the HOT List

If you believe the New York Post, the Department of Justice is thisclose to approving Sinclair Broadcast Group's headline-making acquisition of Tribune Media. The tabloid reported late Wednesday that a DOJ stamp of approval is just days away, citing sources close to the matter.

An Allentown, Pa.-based media design and production company that's tied to a TV station that just collected $140,482,163 in the FCC's spectrum auction isn't fooling around when it comes to a sum of money it is owed by Cumulus Media. While the dollars this company wants for Cumulus are less than 1/10 of what it just scored in the incentive auction, Cumulus believes it owes nothing for the use of a tower and antenna system for two big FMs in this north-of-Philadelphia market.

Following months of speculation regarding the future of one of the FCC's longest-serving Commissioners, Mignon Clyburn today at the Commission's April Open Meeting revealed what her future will be. She's leaving the FCC, and today's meeting was her last as a Democratic member of the agency.

First-quarter 2018 earnings are due soon from some of the key video entertainment companies trading on Wall Street. In advance of these companies' earnings releases, Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser modified his investment house's financial models for Disney, Time Warner, FOX, CBS, Viacom and Discovery Communications. Here's what he believes is the "best positioned of the group." Put on your mouse ears for this one.

The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau on Monday announced what many broadcast media companies hoped would have happened last week as their top executives gathered at the 2018 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The issuance of a further allocation of the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund has been given the green-light by the FCC. So, just how much cash is going in to the reimbursement fund, and who is eligible for these funds?

The Asia Pacific nations will see a $3 billion increase in pay TV revenue between 2017 and 2023. Perhaps North America needs to take the lead of countries where Mandarin, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai are commonly heard along with a tinged English used in Australia and New Zealand. North American pay TV revenue is about to fall off a cliff, new research finds.

Flights from nearby Miami International Airport aren't the only thing around here taking off. It appears upward of 150 people are also taking flight, for good, from Univision Communications.  It's the second, and deeper, round of job cuts at the Hispanic and millennial-focused company in eight weeks. The company explains it is part of its "multi-year transformation initiative."

If digital media is forecast to continue to beat the pants off of broadcast radio and TV for years to come, shouldn't Facebook and YouTube fork over some money to content producers like ... radio and TV stations? It's an interesting concept and one that's getting serious play in Australia. RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam Jacobson shares his thoughts on the concept of "retransmission fee agreements" of the social kind in this exclusive commentary.

It's been a tough 30 days for Entravision Communications. One week ago the company was making job cuts at its radio and TV stations. It's been a month since EVC shares closed above $5.05 a share. Now, it appears that a newly announced partnership between ad fraud protection and data intelligence firm Pixalate and an Entravision digital subsidiary did little to energize investors.

A Cumulus Media-owned Alternative operation mainly heard in one of the nation's largest markets received a bit of a jolt just two days before Friday the 13th. The FM translator Cumulus uses to bring this station, based on an HD2 signal, to the masses was to sign off at midnight. A tweet referred to the situation as "lame as heck news." Blame the FCC: It acted on an interference complaint submitted by the owners of a Class A on the same signal, some 55 miles to the west.

From digital disruption to concerns about the “connected car,” radio industry leaders continue to express concern over where AM and FM will be in the not-so-distant future. How they are reacting was the focus of a standing-room only session late Wednesday at the 2018 NAB Show in Las Vegas. Moderated by Fred Jacobs, President of Jacobs Media, the talk ranged from content to monetization.

In an emotional 14-minute acceptance speech in which she was "just so, so honored to be here this morning," Cathy Hughes -- the founder and chairperson of the publicly traded company now known as Urban One -- graciously accepted the 2018 Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America.

Raising money for local charities. Partnering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to give a priceless moment to a sick child. Those are the "ordinary things that have an extraordinary impact," and for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, "it’s this kind of community service that makes it a joy to visit broadcasters whenever I can." With that, the GOP-affiliated head of the Commission reinforced his belief that a modernization of the agency's rules is "the only way to allow broadcasters to thrive." He also revealed that translator interference can be tackled through a proposed update of the FCC's rules

In the South Texas city of Corpus Christi, viewers who wish to tune to ABC network programming go to KIII-3, a station currently owned by TEGNA. The company formerly known as Gannett took ownership of KIII in July 2014. Now, the company that sold KIII to TEGNA appears to be in a bit of a bind. And, it is the prior owner before that who is alleging a default on the payment of a promissory note valued at $7 million.

For today’s radio sales professional, there are myriad challenges. From the aggressive crosstown cluster to the big TV station to encroaching local digital media entities, one may feel exasperated in how to maintain their current client lists while looking for growth. This was the crux of a vibrant conversation on the 2018 NAB Show panel “Radio: from the Streets and the C-Suite,” conducted Tuesday morning by RAB President/CEO Erica Farber. Featured panelists included representatives from Univision Radio, Beasley Media Group, Cox Media Group and Townsquare Media.