the HOT List

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.

Looking for ratings growth at your TV station's local news operation? Are additional advertisers and increased revenue of interest to your stations' sales teams? There's a tool that can bring both of these things to a TV station, via the newsroom.  Thank the rise of social media for serving as the new gauge of news timeliness. What to do? Daniel Anstandig and his team at Futuri Media believes he has the answer.

The big ol' Weed Wacker at 445 12th Street SW in Washington, D.C., is getting charged up for what Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly has assured will be an event that impacts children and families. As far as he's concerned, the Commission's requirements regarding educational and informational children's programming are "ineffective and burdensome." O'Rielly expressed his thoughts in a Friday blog post we've just digested, and we're not shy to offer a RBR+TVBR Observation questioning O'Rielly for this suggestion just as Next Gen TV is poised to make UHF and VHF far more relevant again.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a statutory party to Cumulus Media's Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings, underway in a New York Federal Bankruptcy Court. As such, it has voiced its objection to Cumulus' Disclosure Statement for its Joint Plan of Reorganization, and to the confirmation of its reorganization plan. Meanwhile, an "amended rejected contracts list" has been filed by Cumulus with the court.

The broadcast media industry's chief lobbying and advocacy group on Thursday night filed motions to intervene in Prometheus Radio Project’s challenge to the FCC’s media ownership reform order. The motions were filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and would allow the NAB — a non-party — to join the litigation without the permission of the litigants.

The rumors are rampant. Wall Street is talking. Now, Reuters is fueling the flames. CBS Corp. and Viacom are discussing a reunification of the two companies, the news agency reported following the Closing Bell on Wall Street on Thursday.