the HOT List

With the filing of the asset purchase agreement signed by Waterman Broadcasting and Hearst with the FCC, deal details pertaining to the sale of NBC affiliate WBBH-TV in Fort Myers-Naples-Marco Island are now available — including the purchase price. It's enormous.

That's the welcome news from PQ Media, which has released its Global Consumer Media Usage Forecast 2023-2027 report. One key takeaway: Television (including live, digital, streaming and Over-the-Top video) remains the most used of the 11 media platforms that PQ Media tracks around the world.

In her Dish ruling finding no racial discrimination was used in its retransmission consent negotiations with DuJuan McCoy's Circle City Broadcasting, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt discussed specifically what Dish was prepared to pay the owner of Indianapolis TV stations WISH and WNDY. Dish has now failed in its request to strike Pratt's revelation from the public record.

Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers have sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel seeking answers to what they call — as do other prominent GOP figures and the NAB — an action "effectively blocking" Standard General's purchase of TEGNA. Leading Democrats have spoken out against the deal, making it a politically charged matter.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has dismissed a request from Standard General L.P. to consider the Hearing Designation of its proposed acquisition of TEGNA as a final determination the court may use to make its ruling — a decision that could put more pressure on the hedge fund led by Soohyung Kim to get the transaction completed before financing expires on May 22.

Thanks to funding from Bridge News LLC Chairman Manoj Bhargava, the creator of 5-hour ENERGY, the parent of the NewsNet digital multicast TV network has gone on a shopping spree since September 2022. The latest purchase, submitted for FCC approval on Wednesday, involves a group of low-power TV stations being sold by a diginet pioneer.

It's been a somewhat bumpy ride for Nexstar Media Group stockholders over the past six months, but a just-released report from S&P Global Ratings could bring some positive vibes to a company that still has one of the best-performing issues on Wall Street — even with the valuation gyrations.

Sinclair Broadcast Group intends to implement a reorganization in which a new holding company, Sinclair Inc., would become the publicly traded parent of Sinclair Broadcast Group and its subsidiaries.

At the 2022 NAB Show, the biggest news among broadcast technology executives was the announcement that Thomson Broadcast has signed a definitive agreement to acquire GatesAir from an affiliate of The Gores Group. Now, the man who has served as CEO of GatesAir since 2017 is retiring, and his successor has just been named.

To help ease the burden and avoid paying for too many subscriptions, consumers are turning to money-saving measures like password sharing and pausing subscriptions when they’ve caught up on their favorite shows. But, are more than pauses being seen?

The nation's biggest advocate for broadcast media companies on Capitol Hill has responded to the decision by Standard General, TEGNA and Cox Media Group to sue the FCC. It's filed an amicus brief supporting the challenge.

Two days ago, Standard General, the hedge fund led by Soohyung Kim, filed suit against the FCC in a Washington, D.C., Federal Appeals Court as part of its efforts to keep its TEGNA privatization effort on track. That hasn't stopped the Commission in any way from moving forward with its Hearing Designation Order.

The LPTV Broadcasters Association may not be pleased with the move, despite the legislation's name, but the FCC has just initiated a proceeding to implement the "Low Power Protection Act," enacted on January 5.

One of the two new Assistant VPs named by Gray Media Group has been Station Manager for two stations formerly owned by Meredith Corporation. The other also comes from Meredith, and spent many years as the Marketing Manager for two other properties now in the Gray family.

The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) has unveiled its list of winners of the 48th annual Gracie Awards, which recognize outstanding programming and individual achievement "created by women, for women, and about women in all facets of media in news and entertainment."