the HOT List

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday circulated proposed legislation that would, in his view and that of GOP leaders, "modernize" the agency's media ownership regulations. This resulted in cheers from the NAB. It also led Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to use a portion of her opening statement at Wednesday's House Subcommittee on Communications FCC Oversight Hearing to voice her strong opposition to Pai's plan.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made it clear that what he had to say at the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology's FCC Oversight Hearing on Wednesday afternoon would grab the biggest headlines — duopolies will soon be possible in every market across the U.S., and cross-ownership rules will be heading into major rewrite mode very soon. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) couldn't have been more pleased. This "bombshell" announcement deflected attention away from her proclamation that there would be no twisting and turning of the discussion by leading Democrats "to try to turn this hearing into the Trump Tweet hearing."

The House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology took several hours today to hold its second FCC Oversight hearing of the current Congress. There were some entertaining moments -- including a shot from Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel about her "vacation" courtesy of the Senate. But, the top words said for broadcasters came from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He revealed plans to modernize broadcast media ownership, and the NAB is delighted.

With the battle between MVPDs and broadcast TV companies as heated as ever going into the all-important Q4 negotiating period for 2018 retransmission fee agreements, local advertising and media research firm BIA/Kelsey today placed a microscope on the DMAs where retransmission fees account for more than half of over-the-air revenue. Six markets stick out, with one market's TV stations reporting that some 63.5% of its revenues are tied to retrans fees.

Fiery dissent from the FCC's two Democratic Commissioners couldn't sway at least one of their three Republican colleagues to vote alongside them on a matter of keen interest to radio and TV station owners. As a result, in a 3-2 party-line vote, the elimination of the main studio rule is on its way to fruition, putting an end to a regulation crafted — as Commissioner Brendan Carr noted in his comments — just months before the start of World War II.

Three unfair labor practice charges filed against NBCUniversal-owned Hispanic television network Telemundo on behalf of certain telenovela actors by labor union SAG-AFTRA have been settled.

It's been a little more than three months since Bruce Swail has been at the helm of GatesAir, one of the world's leading transmitter vendors, working closely with radio and television broadcasters on all-things focused on bringing a clean, quality signal to consumers. In that time, it is fair to say that Swail has jumped head-first into an industry provider serving an industry at the cusp of massive change. In this exclusive interview with RBR+TVBR's WEEKLY TECH UPDATE, Swail gives us a glimpse into what's tops in his world, and what the radio and TV industry's C-Suite should keep their eyes on in 2018.

If you're a viewer of the long-running series Shark Tank, you'll know that the question, "Do you have a patent?" is a very important one for investors, and for eventual clients using the unique product. For ENCO Systems, the answer is "yes" with respect to a patent that specifically applies to providing automated captioning by using speech-to-text.

Just in time for Halloween, a "zombie" has surfaced in Washington. And, the Commission is comfortable enough with this creature living on an island off the coast of Los Angeles that it's treating it unlike Godzilla. That's because the FCC has given its approval to the first-ever transaction involving a channel-sharing agreement, a so-called "zombie" station resulting from the Commission's incentive auction, before the channel-sharing has even commenced.

Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar, along with Republican co-sponsor John McCain, introduced legislation Thursday that would extend the FEC and FCC’s disclosure rules for broadcasters and other media to online ads. Dubbed the "Honest Ads Act," the trio of politicians say their bill is designed to “bring needed transparency and accountability to online political ads.” But, does it go too far? TechFreedom President Berin Szóka says yes.

For DirecTV subscribers across the Hawaiian islands seeking to view The Doctors at 7am or the 8am edition of Hawaii News Now Sunrise, there was nothing but darkness this morning. At midnight Eastern today, KFVE-9 in Honolulu — the MyNetwork TV affiliate for the state of Hawaii — was "dropped" from DirecTV's lineup. It's the latest dispute resulting from the failure of a new retransmission fee agreement between a service provider and a broadcast company, and the second ongoing dispute involving a TV station serving Hawaii.

The company's SVP/Public Policy & Government Affairs, Kathleen Grillo, has fired back at Univision Communications some three days after its Spanish-language stations were yanked from all FiOs and Verizon mobile delivery systems. Grillo did so with a strongly worded letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stating her company's case, and defending its actions. We've got a RBR+TVBR Observation on the situación.

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 seventh podcast installment, Ferber and Krasnow discuss the one part of any transaction that goes beyond intellectual property, possession of a broadcast license, or equipment acquisition — real estate. This is one of Ferber's favorite topics. Why?

Two Democratic members of the U.S. Senate and a powerful Republican Senator united to introduce legislation today that's designed to "bring needed transparency and accountability to online political ads." In short, the Honest Ads Act would make public who bought an online political ad—and bring to digital media the same rules as seen for political ads airing on radio and television. Similar legislation set for introduction in the House of Representatives would do the same.

The FCC late Wednesday paused by 15 days the 180-Day transaction "Shot Clock" in the proceeding for transfer of control of Tribune Media Co. to Sinclair Broadcast Group to allow for additional comment. By midday Thursday, Tribune Media signaled it was ready to roll with its acquisition by Sinclair, leaving it up to the Federal government to make the next move.