the HOT List

As of Monday night, NBC owned stations in eight of the nation's biggest markets replaced what would have normally been the first 25 minutes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with more local news. At the same time, five O&Os have ushered in a new 7pm newscast, while three others are debuting a local newscast at 7:30pm Eastern.

While COVID-19 is unprecedented in the digital age, Nielsen looked at how some catastrophic events in recent years held sway over consumer viewing as well as how working from home changes behavior (and more to come on that). Here's what they found.

On February 11, RBR+TVBR first shared with readers the fate of Carl Goldman, his wife Jeri Serrati-Goldman, and a Utah-based couple they had been traveling with aboard the Diamond Princess cruise line. One month later, Carl Goldman has his first bit of good news. Home may be just days away.

Visibility is cloudy, thanks to COVID-19. It knows its Live Events arm will be negatively impacted. However, one big revenue component at Townsquare Media is unscathed, and political dollars could positively offset cancellations or pauses in its events or ad campaigns at its stations. As such, the road ahead could be less bumpy for Townsquare, which recorded a strong Q4 that beat the Street.

At the start of 2019, MoffettNathanson asked the following question: What would happen to the earnings of our companies during a U.S. recession? "Obviously our concern last year was premature," says Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson. "However ,the focus now about slowing economic growth in the wake of the growing COVID-19 epidemic is legitimately front and center."

Call them competitors. Call them united in their goal to bring ATSC 3.0-powered television programming, 24/7, to the Rose City. Meredith Local Media and Nexstar Media Group on Thursday jointly announced plans to launch the first NEXTGEN TV service in Portland, Ore.

An asset exchange agreement is moving forward that will shift NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises' Telemundo network from one signal to another. The deal is significant, as the station NBCU is acquiring is one of a handful of full-power UHFs in Fresno.

In a letter to the NAB Show community, National Association of Broadcasters President/CEO Gordon Smith announced that the 2020 NAB Show scheduled for late April is "off." The NAB is reviewing options for later this year.​​​

The decline in U.S. multichannel subscriptions accelerated to new levels in 2019, newly released data from S&P Global Market Intelligence's Kagan division finds. It says this is a reflection of consumer viewing transition that's only magnified by additional streaming video options and shifting service provider approaches that effectively de-emphasize the big subscription package.

While few recall the 2004 feature film I Heart Huckabees, many Americans know of Mike Huckabee,  two-time Republican U.S. presidential hopeful, and host of both a TV talk show and daily radio program. Now, in the heart of Ozarks, Huckabee will become known as a media mogul of sorts. He's buying out his partners in radio stations serving the Branson, Mo. listening area.

On Monday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai published a new blog post. The primary focus of the post was robocalls. But, Pai also discussed three TV items that are worth taking a look at. This includes a proposal to make it easier for broadcast TV stations to use a distributed transmission system, or DTS

On Friday RBR+TVBR shared a Reuters report noting that, according to sources close to the matter, a $20 per share cash/stock offer for TEGNA has been made by Gray Television. It is now known that Apollo Global Management has made a similar offer. Further, Soohyung Kim has offered a statement in reaction to the rumored Gray bid.

In winning Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden demonstrated the value of having the right media mix. Texas, in particular, proved to be Biden’s best “petri dish.” Brad Kelly, Managing Director Nielsen Audio, analyzed Biden’s Super Tuesday media mix. Here's what he found.

With TEGNA under pressure from major shareholder Standard General — the Soohyung Kim-led entity that has recruited former Tribune Media President of Broadcast Media Larry Wert as a nominee for a TEGNA board seat — a new wrinkle to its future has emerged. It involves the company that recently completed its merger with Raycom Media.

Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One will no longer distribute NBC Sports Radio come the end of March. Call it a consolidation move: the company is offering affiliates the option to switch to CBS Sports Radio, which it also distributes.