the HOT List

With Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight LLC just weeks away from closing on their majority ownership interest acquisition of Univision, the two related groups -- along with Mexico-based Grupo Televisa SAB -- have appointed new independent members to a reconstituted Univision Holdings Inc. Board of Directors.

The two top Democrats on the House Energy & Commerce Committee want the FCC to cease all work on "controversial items" now that Joe Biden has been elected President, pending any attempts by the White House to change that. The demand came as the Senate Commerce Committee considered President Trump's FCC Commissioner nominee.

In a battle for ears and eyeballs, how does media, most especially "traditional media," cut through the clutter and win back people’s trust? That's a question New York radio talk show host Juliet Huddy will pose to Megyn Kelly during a Forecast 2021 Live session. The two-day event is scheduled for December 8-9.

Nielsen will now measure advanced TV audiences by integrating "big data" from set-top-boxes for the two DBS players in the U.S. and one manufacturer's smart TVs while also enabling addressable TV measurement. The "advanced TV" plan allows for "the creation of a stronger linear currency," Nielsen says, adding some 55 million devices to its national TV measurement.

The benefits a restoration by Congress of the minority tax certificate would bring to increasing the percentage of broadcast TV and/or radio station owners who are either women or people of color is a top topic in 2020. A FCC Symposium session held Friday shared its potential strengths by putting a spotlight on one who benefited from it the first time around.

The Q3 earnings parade continued Monday morning with the release of the results for broadcast TV station owner TEGNA. In its view, the "strength and durability" of its business model is what propelled it to "record" single quarter revenue in Q3 2020. Exceptional political dollars were a critical part of that "record" report card.

Things were indeed better for Townsquare Media in Q3, and digital growth and continued success from Townsquare Interactive are definitely positives. That's why the year-over-year revenue decline Townsquare saw isn't really so bad. "Our improvement from Q2 to Q3 is meaningful and strong," company CEO Bill Wilson said to RBR+TVBR via e-mail early Monday.

The board of directors of AT&T Inc. has selected an individual who served as Chairman of the FCC from 1997 through the inauguration of George W. Bush as U.S. President nearly 20 years ago.

"With due respect to President Trump’s rights to judicial review of election results, it is time to acknowledge the election of Joe Biden and to allow him the chance to bind our nation back together.” Gordon Smith said in a statement released Saturday by the National Association of Broadcasters.

The Q3 earnings parade continued Friday with more good tidings from the broadcast TV industry's biggest station owners: The E.W. Scripps Co. reported revenues that surpassed Street expectations, sending shares up by more than 9% in pre-market trading on Friday.

A just-released Kagan analysis finds that three of the top TV markets for presidential political ad spending were in the Sunshine State. The No. 1 DMA? It's the Valley of the Sun, where it appears Democrats have made major advances in the 2020 election.

Entercom Communications -- which reported its Q3 2020 earnings results Friday morning -- is entering into an asset exchange agreement with Urban One. The deal gives Urban One properties in Charlotte. For Entercom, it grabs a greater foothold in St. Louis, Philadelphia and in the Nation's Capital, with 'Now 96.3' disappearing and KYW expanding to FM.

It was a "record" quarter, Nexstar Media Group founder and Chairman/CEO Perry Sook said on his company's pre-opening bell earnings call conducted Thursday.  The positive earnings report brought a needed spark to Nexstar's suddenly sputtering stock.

"While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact total company revenues, sequentially our year-over-year performance has continued to recover," says Meredith Corp. leader Tom Harty. How did its Local Media arm, comprised of 17 over-the-air broadcast TV stations, perform? The results for fiscal Q1 '21 look quite good.

With "record" Q3 results and a street beat for its Q3 earnings and revenue results, Gray Television has decided to expand its share repurchase authorization in a sizable way. While share repurchases would be seen from time to time through 2023, C-suite confidence sparked the publicly traded GTN, with an 5% rise in value on Thursday.