the HOT List

In August 2014, then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler applauded a deal, crafted with the assistance of the MMTC, that saw Gray Television sell several stations to qualified minority and/or women-owned companies. One of these stations is now being reacquired by Gray, thanks to a loosening of local TV ownership rules carried out by the Republican-majority Commission under Chairman Ajit Pai.

So, that great new app that your station now has in the Apple App Store or Google Play download hub ... are your listeners downloading it? If they are, are they keeping it? A just-released report from mobile measurement company Adjust offers three data points to consider when "unmasking uninstalls." They could help your station in getting its app used, and not deleted.

The CEO of the Aloha Station Trust and the recently formed Ocean Station Trust, a radio industry veteran who has worked at such companies as Harte-Hanks Communications and Entravision Communications, has passed away.

The owner of the MeTV broadcast television network, in addition to four other digital multicast TV offerings and the "MeTV FM" Soft Oldies brand has just launched a next-generation broadcast TV station in the Windy City. The launch saw Weigel Broadcasting team up with six technology partners.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC) has stated that it is in favor of a plan to bring a new class of FM radio stations to the dial across the U.S. Such a move, it has said, could benefit minority and female broadcast media ownership. The MMTC has now reaffirmed its views on a new "Class C4" radio broadcast class in reply comments submitted to the FCC.

A private equity firm named The Arbitrage Event-Driven Fund on Monday filed a class action complaint with an Illinois federal district court against Tribune. A jury trial is being demanded. The charge? Tribune executives cost investors millions of dollars for failing to disclose Sinclair's ill-fated actions. 

Nielsen has "expanded the scope" of a strategic review of its troubled Buy segment to include "a broad review of strategic alternatives" for the company and its businesses. The move comes after an activist shareholder's call for an outright sale of Nielsen, and a stock dip bringing Nielsen shares to levels not seen since summer 2012.

With the exit of CEO Les Moonves amid new sexual misconduct allegations the talk of the business world, Moody's Investors Service chimed in with its take on what's in store for CBS Corporation and its stock holders.

CBS's Board of Directors reached a settlement agreement with controlling shareholder National Amusements Inc. that ends pending litigation in a Delaware Chancery Court spurred by the efforts of CBS to dilute the voting power of NAI. Concurrently, CBS Chairman/CEO Les Moonves is out — and he and CBS are jointly making a multi-million dollar donation to groups tied to the #MeToo movement.

A subgroup of members of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) and/or the ACDDE's Broadcast Development Working Group want to modify a just-adopted FCC incubator program designed to establish greater broadcast media ownership diversity. The NAB has just told the Commission it opposes such efforts, urging it to move forward.

Just about a decade ago, a successful broadcast media broker made the leap into radio station ownership. His newly created company snagged four FMs, two AMs and two FM translators in a big college town. Now, the company has doubled in size -- and it is all thanks to a deal with Cumulus Media.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday submitted an 11-page objection to the approval by a Houston Bankruptcy Court Judge of a disclosure statement relating to the "third amended joint Chapter 11" reorganization plan of iHeartMedia. Why is the SEC displeased with the court's decision? It's a bit complex, but it involves "an extensive list of non-debtor third parties."

Thanks to "AM revitalization" and their use to bring HD radio channels to the masses, the FM translator has become a valued assets for many small and independent broadcasters. Among them is Rahul Walia. He's now the owner of an operation that is about to make history in New York.

A family-owned company based in rural Illinois with 18 TV stations across the U.S. is presently engaged in a battle over a new retransmission fee agreement with DISH Network. As such, stations including the ABC affiliate in Wausau, Wisc., are "blacked out" from the DBS provider.

On Thursday, RBR+TVBR learned more about purchase of a big Class B AM serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. The buyer is headed by the same individual who is involved in a testy FM translator battle in the Raleigh-Durham market that has resulted in a lengthy tussle with Tom Birch's Lakes Media LLC. And, wouldn't you know, the FCC's Audio Division Chief has just issued a ruling on said translator.