the HOT List

The President/CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co. on Thursday shared a letter to colleagues about the company's local news initiative. "I’m excited about the opportunity we have in front of us and hope you’ll be encouraged by our dedication to the mission," Adam Symson. In short, Scripps seeks nothing but the best, and is ready to invest millions in increased salaries while adding "about 250 on-the-ground resources to our local reporting teams."

Diane Kniowski, the President of U.S. Local Media for TelevisaUnivision, has retired. As such, the multimedia company targeting Spanish-language audiences in the U.S. is promoting the individual who has been leading its radio stations, giving him oversight of the company's local TV stations, too.

The Commission on November 1, 2022, adopted a forfeiture order fining the broadcast TV station owner hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating its Top Four ownership rule in Anchorage, Alaska. Gray blasted the FCC, calling the Order “wrongly decided” and pledging to take the Commission to court. Gray has moved forward with that promise.

At a special meeting held on Wednesday, Sinclair Broadcast Group's shareholders gave an affirmative nod to the company's previously announced reorganization. With a share exchange coming, a new holding company — Sinclair Inc. — is on track to become the publicly traded parent of Sinclair Broadcast Group and its subsidiaries. 

The broadcast TV station owner and the under-construction Assembly TV and film production center parent has not only named a new Chief Revenue Officer and new Chief Marketing Officer, but also a Senior Managing Vice President.

In a major reversal and a sign that Congressional legislation just introduced last week in the House of Representatives and Senate carries some weight, even before any vote on the bills, Ford Motor Company has reconsidered removing AM radio from future vehicles in the U.S. and will now include the technology in their newer model cars.

One day after Gray Television announced who its new Chief Operations Officer will be, an SEC filing made by the publicly traded company detailing her official compensation was made. We've got the details on what this former WWL-TV standout during Hurricane Katrina will earn.

The funding deadline for Standard General to successfully complete its proposed $8 billion acquisition of TEGNA was Monday, May 22. What will Tuesday bring for Soohyung Kim, who owns the hedge fund? What's ahead for TEGNA and, perhaps, the FCC, which declined to put the much-discussed deal to a full FCC vote? Answers arrived just before 5pm Eastern.

A former NTIA figure who in January became a Senior Advisor for International Information and Communications Policy at the U.S. State Department has officially been nominated by President Biden to serve as a FCC Commissioner. For Anna Gomez, the path to being sworn in as the fifth Commissioner and, importantly, third Democrat on the FCC will likely be smoother than the woman Biden previously chose as his nominee.

While more civil rights leaders and clergymen have surfaced as TEGNA transaction supporters, a key U.S. Senator has again written to the Commission expressing her desire for a full-scale examination of the multibillion-dollar deal and not to rush things. Unfortunately, for Soo Kim, that's no longer an option.

With ATSC 3.0 upgrades reshaping the broadcast television industry, the Adell family is selling its UHF station serving Detroit. The buyer is a close shared services partner of the nation's No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations.

He has been familiar to broadcast media leaders from at least fall 1992, thanks to his $1 million investment in the radio company Randy Michaels was associated with — Jacor Communications. Outside of broadcast media, he is remembered as a billionaire "real estate magnate." Now, Sam Zell is being mourned, as he has died due to complications from a recent illness at the age of 81.

With the acquisition of The CW Network by Nexstar Media Group, a big overhaul of the prime-time programming skein has been seen. With many shows not returning and the arrival of LIV golf on the network for weekend viewing growth, Nexstar head Perry Sook is now ready to create a "Big Five" group of TV networks by unveiling The CW's first-ever seven-day schedule.

The fight for the survival of AM radio has just entered an important, pivotal new chapter, and it sees unlikely political leaders on Capitol Hill coming together in a rare show of bipartisanship to ensure there is AM radio access in every vehicle in the U.S.

A Thursday meeting at the FCC on two remaining issues the hedge fund led by Soohyung Kim believes are holding up Standard General's proposed acquisition of TEGNA has been scheduled. And, ahead of that meeting, "new disclosures and commitments" have been provided in response to what Standard General calls "a response to the FCC's "invitation to negotiation."