TV/Cable News

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.

What is the current state of health at Meredith's Local Media Group, which includes 17 television stations? "Other revenues" are driving revenue growth, as seen in the company's just-released fiscal Q3 results. What other than retransmission consent fees could be generating the profits?

Tribune Media swung from a Q1 2017 net loss to see strong net income this year. Much of this can be pinned on trimmed programming expenses. But, there is another big multimillion-dollar reason why the company that very much expects to merge with Sinclair Broadcast Group had a good start to 2018.

A principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP has been chosen to share the firm’s insights concerning the future of advertising at Media Finance Focus 2018, the annual conference for MFM and its BCCA subsidiary, the media industry’s credit association.