the HOT List

In a transaction that sees Greg Guy of Patrick Communications serve as the broker, the parent company of the MeTV Network is adding a Class A low-power television station in Cleveland to its roster of owned properties.

YouTube TV appeared to have resolved a technical issue that for six days impacted its DISH-delivered local television service in such markets as Fort Wayne, Ind., and Youngstown, Ohio. But then, the outage resumed. Two Nexstar Media Group stations were among those impacted by technical issues.

NBCUniversal's One22 presentation yielded announcements across data and identity, ad tech, ad innovation, and measurement, with Linda Yaccarino, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, offering ad budget decision makers a lesson on "better understanding your audience and having a stronger impact on them — and measuring their engagement."

One week ago, Wall Street was abuzz over a report suggesting that Nielsen Holdings was nearing the end of negotiations with a consortium led by shareholder Elliott Management Corp. Late Sunday, Nielsen acknowledged the talks — and revealed it was saying no to the proposal. At the Closing Bell, Nielsen shares were down nearly 7%.

On Monday, RBR+TVBR offered coverage of a non-consummation of a July 2021 transaction that would have seen Falcone's group acquire a Phoenix LPTV property from Lotus Communications for $2 million. Now, he seeks to clarify the reason for the deal's dissolution: Not moving forward, he says, is his choice.

For some companies, retransmission consent revenue growth has outpaced core ad sales growth. What's a over-the-air TV station owner to do?  Look no further than ATSC 3.0, says Nexstar Media Group's founder, chairman and CEO.

With impression-based buying growing, the metric provides buyers and sellers with greater insight into what the delivered CPM is for linear TV for more than 100 advanced audiences, "enabling better cross-screen planning, audience-based targeting and advanced measurement for benchmarking against digital, CTV and OTT," Comscore says.

The public TV advocacy groups responded to a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on authorizing permissive use of the NEXTGEN TV broadcast standard by urging the Commission to snub any of the proposals set forth by NCTA or ATVA in the proceeding.

Both cable and broadcast news viewing in the U.S. spiked as Russia invaded Ukraine. However, total television viewing was down month-over-month. That's the key takeaway from newly released data from Nielsen.

Allen's companies, which include the parent of The Weather Channel and Entertainment Studios, plus broadcast TV station owner Allen Media Group, are seeking billions of dollars in damages from Nielsen, which is reportedly in the midst of buyout talks involving shareholder Elliott Management.

For nearly four years, he's been the Senior Director of News and Content for Spectrum News 1 in Los Angeles, the Charter Communications MVPD-delivered all-news channel serving Southern California. Starting March 28, he'll be in charge of CBS News and Stations' two broadcast television properties serving San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Rosa.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a consortium is very much near the conclusion of negotiations that could see the sale of the nation's dominant — yet shaky — audience measurement and consumer data analytics firm. This triggered a buying frenzy for Nielsen shares, which were up by more than 30% in Monday's trading session.

More streaming services and podcasts are helping the ever-eroding shares of local radio over-the-air advertising, even as some stations air lengthy stop sets twice an hour. As such, it forecasts $14.7 billion will be spent on ad-supported local audio platforms including broadcast radio and digital audio. 

Eight months ago, Sovryn Holdings, led by former HC2 Holdings head Philip Falcone, engineered a $2 million deal to acquire a low-power TV stations serving Phoenix. The deal never closed because Falcone changed his mind, he says. Now, seller Lotus Communications has a new buyer — one that's been adding to its LPTV stable in addition to consummating big mergers in recent years.

The owner of a Missouri AM station airing the English-language service of the Voice of Russia in mornings and early evenings has a beef with NAB chief Curtis LeGeyt. The association head's request to pull any state-sponsored programming from Moscow was flatly rejected, labeling the ask "a call to disregard our right of free speech."