Legacy

For many seasons, The New York Mets Baseball Network called trailblazing Sports Talker WFAN-AM in New York its flagship station. That relationship ended with the start of the 2014 Major League Baseball season, when WFAN -- then-owned by CBS Radio -- shifted to iHeartRadio's Talk WOR-AM.  That five-year relationship is now coming to an end, as the company led by David Field has just inked an Amazin' deal.

The owner of the MeTV broadcast television network, in addition to four other digital multicast TV offerings and the "MeTV FM" Soft Oldies brand has just launched a next-generation broadcast TV station in the Windy City. The launch saw Weigel Broadcasting team up with six technology partners.

Nielsen’s National Television Household Universe Estimates for the 2018-19 TV season have just been released. A tiny bump upward in the total has been seen. Why? Multicultural households are to thank for the growth.

Want to know the results from Nielsen's recent research into consumers' media content consumption trends? If the answer is yes, you may wish to secure your place Wednesday at an annual seminar offered by the Media Financial Management Association (MFM).

HC2 Station Group, the rapidly growing broadcast TV station owner led by Philip Falcone, has just made another acquisition. This time, it is heading to Ohio and is acquiring a Class A that has HC2's Azteca America network on a digital multicast channel — and Telemundo on its main signal.

The Radio + Television Business Report wishes you and your family a very pleasant Labor Day holiday weekend. The RBR+TVBR newsroom will resume operations on Tuesday, Sept. 4 with the distribution of the Weekly Tech Roundup at 11am and your daily newsletter following the Closing Bell on Wall Street.

Mark your calendars: The FCC's Media Bureau has finalized the dates comments and reply comments are due to the Commission in regard to MB Docket Nos. 18-214 and 12-268. That's the NPRM that, if approved, would allow low-power broadcast media and FM radio stations to get repack money from the government.

There's money being left on the table at your radio and TV stations. How so? What's said during regular programming can be translated to ad dollars, and RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson will be probing Veritone Inc.'s Paul Cramer on how broadcast media can benefit. This will take place August 30 at 1pm Eastern during a free webinar.

The recent announcement from the FCC advising the proposed expansion of the Equal Employment Opportunity FCC office with additional staff and lawyers has many licensees on edge. Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner has some things to say about it.

Net revenue and operating income each soared for Entercom during Q2. When factoring in discontinued operations, net income also propelled upward. How did investors react? Entercom was up by nearly 21% in mid-morning activity on the NYSE and finished at its highest price in three months.

Last week the FCC “took a historic and long overdue step to increase ownership diversity in the broadcast industry.” An incubator program designed to establish greater broadcast media ownership diversity will come to fruition. Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel dissented. Now, one individual close to the push for the program tells RBR+TVBR it has a fatal flaw.

The nation's largest market, iHeartMedia, is a holdout against lifting the FCC's regulations on local radio station ownership limits. Now, a coalition of 10 radio broadcasting companies have spoken out in support of more consolidation — and have stated they're OK with a proposal drafted in June by the NAB. We have an RBR+TVBR Observation on this touchy topic.

CBS Corp. late Thursday recorded a strong Q2 that beat Wall Street estimates. What does our favorite Wall Street wordsmith, Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser, have to say about that? A "not impressed" meme would have sufficed, based on his take of the company's results. That said, he's convinced that Viacom's reunification with CBS is a done deal.

Entercom President/CEO David Field scrapped his midday appointment schedule and issued a statement Monday explaining how his radio broadcasting company's contract with USTN has ended — and how "relieved" Entercom is to be out of contract it inherited from its merger with CBS Radio. He also had some sharp words regarding USTN's lawsuit.