the HOT List

It's a new day for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which one year ago was grappling with the fact that it would not be merging with Tribune Media. Thanks to a strong Q2 performance, Sinclair is on solid footing for a bright future, with FOX RSNs set to boost profits.

Investors appear to be somewhat wary of Nexstar's growth plan. Even with a largely positive Q2 earnings release, the company's shares are slumping on Wall Street. A lack of a retransmission consent pact with one of the two DBS providers is the likely reason.

For Hispanic media company Entravision, net revenue was down as the company swung to a net loss of more than $16 million. The company is blaming its revenue dip for "a trend" — a shift to self-service programmatic platforms. Investors sent EVC down 11% on Wednesday.

In January 2016, Cumulus Media and the FCC agreed to settle an investigation into whether the radio group violated the commission’s sponsorship ID rules. Now, the FCC says the company has violated the terms of a Consent Decree reached to civilly resolve the matter.

Dual duels have impacted viewers of CBS stations owned by CBS Corp. and by Nexstar Media Group in some 56 designated market areas. Now, in a show of unity that could further muddle their respective negotiations with AT&T, CBS and Nexstar are renewing their affiliation deals.

Another unspeakable tragedy sparked by a gunman unfolded early Sunday morning in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, home to RBR+TVBR's publisher and key sales staff. While Cox Media Group's WHIO-7 did an outstanding job of covering the mass shooting, the efforts of a Nexstar station were diminished by its parent company's ongoing retransmission dispute with AT&T.

Four months ago, the TV company led by Pluria Marshall Jr. filed a lawsuit against an entity it acquired three stations from for what it says are this company's active efforts “to undermine” its TV trio. Now, one Congressman is acting on Marshall's behalf to thwart efforts he claims are threatening his business.

Introducing H.R. 3957, the "Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2019." The bill, introduced this week by Louisiana Democratic Congressman G. K. Butterfield, would promote diversity of ownership in the broadcast industry by reestablishing the Minority Tax Certificate Program. Is the House on board?

From April 2015 through March 2018, Louis Libin served as a senior director at Sinclair Broadcast Group. Now, he's back -- and his departure from HC2 Holdings is stirring more rumors that the entity led by Philip Falcone can't come up with the cash to complete several deals.

Radio advertising was up nearly 7% in Q2, with cable and digital also seeing strong gains. Yet, net income dipped from a year ago. There's an easy explanation: Unfair comps due to a tax benefit. Subtract that, and Urban One's Q2 was very good.

America's "Big Four" broadcast television networks have united in seeking to stop a digital app from streaming over-the-air channels to their users without the requisite retransmission consent agreements. The NAB has vocalized its support of efforts that could put Locast out of business.

How did Nielsen actually do in Q2? Revenue was right on the money, and adjusted EPS came in well above expectations. That could be minor news compared to what the New York Post first reported late Tuesday: no one wants to buy Nielsen in full.

It wasn't that long ago when some radio industry C-Suiters were positing that Sirius XM Satellite Radio could never become profitable. Guess what? It's doing just fine, and its Q2 2019 results beat Wall Street estimates. At the Closing Bell, 'SIRI' had gained just two cents.

Who knew that lobbyists on Capitol Hill representing recreational vehicle manufacturers, dealers, owners and RV parks could effectively be powerful enough to keep network signals from New York or Los Angeles on the local channel lineup in far-flung regions of the U.S. where no local network affiliate may exist.

Broadcast TV station owners, through retransmission consent agreements with DBS providers and MVPDs, get what they believe is a reasonable fee in exchange of allowing these services to profit from offering them to consumers. But, that fee is growing, and fast, Kagan data show.