Items from the television business: CBS has gotten OTT participation from a dozen television groups; Meredith, Sinclair and Nexstar have dates with shareholders and analysts, Sinclair is getting a loan and Discovery has signed up with Rentrak.
* The CBS OTT initiative is being joined by affiliates of 12 TV groups – 55% of US households will be in CBS All Access territory on stations owned by Dispatch, Graham Media, Gray, Hearst, Lilly, Meredith, Morgan Murphy, Morris Network, Neuhoff Media, Nexstar, Raycom Media and Withers.
* Meredith Corporation has entered the quarterly results calendar – it will reveal performance metrics for Q3 2015 (most other companies will be in their first quarter) on Thursday 4/23/15 at 11AM eastern.
* Sinclair is on the calendar to report Q1 2015 results. Its conference call with shareholders and analysts will be on Wednesday 5/6/15 at 9:30AM eastern.
* Nexstar has joined the Q1 2015 results reporting calendar – it will meet with shareholders and analysts Thursday 5/7/15 at 10AM eastern.
* Sinclair is looking for a $350M term loan which will allow it to pay revolver debt and handle other general corporate matters. Maturation date is targeted for July 2021.
* Discovery Communication has inked a deal with Rentrak, which will include both TV ratings and information on the automotive industry to help in its efforts to sell to that key advertising sector.
