TV/Cable News

Think you're paying way too much per month for your cable TV services? You're not alone, newly released findings from Hub Entertainment Research suggest. What's not addressed: Broadcast TV retrans fees, and just why MVPD subscriber pricing is up.

BIA Advisory Services has just released its domestic U.S. local advertising forecast, and it says 2018 will be "a solid year" for the broadcast TV sector. How so? Blame it on politics, and that hand-held device you may be reading this message on.

As the financial world highly scrutinized cable TV subscriber losses at Charter Communications during the first quarter, sending the company's stock in a free-fall from the Opening Bell on Friday, Wall Street wasn't exactly kind to several other high-profile TV companies. Radio station owners also got caught up in the fracas.

In early April, the FCC agreed to modify the transition phase assignment for two TV stations in California, allowing the operators a little extra time to plan for their moves. Now, a third Golden State TV station has successfully shifted to a later phase. At the same time, a big PBS member station in the Keystone State is moving sooner than originally anticipated.

A partner company of Sinclair Broadcast Group that just agreed to acquire three TV stations from the company seeking to complete its merger with Tribune Media has been formally admonished by the FCC for its failure to prepare the station's lists in accordance with its public file rules.

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation will be saluting four individuals who have actively served the broadcast industry in the state by inducting them into the WBA Hall of Fame. This year's class includes a top executive at one of the nation's biggest broadcast TV companies, an owner of locally focused radio stations, an EAS champion who was an engineer for Journal Communications' flagship stations, and an innovative training specialist who has influenced hundreds of sales executives across the Midwest.

Shareholders of TEGNA today overwhelmingly approved the re-election of Board members, and ratified the appointment of EY as the company’s independent accounting firm for the 2018 fiscal year. But, here is the big headline: TEGNA stockholders said yes to an advisory resolution on the compensation of the company’s named executive officers.

Here's an interesting partnership that could have some radio executives scratching their heads and some TV executives salivating at possibilities for greater content and brand exposure. TEGNA-owned NBC affiliate WXIA-11, branded as "11Alive," in Atlanta has launched "11Alive Radio" on Pandora.

In a move perhaps fueled by the FCC's spectrum auction, Los Angeles-based KCET-28 will once again be tied to PBS after going independent on New Year's Day 2011. KCET's parent company has entered into a merger with PBS SoCal —a recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars in the FCC's incentive auction.

Here's some more fodder for groups like the American Cable Association, who have wagged their index fingers at broadcast TV companies for a problem they say is directly related to a whopping surge in retransmission fee agreements. According to just-released data from Kagan, S&P Global Market Intelligence, U.S. consumers have seen a 74% increase in their pay TV bill since 2000.

If it wasn't for all of the discussion surrounding a reunification with CBS Corp. and whether or not Bob Bakish is in the mix, Viacom's just-released fiscal second quarter 2018 results would be greeted with widespread cheer, free of rumors and speculation. The company's earnings were ahead of consensus estimates, yet results were mixed. Brian Wieser, Senior Research Analyst of Advertising at Wall Street financial house Pivotal Research Group, dissected Viacom's earnings and says that despite the so-so results, "many favorable new initiatives were described which could provide some optimism for the future of a standalone Viacom."

TEGNA's Board of Directors on Wednesday declared a dividend of 7 cents per share, payable on July 2 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on June 8. With that, TEGNA shares saw a much needed-boost on Wall Street on Wednesday, climbing 3.8% to $11.13 to reverse a downtrend for the company's stock.

Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly's push to heavily modify or erase the agency's "KidVid" regulations is largely fueled by his belief that the rules are outdated, with children largely consuming Video on Demand (VOD) choices, over-the-top (OTT) sources and cable TV channels that offer kids' programming 24/7. Nowhere is it being argued that children are tuning out TV, although broadcast TV ratings during "KidVid" hours are a far cry from years past. In fact, new research from U.K.-based Futuresource Consulting suggests that watching the big screen remains the activity that children dedicate the most time to.

A Florida-based non-profit operation focused on evangelical Christian programming, founded by Bob D'Andrea in 1979, has closed on its acquisition of a full-power TV station, Class A sibling, and an LPTV cousin in the Crescent City, Sin City, and a key market in the Rockies, respectively.

Comcast Corp.'s FreeWheel next-generation TV and premium video advertising technology has just gotten a boost thanks to a multi-year agreement with the company responsible for SpongeBob and Gwen on BET's In Contempt.