the HOT List

For the first six months of 2019, the CBS affiliate serving Fort Myers-Naples, Fla., was blocked from Dish subscribers due to the lack of a retransmission consent accord. Guess what? DISH and the owner of WINK TV are battling again. The timing couldn't have been worse for local Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans.

Pro-MVPD groups including the ATVA were livid. A Member of Congress' blood boiled. Behind the scenes, however, negotiations continued through the weekend and into Super Bowl Sunday between Cox Media Group and AT&T on a new retransmission consent accord. A deal was reached roughly one hour before game day festivities began on CBS.

Its share price hasn't been this strong since April 2019. Now, armed with new vigor and ION Media properties in its stable, The E.W. Scripps Co. is busily preparing for a "special investor presentation" with its President/CEO and its Local Media President, among other C-Suite members.

In early 2019, Community Broadcasters agreed to sell their radio stations serving the Twin Tiers of New York and Pennsylvania to Seven Mountains Media. Nearly one year later, more stations were purchased. Guess what? Seven Mountains Media is at it again, and this time two other players are involved.

Locast, the donation-based broadcast TV-via-IP service that the Big Four television networks and the NAB despise for its unique weave-round regarding retransmission consent, has now entered its 29th market. The service is now available in a city some refer to as "The Big Tomato." 

In the Spanish language, "humo" means smoke. But, there's definitely no smoke and mirrors behind a new effort from NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises that gives a breath of fresh air -- and life -- to parent Comcast's free ad-supported streaming TV service.

Bonus political dollars thanks to the twin Georgia Senate runoff races, along with non-election spot television advertising improvements from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, led Meredith's broadcast TV arm to achieve a 141% year-over-year adjusted EBITDA increase in its fiscal Q2 of 2021.

Saranac Lake, N.Y., in recent years has gained attention for the acquisition of a failed radio station, silenced by its licensee, by two foreign citizens. It has also received attention for a UHF channel that's been the subject of a coverage battle with Comcast. That channel is today owned by Gray Television. And, it is poised to bring big riches to Gray in Burlington, Vt.

A war of words has erupted between DirecTV owner AT&T and Cox Media Group in the wake of an impasse over a new retransmission consent agreement. On Wednesday, AT&T fired back at the owner of such stations as KIRO-7 in Seattle, the market's CBS affiliate and home to Super Bowl LV. 

Bob and David Sinclair have decided to refocus Sinclair Communications' efforts on its home market of Norfolk. As such, it is selling its three FMs and FM translator serving Napa and Somona Counties, just north of the San Francisco Bay Area. An LMA for another FM is being handed to the buyer, a South Asian telecom entrepreneur with a Harvard MBA.

On January 29, word first surfaced that Cox Media Group would soon face a new retrans "blackout." Lo and behold, that has transpired. On Monday evening, all of CMG's broadcast TV stations were blocked from viewers who get their TV services from AT&T's direct broadcast satellite service.

For an audio media company, such achievements could be the stuff of dreams, considering the battering COVID-19 and the pandemic, entering its 12th month, has brought to Radio. Yet, that's exactly what Sirius XM is touting, as its Q4 and full-year 2020 results paint a rosy picture that will certainly make newly appointed CEO Jennifer Witz happy.

In order to pass muster with the DOJ and FCC, six Quincy Media, Inc., stations will be spun to a third-party in markets where Gray Television already has a presence. These DMAs include Tucson, where the NBC affiliate is poised to see its third owner in three years.

On January 7, Illinois-based broadcast media operation Quincy Media Inc., owner of 24 over-the-air TV stations, confirmed that it was “considering” a sale of all of its assets. Less than one month later, a buyer has emerged. And, it's the entity that successfully merged with Raycom Media just over two years ago.

Less than 24 hours after a major shakeup in its corporate ranks, Univision Communications on January 12 moved forward with its widely discussed plans to launch an advertising-supported streaming service serving Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanics. Now, the company seeks to "accelerate" PrendeTV in the U.S. by buying a big pan-Latin AVOD player.