TV/Cable News

The Chairman of the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has been selected as a keynote speaker at the American Cable Association (ACA)'s 25th anniversary summit.

Time Inc. is now officially owned by Des Moines-based Meredith Corp. "With this acquisition, we are creating a premier media and marketing company serving 200 million American consumers that's positioned for growth across industry-leading digital, television, print, video, mobile, and social platforms," Meredith Chairman/CEO Stephen M. Lacy said. Accomplishing that goal will mean a stronger performance from its Local Media division, comprised of its broadcast TV stations. For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017, total local media dipped by some $13 million. National media revenue was also down.

CBS Corp. no longer has to make excuses to marketers and advertisers about lackluster ratings for Thursday Night Football telecasts. Starting with the 2018 season, that will become the responsibility of 21st Century Fox for the next five years. Wall Street isn't too happy with the news: Fox stock was off by nearly 4% in Wednesday's trading.

The FCC has just entered into a pair of Consent Decrees that, if Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly had his way, may no longer be necessary. That's because the agreements reached between the broadcasting companies and the Media Bureau resolve, in part, failings tied to children's television programming requirements for commercial broadcasters.

For a generation of Canadians, MuchMusic is perhaps far more important than globally known brand MTV. He was  associated with CHUM and with City TV. These brands are legendary thanks in large part to Jay Switzer. Switzer passed away Monday after a brief battle with brain cancer. He was 61. 

"To be frank, we don't like it." That's the blunt assessment of a widely rumored combination of CBS Corp. with Viacom from Wells Fargo Securities Managing Director of Equity Research Marci Ryvicker. With that, CBS Corp. received a downgrade. But, Viacom shares are suffering more on Wall Street today.

Trinity Broadcasting Network has just been given a greater opportunity to share the word of Christ to viewers in two of the nation's biggest markets. In a deal brokered by Greg Guy of Patrick Communications, TBN will soon have a deeper presence in the Windy City and the New York Tri-State Area.

Nielsen on Monday published its February 2018 cable network Universe Estimates (UEs), and the "wordsmith of Wall Street" — Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst for Advertising Brian Wieser — quickly analyzed them. What's his prognosis? The latest UEs illustrate "an ongoing decline in traditional pay TV network penetration rates," led by lower traditional MVPD subscription levels. Is cable TV poised for big problems in the months and years ahead?

In a vote that is directly tied to the company's acquisition of Time Inc., the Board of Directors of Des Moines-based Meredith Corp. has elected an Executive Chairman and President/CEO. Its an elevation from Chairman/CEO and President/COO, respectively, for two individuals poised to craft the company's long-term strategic agenda.

The big ol' Weed Wacker at 445 12th Street SW in Washington, D.C., is getting charged up for what Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly has assured will be an event that impacts children and families. As far as he's concerned, the Commission's requirements regarding educational and informational children's programming are "ineffective and burdensome." O'Rielly expressed his thoughts in a Friday blog post we've just digested, and we're not shy to offer a RBR+TVBR Observation questioning O'Rielly for this suggestion just as Next Gen TV is poised to make UHF and VHF far more relevant again.

A Kansas VHF facility serving Kansas' state capital with programming from The Country Network was found by the FCC to have violated its rules regarding the timely filing of its Children's Television Programming Reports for 13 quarters. Those tardy filings were not noted in this station's renewal application. A forfeiture order was issued, and the station's owner filed a petition for reconsideration. What did the Media Bureau's Video Division Chief have to say? Get out your checkbook.

Local radio and television stations and their broadcast network partners have donated more than $32 million in airtime for public service announcements focused on opioid abuse awareness and prevention. This includes 253,783 TV and radio airings between September 2016 and December 2017, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) reports. The PSAs are part of a campaign launched by NAB and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.

Want to watch Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and/or How To Get Away With Murder this evening on ABC? How about a new episode of Arrow on The CW, or Will and Grace on NBC? If you're in the Texoma region near Ada, Okla., and you rely on DISH Network to get your programming, you're out of luck. That's thanks to the latest retransmission fee dispute, which involves a small broadcasting company operating in four markets — including Wichita.

Here's a simple lesson learned from not following directions. Last autumn, a San Francisco-based noncommercial TV station elected mandatory coverage for the current cycle, which began Jan. 1. There's just one problem: The letter was not sent to DISH as stated in the Commission's rules. Can this station appeal? We now know the answer.

Thanks, in part, from data obtained from Leichtman Research Group, popular digital media publication Recode has created an eye-catching graphic illustrating the "Big Media" landscape as it currently looks like. You'd better print out and save a copy of this article. That's because it's likely not going to look like this in the near future.