the HOT List

The owner of WISH-8 and WNDY-20 in Indianapolis, through his legal counsel at Bose McKinney & Evans, on Tuesday proved good to his word by filing an appeal of a U.S. District Court decision that presented a victory to both DirecTV and Dish Network, and dismissed twin racial discrimination claims filed against the digital broadcast satellite service providers.

“I’m very happy with the start of 2023 from both an operational and financial perspective," said Wade Davis, CEO of TelevisaUnivision, the world's biggest Spanish-language multimedia company.  He has an influx of Mexican Pesos to thank for the positive first quarter fiscal report.

“The Commission cannot continue to ignore its clear duty under the law,” said NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt.

When it comes to U.S. cable television news networks, polarizing opinions have defined the difference between FOX News Channel and CNN in recent years. Today, however, each of the MVPD-distributed channels have one thing in common. Each of the network's most high-profile anchor-personalities have been dismissed by their respective employers.

Now that the asset purchase agreement has been signed, some market analysts are drawing attention to the valuation of KROI-FM, serving Houston from the south. Was it a steal of a deal, or was the price SBS is paying a fair price for a Black Gospel station with various formats to its name under Urban One ownership?

A 57-page Mandamus Request was submitted with the court on March 28. On Friday, it was denied. This puts the proposed TEGNA transaction, which also sees Cox Media Group majority owner Apollo Global Management take on a significant non-voting majority stake in a "new TEGNA," in serious peril.

Even as KROI and KTHT in Houston were placed in a trust, Urban One confirmed that had agreed to sell KROI “to a minority-owned broadcaster that is a new entrant to the Houston market.” All eyes turned to the company that recently acquired a pair of Florida FMs — divestitures tied to Cox Media Group. Late Thursday, SBS was confirmed as the buyer.

Brian Lawlor has just landed the first significant rights agreement as head of the recently created Scripps Sports division of The E.W. Scripps Co., and it involves Friday night telecasts of select WNBA games.

Just how over-the-air broadcast television can monetize broadcast internet was the focal point of an executive leadership roundtable discussion held Tuesday morning at the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

The world's foremost OTT brand has released its first quarter 2023 fiscal report. What's the key takeaway? A lower-than-anticipated new subscriber total was shared. Even worse, projections for Q2 that also fell below analysts' estimates were offered by Netflix.

Nexstar Media Group is taking its NewsNation channel, distributed via MVPDs across the U.S., to a 24/7 programming schedule. The new offerings commence on Monday.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has a leadership role unlike any other when it comes to NEXTGEN TV, broadcast internet and all that the new digital broadcast television standard will bring. For Wall Street, there's a gap between what's present and what's to come with respect to analysts' valuation of Sinclair stock. Could a rosy Q1 2023 earnings report help rev up the Sinclair stock price?

The answer, as computed by noted media-focused financial analyst Brian Wieser, may surprise some. Why? The biggest owner of broadcast radio stations is on the list, as is the world's largest purveyor of Spanish-language broadcast media assets.

The NAB and the FCC may be at odds over the pending acquisition of TEGNA by Standard General, but one thing is for sure when it comes to the future of TV: they've committed to work together to foster a public/private partnership designed to identify a roadmap to an orderly transition from ATSC 1.0 digital television broadcasts to the new ATSC 3.0 standard.

Radio and TV software provider ENCO, which is showcasing captioning capabilities and AI solutions for broadcast media at the NAB Show, has formally hit the accelerator on pure AI product development with the introduction of two ChatGPT-inspired products.