TV/Cable News

The members of American Cable Association have given their stamp of approval to keep the advocacy and lobbying group's current Chairman and Vice Chairman in their roles for another term.

Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) on August 7 offered a peek at what it expected to report in its Q2 2018 earnings. SBS has now delivered on that report. Did the results match its forecast?

Mark your calendars: Thursday, Sept. 20 at 2:20pm Eastern is the date and time for the 2018 annual nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). For those who were expecting it to occur on a Wednesday: Surprise. 

A mobile video analytics tool designed to provide marketers and media companies a detailed look at the quality and performance of the nation's top mobile video streaming apps has just been released by Nielsen-owned Gracenote.

News that Elliott Investment Management has acquired an 8% stake in Nielsen with plans to push the company to sell itself in its entirety has resulted in a healthy rebound of the company's stock. On Wednesday, shares closed up another 10 cents to $26.15. This is close to the year-end price target on Nielsen from Brian Wieser, the prolific Senior Research Analyst of Advertising at Pivotal Research Group. As such, he's just downgraded Nielsen shares.

With the deal forged Wednesday, TownNews.com's suite of digital tools and services will allow Meredith's 17 TV stations to deliver video, live streams, editorial content, and advertising to their web and mobile sites, OTT channels, and social media platforms.

On Tuesday, Philip Falcone's HC2 Station Group made headlines by grabbing a Class A TV station serving a growing part of South Florida. Now, HC2 is adding a Class A in one of the nation's hippest cities in a deal that could further build a group of owned-and-operated stations for Azteca América.

The largest pay-TV providers in the U.S., representing about 95% of the market, continued to lose video subscribers in the second quarter of 2018. But, is the tide of cord-cutters slowing? Leichtman Research Group findings suggest that's starting to happen, but not for the biggest MVPDs.

Less than two weeks ago, DISH Network stock was flirting with a new record low, achieved in early June. Now, DISH shares could be heading downward once again, as an influential Wall Street analyst downgraded the company. This comes following the loss of its CFO to a large senior living company.

At the Closing Bell, CBS shares were down 2%, to $52.52, on Friday as chatter spread across Manhattan that a good second quarter earnings report from Viacom could fuel efforts by National Amusements Inc. and the Redstone family to bring CBS and Viacom together again.

Meredith Corp. on Friday morning released its fiscal Q4 and full-year 2018 results, and the company's Local Media division, which includes its broadcast TV stations, saw revenue gains. But, it was political growth in the final three months of its fiscal year that propelled TV revenue increases. Minus political, "other revenues" were to thank -- not core advertising.

New Univision CEO Vince Sadusky on Thursday addressed DISH Network’s "blackout" of Univision networks for the first time. He made the remarks during the media company's Q2 earnings call, and come following comments from DISH chairman Charlie Ergen that the bitter impasse between the DBS provider and Univision means the absence of Univision stations is “probably permanent.”

A 62-page complaint was filed by Tribune Media in Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday that spells out its $1 billion-plus lawsuit against Sinclair Broadcast Group for actions that ultimately led Tribune to pull the plug on its $3.9 billion merger with the Baltimore-area owner of broadcast media properties. In the complaint, Tribune makes it clear that Sinclair failed in its efforts to act swiftly to resolve overlap markets that would trigger regulatory scrutiny.

Here's another example of how the major broadcast TV owners are snapping up stations they already operate but couldn't own prior to the FCC's "modernization" of its rules. In Springfield, Mo., Nexstar has an LMA for a FOX affiliate and a shared services agreement for the market's CBS station, as it owns the MyNetworkTV affiliate. Now, it's shifting the LMA to full-on possession.

Viacom, which may or may not be reunifying with CBS Corp. in the coming months, reported fiscal Q3 2018 earnings that Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research Group says are "thematically consistent" with his view of the company. "[F]avorable updates were provided on a wide range of growth initiatives which are intended to offset declines or long-term challenges in traditional businesses," he notes.