TV/Cable News

It’s 1999, and Julie Benezet is the new director for a fledgling dot-com called Amazon. Her challenge: to figure out how to lease just the right real estate in just the right places, to help the company survive and thrive. She has no idea what the future will bring. Her new book, "The Journal of Not Knowing," recalls her challenge and offers C-Suiters the opportunity to "chart a course where there is none."

Return on Equity (ROE) is an important factor for some Wall Street investors. That's why, Simply Wall St., notes, Nexstar Media Group looks particularly attractive and worthy of a buy. The broadcast TV company has a pretty good ROE -- and with its stock on the rise, now may be the time to get in.

On heavier-than-average volume of more than 2.42 million shares, Gray Television shares rocketed ahead 5.7% on Tuesday as investors voted with approval of the broadcast media company's just-released third-quarter results. With GTN trading at a record high of $18.50, it's good to be a stockholder. With its acquisition of Raycom Media on track, Gray delivered what Zacks Equity Research declares are "earnings and revenue surprises."

The E.W. Scripps Company has just signed off on a plan to slash its pension plan obligations by millions of dollars. To accomplish this, it purchased a group annuity contract with MassMutual.

If it weren't for the biggest sporting event on planet Earth, just where would ad revenue be for the just-completed 2017-18 broadcast season? Thanks to World Cup coverage on Telemundo, ad revenue from Hispanic television networks stayed flat, at $2.1 billion, according to Standard Media Index and AccuTV data. Subtract the World Cup, and the situation is grim for Spanish-language TV.

On June 28, the owner of a FOX affiliate filed a Good Faith Negotiation Complaint against an Alaskan MVPD. It alleges that this cable TV provider failed to fairly negotiate retransmission consent for carriage of this station. MTA filed an answer; Coastal filed a Reply. Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey has now released her ruling on the matter.

Tribune Media, like many radio and TV companies, will be releasing its Q3 earnings report next week. Wall Street expects earnings growth. Is that what investors can expect? Zacks Equity Research seeks to find an easy answer.

Mark Cornetta is a fixture of Denver television, known for his role as President/GM of TEGNA's KUSA-9. He held the role until a May 2016 promotion. Now, Cornetta has his old role back, because the individual that succeeded him in the Mile High City is heading to Oregon. 

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.