TV/Cable News

As the broadcast media industry mourns the passing of Saga Communications founder and President/CEO Ed Christian, many will likely recall the company's roots in radio. While the company today is a pure-play radio broadcasting operation, for nearly a quarter century it was a broadcast TV station owner. That's a legacy of Christian, and involves Morgan Murphy Media.

A new two-hour weekday newscast produced specifically for Telemundo Station Group properties across the Lone Star State is gearing up for its September 26 debut. The program will air in five Texas markets.

It's the talk of the industry. But, it is really that much of a shocker? Nielsen data confirm streaming usage surpassed cable in July to claim the largest share of television viewing for the first time.

Entravision, the global digital ad solutions company with roots in the U.S. Hispanic broadcast space, is gearing up for a presentation at the 13th annual Midwest IDEAS Investor Conference.

While broadcast TV companies in the U.S. are apt to share that viewership of free-to-air stations remains strong thanks to local content and live programming, the situation across the U.K. appears to be much bleaker for the BBC and the private broadcast companies operating TV stations in the British Isles.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary that contains the Bally Sports regional sports networks formerly owned by FOX is preparing for the late September launch of a direct-to-consumer streaming service that includes all 19 Bally Sports RSN brands.

The new additions come after NBCUniversal Local launched its first NBC local news channels on The Roku Channel in June. Meanwhile, the digital multicast network targeting younger adults, LX News, is now also accessible on The Roku Channel.

In Bayou Country, the Manship Family has become well-known for its ownership of ABC affiliate WBRZ-2 in Baton Rouge. Ralph Bender, its Chief Financial Officer, is nationally recognized for his active role with the annual Media Finance Focus conference staged by MFM and BCCA. Now, WBRZ's General Manager is retiring. His successor has just been revealed by the Manships.

A broadcast technology company known for its media workflows has inked an agreement that sees it team up with a content studio and online platform dedicated to "older adults." It's a move that expands Saltbox TV's audience reach and, more importantly, is designed to enable monetization through programmatic advertising.

What will the investment mean to America's largest owner of broadcast TV stations, from a housekeeping perspective? Nexstar EVP/CFO Lee Ann Gliha offered some thoughts, but due to a poor connection they were not clearly delivered. We've gotten a transcript of her comments, and the biggest takeaway is that assumption of The CW will be immediate and seamless for Nexstar.

She's a marketing executive at KABC-7 in Los Angeles and is described by Station Group President Chad Matthews as "an incredibly talented, creative executive who takes a strategic, thoughtful and collaborative approach to content creation and marketing strategies." Now, she'll hold the role of SVP of Content Development for ABC Owned Television Stations.

It's no secret to those closely following the Spot Ten Cable reports from Media Monitors that quick-service restaurant brands prefer to use Spot Cable over Spot Television when seeking to connect to consumers. For the week ending August 14, two QSR brands in particular were the strongest users of Spot Cable.

The largest pay-TV providers in the U.S., representing about 92% of the market, lost about 1,925,000 net video subscribers in the second quarter 2022, compared to a pro forma net loss of 1,235,000 one year earlier. That's according to newly released data from Leichtman Research Group.

In late May, Mark Danielson was selected to lead Nexstar’s ABC affiliate and home for The CW Network in Salt Lake City. This left an opening at the three TV stations in California's Central Coast he'd been in charge of — a position that placed Danielson on the Radio + Television Business Report Top Local TV Leaders list for 2021. The Santa Barbara-based position has just been filled.

The sale of Freedom Mobile to a subsidiary of a Québec media giant that owns the TVA Group French-language television operation has been agreed to. It puts in motion the controversial merger of one of Canada's largest multimedia companies and Shaw Communications, which is still under regulatory review some 17 months after the transaction was announced.