the HOT List

There's a new threat to iHeartMedia's bid to "avoid bankruptcy." That's according to Reuters, citing "people familiar with the matter." The news organization reports that a group of the company's lenders has signed a "cooperation agreement" to oppose a debt restructuring agreement proposed by the nation's No. 1 owner of AM and FM radio stations.

Less than 24 hours after the FCC restored the UHF discount, allowing broadcast TV companies to effectively own more stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to acquire Bonten Media Group Holdings. Concurrently, as part of this deal, Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. will purchase the membership interest of Esteem Broadcasting. The aggregate purchase price: $240 million.​​

Entercom Communications on Wednesday (4/19) received a request for additional information and documentary material, often referred to as a “second request,” from the Department of Justice in regard to its Reverse Morris Trust-fueled tax-free merger with CBS Radio.

The FCC on Thursday received a petition for rulemaking from the NAB regarding the potential interference caused by FM translators to full-power radio stations. Specifically, the NAB proposed certain rule and policy changes designed to provide translator licensees greater flexibility to resolve any interference issues, and to facilitate "the efficient disposition of interference complaints against translators."

An unofficial glimpse into the financial performance of the nation's No. 1 owner of AM and FM radio stations was presented to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday (4/20), and no matter how you look at it — GAAP or non-GAAP — it's a downbeat start to 2017 for iHeartMedia. There's more: The company says "there will be substantial doubt" as to its ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the end of Q1 2017.

Much fun -- including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai singing the chorus to a Rick Astley classic -- was seen at the start of a meeting that involved the Commission's relaxation of third-party fundraising restrictions for noncommercial radio and TV stations. The Commission also made a party-line 2-1 ruling that made optional a previously mandatory requirement that compelled the officers and board members of noncommercial educational stations to report personal information. We've got the details.

Mignon Clyburn's impassioned argument against the reversal of a Wheeler Commission decision to dump the discount fell on the deaf ears of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly, with its reinstatement approved just after Noon in a party-line 2-1 vote.

Thanks to retransmission consent agreements between local TV stations and cable/satellite companies, total local television station revenue totaled $28.4 billion in 2016, data released today (4/20) from BIA/Kelsey finds.

Townsquare Media will hold its annual shareholders meeting on May 31. What isn't up for a vote is executive compensation, although Townsquare did provide details on how much its three top leaders earned in 2014, 2015 and 2016. We have the scoop on the total pay seen by execs, including Chairman/CEO Steven Price.

The former FCC Media Bureau Chief and veteran communications lawyer has joined one of the nation's most prominent communications law firms. He will provide counsel to clients on a variety of telecommunications and media issues.

At the 2017 NAB Show, NextRadio will make some big announcements. This is likely to include news that the App that brings live and local radio is getting a new streaming audio version for iOS-powered devices. This couldn't be more important, based on the latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Why? The Android OS is very uncool with U.S. mobile phone users — especially teens.

Much has been said about the big payday seen at companies including Entravision Communications and Comcast. However, the biggest bonanza to come in the Reverse Auction involves such individuals as Bob Behar and Alex Meruelo. A RBR + TVBR analysis of the now-concluded FCC Spectrum Auction indicates that these individuals, and others with Spanish-language TV stations, are some of the auction's biggest winners.

On March 2, during his company's fiscal Q4 and full-year 2016 earnings call with the Wall Street investment community, Entravision Communications Chairman/CEO Walter Ulloa made a somewhat startling revelation: The owner of radio and TV stations super-serving the U.S. Hispanic consumer scored $264 million in gross proceeds from the FCC’s reverse auction. We now know how the dollars fell, and much of those millions of greenbacks are thanks to the company's relinquishment of spectrum in the Constitution State, where it is entering into a channel-sharing agreement for the local Univision affiliate.

The FCC's Incentive Auction is now history, and the Commission late Thursday (4/13) made available a mountain of data reflecting the UHF and VHF stations that will go off the air as a result of a shift in spectrum use from television to wireless services companies. RBR + TVBR reviewed the winning bids in the Reverse Auction, and both Nexstar and Gray Television scored some cash with some big goodbyes.