TV/Cable News

With more and more TV viewers embracing "over-the-top" (OTT) choices for entertainment, sports and informational programming, the need for broadcast TV stations to have their original content everywhere is more essential than ever. To help bring this goal to fruition, a New York-based company has unveiled an online and digital platform that aggregates local TV news and, at the same time, enables local broadcasters to build OTT channels on a new app.

FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly has said a lot about the need to overhaul the nation's children’s educational programming rules. Now, a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts has just emerged as O'Rielly's No. 1 opponent on "KidVid" rules, which O'Rielly wants the full Commission to review by the end of 2018.

One Republican FCC Commissioner has a thing or to to say about the legion of detractors who oppose Sinclair Broadcast Group's merger with Tribune Media -- triggered by the restoration of the "UHF discount" ahead of a wholesale review by the Commission of its ownership caps. Michael O'Rielly put his words to paper -- or blog, as is more customary in 2018.

Here's the good news for traditional cable TV service providers: Traditional MVPD losses in Q1 showed "modest improvement" over the same period in 2017. But, that's no cue for joyous dancing for the MVPDs of the U.S., says S&P Global Market Intelligence.

How does Meredith Corp. feels about the legacy of Time Inc., now that it owns and has integrated all of the brands associated with the once-mighty publishing company? A Thursday rebranding of Time Inc. Productions clearly answers that question.

Not convinced that Netflix is set to trample all over Upfront Week in the years to come, wreaking havoc on the ad-buying process for TV? New research finds some 28 million subscribers will be added in 2018 – making it the largest growth year ever. North American growth isn't the only fuel to Netflix's fire.

Nielsen has taken advantage of its recent acquisition of Gracenote from Tribune Media by moving forward on an endeavor designed to "enhance the experience for TV viewers who use new Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (vMVPD) services."

An affiliate of Ion Media Networks uses one digital channel for two of its stations serving the Providence-New Bedford, R.I.-Mass., TV market. It is now asking the FCC to amend its DTV Table of Allotments and delete the channel from one city in Rhode Island, while substituting it for another station in the state.

Paul Karpowicz is retiring at the end of June after leading the Local Media Group since 2005. Succeeding him is a fast-rising Meredith Corp. veteran who started at the company as an Asst. News Director at the company's two Portland, Ore., stations.

The MFM-BCCA’s Rainmaker Award is given in recognition of a member whose efforts and contributions have helped the association grow. Among this year's recipients are executives at Emmis Communications, Marketron and Meredith Corp.

In what is being hailed as "a major initiative to transform the commercial experience on its networks," Fox Networks Group President of Advertising Revenue Joe Marchese unveiled what are being billed as "JAZ" pods: two-ad pods that give advertisers adjacency to all of FOX's sports and entertainment programming.

A battle over program carriage focused on discrimination has been waged for two months between a premium sports network and Comcast. This fight saw the sports network file a highly redacted complaint with the FCC, to protect confidential information. Now, Comcast will have the same privilege as it defends itself.

A quintet of TV translator stations located in Montana have been obtained by one of the station's main public institutions of higher learning. The seller is a smaller institution of higher learning, and the deal gives Montana PBS additional over-the-air coverage.

In April 2017, Randy Bongarten's Bonten Media Group cashed out and took advantage of the restoration of the FCC's "UHF discount" by selling its 14 TV stations to Sinclair and its shared services/JSA partners for $240 million. Among those stations are Eureka-Arcata, Calif. properties that had been overseen since July 2010 by an individual who is heading to Nebraska, and taking a job at another major broadcast TV company.

An 11-year NBCUniversal finance veteran with experience at its O&Os in San Diego, Dallas and Chicago is heading to South Florida to serve as CFO of Telemundo's owned-and-operated TV stations. The job also includes NBCU's Spanish-language digital multicast network.