the HOT List

The broadcast TV station owner and the under-construction Assembly TV and film production center parent has not only named a new Chief Revenue Officer and new Chief Marketing Officer, but also a Senior Managing Vice President.

In a major reversal and a sign that Congressional legislation just introduced last week in the House of Representatives and Senate carries some weight, even before any vote on the bills, Ford Motor Company has reconsidered removing AM radio from future vehicles in the U.S. and will now include the technology in their newer model cars.

One day after Gray Television announced who its new Chief Operations Officer will be, an SEC filing made by the publicly traded company detailing her official compensation was made. We've got the details on what this former WWL-TV standout during Hurricane Katrina will earn.

The funding deadline for Standard General to successfully complete its proposed $8 billion acquisition of TEGNA was Monday, May 22. What will Tuesday bring for Soohyung Kim, who owns the hedge fund? What's ahead for TEGNA and, perhaps, the FCC, which declined to put the much-discussed deal to a full FCC vote? Answers arrived just before 5pm Eastern.

A former NTIA figure who in January became a Senior Advisor for International Information and Communications Policy at the U.S. State Department has officially been nominated by President Biden to serve as a FCC Commissioner. For Anna Gomez, the path to being sworn in as the fifth Commissioner and, importantly, third Democrat on the FCC will likely be smoother than the woman Biden previously chose as his nominee.

While more civil rights leaders and clergymen have surfaced as TEGNA transaction supporters, a key U.S. Senator has again written to the Commission expressing her desire for a full-scale examination of the multibillion-dollar deal and not to rush things. Unfortunately, for Soo Kim, that's no longer an option.

With ATSC 3.0 upgrades reshaping the broadcast television industry, the Adell family is selling its UHF station serving Detroit. The buyer is a close shared services partner of the nation's No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations.

He has been familiar to broadcast media leaders from at least fall 1992, thanks to his $1 million investment in the radio company Randy Michaels was associated with — Jacor Communications. Outside of broadcast media, he is remembered as a billionaire "real estate magnate." Now, Sam Zell is being mourned, as he has died due to complications from a recent illness at the age of 81.

With the acquisition of The CW Network by Nexstar Media Group, a big overhaul of the prime-time programming skein has been seen. With many shows not returning and the arrival of LIV golf on the network for weekend viewing growth, Nexstar head Perry Sook is now ready to create a "Big Five" group of TV networks by unveiling The CW's first-ever seven-day schedule.

The fight for the survival of AM radio has just entered an important, pivotal new chapter, and it sees unlikely political leaders on Capitol Hill coming together in a rare show of bipartisanship to ensure there is AM radio access in every vehicle in the U.S.

A Thursday meeting at the FCC on two remaining issues the hedge fund led by Soohyung Kim believes are holding up Standard General's proposed acquisition of TEGNA has been scheduled. And, ahead of that meeting, "new disclosures and commitments" have been provided in response to what Standard General calls "a response to the FCC's "invitation to negotiation."

A representative for JCIR, which handles investor relations communications for the company, acknowledged this, noting only that there are "multiple reasons" for why a company would put a stop to the trading of its publicly held shares. What are those reasons? An internal e-mail ahead of an official announcement notes that Audacy Inc.'s share price is so low, the NYSE is initiating a proceeding to delist its stock.

Publicly traded media and telecom companies in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda raised $2.46 billion through capital offerings in March. But, the latest data from S&P Global Market Intelligence data and analysis show a big year-over-year slowdown in capital raising in all categories but one.

It's official: The CEO role at Twitter has been given to the Chairman of NBCUniversal's Advertising and Partnerships group. An announcement from NBCU early Friday confirmed that Linda Yaccarino was leaving that position, effective immediately. Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted the news about Yaccarino later in the day.

It's widely known that there are fewer active brokers in the media industry than at any point in the recent past. Now, S&P Global Market Intelligence has confirmed it, even with a revision to its data just completed by Volker Moerbitz. The 2022 numbers come in lower than at any point since 1985, when its Kagan unit began its broker rankings.