the HOT List

Shares of broadcast television station owner TEGNA were down 3.7% in the final 45 minutes of trading on Thursday, as investors reacted negatively to a letter sent by Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren to the Chairwoman of the FCC expressing her deep reservations over TEGNA's pending acquisition by Standard General.

What do the renomination of Gigi Sohn for the fifth FCC Commissioner's seat and the changes on the powerful House Energy & Commerce committee mean for broadcast media executives eager for positive policy moves and beneficial legislation from Congress? This InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, explores the topic. LISTEN HERE

RBR+TVBR has confirmed that three longtime audio division leaders at Nielsen are among the hundreds of individuals who are no longer at the audience measurement and consumer data analytics company that completed its privatization effort in October 2022.

The COO/CFO for Sinclair's 21 "Bally Sports" RSNs has been hired for a key role with Major League Baseball — a move that could open the doors to more MLB games on free-to-air television.

He's the Executive Chairman of NIKE Inc. and has served as its President/CEO since 2006, adding Chairman responsibilities in 2016. He's also been a Director of The Walt Disney Company since January 2016. On Wednesday, he was elected Chairman of the Board at Disney.

With the 118th Congress underway, the House Energy and Commerce Republican Leader became Cathy McMorris Rodgers. On Wednesday, nine new GOP Members were appointed to the E&C Committee — including a big supporter of the Local Radio Freedom Act.

RBR+TVBR has confirmed that a 24-year Nielsen veteran who became EVP/Managing Director of Local Television in March 2019 will be adding the responsibilities of Brad Kelly, who is officially exiting on Friday as Managing Director of Nielsen Audio as part of a post-privatization reduction-in-force initiative.

To try to get the FCC's OK, Standard General has since early December offered an array of concessions. It has also repeatedly issued statements touting the worthiness of its planned deal. Now, Standard General has created a website with its version of the "facts" surrounding the deal as its latest ploy to get a deal that dates to September 2021.

"We believe the industry is well-positioned to withstand current inflationary pressures and a shallow recession in 2023 since consumers will continue to prioritize connectivity and issuers have been able to pass on higher costs to customers," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Allyn Arden said on Monday.

In November 2020, Gray Television submitted a request to change the table of allotments for Memphis, a move that would allow the market's NBC affiliate to upgrade from a VHF to a UHF facility — beneficial in the digital era, in contrast to the now-gone days of analog broadcasts. The FCC has now approved the change.

On January 6, 2020, RBR+TVBR reported on a retransmission consent impasse that led to the "blackout" by Dish of a group of stations managed by Nexstar Media Group but owned by two independent licensees. History repeated itself on Friday.

Richard Chapin, a Nebraska radio executive who spent more than three decades building a Midwest broadcast powerhouse and who was the first broadcaster to serve as the chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau concurrently, died last week at the age of 99.

Tom Ehlmann has retired as President/GM of NBC Universal Local's two Dallas-Fort Worth properties, reportedly accepting a buyout package in early December 2022. His successor has been named, while NBCU Local has also revealed the new head of its NBC and Telemundo owned stations in Hartford, in the wake of Dianne Hannes' retirement.

She's a 17-year company veteran who rose to SVP of Human Relations at the end of 2007 and, at the end of 2020, had been bumped up from CFO to President of Scripps Networks. Now, she is taking the newly created position of Chief Operations Officer for The E.W. Scripps Co.

Happy New Year from the Commission! Got a few days to spare? If so, the FCC's just-released 2022 Communications Marketplace Report may be worth a read. But, be prepared to download five PDF files — the first of which totals 322 pages. What's the key takeaway?