Legacy

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.

Radio and television automation firm ENCO and newsroom computer system (NRCS) specialist Octopus Newsroom have partnered to streamline news production and playout workflows for broadcasters across the globe.

Veteran D.C. communications attorney Erwin Krasnow was just as surprised as many of the brokers and attorneys RBR+TVBR contacted following the release Monday morning of a statement from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that reveals he has "serious concerns" over Sinclair Broadcast Group's planned merger with Tribune Media. A draft hearing designation order was circulated by Pai. Is this a "deal killer?" Krasnow had some things to say about that.

The FCC on Tuesday (7/3) released its Broadcast Station Totals for the first half of 2018. The biggest headline from the new totals: FM translators and boosters, along with UHF translators, soared in number since New Year's Eve 2017. At the same time, there are slightly less full-powered radio and TV stations in operation.

Five months to the day that The E.W. Scripps Co. revealed that it was placing all of its radio stations up for sale, the soon-to-be visual media-focused media company has revealed who is purchasing its four FMs and KFAQ-AM in Tulsa. The answer? A privately held media company focused on Oklahoma that's based in Oklahoma City. Kalil & Co. was the broker in this deal.

How is artificial intelligence helping PDs, News Directors and program producers to create more compelling content, while gaining a leg up on their competition? The PDs of Sports Talkers in Denver and Washington, D.C., have some answers, and they've decided to share them in a free webinar set for Tuesday.

When it comes to M&A activity for the nation's broadcast TV station owners, there's a lot of chatter — but does it matter? Yes, say two TV station owners appearing on a Thursday panel focused on mergers and acquisitions at the 35th Annual TV & Radio Finance Summit in New York.

TV retransmission revenue. That was, by far, the hottest topic of discussion across several broadcast industry panels at the S&P Global TV & Radio Finance Summit, held today in New York. S&P Global Market Intelligence Senior Director Robyn Flynn opened the day-long summit by declaring that retrans fees are "bringing stability to TV stations because their revenue is no longer tethered solely to the ups and downs of the advertising market." Correspondent Renee Cassis offers full details here.

Although the FCC hasn't officially spoken and there is no word as of yet on the agenda for its July Open Meeting, the Commission appears ready to tackle its next rule "modernization" effort — a loosening of its national ownership reach cap. A tweet from Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel all but confirms a Bloomberg report that a NPRM will be brought forth in less than six weeks.

On Monday, TRANSACTIONS TODAY reported on the sale of a radio station serving the Nashville market by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. It turns out we mixed up the call letters of the station Moody is selling with another facility serving Music City. Here's the corrected information on this deal.

The "connected car." Smart speakers. The future of Radio is ever-more dependent on a great internet connection, and 5G technology promises to bring a revolution with respect to content delivery to the U.S. consumer. What does this move from the FCC mean for the radio and TV station owner? Read on, and learn.