the HOT List

Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak has lowered its price target for SPOT, which trades on the NYSE. For investors, that's bleak news, as it is even lower than where Spotify shares landed on Tuesday after a dismal trading session and subsequent Wednesday bounce-back.

He led the low-power TV licensee once known as HC2 Holdings that in August 2021 changed its name to Innovate Corp. as the successor to Philip Falcone. Now, Innovate is coping with the sudden loss of President/CEO Wayne Barr Jr., who has died.

On Oct. 1, 2020, he rose to President/COO with the signing of a new deal that concludes at the end of 2023. It is now known that Tom Carter will not be putting his signature on a new contract and will leave Nexstar at the end of 2023. His successor? The former President of Operations and Distribution at FOX.

The FCC's Media Bureau has moved forward with the codification of an Order that adopts a Consent Decree resolving the unauthorized transfers of control of a trend-setting Alternative FM serving Southern Vermont and New York's Capital District. As such, the owner of WEQX is agreeing to resolve the issue civilly, and without a forfeiture.

On July 5, Hawaiian Telcom lodged a complaint against Nexstar Media Inc. with the Federal Communications Commission. Nexstar wanted that completely removed before a deal was made. The two appear to have come to a solution on the terms.

TV and broadband behemoth Comcast Corporation has decided to renew its deal with media measurement titan Nielsen, in spite of its past reservations. This updated multi-year agreement allows Nielsen to continue licensing Comcast's proprietary return path data, which is significant for several reasons.

Certain low-power television stations have, since the 1980s, offered local radio content that could be accessed at the lower end of the FM dial. Now the FCC has issued a decision on whether that will continue in the digital TV era.

The second quarter 2023 financial results from Netflix arrived just after Wednesday's closing bell on Wall Street. Here's the good news: It blew past analysts' forecasts on net additions in Q2, but fell short on revenue. Still, adjusted net revenue for the OTT giant surpassed analysts' predictions.

An agreement apparently reached in principle between Hawaiian Telcom and Nexstar Media Group to resolve a retransmission consent impasse was not finalized because, the MVPD says, it was presented "with new demands — to waive its claims that Nexstar acted in bad faith."

Nexstar Media Group has been ordered by a New York state-level court to repay direct broadcast satellite TV services provider DirecTV for fees associated with what is today an unaffiliated TV station branded as "DC News Now."

Local broadcast stations that are members of the ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS television Affiliate Associations, representing more than 600 local TV stations across the country, have launched an advocacy group with one mission in mind — to urge lawmakers and regulators "to act now to protect the future of local news in America." The real story: It wants Congress to mandate retrans consent fees from streamers.

Broadcast media’s most prestigious leadership conference, Forecast 2024, is pleased to announce the conference chairs. The 21st annual Forecast, presented by Radio Ink and the Radio +  Television Business Report, will be held at the Harvard Club in the City of New York on Wednesday, November 15.

The top-rated Spanish-language radio brand serving California's capital region is about to gain an additional on-air home, as Lotus Communications is buying a Class B1 FM that some 25 years ago pioneered programming to Latinos.

That's the big news from iSpot, which has released its First Half TV Transparency Report reflecting advertising activity at television through June 30, 2023.  Based on its research, household TV ad impressions — a.k.a. the total audience reached by ads — climbed by 5.0% year-over-year.

Bob Iger, the Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Co., said Thursday on CNBC that the company's entire stable of television assets may be "non-core." That got Madison and Wall media business financial analyst Brian Wieser thinking. Here's what he thinks.