Legacy

It may have been a down day for major U.S. indices, but broadcast media issues saw largely upward momentum in Wednesday's trading.

In October 2014, the owner of two FM radio stations in Pittsburgh went on a shopping trip. After 30 years of happily serving this reimagined Rust Belt city, a quartet smack dab in the middle of America was snagged. Today, Steel City Media is actively growing all six of its stations. How, in a world of corporate media and quarterly earnings reports watched by Wall Street, is this being done? It's all about relationships.

The app that's bringing FM radio to Android-powered smartphones will soon be available across select vehicle platforms on in-vehicle "infotainment" systems (IVI) powered by the Weblink software platform from tech firm Abalta Technologies.

In the land of 10,000 lakes, there is a "City of Lakes" located along Interstate 90, not too far north of the Iowa state line. It is here, in Fairmont, Minn., that an AM/FM combo is trading hands. It's the RBR+TVBR TRANSACTIONS TODAY top deal for January, 8, 2018. Also today: EMF snags a Lone Star translator its using in the state capital.

There's a new Vice President of Data Science at a Somerville, N.J.-based market research agency that's made a strong impact in both the audio entertainment industry and in the U.S. election scene. The hire is part of a big growth initiative in the works at Edison Research.

Thanks to the FCC’s Spectrum Auction, there are further dips in the number of broadcast TV stations licensed to air in the U.S. Meanwhile, there are even more FM translators, while the number of AMs licensed for broadcast in the U.S. has stopped its slide.

On behalf of everyone at Streamline Publishing, we wish you, and your family, and your at-work team nothing but great wishes for 2018. The next RBR+TVBR daily email will be distributed Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 3, 2018. We're looking forward to a big year, and we're convinced the next 12 months will be game-changing for broadcasters.

To little surprise, there's been another prolongation of the exchange offers and term loan offers crafted more than nine months ago by iHeartMedia. The latest extension comes just days after one Wall Street analyst hoped for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for iHeart, slamming the company for what it has done to the equity value of subsidiary Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings.

A Class B1 FM serving a rural part of the San Joaquin Valley of Central California -- including the place where James Dean was before dying in September 1955 -- and a silent 50kw FM station northwest of the Phoenix area are the two properties owned by Deportes y Música Comunicaciones LLC. Until now, it's been a subsidiary of the Roberto Medina-helmed Grupo Multimedia LLC and has run the duo since the third quarter of 2011. Medina announced Nov. 20 that he plans on selling the stations. But, the proposed buyer is helmed by two Mexican citizens--one of whom is a big Univision exec. The FCC now seeks public comment on whether or not this is OK.

There's a good news/bad news/great news story for broadcast TV executives curious as to their stations' overall ratings performance in November. In the month, traditional TV reached 97% of all adults 18-34 for more than one minute. While that statistic holds true, so does the fact that viewing of individual networks on traditional TV are losing reach. Nevertheless, Wall Street wordsmith and respected financial analyst Brian Wieser has something wonderful to share: "The platform of TV as a whole is holding up better than many think."

As RBR+TVBR continues its look back at 2017 and peek into what will make headlines in the next 12 months, we reviewed the total number of broadcast radio and TV transactions seen since January. Given all of the talk about what the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai would do for the deal-making market, was 2017 a disappointment for brokers? Here's what Robert Heymann, Chicago-based Director for Media Services Group has to say about that.

In an act that creates a single trade association for promoting IP in the media and entertainment industry, The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) is merging with the Media Networking Alliance (MNA). The combination of the two entities comes after a two-year history of collaboration.

The nation's largest radio broadcasting company, iHeartMedia, revealed Monday in a SEC filing that its iHeartCommunications subsidiary is "currently exploring a possible private capital-raising transaction." From the looks of this transaction, it appears that the company is moving forward with plans to amend or fully agree to a counter proposal presented by key lenders that could give them all of iHeart's equity in Clear Channel Outdoor and a significant stake in iHeart.

For those who questioned whether or not Nielsen Audio would lose out on nearly $6.7 million its owed by Cumulus Media, think again. The nation's dominant audience measurement company and the nation's No. 2 radio broadcasting company by number of stations have just reached a deal on a multi-year extension for radio ratings services.

The individual responsible for creating one of New England's biggest Top 40 radio stations of its era has died just shy of his 92nd birthday. Perry Ury, who spent many years at RKO General before enjoying a 19-year tenure as Chairman and President of the former Chase Broadcasting, passed away Friday at his home in Sarasota, Fla.