TV/Cable News

There is one company that stands out from the pack with respect to TV station acquisitions. Since the end of the FCC's spectrum auction, the Philip Falcone-led HC2 Holdings has been rapidly snapping up television properties — the majority of them low power properties. In the latest deal to involve HC2, a Class A facility in Tennessee that is presently silent is being snapped up.

Want further proof that the future of national television advertising spending will be dependent on growth of interactive, video on demand (VOD) and the addressable advertising solutions that ATSC 3.0 "next gen" digital transmissions promise? Look no further than the latest report from MediaVillage and noted media ecologist Jack Myers, who forecasts an increase in annual national TV ad spend between 2017 and 2020 of $5 billion. But, a magnified look reveals some major trouble spots for cable and satellite TV, and some challenges for broadcast TV.

A MVPD with a large imprint in such Southwest Pennsylvania towns as Greensburg and Latrobe will soon see the benefits of an expansion and upgrade plan that's largely the result of a newly forged deal with IP-based video delivery provider MobiTV.

One of the hottest stocks on Wall Street in recent days has been Netflix. Fueled by exclusive first-run series it has produced and/or acquired, the OTT darling's stock has soared past $300 a share as part of a meteoric rise in value seen since Jan. 1, 2018. On Monday, investors decided to cash in, with Netflix losing 3% of its value but still well above where it began the year.

Here's some disconcerting news for the U.S. cable TV industry and the networks that are among some of its key attraction points for consumers: revenue peaked three years ago for pay TV, and eight years ago for MVPDs. That's one of the top findings from the just-released eighth edition of the North America Pay TV Forecasts report, a 96-page PDF from U.K.-based Digital TV Research.

Since 2014, a newly formed entity has successfully launched five HD network affiliates in the smallest of markets across the U.S. As a result, NBC, FOX and CBS stations are now present in what had been some of the few remaining DMAs that didn’t have the full compliment of Big Four network carriage. The most recent market where local affiliates debuted under this company's leadership is Lafayette, Ind. Now, it can fully reap the benefits of their efforts, as the last Indianapolis-based stations to be found on local Comcast channel lineups are poised to disappear.

The NBCUniversal Spanish-language network's Washington, D.C., operation is now an O&O operation, thanks to NBCU's recently closed acquisition of its biggest affiliate group's stations. As a result, there's a rebranding that reflects its third over-the-air home since debuting some 25 years ago.

Capital Broadcasting Co. and its NBC affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, WRAL-5, have been at the forefront of the roll-out of the next generation broadcast TV standard — ATSC 3.0. Much of these efforts can be tied to Steven D. Hammel, VP/GM of WRAL and FOX affiliated sibling WRAZ-50 in North Carolina's Triangle region. Hammel will now have more time to enjoy watching ATSC 3.0 broadcasts come Q4 2018, as he told staff on Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the year.

With tongues wagging following the company's decision not to move forward with an Initial Public Offering and the naming of Peter H. Lori as Univision’s CFO, replacing an individual brought on to bring the IPO to fruition, Univision Communications majority owner and chairman Haim Saban and the company's board on Wednesday evening "set the record straight" about its CEO. We've got an RBR+TVBR Observation on the matter, which addresses the multiple news organizations sticking to rumors about Randy Falco's departure.

The Philip Falcone-led HC2 Holdings has just acquired two more low-powered TV properties. This time, he's gone to North Texas, and just made a pair of deals for two facilities licensed to the city of Dallas.

Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst for Advertising Brian Wieser has penned a report following his firm's review of weekly national TV viewing trends for both news and sports, based on live+same-day viewing data through the ninth week of 2018. The two genres together accounted for some 23% of all national TV viewing during 2017. But, they're not in sync with their growth.

With Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media agreeing to “resubmit or amend” their applications filed with the FCC in connection with MB Docket No. 17-179 — the formal name given to the review of Sinclair’s planned merger with Tribune, there's already some buzz regarding what changes have been made. A look at the FCC's database today suggests that it is abandoning its plan to own two of the top four stations in Pennsylvania's state capital.

Last Wednesday (2/28), Sinclair Broadcast Group's legal counsel was joined by Tribune Media's legal counsel in a conference call with five key members of the FCC's Media Bureau at the Commission's request. The subject: MB Docket No. 17-179 — the formal name given to the review of Sinclair's planned merger with Tribune. The result of the call: Sinclair and Tribune are to "resubmit or amend" their applications filed in connection with the proceeding.

Discovery Communications has successfully completed its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive. With that, the logo you see associated with this news story is officially a relic and collectors' item: Moving forward, the combined company will be officially known as Discovery Inc.

In a 22-page submission made Monday (3/5) to the FCC, the American Cable Association (ACA) submitted Reply Comments in the FCC's docket on the Electronic Delivery of MVPD Communications by asking the Commission to adopt its proposal to permit cable operators to deliver all Subpart T subscriber notices and privacy notices to a verified e-mail address, subject to certain consumer safeguards, and to allow all such notices to be sent on an “opt-out” basis.