the HOT List

When one compares the numbers to the end of the third quarter of 2020, there's one clear takeaway: noncommercial FM radio continues to be a growing opportunity for licensees, as the total number of commercially licensed FMs, and AMs, declined. 

With all eyes last week turned to Washington, and also fixated on a major audio media company's name change, attention is just now being placed on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Here, a judge has cleared the way for Alpha Media to exit from debtor-in-possession status.

In late February, RBR+TVBR first shared the news that TEGNA was adding to its pot of digital multicast networks by stirring up a third creation. As of today, Twist is on the air, putting a focus on women -- and perhaps the LGBTQ+ crowd, too. Helping the distribution: DuJuan McCoy, and HC2, too.

Now what? The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Third Circuit's remand of the FCC's cross-ownership rule rewrite and its incubator plan for encouraging media ownership for women and minorities. But, with Democratic control firmly in place, will anything happen before 2025?

In the Supreme Court's 9-0 decision to reverse an appeals court's remand of the FCC's 2017 cross-ownership rules rewrite, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued that it is not the Commission's fault it has a "sparse record" on the impact of rule changes on women and minorities.

It's not an April Fools' Day joke. ​Still, it arrived months earlier than many had expected. The U.S. ​Supreme Court, in a 9-0 unanimous decision, has overturned the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' remand of the FCC's cross-ownership rule revisions.

The Supreme Court's unanimous reversal of the Third Circuit's remand of the FCC's November 2017 cross-ownership rule rewrite and the elimination of TV's "eight voices" test is hugely important for broadcast media. But, what does it actually mean? Here's a review of what the Pai Commission approved on a party line vote, and what the Court just affirmed.

Justice Clarence Thomas was compelled to author a concurring opinion in the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in FCC v. Prometheus. Why? He offers "another, independent reason why reversal" of the Third Circuit's remand order is warranted.

Baseball fans across the Baltimore-Washington corridor, and in the San Francisco Bay Area, who are Dish customers are in the dark -- literally -- should they wish to enjoy MLB's Opening Day telecasts of their local baseball teams. The lack of a new carriage agreement led the DBS provider to block the RSNs, in lieu of a new deal.

Its stock price hasn't been this high since mid-October 2018. Its "Fuego" Latin Pop format just expanded to Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif., respectively. And, as shared on March 11, its Q4 2020 results were highly positive. Why, then, did Entravision tell the SEC that it couldn't file its annual report in a timely manner, as it was due March 31?

On the final day of the first quarter of 2021, Univision Communications offered an up-close look at the company's fourth quarter and full-year 2020 results. The timing couldn't be better for Univision as it enters Q2 2021 with momentum under new leadership. While Q4 revenue improved year-over-year, Univision swung to a net loss.

Circle City Broadcasting’s racial discrimination lawsuit against Dish Network will proceed, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. That elicited cheers from licensee owner DuJuan McCoy, as he seeks to return his stations offering The CW Network and MyNetwork TV programming to Dish in the Indianapolis DMA.

Much has changed for the company founded by Joseph Field. On November 17, 2017, that growth reached its apex, as Entercom completed its tax-free merger with CBS Radio. Then, a new logo was introduced. Now, a whole new identity has been revealed.

The EstrellaTV broadcast TV network is back in the San Francisco DMA as of today. It's the result of a LMA agreement that is far from ordinary, as the station owner is bumping its own rival Spanish-language offering to a digital multicast channel in order to make the deal happen.

As RBR+TVBR has reported across the first quarter of 2021, HC2 Holdings is trimming its TV assets while very much continuing its ownership of key TV stations as an entity led by COO Les Levi and chief executive Wayne Barr Jr. It is now known that HC2's commitment to "streamlining" a portfolio created under former CEO Philip Falcone includes the shedding of HC2's insurance segment.