the HOT List

Investors seem pleased with Viacom's results for the first three months of its fiscal 2018. Ninety minutes into Thursday's trading, shares were up by 8%. Shares finished up 7.2%. That's thanks to a Q1 earnings per share that beat Wall Street consensus estimates. But, earnings were down.

“In Watch, we had a strong year," Nielsen CEO Mitch Barns said of his company's audience measurement segment that includes its TV and radio ratings services. But, Nielsen's struggles continue in its Buy segment, which offers marketers and retailers insight on consumer purchasing behavior. There was also a big non-tax charge that hurt Nielsen's net income. These factors led to a sell-off of Nielsen shares less than an hour into Thursday's trading on Wall Street, with NLSN off nearly 10% at the Closing Bell.

On January 22, an entity comfortable with locking horns with the FCC went at it again. Prometheus Radio Project took the Commission to court, with the Media Mobilizing Project joining in a case filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Today, the Court gave its ruling to the two entities: Motion denied. This means the Commission may move forward with its rules reform, without delay.

Morgantown may be the home of West Virginia University, but for viewers of DBS providers such as DirecTV and DISH Network it wasn't the home of network affiliates based in an area to the south of the city. That's now changed, thanks to a successful petition filed with the Commission that brings stations owned by Gray Television and Nexstar Media Group to this all-important city in the Mountaineer State.

The Walt Disney Co. had a solid fiscal Q1 2018 that beat the forecasts of several Wall Street analysts. But, all is not well in the Mouse House, and Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser took a closer look at what went right for the company. The answer: Theme parks are hot, while broadcast and cable TV are not.

One year and one week ago, MMTC President Emeritus and Senior Advisor David Honig requested that the FCC move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on a 2014 plan that would create a new class of FM stations. This would allow hundreds of Class A stations to upgrade. On Monday, the NPRM was circulated by the Media Bureau.

 On the afternoon of Oct. 19, 2017, the MyNetworkTV affiliate serving the state of Hawaii suddenly faded to black for DirecTV subscribers across the state. The station — KFVE-9 in Honolulu — still hasn’t returned to the lineup. On Oct. 20, a "Good Faith Negotiation Complaint" against DirecTV was filed by KFVE's licensee with the FCC's Media Bureau. A decision arrived Monday morning, Hawaiian time, and KFVE GM John L. Fink won't be happy.

A television broadcasting company all-too familiar with waging war against cable companies over retransmission fees has raised its battle flag in a challenge that has led Charter Communications to yank 11 stations from Syracuse to Spokane. In multiple markets, viewers were left scrambling to determine how to watch Super Bowl LII.

A series of transfer agreements of varying dollar amounts were filed and entered Friday by New York-based U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Shelley Chapman that absolve the nation's No. 2 radio broadcasting company by number of stations of its debts to the companies involved. The filings follow actions by the court on Thursday that negates a separation agreement for a former Westwood One executive. An engineering firm in Upstate New York spoke to RBR+TVBR about the thousands of dollars its owed.

The rumors are true: CBS Corp.'s Board of Directors on Thursday discussed the possibility of a merger with Viacom. Official word came after CBS's board approved a quarterly dividend on the company's stock of 18 cents per share. Both conversation pieces helped CBS see a healthy gain on Wall Street in Thursday's trading. Meanwhile, investors punished Meredith Corp. following its Q4 earnings release.

In the nation's 14th-largest market, one of the most-listened-to radio stations serving the region's Spanish-speaking Hispanic audience has long been KNAI-FM 88.3, a noncommerical Class C1 facility that has been the affiliate of the Cesar Chávez Foundation's regional Mexican "La Campesina Network." Unfortunately, KNAI and a sister station in the San Joaquin Valley of California didn't play by the FCC's rules when it came to the Commission's underwriting laws. To settle the matter, the Foundation has entered into a Consent Decree with the Enforcement Bureau that involves a compliance plan and a record-breaking civil penalty due to the U.S. Treasury.

Is iHeartMedia walking down the same path as Cumulus Media? The nation's No. 1 radio broadcasting company's iHeartCommunications arm has elected not to make the cash interest payment of $106 million due today (2/1) with respect to its outstanding Senior Notes due 2021. This gives iHeart a 30-day grace period until an event of default is triggered — and could portend to bigger things by the end of February for the nation's No. 1 radio broadcasting company.

With its stock languishing below $6 since October 2017 and pressure to control costs at a heightened state, Oakland, Calif.-based streaming audio pioneer Pandora on Wednesday initiated what it calls "an organizational structuring designed to prioritize its strategic growth initiatives and optimize overall business performance." Job cuts are on the way.

CBS Corp. no longer has to make excuses to marketers and advertisers about lackluster ratings for Thursday Night Football telecasts. Starting with the 2018 season, that will become the responsibility of 21st Century Fox for the next five years. Wall Street isn't too happy with the news: Fox stock was off by nearly 4% in Wednesday's trading.

What first surfaced as a rumor in a radio industry trade publication this morning turned into reality just before the lunch hour on Wall Street. Emmis Communications is exiting one of its most profitable markets, and two big companies are involved.