the HOT List

Some 50 years ago, the Apollo program was just five months away from the launch of Apollo 11 -- the rocket that placed the first humans on the moon. It now appears a different kind of Apollo launch is in the works, and 14 TV stations in such markets as Orlando are to be spun. When will official word arrive?

Gray Television has reached an agreement with United Communications to acquire its three TV stations for a total purchase price of $45 million. This involves a full-power and low-power station in far northern New York State and a CBS/FOX affiliate in Minnesota.

What would you do if the owner of a rival radio station acquired an option on the transmitter site of your station in a bid to force a sale or, even worse, the shutdown of a sputtering AM station that's recently gone silent? In the case of one New York station owner, a sale was the option.

A just-released study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in association with two European universities, offers a glimmer of hope for television industry C-Suiters who may wonder if time-shifting by TV consumers is resulting in the viewing of fewer commercials.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai opened his remarks at the National Association of Tower Erectors annual conference with chatter about his beloved Kansas City Chiefs and their absence from "the Super Bowl LIII snoozefest." But, what he said about FCC's post-Spectrum Auction repack process is perhaps a bigger cheer inducer.

As first shared Tuesday evening via RBR+TVBR's Twitter feed, Forever Media -- the radio broadcasting company owned by Kirby Confer (pictured) and Donald Alt, has grabbed a formidable group of stations across the First State and nearby environs. We now know the price Forever paid to the seller.

The Arbitrage Fund has had its eyes on Pandora Media and its freshly closed merger with Sirius XM Holdings Inc. To them, something smells funny -- and Pandora is trying in court to squelch the fund. What irks this merger arbitrage specialist so much?

Rapidly growing media workflow solutions provider vCreative has added to its executive ranks by naming a President/COO to serve under CEO Jinny Laderer. It is an executive most recently at WideOrbit, where she held a key sales position.

The review of the FCC’s EEO rules and policies, in particular the elimination of radio and TV stations' obligation to file "Form 397," is a very big topic of interest for the MMTC.  How so? The group's top two leaders last week spoke with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and one Commissioner to discuss a Jan. 3, 2019 "White Copy."

The two biggest adversaries of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in the 115th Congress are now in key leadership positions in the House of Representatives. That means Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) are now empowered to act on many of the claims they have lobbed at Ajit Pai in recent months.

A battle between the company that seeks to become the largest owner of broadcast TV stations in the U.S. and a small cable company -- one magnified by the American Cable Association since the final hours of 2018 -- is now over. The impasse impacted the MVPD's 50,000 or so subscribers, mostly in rural areas.

Media brokers largely believe HC2 Holdings has completed its buying spree. Its leader has repeatedly declined interview requests over the last two months. As speculation grows that HC2 isn't keeping its collection of LPTV and full-power signals, it has just added six more Class As.

Nexstar Media Group enjoyed another up day on Wall Street today, as the broadcast TV station owner seeking to merge with Tribune Broadcasting revealed that it seeks to keep its duopoly situation in Indianapolis intact following the acquisition.

In the world of M&A transactions, many are successful … and almost as many fail. Now, think about many of the songs you hear. Joyful, happy songs appear along sad ones. In the second of a two-part report, DEFcom Advisors CEO Doug Ferber offers his “lyrical guide to successful broadcast transactions.”

On November 18, 2016, an antitrust lawsuit was filed in a Philadelphia-based federal court by the Radio Music Licensing Committee against the Irving Azoff-led Global Music Rights music licensing organization. The case, assigned to the Hon. C. Darnell Jones II, is now in its third year without resolution and has come with twists and turns -- including jurisdictional challenges. On Tuesday, a new development in this battle over radio royalty fees emerged.