TV/Cable News

Since 2014, he's served as President/GM of Hearst Television's ABC affiliate serving Savannah, Ga., and nearby Hilton Head Island and Beaufort, S.C. Now, after six years in the role, this former divisional VP of The New York Times Company Broadcast Group will retire, later this fall.

Fresh off the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, political advertising is ramping up for TV broadcasters as limitations due to COVID-19 are expected to boost TV's take of the important revenue segment. With lower-than-expected political revenue in Q2, a windfall of political advertising in the second half of 2020 will be needed for the segment to reach a record.

A local broadcast TV streaming service some companies, and the NAB, say is illegally distributing stations without a retransmission agreement is now available in DMA No. 15. As a result, 66 local TV channels delivered via the internet — "for free" — are available for all within and surrounding the home of Motown and GM.

The highly anticipated and heavily reported "return of traditional, trusted, fact-based news reporting" to cable television is being celebrated on Wall Street and on Main Street, U.S.A. "NewsNation" makes it debut tonight at 8pm Eastern at a refreshed WGN America — once Tribune Media's flagship cable TV network and now owned by Nexstar Media Group.

Upward of 200 over-the-air TV stations owned by Gray Television, Meredith Corp., Cowles Media Company, Morgan Murphy Media and Heritage Broacasting Group have signed on as the initial launch partners for a new free ad-supported national streaming service built by a key live local OTT tech company. And, Gray is putting its dollars into its ultimate success.

First, it was an Albuquerque station licensed to John Viall Jr.‘s Tamer Media. Then came two stations licensed to Sheldon Galloway-led Shield Media. Now, a UHF station in Providence offering FOX and The CW Network on a digital multicast channel is the latest station being transferred to a big Nexstar Media Group services partner.

With fuboTV's rebirth as a broader virtual MVPD offering under new ownership, it is making a play for more Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic consumers. To help drive that growth, it has forged a distribution agreement with a Burbank-based media multimedia company that owns nearly all of the programming on its nationally distributed TV network.

ATSC 3.0 datacasting brings the one-to-many delivery of broadcasting to the one-to-one world of wireless connectivity, just as the Internet of Things gathers steam. This means steady, low-maintenance dividend-like revenue streams for broadcasters, and capital expenditure relief for wireless carriers.

Gray's NBC affiliate serving Lake Charles, La., has sustained major damage to its broadcast tower, with debris reportedly impacting the station's studio. Meanwhile, Cumulus Media's building is gone, one of its stations announced. All employees are reported safe — a message echoed by Townsquare Media/Lake Charles, which sustained minimal damage from Hurricane Laura.

As of 3:30pm Central on August 26, Hurricane Laura's intensity had greatly increased, making it a fierce and potentially devastating Category 4 Hurricane headed directly toward Lake Charles, La. Gray Television's NBC affiliate sprang to action, while two radio broadcasting companies worked hard to keep listeners informed -- and their remaining staff safe.

Consider it a warning from an industry that wants your advertising dollars. A new study released today by a video advertising platform invested in the fast-growing Connected TV space finds that "CTV advertising performs better than linear TV across key indicators." It's an illuminating look at the massive PR push CTV is putting into bashing traditional TV

Just as the industry saw the light at the end of the tunnel, many repack installations were put on ice. WPSD-DT, an NBC affiliate serving Paducah, Ky., as “LOCAL 6,” was one of many stations affected. Chief Engineer Dan Wilson was called to action, as a late-phase repack faced some highly intricate rescheduling while still meeting the FCC's transition deadline.

What a difference a year makes. In 2019, Michael Nathanson was high on Fox Corporation, noting how a bet on live content would prove valuable to consumers, advertisers and MVPDs. Now, Nathanson is urging Fox management to " ask themselves what economic value is Fox Network generating today and how is the market assessing that value."

COVID-19 was the challenge that no one saw coming. The aftershocks of the virus quickly rippled through the broadcast industry just as Phase 9 repack installations were to begin. Just as the industry saw the light at the end of the tunnel, many installations were put on ice. WPSD-DT, an NBC affiliate serving Paducah, Ky., was one of the impacted stations.

Evoca, the Edge Networks-owned next-generation television service built on ATSC 3.0 technology, is bolstering its lineup of "high quality and family-friendly" HD/4K programming. In doing so, it is welcoming four networks namely associated with MVPDs.