the HOT List

On March 22, "after three brutal days" in a Washington, D.C.-area hospital, a former FCC Commissioner was discharged to go home in isolation. On Tuesday evening, he returned to the hospital, telling Twitter followers he has double pneumonia and could be a novel coronavirus victim.

Local television stations owned by The E.W. Scripps Company have launched a public service campaign called “We’re Open” — an effort wholly designed to support local business owners and their workers. The coronavirus pandemic has led to closures of many stores and shops, across multiple industries. However, others remain open — and could be struggling.

With "stay-at-home" declarations and coronavirus-infected tallies changing by the hour, safely covering the news could present numerous challenges for a TV news organization. At TEGNA, VP/News Ellen Crooke is the "woman on the front lines," coordinating all of the efforts companywide as TEGNA seeks to keep as many away from their respective stations as possible.

Debt leverage has been one of the key headaches for radio broadcasting companies in recent years, and as of mid-February all seemed on track to bring the leverage ratios down to satisfying ratios by the end of 2020. With coronavirus pandemic concerns gripping the world, two radio-centric companies have already moved to draw millions of dollars from their credit lines.

As RBR+TVBR has reported, TEGNA has received bids from Apollo Global Management, Byron Allen's broadcast TV group, and, most recently, a bid that involves Trinity Broadcasting Network. TEGNA hasn't said a word, and the big shareholder controlled by Soo Kim wants TEGNA to say something publicly about the offers.

In what Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) President Emeritus and Senior Advisor David Honig calls "a big victory today for the public interest," the FCC's Audio Division Chief has moved forward with the expected deletion from existence of four AM radio stations serving the St. Louis market. There's a specific reason why Honig is pleased with the decision.

With the release of African American-centric media company Urban One's Q4 and full-year 2019 resuts, it is now known that tough comps and an accounting change made the fourth quarter financial results appear less than rosy. That's nothing compared to the COVID-19 fueled impact on Urban One already seen in Q1 2020.

It's no secret that podcast awareness and consumption of podcasts in the U.S. is on the rise. The latest data from the Infinite Dial 2020, produced by Edison Research and Triton Digital only confirms the explosion in on-demand digital audio consumption, which has led to a renaissance of content designed for the ear.

Unnamed sources are telling Reuters that Gray has withdrawn its cash and stock offer for the broadcast TV company formerly known as Gannett. But, wait 'til you see what entity has emerged with a bid for TEGNA. It involves an entity that made Matt and Laurie Crouch household names for a generation of reverent Americans.

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.