the HOT List

What Will Drive Media Stocks in 2026? That's a question MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Robert Fishman answers in a fresh investor note. He focuses on five themes his team expects to drive 2026. But, where are the broadcast media companies?

The parent company of Rocky Mountain PBS, Jazz-focused KUVO-FM in Denver and HD2 "Urban Alternative" offering "The Drop" is the latest noncommercial educational entity that has chosen to downsize after a Republican-led Congress effort crippled federal funds distributed through the CPB.

All three vote-making Commissioners on the FCC have said yes to revised foreign ownership review requirements the Republican majority believes "maintain strong national security review processes while providing greater clarity for foreign investment."

Dollars derived from Rogers' purchase of the stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment held by the parent of Bell Media played a key role in the year-over-year performance. So did the American League pennant won by the company's Toronto Blue Jays MLB baseball club.

“The Evolving Ear: How New Listeners are Shaping Podcasting's Next Chapter" probes "first-year" podcast listeners—those who started listening within the last year and represent 20% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers—comparing their behaviors to "long-timers" who have been listening for five years or more.

In an opinion piece, American Enterprise Institute nonresident Senior Fellow Daniel Lyons "unpacks" the FCC's "Equal Time Rule," which he says has been resurrected by the Commissioner under the leadership of Brendan Carr. He also explores "its ongoing validity in a diverse media environment."

With a blockbuster, game-changing — and potential rule-changing — merger agreement with Nexstar Media Group awaiting regulatory scrutiny and hopeful approval, TEGNA has moved ahead with the launch of new local TV station-aligned mobile apps across 50 markets.

There's a vacant Class C FM radio station on the table of allotments for a city due south of Houston, nestled along the Texas Gulf Coast. If it's of interest to an operator willing to build out a facility on that signal, you're out of luck, however. Why? The FCC's Media Bureau, on action from its Audio Bureau, wants to delete it.

America's Public Television Stations and PBS believe the FCC should adopt "a locally driven transition" to the new ATSC 3.0 digital television standard, leaving it to "local broadcaster decision-making" rather than a Congressional or Commission mandated change date from the current ATSC 1.0 broadcast signal.

The broadcast TV group that's shepherding the industry toward ATSC 3.0 digital broadcasting services has announced when it will report its Q4 2025 earnings results. What do analysts expect to see from a company that very much wants to merge with The E.W. Scripps Co., despite that entity's firm no?

NBC O&O WMAQ-5 in Chicago and its Telemundo sibling, WSNS-44, earlier this week christened a new state-of-the-art newsroom that NBCUniversal says is "designed to power the next generation of storytelling."

Across the last week, no less than six ECFS submissions have been presented to the FCC on behalf of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association.  One filing begs attention: As the association sees it, extending mandatory carriage rights to ATSC 3.0 TV stations "would violate the Constitution."

The FCC's lone Democratic Commissioner derided the "misleading announcement" distributed by the Media Bureau of guidance "on the application of the statutory equal opportunities requirement and the bona fide news exemptions to broadcast television stations, including their airing of late-night and daytime talk shows."

In April 2023, Audacy Inc. announced that would be closing its Warwick, R.I., office and consolidating its operations with its larger Boston hub, ceasing a 19-year term of sales and marketing independence for a simulcast partner of WEEI-FM. Audacy is now moving forward with the sale of that Rhode Island FM.

It's a Class A digital over-the-air television station serving a portion of the Orlando DMA. And, in just a few weeks, it will become a MediaCo-operated home to its Estrella TV network, shifting from a digital multicast signal tied to a Hearst Television station serving Central Florida.