the HOT List

While macro forecasts are downbeat and warning signals abound, they conclude that most media executives and ad forecasters, including two MoffettNathanson analysts, are still expecting this year’s ad market to be stronger in the last six months of 2023 than in the first half of year. Yet, there's one unanswered question: Where is this confidence coming from? 

The National Football League and RedBird Capital Partners have agreed to create a new media platform that will hold the exclusive rights to distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to bars, restaurants, hotels and other commercial venues in the United States starting with the 2023 NFL season.

In perhaps an unprecedented move, Standard General, the New York-based hedge fund led by Soohyung Kim, filed suit on Tuesday against the FCC in a Washington, D.C., Federal Appeals Court as part of its desperate efforts to keep its TEGNA privatization effort on track.

Three of the "Big Four" TV affiliates, plus the PBS Member station, serving Iowa's capital city are now offering ATSC 3.0-powered NEXTGEN TV broadcasts to locals with television sets capable of receiving the signals, or those with "dongles" enabling their TVs to acquire the improved digital TV channels.

According to MAGNA, ad spend slowed down "significantly" through the second half of last year, as fourth quarter ad sales were flat year-over-year. What's the forecast for 2023? It's lower than MAGNA's previous outlook, and "the decline of linear TV" is a takeaway that can't be ignored even as Automotive "has finally turned a corner."

The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has called for a “gradual migration” away from “TV households” to “TV-accessible (TVA) households” as the basis of TV measurement, to account for shifts in viewing dynamics driven by broadband access and mobile devices.

The Vince Bodiford-led Bridge News has demonstrated just how serious it is with its plan to make NewsNet a bigger viewer choice, competing directly against Scripps News. It is acquiring two properties within the Los Angeles DMA.

With the launch of the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal, Xperi Corp. says every radio broadcaster can, for the first time, gain insights into how their in-car listeners are engaging with their content from the car via a user-friendly dashboard.

Nearly 25% of media sales managers who participated in a just-released survey expect to see a revenue increase of more than 10% in 2023. That's just for starters, SalesFuel says, in a sign that optimism for the future of the broadcast industry remains high.

The Chairwoman of the FCC on Wednesday introduced a proposal that would implement new customer protections requiring all cable TV service providers and the nation's two direct broadcast satellite companies to specify the "all-in" price "clearly and prominently" in their promotional materials and on every monthly billing statement.

In a formal announcement from the owner of the two biggest Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) radio networks on Earth, Educational Media Foundation’s Board of Directors announced that CEO Bill Reeves will depart the non-profit organization. The EMF Board then elected a new chief executive.

For news creators in the Golden State, a Oakland-based Democrat serving California's 15th State Assembly District may have just introduced a bill that could bring to them what Congress failed to do. If passed, copyright laws would be implemented for the sharing of news stories on social media, given compensation to original local journalism sources.

Teton Merger Corp. on Monday extended the Early Tender Date, the Withdrawal Deadline and the Expiration Date of its previously announced tender offer to purchase any and all of TEGNA Inc.’s outstanding 4.750% Senior Notes due 2026, 4.625% Senior Notes due 2028  and 5.000% Senior Notes due 2029 and consent solicitation from the noteholders.

Hispanic-targeted broadcast radio and TV station owner and global ad solutions company Entravision enjoyed a share bump on the NYSE Monday as investors reacted positively to the news that the company has entered into a new multimillion-dollar credit facility.

With its share price down 38.2% since February 28 and continued challenges leading to a downward Q1 2023 revenue forecast, iHeartMedia has moved forward with an initiative that CEO Bob Pittman and CFO Rich Bressler told employees in an internal memo distributed Friday is "forcing us to make tough choices on costs and priorities."