the HOT List

Urban One, the media company superserving African Americans through radio and cable television properties, has released first quarter results its CEO, Alfred Liggins III, says "were broadly in line with expectations." But, were those expectations positive? Hardly, and Digital growth was absent.

One of the two stations in Nebraska's biggest market that John Hannon will lead is today operated via an LMA agreement between its owner and Sinclair Inc. This will soon change, as Sinclair is moving forward with buying the property outright, creating a duopoly.

As RBR+TVBR first reported on Monday, Sinclair Inc. has agreed to acquire a LMA partner that serves as the ATSC 3.0 lighthouse for the Omaha-Council Bluffs market outright, creating a duopoly. To the east, Sinclair has engineered a similar LMA-to-purchase deal, creating a duopoly in a second Hawkeye State DMA.

NBCUniversal opened Upfront Week at Radio City Music Hall on Monday with a tart tongue from Seth McFarlane and bravado that saw the Comcast Corp. unit take verbal swipes at all of its digital competitors while touting "the greatest collection of content any single company has ever collected in a single year."

For many in Midtown Manhattan, the top news of the day involving FOX is its Upfront-related announcements. For others, FOX Corporation's fiscal third quarter earnings, released Monday morning, are the bigger story. Why? Both the broadcast and TV segments enjoyed strong growth in the quarter.

Count The E.W. Scripps Co. among the companies that proved the naysayers wrong by surpassing the earnings forecast of financial analysts who offered revenue and EPS estimates on the company's Q1 results. Company leaders discussed the fiscal report on Friday, along with hints on its post-dereg plans.

The TV Media arm of Paramount Global, under scrutiny from President Trump and the FCC over alleged "news distortion," experienced a 13% year-over-year revenue decline in the first quarter as the company as a whole saw a decrease in its adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations attributable to the company.

Gray Media shares, which trade on the NYSE, torpedoed ahead by more than 20% in value in midday trading as investors celebrated total Q1 2025 revenue finishing above the high end of its guidance. Debt reduction and a decline in broadcast operating expenses were also highlights singled out by the broadcast TV group.

“Nexstar delivered solid first quarter Net Revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted Free Cash Flow, driven by record first quarter distribution revenue and disciplined expense management." That's the official assessment from Nexstar Media Group leader Perry Sook, who calls deregulation his top priority.

"Sinclair delivered solid financial results in a challenging first quarter environment." That's the overall assessment of the first three months of 2025 from a fiscal standpoint from Chris Ripley, President/CEO of broadcast TV station ownership group and Dielectric parent Sinclair Inc.

The parent of ESPN and ABC Owned Stations on Wednesday released its fiscal Q2 2025 results, and there was year-over-year growth. The gains were highly welcomed for investors, which helped catapult The Walt Disney Co.'s stock by upward of 10% in morning trading on the NYSE.

The nation's single-biggest owner of broadcast TV stations, which controls WGN Radio, NewsNation and The CW Network, has appointed an individual with experience at TEGNA who will be tasked with overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations of its O&Os and TV properties operated via shared services agreements.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr discussed his first 100 days leading the FCC on Monday in a 20-minute "Fireside Chat" at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., during which he directly addressed the agency's controversial probe into "news distortion" conducted by Paramount Global-owned CBS.

For weeks, media brokers and industry observers have been awaiting news on a transaction that many believed would be announced one month ago, as radio business leaders gathered in Las Vegas for the 2025 NAB Show. Now, rumors have become reality: Jeff Warshaw has secured the financing needed to move forward with his Connoisseur Media's acquisition of Alpha Media.

The company with majority ownership held by Soros Fund Management is saying goodbye to its five-year Chief Technology Officer, one of its more visible top-tier leaders in recent years. It's the latest move in a wholesale reshaping of Audacy's executive suite since the departures of David Field and Rich Schmaeling.