the HOT List

A 41-page reply to the opposition of Fox Television Stations' application to renew the license of Philadelphia's "FOX 29" has been filed with the FCC. It comes even after statements of bipartisan support from politicians in the greater Philadelphia area, which were submitted earlier in the week by FOX. Leading the fight for Media and Democracy Project is a veteran communications attorney.

CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures President/CEO Wendy McMahon on Wednesday participated in an TVB Next Women: Coffee talk with Abby Auerbach, and this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, offers excerpts from their lively and engaging conversation. LISTEN HERE

That's the breathtaking analysis of data from 100 markets across the globe from WARC, which has released a new global advertising spend outlook for 2023 and 2024 with a poignant subhead: Withstanding Turbulence.

That's a question Borrell Associates asked local ad buyers in its Spring 2023 survey, of which the results are now being shared on a weekly basis by the group led by Gordon Borrell. What's the answer, based on replies from some 334 respondents? Broadcast Radio ranks high.

In what Preston Padden, the former broadcast television network executive turned public policy advocate, is cheering as a win, the FCC on Wednesday granted a request from a non-partisan all-volunteer grassroots community formed in 2020 to deny the license renewal of a FOX Television Stations-owned property in Philadelphia on the grounds that it aired content produced by FOX News during the 2020 U.S. presidential election cycle it deems false.

The defendant in a lawsuit filed June 5 in a Georgia Superior Court by the host of a Salem Radio Network Sunday night syndicated talk show and podcast focused on Second Amendment rights has told the court it wants the case to proceed in that venue. Now, it is up to the federal judge to decide if OpenAI LLC's battle against Mark Walters should not be returned to a lower court for consideration. 

DirecTV on June 29 filed an informal complaint with the Commission alleging that Nexstar Media Group — the nation's biggest TV station ownership group — had violated various Commission rules by exercising de facto control over two independently owned licensees it has shared services agreements with. On Tuesday, Nilsson updated the FCC on the matter. 

The founding President of the FOX Broadcasting Company has joined a coalition of former TV executives in seeking a hearing designation order for the Philadelphia property — on the grounds that its 2020 U.S. presidential election coverage from FOX News warrants the loss of the station's license.

First, it was the so-called "Media and Democracy Project" and ex-FOX executive Preston Padden. They gained support from former PBS President Ervin S. Duggan and former Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol. Now, a former FCC Chairman has joined them, arguing the Commission should strip FOX Television Stations of its ability to keep a license for WTXF-29.

The ongoing saga pertaining to three FM radio stations formerly held by Ed Stolz-led Royce International Broadcasting has entered its latest chapter, and it sees the second court-appointed trustee for the facilities getting the green light from a Nevada federal bankruptcy court judge to prepare for a station auction. This puts the wheels in motion on the eventual transfer of all of Stolz's stations to a new licensee.

As May 2023 came to a close, The E.W. Scripps Co. attracted attention for sharing with its employees details about a local news initiative designed to transform how its broadcast TV stations report and produce its newscasts on a daily basis. This week, the publicly traded company announced via an internal memo the creation of five new RVP/GM positions.

The new digital broadcast standard powered by ATSC 3.0 will debut in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market on August 22, and with the conversion of a "lighthouse" UHF station to NEXTGEN TV broadcasts comes an announcement from the NAB of its next PILOT Next Generation TV Fellowship.

New 10am hourlong local newscasts came September 11 to WABC-7 in New York, WPVI-6 in Philadelphia and WTVD-11 in Raleigh-Durham. That is because “Tamron Hall” took over the 2 p.m. time slot in those markets, aligning her with the other ABC Owned Television Stations’ afternoon programming.

The TVB is challenging the widely disseminated findings in “The Gauge” by stating it simply lacks “the key data needed by advertisers” for them to fairly finalize their media buying and planning activities.

The organization responsible for collecting royalty payments from media organizations that stream recorded music online has filed a lawsuit in a Federal District Court against the nation's lone satellite broadcasting company. As SoundExchange sees it, SiriusXM has wrongfully withheld upward of $150 million in unpaid royalties over the past several years. Sirius XM has responded.