the HOT List

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.

Sirius XM just had a strong Q2 performance, and ad revenue from its recently acquired Pandora is one reason why it did so. Now, it appears Amazon wants in on the action -- bringing not just Spotify but broadcast radio and its digital audio streams a big competitor.

With its stock starting Monday's trading at $2.09 and earnings forecasts projecting anywhere from a 1% revenue dip to a 1% revenue climb, Simply Wall St. on July 19 noted that "some shareholders are rather upset" with Salem Media Group's share price. They may be a bit happier now.

Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday that would repeal "outdated regulations of the 1992 Cable Act." The NAB has made it clear it does not want any such action to occur. Pro-MVPD groups hailed the proposed act.

Six Members of Congress are being hailed by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) for their introduction on Thursday of legislation that is designed to revive the FCC's Tax Certificate Policy.

How much lower will Comscore shares go? The company's Q2 earnings are expected by August 12, and by then the audience measurement company's stock could be a fraction of what it was worth just five months ago. On Thursday, another steep dip was seen.

NAB head Gordon Smith on Tuesday assailed the nation's DBS providers -- DISH and DirecTV parent AT&T -- for "purposefully withholding broadcast signals from viewers." The pro-MVPD American Television Alliance responded that "broadcasters are in need of a history lesson."

From October 1998 until his August 2016 "retirement" from the radio industry, this individual was a key ad sales leader at Cumulus Media. He then went on to work under CEO Michael Dickey at magazine publisher Modern Luxury. Now, he's launched a "trusted media guidance" shop.