TV/Cable News

With headlines grabbing the attention of broadcast media outlets far and wide and Tribune controlling the conversation through the lunch hour, Sinclair finally responded in the early afternoon hours of Thursday to Tribune's decision to terminate its merger agreement. How so? Sinclair's FCC applications have been withdrawn with prejudice, and it is initiating a huge stock repurchasing plan.

"Notwithstanding our disappointment regarding the outcome of the transaction, we are extremely pleased with our second quarter results, which were very strong," Peter Kern, Tribune Media's CEO, said early Thursday as the company not only revealed it is terminating its $3.9 billion merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, but enjoyed a net revenue gain and swung from a net loss to net income.

Univision may never ever become a publicly traded company, but that hasn't stopped the nation's biggest purveyor of Spanish-language media options from releasing its quarterly earnings reports. Univision's Q2 results were made public early Thursday. Net income was down, but net revenue was up.

Some $31.6 million in political advertising helped Nexstar Media Group achieve net revenue growth of 5.5% during the second quarter. Nexstar's net income soared by 79%. But the political gain came at the expense of both National and Local advertising revenue.

So, how are things at the company that is still trying to complete its merger with Tribune Media? The executives at Sinclair Broadcast Group will happily share details of their Q2 2018 financial results, which were largely positive despite a per-share dip caused by high expenses. Just don't ask about the company's quest for Tribune, which looks more and more like the hometown Baltimore Orioles' quest for a 2018 World Series trophy.

Nielsen is now ready to make an impact on local media planning and cross-channel optimization through a new tool designed to benefit both local radio and television broadcasting companies.

The broadcast TV company formerly known as Gannett posted a rosy Q2 earnings report on Wednesday. Net revenues were up, while its earnings per share soared year-over-year by 87%. Here are the details.

Discovery Communications' CEO takes pride in his company's "solid results" for the second quarter, released Wednesday. A respected Wall Street analyst has a different assessment to share. Who did Wall Street listen to? The "wieser" one, as Discovery Communications shares dipped nearly 5% on high volume after reporting growth trends this analyst calls "tepid."

Gray Television may not have the same level of national top-of-mind consumer recognition as such broadcast peers as Tribune, Hearst, Sinclair or Meredith Corp., but that could change in just a matter of months. Its merger with Raycom Media is one of the year's top media and marketing deals, and Gray's Q3 guidance may be even sweeter than its Q2 results.

On July 23, Rep. Steve Scalise made it known that he wants to be remembered as the man on Capitol Hill who wants to do away with one of the thorniest matters facing broadcast TV companies and MVPDs of all shapes and sizes—retransmission consent. Now, he's introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that is all about ATSC 3.0, and LPTV station operators as well as PBS stations may be a little irked by what Scalise is proposing.

Just how big is Gray Television's planned merger with Raycom Media? Mid-market investment bank Berkery Noyes' half-year 2018 M&A trend report for the media and marketing industry is out, and there are bunch of company names wholly unfamiliar to most media industry C-Suiters. But there are Gray and Raycom -- and how "notable" of a transaction is their deal?

Should Nielsen investors be concerned over a potential violation of the nation's securities laws by Nielsen officers? No less than three law firms believe so and on Friday announced an investigation on behalf of the company's stock holders.

DISH Network may be in the midst of a bitter battle with Univision over a new retransmission fee agreement, but that hasn't stopped investors from swooping in and snapping up shares in the DBS provider. Dish stock was up 14.5% in Friday's trading after it reported fewer subscriber losses than FactSet had forecast.

On March 15, beIN Sports — a spinoff of Al Jazeera Media Network — filed a program carriage complaint with the FCC alleging that Comcast discriminated against it. Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey on Thursday rendered her opinion on the matter. There will be no penalty for the MVPD.

CBS Corp. late Thursday recorded a strong Q2 that beat Wall Street estimates. What does our favorite Wall Street wordsmith, Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser, have to say about that? A "not impressed" meme would have sufficed, based on his take of the company's results. That said, he's convinced that Viacom's reunification with CBS is a done deal.