TV/Cable News

It was a largely expected deal. And, late in the day Dec. 23, the Media Bureau told the world of its decision: It has given its OK to a transaction that will see a global private investment firm and a related media-focused operating and investment company take majority ownership interest in the biggest multimedia company targeting U.S. Hispanics.

One of Kansas' only independent broadcasters has just seen one of its two UHF television stations placed into receivership. It's a channel that serves both Wichita and Hutchinson with a host of digital multicast networks including COZI TV, Estrella TV, Bounce, LIGHTtv and NewsNet.

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), the association that's gained the attention of brokers and top broadcast TV industry leaders for its annual NATPE Miami affair, has unveiled its full slate of sessions and speakers for its upcoming 2021 event. It's a four-day online affair programmed, NATPE says, "as a television business newscast."

"Segregation, Segmentation and Storytelling." That's the attention-getting hook for a February 16 NATPE virtual event designed to place a spotlight on the business of African American-focused television.

With the U.S. Supreme Court ready to hear arguments in the FCC and NAB's joint appeal of the Third Circuit Federal Appeals Court remand of its local media ownership rule revisions, the Commission is voting to preserve the status quo with respect to a Fox Corp. request for a permanent waiver allowing it to own multiple TV stations and the New York Post.

It appears the broadcast TV company that eventually merged with Tribune Broadcasting also has a desire to monetize the consumer product recommendations company that Tribune Publishing Co. put on the map.

DISH shares were off by more than 11% in the final hour of trading on Wednesday (12/16), as investors soured on the news that it plans to offer $2 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible notes.

ATSC 3.0-powered next generation television signals have been launched in the biggest DMA to date: the home of Russell Wilson, and the setting for the cinematic classic "10 Things I Hate About You."

Subscription video on demand (SVOD) consumers between the ages 13 and 49 have become more culturally literate, primarily due to Netflix, YouTube creators and social media featuring increasingly diverse and global content. In fact, more than half of Gen Zers and parents have watched a show in a language they do not speak, with Hispanics over indexing on this trend.

A wholly owned Scripps subsidiary on Monday launched an offering of $700 million of new senior secured notes and $500 million of new senior unsecured notes. The secured notes from Scripps Escrow II are expected to mature in 2029, and the unsecured notes are expected to mature in 2031. Pricing of the private offering has now been finalized.

Convergent TV advertising platform Beachfront has teamed up with a video delivery platform provider to help bring real-time, programmatic monetization of linear spot, over-the-top (OTT) and video-on-demand (VOD) ad inventory.

Google’s GNI Innovation Challenge has selected one of the nation's leading broadcast TV companies for $200,000 in funding to support a multi-platform journalism project focused on health disparities in the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia regions of the U.S.

Local Now, a subsidiary of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, is available across a portfolio of OTT, CTV mobile, and TV platforms. As of today, it is also available on one of the nation's biggest MVPDs.

For Nielsen Holdings, Wednesday was "Investor Day." It was also the day the company formally unveiled the "new Nielsen," with a "detailed view of its focused growth strategy and medium-term financial framework" on display.

NBCUniversal is expanding digital inventory and audience targeting capabilities to local marketers across the nation by bringing its recently launched NBC Spot On platform under the NBCUniversal One Platform trading model. This, it says, is the next way it is scaling its offerings, opening up its audiences and assets "to even out the playing field for all marketers."