the HOT List

Entercom late Monday announced that it's selling a suburban San Diego FM, an FM serving the Wilkes Barre-Scranton market, and "100.3 The Sound" in L.A. to Educational Media Foundation. We now know what EMF is paying for the three stations. Also in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY: A Savannah, Ga., TV station trades hands in a deal brokered by Hadden & Associates.

In an announcement released following the Closing Bell on Wall Street Tuesday (9/26) and minutes after the distribution of RBR+TVBR's afternoon news headlines, Entercom Communications announced that it has agreed to sell KSWD-FM 100.3 "The Sound" in Los Angeles -- in addition to KSOQ-FM 92.1 in the San Diego market and WGGI-FM 95.9 in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre market -- to Educational Media Foundation. This transaction marks the first required divestitures related to Entercom’s pending merger with CBS Radio.

After several extensions and continued discussions that have stretched for longer than one month, DISH Network and Citadel Communications have reached a new retransmisson fee agreement that formally brings the ABC affiliate in Providence back to DISH lineups in the Southern New England market.

The very definition of "watching" a TV program, regardless of the delivery device, is taking on new meaning thanks to tech firm TVision, which has mastered the concept of attention metrics. What does this mean for CMOs, and for the TV industry's C-Suites? TVision Insights Chief Revenue Officer Dan Schiffman shares the details in this exclusive RBR+TVBR INFOCUS report.

In the first 5-0 unanimous vote of the new FCC led by Chairman Ajit Pai, the Commission has given the green light to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would eliminate rules requiring TV stations, along with cable entities and FM translators, to keep paper copies of FCC rules. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was no longer skeptical of the proposal, while newly arrived Republican Brendan Carr was quite vocal of the need to modernize the FCC.

Halloween may be one month away, but the owners of cable TV networks and MVPDs — along with the American Cable Association's members — may have just gotten an unwanted scare courtesy of Nielsen. The October 2017 cable network Universe Estimates were released by the ratings company on Monday, and they point to an ongoing decline in pay TV network penetration rates.

With Q3 set to conclude Friday (9/29), final financial prognostications for 2017 are being released by some of the leading forecast analysts covering advertising-fueled business sectors including broadcast media — including noted media ecologist Jack Myers. What's his overall prognosis on the edge of the end of '17? Total marketing expenditures are looking ever-so-slightly better than what was originally forecast in January.

"This is only a test." That's what listeners will see and/or hear at 2:20pm Wednesday — unless there's a true emergency that unfolds. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC are on schedule for its nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System.

The man who has emerged in recent months as a "Wordy Rappinghood of Wall Street" for his prolific reports on the state of advertising-fueled businesses — including broadcast media — has offered an update on ad growth estimates for 2017 and the following four years. According to Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst for Advertising Brian Wieser, local radio's revenue dip will be smaller than that of local TV.

In a late Friday notice, the FCC gave its unanimous consent to a report and order that loosens FM translator tower placement rules, giving the "revitalization of the AM radio service" another key boost. It's of particular interest to stations that must power down -- or sign off the air -- during nighttime hours.

While the overall markets were mixed on Friday, AI technology company Veritone Inc. soared to another new record high, leaping nearly 5% on word that Quantum Corp.'s aiWARE for Xcellis, a cloud-based version of the artificial intelligence platform from Veritone, earned a "Best of Show Award" at IBC2017 in Amsterdam. Award criteria included innovation, feature set, ease of use, versatility and value/ROI.

In a message sent to Streamline Publishing co-owned publication Radio INK on Friday, the son of former Radio Advertising Bureau CEO Gary Fries confirmed his passing early today, Pacific time, in Arizona. He had been in Hospice.

Is 2018 shaping up to be a banner year for political advertising? That's the good word from Steve Passwaiter, the VP/GM, Political at Kantar Media. In an essay appearing Friday (9/22) at The Cook Political Report, Passwaiter declares, "Even though the last two years have seen lots of bungled predictions, in the realm of TV ad spending, we are undeterred, and predict that TV will win out in 2018 as well."

On Tuesday, we reported on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s response to a House Energy & Commerce letter regarding possible favorable treatment of Sinclair Broadcast Group and its planned merger with Tribune Media. But that’s just one of several angles to this deal.

What should a broadcasting company do in reaction to a controversial social media post made by one of their big personalities on their show's social media account? For CBS Radio's Las Vegas cluster, there was no reprimand or strong warning handed to Heidi Harris after she went on Facebook to criticize same-sex adoptions. She was fired. Did CBS Radio go too far? RBR+TVBR turned to the D.C. legal community for their view on the matter.