opportunity," declares MCCG Invest, a part of The Media Audit.