the HOT List

Thanks to GeoBroadcast Solutions technology being tested, the ability to narrowcast for a former longtime Rock 'n Roll Station now targeting Bollywood music fans by using one FM signal appears to be a success. Details of extensive ZoneCasting testing were submitted Monday morning to the FCC by attorneys at Covington & Burling representing GBS.

There's a new over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV offering that's now available for viewers across the U.S., accessible via such platforms as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. It allows viewers "to connect with local news and information relevant to their lives." Yes, there are plenty of apps that do this already. But, this is the first to involve Hearst Television stations.

Less than 48 hours after a federal judge declined to honor its request for summary judgment in a case focused on copyright infringement brought against the operation by the nation’s “Big Four” broadcast TV networks, Locast on September 2 suspended its operations. Now, that suspension has become a permanent cessation of business activities.

There are "tectonic shifts" in how Americans perceive, consume and pay for media content, a new Futuri/SmithGeiger study finds. There are also big changes in how media executives see the sector progressing into the 2020s, putting clouds over their confidence in their ability to address emerging challenges.

The head of Davis Broadcasting Inc. has personally written to those in favor of a resolution that would prevent the levying of any new performance royalty payments on Radio. While the biggest piece of legislation on Capitol Hill designed to do this is largely dead, recording industry advocacy group musicFIRST on Monday will seek to resuscitate it.

With just 24 days to go before the Sales and Management Television Exchange was to begin ahead of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the organization has called off the conference. The decision comes following participation pullouts from Brainstorm, Ross Video, Panasonic and Canon.

Comscore has been working hard to offer new solutions media and marketing professionals could trust. On Wednesday, the media consumer data and analytics company revealed that it has "invented" what it calls "the next generation of personification methodology created to bring person-level measurement to its video products."

The NAB, MMTC, and NABOB are demanding a stay of the FCC's order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming. Furthermore, they don't want the Commission to move forward with the order until the D.C. Federal Appeals Court has its say.

Norman Shapiro's Weigel Broadcasting has just signed off on the purchase of three over-the-air broadcast television facilities serving the nation's second-largest television market. The seller: An entity that among its properties were low-powered TV stations using VHF Channel 6 to serve radio listeners with audio at 87.7 MHz.

Weigel Broadcasting is expanding into the National Capital Region by acquiring a low-power TV facility based in the county seat of Shenandoah County, Va., nearly 100 miles from the White House.

Streamline Publishing, founded in 1986 with the creation of radio industry sales and management trade publication Radio Ink and today a diversified publisher of print and digital titles focused on the art and media industries, has elevated Deborah Parenti to the role of President of the Radio, TV & Podcasting Division.

The NAB is offering comment on a FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that focuses on a number of broadcast radio technical rules under consideration for elimination or adjustment. Elimination, you say? The NAB appreciates erasing or updating "unnecessary or outmoded regulations" and supports many of the proposals. But, it suggests the FCC proceed with caution.

On Thursday morning, the owner of broadcast TV stations, two digital multicast networks, a podcast network and Connected TV/OTT advertising platform Premion "updated" its share repurchasing plan, renewed in December 2020. How so? It is accelerating the repurchase of shares, and it is "driven by accelerated achievement" of TEGNA's leverage target.

Philip Falcone's re-emergence as the CEO of Sovryn Holdings, following his not-so-savory split with HC2 Holdings in 2020, has captured headlines across 2021. Under his leadership, HC2 was a buyer. Now, Sovryn is shaping up to be an acquisition player, too. Falcone has just signed off on paperwork that will bring him a Big Apple low-power TV property.