Broadcasting Stocks

A detailed article appearing late Friday in The New Yorker that details alleged sexual misconduct by CBS Chairman/CEO Les Moonves continued to wreak havoc on the company's stock. One Wall Street financial house downgraded CBS shares over the matter, while CBS's Board of Directors opted to hire outside counsel for a probe of Moonves, who isn't going anywhere.

It's been a bruising end of July for some publicly traded stocks, notably Facebook and Beasley Broadcast Group. On Friday, streaming audio player Pandora joined the club. Why did the company's shares dip by nearly 7%? Zacks may be behind it.

Cumulus Media's grand return to the NASDAQ Global Market has been finalized. While Cumulus is already using the "CMIA" symbol and a value of $15, there's been no active trading of the company's stock. So, when's the big day for the company that successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection?

Thanks to a late afternoon rally, Beasley Broadcast Group ended a steep slide of its stock value by managing to recoup 5 cents in Thursday's trading. That lifts BBGI to $7.35 — a value $3.50 lower than where Beasley shares opened last Friday's trading session.

Beasley Media Group shares fell for the third consecutive day, as investors continue to punish the company for announcing a share offer -- and then pulling it -- after a bigger offer from the Bordes family wound up being priced at $7.50. BBGI finished Wednesday a little lower than that, but it could have been worse.

A D.C. Circuit Court ruling that tossed aside a challenge to the restoration by the FCC of its so-called "UHF Discount" helped a bevy of broadcast TV stocks see healthy gains Wednesday on Wall Street. Among the big winners: Nexstar Media Group ... which could make a good partner for Cox Media Group.

It was a historic day for Beasley Broadcast Group -- but not in a good way. Share volume for trades of its stock on Nasdaq reached nearly 12 times its average. This put an exclamation point on a remarkable sell-off that saw Beasley shares end the day down 17%. In midday trading, a more than 20% decline was seen.

U.S. financial markets saw mixed movement on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dippng 13.83, to 25,044.29. Nasdaq rose 21.67, to 7,841.87. While Beasley shares suffered a severe drop, most of the other activity was ho-hum.

On slightly lower than average volume, Emmis Communications shares finished Friday's trading with a 8.4% gain. This puts Emmis back on a growth track after a short dip seen this week. Still, Emmis is performing much better than it did across the first quarter of 2018.

Values for nearly all broadcast TV company stocks fell on Thursday, as the FCC moved forward with a Hearing Designation Order that could all but doom Sinclair Broadcast Group's merger with Tribune Media. Nexstar, Gray TV and CBS Corp. were caught up in the hubbub.

Townsquare Media has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission that reflect the radio and local digital media company's desire to initiate a tender offer valued at precisely $76,472,805.50. It involves a proposal to exchange eligible options for replacement options.

While some may privately believe that Tribune Media's future depends on a buyer, an aborted merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group could very well position another able-bodied suitor to show up on Michigan Avenue with a proposal. For Sinclair, the future may be a bit bleaker. Do investors feel this way? It appears so, based on Tuesday's activity on Wall Street.

Blame the FCC Chairman for dual nose-dives for Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media in Monday's trading. Within moments of the release of a statement from Ajit Pai that put the companies' merger into question, investors went into sell mode. At the Closing Bell, SBGI was down nearly 12%, while Tribune was off by close to 17%.

Emmis Communications stock was humming along in positive territory for most of Friday's trading session. Then, at 3:44pm Eastern, a sudden and sharp turn downward was seen. A slight recovery was seen, but Emmis was still down by nearly 10% on higher-than-average volume.

Nexstar Media Group shares soared to another new high on Thursday, one day following the release of a Reuters report that suggests buyout firm Apollo Global Management has expressed interest in acquiring the company. Volume was nearly twice its average, as NXST inches closer to its 1-year target estimate.