TV/Cable News

On Thursday, Gray Television confirmed that it intends to offer up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2027, subject to market conditions. One day later, it "upsized" that offering and put a price tag on it.

Cord-cutting is a real problem, if you believe new consumer research from Leichtman Research Group. Based on data culled from a telephone survey of some 1,152 households, the percentage of TV households nationwide that subscribe to "some form of pay-TV service" is down 8 percentage points in five years.

Gray Television has confirmed that it intends to help pay for Raycom Media by offering up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2027. This follows the Oct. 22 confirmation by Gray that it has proposed a multibillion-dollar term loan, and amended its current senior credit facility.

Smartphone video starts topped 50% globally for the first time, a 13.2% year-over-year change and the largest in five quarters. That's according to the just-released Q2 2018 Global Video Index Report from Ooyala, which shows that a temporary leveling-off in Q1 did little to chill the surge in video plays on tablets and smartphones.

On Monday, Quincy Media was revealed as the buyer of KVOA-4 in Tucson, the lone Cordillera Communications station not to be sold to The E.W. Scripps Co. Now, Illinois-based Quincy is adding another two TV stations to its stable. This time, it is doing so downstate in the Land of Lincoln.

Despite the growth of Online and Mobile Video, TV will continue to account for the bulk of ad spend on video -- at least on a global basis. That's the key finding of a just-released report from Boston-based Strategy Analytics. What about the U.S.? We took a look.

While "Lucha de familia" may be the most accurate translation for "Family Feud," U.S. Hispanic audiences who enjoyed the Spanish-language version of the long-running TV game show know it by the way the questions are posed — "100 Latinos Dijeron," or "100 Latinos say ..." The program is coming back to U.S. Hispanic TV after a two-year absence with a new set and new host.

CBS Corporation revealed that it has named a President/CEO position for its CBS Global Distribution Group, an individual who will also serve as Chief Content Licensing Officer for CBS Corp. But, it was perhaps CBS Corp.'s other announcement made Tuesday that had tongues wagging: David Poltrack is heading into retirement in June 2019, and an ex-iHeart exec is succeeding him.

With today's purchase of 15 TV stations from Cordillera Communications, The E.W. Scripps Co. has made it clear that its future financial success lies not with AM and FM broadcasts but with the ownership of over-the-air television stations. Here's a look at the properties Scripps hopes will allow it to better compete against Gray Television, Nexstar and whoever ends up acquiring Tribune Media.

Charter Communications, owner of the Spectrum cable TV service, released Q3 earnings on Friday that beat analyst's expectations on earnings per share. But, its revenue fell short of expectations. As a result, Charter joined the group of media companies that saw their stocks sag on Wall Street.

Shareholders of two of the largest owners of broadcast TV stations will have a little more money in their accounts in a matter of weeks. That's thanks to declarations of a dividend payable to shareholders of record made by each of these companies -- even as their stocks suffer from wild market gyrations caused by a multitude of issues.

As part of "its commitment to reflect important demographic and household characteristics in its National TV panel," Nielsen has revealed that it will expand its reporting capabilities to identify same gender spouses and partners and their households.

In Central California, there are stunning wineries, great seafood shacks, tasty waves and breathtaking sunsets. There also happens to be a Class A TV station that until now has been owned by Viacom International. This facility has just been sold, and the buyer is arguably the most prolific buyer of television stations seen in the last 12 months.

Nielsen on Thursday released its Q3 2018 financial report, and as Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group notes in an investor note, the company reported weak results. This was hardly a surprise to Wieser, who set a new price target on a year-end 2018 basis for Nielsen shares. That target is below where the company's stock was through mid-July.

It has been nearly four months since Univision Communications' Univision and UniMás O&Os and affiliates and the Galavisión cable network were dropped from DISH Network in what has become one of the most bitter retransmission fee disputes ever seen. Now, the last network tied to Univision still on DISH is about to go dark.