Intelligence Briefs

"Ol' Dad" Ken Benner's mailbox is filling up with queries from RBR+TVBR Members. "Why do you write?" "Where do you get your funding?" Benner has some fun with those questions while sharing some "serious business" pertaining to "major projects involved with regulatory transparency pertaining to American broadcasting." Sounds like a great read to us!

Younger consumers are cutting the cord, and finding new ways to watch video entertainment. The common belief is that these viewers are switching to SVOD services or viewing content on their phone, with no interest in linear TV. New data from Nielsen suggest that this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Does the Commission have a big problem with how it looks at a big, complex merger? Daniel Lyons, an associate professor at Boston College Law School who is also a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, very much thinks so. Here's what he has to say on the subject.

Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst of Advertising Brian Wieser has analyzed trends associated with the use of television alongside commercial share trends for national media owners in the U.S. for the calendar month of April 2018. What did he find? Viewing on internet-connected devices surged.

Many sellers underestimate how much they will need post-exit and overestimate the company’s value. In this third Deal Killers Podcast, Community Broadcasters COO Bruce Mittman, President/CEO Jim Leven and Controller Peter Henderson share their thoughts on the important topic of "unclear post-closing goals." It's another RBR+TVBR member exclusive!

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday attended a hearing on the FY2019 funding request and budget justification for the FCC convened by the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Committee on Appropriations. As a benefit to all interested parties, RBR+TVBR is pleased to provide Pai's statement delivered to the subcommittee, in full.

Last week RBR+TVBR featured columnist Ken Benner traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with several members of Congress. The purpose of the trip: to lobby for retention of an agency the current administration may wish to do away with. It's important — one Think Tank Wonk who has an ear with another agency, the FCC, has already asked why the Commission should exist.

Do you know your strengths? If so, are you confident in them? Do you utilize your strengths in your business and relationships? These are some of the questions Media Information Bureau columnist Kelly Orchard addresses in her latest exclusive-to-RBR+TVBR column.

In July 2008, Natalie Swed Stone, U.S. Director of National Audio at OMD chatted with RBR+TVBR to discuss solutions-based issues and problems for the radio industry. Stone touched on such subjects as free ad-supported options for satellite radio, the PPM and networking HD Radio multicasts. One decade on, we revisit Stone's interview to see where the radio industry has gone, and if what was predicted and advised came to fruition today.

Is the public comment process broken? Does the way the Federal government presently seeks input from the public fail to weed out fraud? Yes, says Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who slams her agency for failing to work with state authorities that found their residents' identities were stolen and then used to file public comments on Net Neutrality. Here are her comments, delivered Wednesday at a liberal-leaning D.C. think tank.

With the first phase of the post-incentive auction repack rapidly approaching, licensees of full power and Class A television stations should be mindful of upcoming deadlines for notifications to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), medical facilities, and viewers, Wiley Rein associate Ari Meltzer, partner John Burgett and of counsel Joan Stewart note in this report. 

The relationship between streamers and traditional TV is a close one, new details from Nielsen's Local Watch Report show. According to the report, traditional programming "shows impressive resilience in today's digital age." The big takeaway for broadcast TV companies: "Even the heaviest of streamers can't seem to shake broadcast viewing."

Don't mistake this column for a grumble session from our octogenarian Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) pioneer. Rather, he's come to praise the current Commission leadership, not bury it with a spoonful of grumbling goulash. 

What's a "deal killer"? How can you avoid them? To help best answer these questions, Garvey Schubert Barer communications attorney Erwin Krasnow and DEFCom Advisors CEO Doug Ferber created a new limited series of podcasts based on a 2017 Media Information Bureau column on this very subject. RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief is the host, and the guests are the operating partners of Community Broadcasters.

Mick Mulvaney, for those of you who don't follow Washington politics, is the current head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He's said a thing or two about lobbyists. Why should this matter to radio and/or TV station owners? This column from Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner explains it all. It could make your lawyers testy.