TV/Cable News

The innovation arm of the NAB, Pilot, has kicked off the third annual PILOT Next Gen TV Fellowship program at the association's Washington, D.C., headquarters. The biggest change from 2022? This year’s program, its third, has expanded and includes students from Howard University and the University of Missouri.

The new National Basketball Association season is in full swing, and the league has turned to Spot Cable to drum up fan interest in the sport at a time when Major League Baseball's season has concluded, NHL action is heating up and the NFL is sizzling.

In September 2019, longtime regional sports network NESN welcomed a new Vice President of Digital. He was previously Creative Director of Digital Media at NBC Sports. Now, this native of Argentina has been convicted of mail fraud and unlawful monetary transactions in an embezzlement case that saw the digital VP vociferously deny the allegations.

Come Tuesday, the Paley Center for Media will see Nexstar kick off a "collection of exclusive symposiums designed to bring thought leaders and influential voices to examine critical issues related to media, content and advertising." In short, Nexstar wishes to demonstrate the power of its news content to marketers.

The individual who has most recently served as VP/GM of the Sinclair Broadcast Group property serving the Johnstown-Altoona-State College, Pa., market has been promoted to a similar role at the TV station in the state capital where he began his career. With that move, the GSM in Johnstown, Pa., is rising to the top slot.

Four of seven communities in Pennsylvania will be losing MVPD access to Hearst Television's WTAE-4 in Pittsburgh, as the FCC is allowing a Sinclair-run ABC affiliate serving the Altoona-Johnstown-State College, Pa., DMA to enjoy exclusivity in its network and syndicated programming.

An Oregon nonprofit corporation incorporated on October 6, 1989 faces a small fine for failing to timely file a license renewal application for a low-powered TV station serving Eugene, Ore.

The one-third ownership of popular OTT platform Hulu held by NBCUniversal is being acquired by The Walt Disney Company, putting the wheels in motion on what some industry pundits believe will be the consolidation of the offering with Disney+.

Matt Naber and Robert Breen have shared the leadership team chosen to help them oversee local ad revenue, sales strategies and operations across 27 CBS Stations properties, as well as Paramount’s local digital and streaming revenue.

The FCC's Video Division Chief has given the green light to an upgrade request for a television station offering PBS programming to Iowa’s largest market.

On August 24, RBR+TVBR readers first learned of the sale of a LPTV station serving a wide swath of Massachusetts to the rapidly growing licensee led by CEO Vince Bodiford and funded by 5-Hour Energy creator Manoj Bhargava. That transaction has now closed, with Greg Guy of Tideline Partners serving as the broker.

"With audience migrations, the surge in streaming, the unpredictability of TV seasons and escalating sports rights costs, the TV landscape is being reshaped by disruptive forces," iSpot.TV says. However, against these changes, there is one constant.

The latest Spot Ten Cable report is out from Media Monitors, and the amount of activity seen last week from one QSR brand was enormous, putting a big user of Spot Cable in the home improvement category well far behind by play count.

"We are focused on what we can control as we navigate through these challenges," President/CEO Doug Murphy said as the owner of radio and TV stations reported flat revenue in its fiscal Q4 2023, but experienced a 10% year-to-year decrease in advertising revenue. Meanwhile, it has worked out a higher debt-to-cash flow ratio with its lenders.

The boom growth years for OTT platforms serving U.S. consumers are over. That's the breathtaking conclusion of a new research study from Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets that puts an exclamation point on the North American OTT television and video market, with forecasts offered through 2029.