the HOT List

Paperwork was filed on April 11 with the FCC, along with newly released pricing details making the Cox Media Group spin of 18 television stations a blockbuster of a deal. Now, that transaction has closed, making Imagicomm Communications — to the dislike of at least one Member of Congress — the new owner of a collection of broadcast TV facilities. 

The privatization of Nielsen Holdings plc is approaching the finish line for the onetime dissident shareholder — an entity Nielsen and another shareholder, Windacre Partnership, unsuccessfully fought against for eventual control of the multinational company.

It's been one of the most-talked-about television deals of 2022. Now, this transaction involving a long-independent UHF station serving the Los Angeles DMA is officially in the hands of a broadcast ministry. That's because the deal, which saw Kalil & Co. as the broker, has just closed.

Today was the deadline date for a FCC Administrative Law Judge's order to obtain legal counsel for a low-power FM radio station facing a license revocation for alleged misrepresentation of its board members to the Commission. Rather than find one, however, the individual associated with the LPFM, in an emailed letter to the Commission, begged for another option. Will he get it, or is WWGH-LPFM about to be killed?

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 20 approved an appropriations bill that includes language that would prevent the FCC from taking administrative action against a radio or television licensee that accepts cannabis advertising — consistent with the laws of the state or local jurisdiction in which the station is licensed. That action, however, is meaningless without the Senate's passage. A Democratic Senator from New Mexico just took the possibility of pot spots one step closer to reality.

On January 31, 2022, a “transformative” transaction between Mexico’s Televisa and Univision Communications was completed. So, how did the combined TelevisaUnivision, with Davis in command, perform in Q2, let alone the first half of 2022?

Until now, she was the Managing Partner of media industry consultancy Twelve 24 Media. Now, she'll be serving as VP/GM of Sinclair Broadcast Group's two television stations in Oklahoma City.

Sinclair Broadcast Group EVP/CFO Lucy Rutishauser is welcoming an individual to the executive ranks who will have direct oversight of the media company's financial planning and analysis and business development departments. He's inbound from a similar role at audio content creation and distribution company Audacy Corp.

For investors, how FuboTV performed in the three-month period could be crucial in their decision making on whether to buy more company shares or sell what they have. FUBO, which trades on the NYSE, entered Friday's trading session with a share price nearly 83% lower than at the start of 2022. Perhaps taking a further step away from play-by-play programming and diving a bit deeper into general-interest offerings will assist the ailing vMVPD.

What does the passage of a House Appropriations Bill that would open the door to cannabis advertising mean for broadcast media? RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson spoke with Melodie Virtue, co-chair of Foster Garvey's Communications, Telecom & Media group and Fletcher Heald & Hildreth Managing Partner Francisco Montero for this InFOCUS Podcast to get a complete understanding of what lies ahead for radio and TV ad sales pros. LISTEN HERE

Some 59 independently owned broadcast groups came together to ask the NAB's President/CEO, Curtis LeGeyt, to amend its position that the radio industry is unified in its opposition to geotargeting. The NAB has responded to their call, which was made in a letter sent Monday to LeGeyt by the FM radio station licensees.

The Grio, acquired by Allen Media Group from NBCUniversal in 2016, could soon have a cable TV home. How so? The company founded and led by media mogul Byron Allen has acquired a now-defunct MVPD-distributed offering in a Florida Federal Bankruptcy Court.

Those are the words Netflix decided to use to describe its fiscal health across the three-month period ending June 30, as net income improved — as did net cash provided by operating activities. Is this the much-needed shot in the arm that not only Netflix, but every OTT-based video transmission service, desires? One analyst says no, and thinks Microsoft should buy Netflix in 2024 or 2025 should the White House gain a Republican President open to big mergers.

Do large podcast audiences translate to big ROI and a long tail of revenue generation? That's the key theme of the two-day How to Make REAL MONEY Podcasting virtual conference, presented by Streamline Publishing's Podcast Business Journal and Radio Ink, which kicked off Tuesday morning.

BIN: Black Information Network has a Windy City broadcast home. It quietly debuted on July 14 at 1pm Central, and it's thanks to an agreement between the nation's No. 1 owner of radio stations and Sima Birach.