the HOT List

An individual contracted by a private security company was hired by a TEGNA TV station in Denver to protect its field reporter at a protest. Things went horribly wrong, with the security guard fatally shooting one protester. Now, some in the media industry are wondering if TEGNA faces a legal challenge -- or if it is an innocent party tied to a terrible tragedy.

With OTT and Connected TV spots hot commodities, more dollars aren't coming to visual media. Rather, current expenditures are being shifted around, new data from Borrell Associates show. As such, broadcast media is being hurt by yet another tech innovation designed to suck audiences -- and dollars -- away from "traditional" vehicles.

Take a look at Page 5 of Gray Television's 106-page bond Offering Memorandum, and you'll see something that hasn't been done before by the broadcast television company. That would be third quarter 2020 guidance, which was accompanied by full-year political guidance that's a bit rosier for Gray than previously forecast.

Could the right programming make a positive difference for audio media targeting Spanish speakers in COVID-19 times? It's an important question tackled by some of the top radio programming executives serving U.S. Hispanics, and a programming leader at a top Mexican broadcasting company, in the latest Hispanic Radio Conference LIVE! session, conducted Thursday.

Once a host on NBC's "Real People," Byron Allen is today at the helm of one of the most successful broadcast media growth stories of today. He's the founder of Entertainment Studios and Chairman/CEO of growing TV station owner Allen Media Group. So, why was Allen a keynote speaker at the virtual 2020 Radio Show on Thursday?

Sixteen years ago, a Michigan FOX affiliate shut down its local news operation, after nearly seven years of producing a 10pm newscast, a 5:30pm weekday offering and a Sunday night sports show. Since then, this station has relied on a Gray Television-owned property in the market to produce its newscasts. As of early 2021, that arrangement will end.

With final data for the third quarter still being computed, radio industry total ad revenue is looking to be down by 30% compared to 2019. Blame it on COVID-19. Yet, there are some bright spots, and those were brought to light in Pillsbury's Broadcast Finance 2020 -- a virtual Radio Show presentation held Wednesday featuring two radio industry CEOs.

Three full-power TV stations and a digital Class A facility that's home to the MyNetwork TV affiliate have joined the list of stations that are now broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV, the new digital standard tied to the rollout of ATSC 3.0. The moves add Austin to the list of locales where NEXTGEN TV is now alive.

The first session of a week-long all-virtual Radio Show kicked off Monday with a highly positive conversation that sent one clear message: AM and FM radio has its benefits, and this has been seen across the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just after 10am Eastern on Friday, one of the biggest announcements in recent memory regarding the future of broadcast media was confirmed by the Chairman of the FCC himself. The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in FCC vs. Prometheus. This puts the matter of ownership rule modernizaton in the hands of the nation's highest legal body.

Late Thursday, the House of Representatives — led by Democrats — approved The Heroes Act, which includes PPP provisions to radio and TV stations. But, don’t cheer just yet.

Promising “not a Zoom conference, but something unlike anything you’ve experienced before,” TVB President/CEO Steve Lanzano welcomed a record-breaking group of attendees to Thursday's all-virtual TVB ALT FORWARD conference. The day-long event included a vibrant conversation on TV consumer measurement, and impressions, featuring the CEO of Graham Media Group.

With shares trading Thursday morning at 17 1/2 cents ahead of a planned voluntary deregistration of its publicly traded stock announced in late July, Spanish Broadcasting System has formally confirmed that it is exploring refinancing opportunities.

The FCC has moved forward with the adoption of a key piece of regulatory action that it says will bring "improvements to the transparency and timeliness of the cross-agency review process for applications from companies with foreign ownership seeking to participate in the U.S. telecommunications market."

Here's something that could result in a license revocation hearing if found guilty as charged. The owner of the "Austin Radio Network," comprised of a pair of FM radio stations serving Texas' state capital region, was indicted Monday for a felony evidence-tampering charge related to the March 2019 death of a local man.