the HOT List

If you thought the political dollars achieved in the second quarter by Sinclair Broadcast Group were huge, just wait 'til you see how Nexstar Media Group — the biggest licensee of broadcast TV stations — performed in the three-month period ending June 30. The owner of broadcast TV stations in three Michigan markets, a key primary election state, enjoyed an eye-popping 920% increase in its political ad dollars from the second quarter of 2021. This helped Nexstar soar past Street estimates on both revenue and EPS.

Many across Washington, Indiana and the U.S. are mourning the loss of Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who died on Wednesday with two other individuals following a car accident in Elkhart County, Ind. She began her career in the 1980s as a television reporter for the CBS affiliate serving South Bend, Ind.

Newly released data from London-based WARC finds that media inflation is driving up the cost of advertising across channels — with Television most affected by the rise.

The Baltimore-based owner of broadcast TV stations, MVPD-distributed Tennis Channel and the Bally Sports regional sports networks enjoyed an incredibly strong Q2 for political ad dollars. The trends for Q3 are bright, too, leading to "crowdout" for core advertising that one analyst wanted more details of.

The decision is ultimately up to the four FCC Commissioners. However, the Administrative Law Judge overseeing the license revocation hearing for a convicted felon in Central Pennsylvania has made it clear just where she, the Presiding Judge and the Enforcement Bureau stand. Roger Wahl, licensee of WQZS-FM 93.3 in Meyersdale, Pa., has effectively waived his opportunity to participate in the hearing. As such, the proceeding has been terminated, setting up a revocation and deletion of the station's call letters.

Axios has shared data from analytics firm AdImpact that breaks out political ad spending in 2022 by media type. Broadcasters are poised to pocket billions of dollars. Connected TV is also on target to be a big political revenue winner.

It's the second audio content creator/distributor to report its Q2 2022 earnings. And, a trend may already be emerging. Like Beasley Media Group on Monday, Townsquare Media took a significant impairment loss during the quarter. However, unlike Beasley, Townsquare did not swing to a net loss.

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.