the HOT List

Welcome to the latest carriage fee impact to arise for a broadcast television company, adding to a long string of impasses resulting in "blackouts," by law, of some of a cable TV service provider's most-watched channels.  This one involves the hub of New England and the pride of the three rivers.

In mid-June 2025, the MVPD formerly known as Cincinnati Bell took its retransmission consent battle against Nexstar Media Group to the FCC. Now, the Commission has spoken, ruling against altafiber by saying Nexstar did not violate any "bad faith" regulatory policies administered by the agency.

CAR head Daniel Suhr singlehandedly convinced the Carr Commission to reinstate "news distortion" petitions against three of the "Big Four" networks dismissed under delegated authority in the waning days of the Biden administration. Now, Suhr may have handed local TV stations owners a big Christmas wish.

For nearly 60 years, Arkansas’s only statewide public television network has worked to inform and inspire viewers through stories that educate and strengthen its communities. From June 30, 2026, that programming will be absent of anything from PBS — a casualty of Congressional CPB defunding.

For the first time, Pinterest will combine its intent-rich audience signals with a Connected TV engine, so marketers can clearly measure how television lifts the results of their performance ad campaigns. It is doing so with tvScientific, in an intriguing move for a social media platform.

Just like industry peer Beasley experienced, Discord chat rooms about investment opportunities — as seen on social media platform X — are actively talking up iHeartMedia stock. With 30 minutes to go in trading on Thursday, their posts appeared to be working, with "IHRT" shares up by more than 8% from Wednesday.

On October 9, Nexstar Media Group shares dipped below the $200 mark, and headed downward through November 14. One month later, growth in the company's stock price has resulted in another stab at an all-time high for "NXST" on Nasdaq.

The President of the Center for American Rights — a right-wing lobbying group intent on getting the FCC to probe NBC, ABC and CBS for "news distortion" — is suggesting the Commission should reclaim valued spectrum from any public radio or TV station should they fail to meet their respective operational budgets. 

Perry Sook told an investor conference on Monday that the proposed merger of TEGNA and his Nexstar Media Group, which pushes the No. 1 single owner of broadcast TV stations well above current regulatory caps, is the direct result of President Trump winning the 2024 U.S. presidential election. 

David Ellison is fighting back against Netflix and its proposed $72 billion takeover of Warner Bros. — including HBO Max and the HBO cable TV channels — by commencing an all-cash tender offer that would see Paramount acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery's outstanding shares at a valuation of $30.

The big takeaway for the three-month period ending September 30? Ad revenues soared and enjoyed the fastest pace since the final stage of the post-COVID rebound in the first quarter of 2022. That said, broadcast media's performance was a bit different.

In one week, customers to Verizon Fios cable TV services in two cities where Cox Media Group owns stations could be left in the dark. That's because the TV stations' owner and the MVPD can't seem to be in agreement on terms for a new retransmission consent accord.

With The E.W. Scripps Co. under a hostile takeover attempt by Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group awaiting a regulatory nod for its industry-changing proposed merger with TEGNA, Gray Media is moving forward with an initiative that adjusts that media company's indebtedness, with repayment due in seven years.

Netflix, born out of a DVD-by-mail service, is acquiring Warner Bros. — including its film and television studios, the HBO Max platform in competition with Netflix, and the HBO cable TV network, from the David Zaslav-led Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount had questioned the sale process' "fairness and accuracy."

It’s the creation of Jonathan Katz, who founded the former Katz Broadcasting some 15 years ago and sold it to Scripps Networks in December 2020. Free TV Networks, with over-the-air digital broadcast networks and "FAST" channels at its heard, will soon be a sibling to the newly renamed MS NOW.