the HOT List

The FCC's Media Bureau has tossed a challenge to a deal agreed to in March that sees The E.W. Scripps Co. add the ABC affiliate serving Lexington, Ky., to its stable of broadcast TV stations. DirecTV argued the transaction would suffer direct economic harm due to higher input prices it would have to pay as a result of the sale.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has given the state's Attorney General, Rob Bonta, a boost in his quest to derail the pending merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery with the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order.

Dick Broadcasting Co. has agreed to sell the facility, once a simulcast partner of WQSL-FM, serving Jacksonville and Wilmington, N.C. The buyer? Look no further than Don Curtis, of Raleigh-based Curtis Media Group.

Are you getting bored with Netflix's viewing selections, despite its vast library of content? That's a chief concern of the streaming video Goliath as it looks ahead to forthcoming fiscal quarters, with keeping subscribers interested at all times the chief way it will continue to make a profit.

Skyview Networks Chairman and President/CEO Steve Jones on Wednesday announced in a company-wide meeting a series of structural adjustments that sees "a key driver of our revenue growth and portfolio expansion" take the role of Chief Operating Officer. Three others were singled out, too, as a former ESPN staffer is coming aboard.

On Tuesday, Inside the Beltway insiders spread the word that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was teeing up an Order for consideration at the Commission's August Open Meeting addressing the nation's media ownership rules. We now know that it will not involve AM/FM radio station ownership rules as the Commission seeks to repeal the 39% national television multiple ownership rule.

A New York federal district court has declined to grant a motion to dismiss the case. This clears the path for DirecTV to continue litigation against Nexstar Media Group on the grounds that it engaged in antitrust activities when it failed to reach a retransmission consent accord with the DBS provider in 2022.

It has already inked an agreement with Eastlan to provide the advertising community with ratings currency in such markets as Atlanta, where Cumulus Media relied on Nielsen Audio data until a legal spat put a stop to that. Now, it is the flagship launch partner for Xperi's AutoStage Radio Audience Measurement Service.

WBD and Paramount Skydance were asked to refrain from closing their game-changing merger until after the judicial process concludes by way of a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court by a group of state Attorneys General. With a hard "no" from the companies, the coalition moved forward with the filing of a temporary restraining order.

The Media and Democracy Project has submitted a mandamus petition with the D.C. Circuit that would compel the FCC to act on the advocacy group's desire to appeal a Media Bureau decision granting the license renewal of a FOX-owned property, ignoring MAD's concerns tied to news reports deemed false and ownership character issues.

Since the 2017 incentive auction, LPTV valuations operated in a predictable framework. Values were supported by a steady pace of transaction activity and a defined universe of strategic buyers. Over the past 12 to 18 months, however, that framework has changed dramatically. Here are some of the reasons why that's taken place.

The fresh accord, announced late Friday, immediately returned 54 local broadcast stations owned and operated by Scripps to DIRECTV streaming, satellite, and U-verse customers. The agreement ended a five-week blackout affecting millions of customers across 36 Nielsen DMAs.

A broadcast television station acquired within the last year by Todd Parkin-led Rincon Broadcasting Group as part of a $29.4 million transaction with Sinclair Inc. and today under the ultimate control of Soo Kim has reached an agreement with the National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee franchise.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted a request by the Commission to dismiss the appeals filed in the combined Free Press v. FCC case designed to thwart Nexstar Media Group's regulatorily approved merger with TEGNA. It's a win for the Commission and for Nexstar.

Four photographers who work for the news-driven unaffiliated television station serving Boston owned by Sunbeam Television have taken the company to court for allegedly failing to properly reimburse them for time spent during a mandatory hotel stay tied to a winter weather plan initiated by the station in late January.