the HOT List

On Wall Street, a "SPAC" is shorthand for a "Special Purpose Acquisition Company." The man who once owned Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners has just formed one, and it marks his desire to establish a media company that could be the latest entity to take advantage of growth in sports gaming and content focused on the bettor, if not broader areas.

The agreement restores Nexstar’s 164 local television stations across the country and Nexstar’s wholly-owned cable network, WGN America, to DISH Network’s programming line-up. WGN America will also launch on DISH’s streaming service, Sling TV, in early 2021. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Gray Television has moved forward with the submission to the FCC of a formal Good Faith Complaint against Frontier Communications in response to the MVPD's failure to reach a new retransmission consent agreement tied to one of its legacy systems for an ABC affiliate serving Sarasota and Bradenton, Fla., and two stations in South Carolina.

The U.S. House of Representatives Member representing Florida's Suncoast region has written to the FCC to express his concerns over the failure of Gray Television and Frontier Communications to reach a new retransmission consent agreement for one of its legacy systems and the primary ABC affiliate for this portion of the vast Tampa DMA.

In early November, RBR+TVBR was first to report on a transaction that sees HC2 Holdings say goodbye to a trio of digital full-power TV stations — along with a LPTV facility in the Valley of the Sun. Now, the deal has gained FCC approval.

Gray Television is dealing with a retransmission consent feud focused on a single Sunshine State property. The MVPD at the center of the dispute, which has led to the latest "blackout" of a free-to-air TV station? Frontier Communications. And, it's a complex matter involving legacy customers to a grandfathered service.

On December 1, TEGNA-owned stations faded to black on DirecTV lineups across the U.S. as a new retransmission consent agreement could not be reached, resulting in subscriber ire and many letters to RBR+TVBR. Sunday morning saw the announcement that a new deal had been reached -- just in time for National Football League coverage.

With the retirement of Ranking Member Greg Walden and the expected transition of power at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW to President-Elect Joe Biden, the committee in the House of Representatives that oversees the FCC has appointed five new Democratic members. They'll take their seats with the start of the 117th Congress. And, they are all women.

Friday marked Day 15 of the "blackout" of all Nexstar Media Group-owned broadcast TV stations and the WGN America cable TV network across Dish lineups. Is there an end on the horizon? Maybe. But, Nexstar has a new option for disgruntled Dish customers that want their NewsNation and other WGN America programming -- and its an over-the-top platform.

For stock watchers, one thing has become very clear over the last several weeks on Wall Street: The nation's No. 1 audio entertainment and media company, iHeart, is seeing a strong recovery from its COVID-19 pandemic-fueled low. On the other hand, shakiness abounds for Entercom shares.

As the $2.65 billion merger between ION Media and The E.W. Scripps Co. winds its way toward completion, a series of amendments have been submitted with the FCC that have seen the inclusion -- and now exclusion -- of three stations that had been designed for sale to INYO Broadcast Holdings, which is getting a host of spin-off properties.

In a major about-face that signals a fresh retransmission consent deal -- perhaps under pressure from key Massachusetts legislators on Capitol Hill -- Comcast's Xfinity cable TV service will no longer be pulling the plug on stations from "neighboring DMAs" that would have seen all Hearst stations not bound by must-carry rules removed from its channel lineups. It's also signals a big victory for WJCL-22.

Townsquare Media on Tuesday moved forward with initiating a $550 million bond offering -- a move that prompted the local media company to pre-release its fourth quarter earnings well ahead of schedule. What does the company have to report with two weeks remaining in 2020? Its COVID-19 recovery is far better than it could have wished for.

Broadcasters supporting the "Phoenix Model Market" project for NEXTGEN TV, along with broadcaster group Pearl TV, have started the initial testing of NEXTGEN TV over limited cable infrastructure. It's being done in the Pacific Northwest's second-largest market, home to stations owned by Meredith Corp., Sinclair Broadcast Group, TEGNA and Nexstar Media Group.

The global TV market is on track to achieve 1.2% growth in 2020 and is set to end the year on more than 233 million shipments. The COVID-19 pandemic is to "thank," if you will, for the forward momentum, a new market report from Futuresource Consulting finds. Trade value has also fared relatively well.