the HOT List

Nexstar Media Group certainly enjoyed a strong Q3 thanks to its newly forged synergies from the closing of its Media General acquisition and integration of those stations into its operations. But, like Gray Television, strong growth came against talk of advertising woes and tough political comps.

If one were to ask how a company could withstand an 82% drop in political dollars yet still show a profit in Q3, all they would need to do is review the financial results released Monday morning by Gray Television. The owner-operator of 100+ TV stations across the U.S. met its profit forecasts in strong fashion.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai just got a first-hand look at the slow recovery facing Puerto Rico up-close and in person. Pai met with government and industry officials to assess the status of recovery efforts and consult on next steps that the FCC should take to assist in the restoration of communications networks. He's now on his way back to Washington.

On Nov. 1, the radio broadcasting industry's speculation over who would be getting Entercom spin-offs, as required by the company to receive Department of Justice approval of its CBS Radio merger, came to an end. The nation's No. 1 broadcast company, iHeartMedia, is gaining some big AMs and FMs via an asset exchange with Entercom. In order to do that, iHeart has created a divestiture trust that sees the shift of two FMs in the Seattle market and one AM serving Boston sail away into the "Ocean."

Entravision Communications enjoyed a stunning Q3, based on a top-line look of its earnings results. This is primarily thanks to millions of dollars in revenue tied to the media company's participation in Auction 1000 — the FCC's spectrum auction. If not for that, Entravision's growth story lies in digital, which eclipsed the company's radio division for the first time on the revenue front.

That's the key takeaway on CBS Corp.'s Q3 earnings results, released just after the Closing Bell on Wall Street Thursday, from prolific Wall Street financial analyst Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group. While CBS's revenue climbed to $3.17 billion, from $3.08 billion, the Local Media segment lagged. That's CBS Television O&Os and the company's digital assets. Meanwhile, net earnings for Q3 climbed ... but adjusted net earnings decreased by 4% when factoring in CBS Radio. Here's what Wieser, the Senior Research Analyst of Advertising at Pivotal, has to say about the quarter -- the company's last to feature CBS Radio as part of its results.

Forget Entercom and Cumulus Media -- the biggest headlines of the day came right from Capitol Hill, as top House Republicans including Rep. Paul Ryan introduced legislation that would greatly change the U.S. tax code. The changes could effect every business, or household, and there's already chatter about caps to mortgage-interest deductions, bushwhacking to the corporate tax rate, and shrinking the seven tax brackets for families and individuals to four. What it will do for broadcast media, and the ability to fully deduct business advertising expenses, got the NAB's seal of approval.

For the first time in a long time, Entercom CEO David Field and CFO Richard Schmaeling entertained several questions from members of the Wall Street investment community at the end of an earnings call. Among those making queries: Marci Ryvicker of Wells Fargo Securities. She wanted to know the math behind Entercom's "surprising" cost synergies number. Field and Schmaeling acquiesced while also taking a question regarding the future of Sports WFAN-AM 660 in New York and its big morning show opening.

Univision publicly distributes its quarterly earnings results, and on Thursday the company saw its total core revenue grow by 3.9%. But, Univision achieved this through that all-important "non-advertising revenue" -- a.k.a. retransmission consent fees. Advertising revenue slipped by 1%, and by double-digits when looking exclusively at Univision Radio.

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.