the HOT List

One company Wednesday reported "spectacular" Q3 2017 earnings results. It's a big company that you compete with. This company enjoyed revenue growth of 47% and ad revenue growth of 43%. But, something's troubling this giant in 2018, says prolific Wall Street investment professional Brian Wieser, Senior Research Analyst – Advertising at Pivotal Research Group. What's the issue? What does it mean for you? We let Wieser share, in his own words, how Facebook will be slightly hampered by issues you should be selling potential clients against.

The nation's No. 2 radio broadcasting company by number of stations revealed in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday that a scheduled interest payment of roughly $23.6 million on its 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019 — planned for payment on Nov. 1 — wasn't paid. It's not a default, but the clock is ticking.

In 2016, Nexstar Media Group teamed up with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting in what was heralded as the "largest multicast distribution launch in the history of broadcast TV." Now, new partners Shield Media, Tamer Media and Vaughn Media have come on board and have agreed to add multicast networks Bounce, Escape, Grit and Laff on 43 additional channels. At the same time, affiliation agreements have been renewed for 21 current stations — with all affiliations extending well into the next decade.

On the afternoon of Oct. 19, the MyNetworkTV affiliate serving the state of Hawaii suddenly faded to black for DirecTV subscribers across the state. The station still hasn't returned to the lineup, and the station's GM is furious. He's also painting a "David and Goliath" picture ... even though Raycom is involved in the operation. What's the true story behind KFVE-9 in Honolulu? Is AT&T-owned DirecTV playing fair, or is this another mud-slinging battle over "must carry" status? RBR+TVBR spoke with KFVE GM John L. Fink to get his take on the thorny situation.

"Despite challenges in the quarter, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the loss of certain technical school advertisers versus last year and mainly transaction-related one-time charges, Sinclair stations continued to deliver," says Sinclair Broadcast Group President/CEO Chris Ripley. But, total revenue was down in Q3, as was Sinclair's operating income. As a result, its net income shrank by 24 cents per share — missing the consensus street estimate by a dime. Investors reacted by selling SBGI stock in the first two hours of Wednesday's trading. 

Thus far into the 115th U.S. Congress, multiple efforts to bring additional royalty payments to radio stations across the U.S. appear to be flailing and twitching like one of the Walking Dead. Now, it appears that any tax reform measure that would change a business' ability to fully deduct the costs of advertising in the year they are incurred may be as equally challenged from gaining support of legislators on both side of Capitol Hill.

The tranquil town of Red Lion, Pa., nestled to the southeast of York, Pa., has now attracted national headlines for another "zombie" capture. This time, there's a multi-million payment involved, and a big pay-day for the seller. The deal was signed and sealed on Aug. 29. However, it's only now been filed with the FCC.

There's no need to call the Ghostbusters. A zombie has been captured in New York City, and the thankful party is none other than one of the biggest PBS member stations in the nation. There's no payment involved, and we've got all of the not-so-spooky details on this Halloween treat for Channel 13—including the "Hero" in this deal, which is the party handing over this TV creature.

It's been a difficult 10 full months since WBTS-LD signed on the air as "NBC Boston." News ratings have lagged. But, NBCUniversal is hardly giving up—it's just engaged in a complex deal that transfers a channel-sharing agreement tied to a Class A TV station that fetched millions in the FCC spectrum auction to WBTS, presumably to bump up its signal in the greater Boston area.

Beasley Broadcast Group's two top executives had much to share in the way of positive Q3 results during the media company's 17-minute conference call for the financial community on Monday morning. But, one of the key items of discussion mentioned by CEO Caroline Beasley is the company's leverage. It's down -- and nearly into what she considers to be the "comfort zone." But, political could hit Beasley in Q4 as it considers a refi of its credit facilities.

If there was one key takeaway from the FCC's 110-page opus that spells out the authorization of permissive use of the next-gen broadcast TV standard -- a.k.a. GN Docket No. 16-142 -- it's this: "It is premature to address any issues that may arise with respect to the voluntary carriage of ATSC 3.0 signals before broadcasters begin transmitting in this new voluntary standard."

As RBR+TVBR reported Thursday, the FCC has included in its November Open Meeting agenda an Order that approves the use of the next-gen TV standard, known as ATSC 3.0. This resulted in a strong endorsement of the plan from the NAB, as full details emerged as to what it will bring. But, it also came with another warning from an anti-tax group and pro-MVPD organization actively seeking support for its case against ATSC 3.0's rapid deployment, should it come at a cost to consumers.

Doug Ferber of DEFcom Advisors LLC and Erwin Krasnow of Garvey Schubert Barer have created a special podcast series exclusively for RBR+TVBR members based on a series of articles centered on the topic “Broadcast Deal Myths Debunked.” In this eighth podcast installment, Ferber and Krasnow discuss the belief among some that they can bank on 100% leveraged purchases.

As we enter the final weeks of 2017, it has become clear that several players residing within the U.S. media and telecom sector have embraced many of the key trends, regulatory conditions, and economic benefits forecast for several quarters by PwC. Deal volumes in Q3 reached another two-year high, at 238 deals. That surpassed volumes in Q2 2017 by 9%, and Q3 2016 by 72%. Deal values also made a splash, exceeding $30 billion with seven mega-deals.

Two senior FCC officials have disclosed the key points of Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed Report and Order on ownership modernization, which all broadcast media owners have been eagerly anticipating. The language of Pai's Order is set for release today, along with a Nov. 16 Open Meeting agenda that will also see a vote to approve the ATSC 3.0 next-gen television transmission standard, which the officials declined to comment on.