TV/Cable News

If you thought the war of words between multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDS) and TV broadcasters over retransmission fee agreements gone bad was fierce, wait until you see what the cable companies and their chief lobbying groups have cooked up now, says Radio + Television Business Report Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson, who pens this Media Information Bureau column dedicated to the next-generation TV standard. While it's being heralded as a huge technological advancement and money maker for broadcast TV companies, it's becoming clear to Jacobson that cable TV's vast empire of providers simply don't want to pay for progress

It looks like things are turning around at Nielsen after a brutal miss in its third-quarter earnings one year ago triggered a massive sell-off of its stock on Wall Street. Those results were welcomed by Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst of Advertising Brian Wieser, who notes that Nielsen's Q3 "were generally better than our expectations, with relatively stable guidance for the remainder of the year."

As the FCC moves toward a decision in "GN Docket No.16-142," which authorizes the permissive use of the much-heralded "Next Generation" broadcast television standard (ATSC 3.0), one big MVPD has asked the Commission to start applying its "light-touch regulation" Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly have been advocating since January.

The Commission today, at its October Open Meeting, agreed to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to update two of its rules in an effort that the Republican majority believes will reduce regulatory burdens for broadcasters. In short, the proposal would save the trees by eliminating a lot of paperwork.

Three unfair labor practice charges filed against NBCUniversal-owned Hispanic television network Telemundo on behalf of certain telenovela actors by labor union SAG-AFTRA have been settled.

A pair of Nexstar Media Group-owned CBS affiliates serving Mississippi's state capital and a neighboring city have bolstered their news operations with the addition of more local newscasts and the hiring of a new News Director to oversee teams at the two properties.

Come July 2018, Brigham Young University's broadcast media operations will have completed a major consolidation effort announced today by the collegiate institution based in Provo, Utah. The school announced today that it is merging its three TV entities into one national network, while its radio broadcasting arm will be combining its SiriusXM Satellite Radio channel with its Class C over-the-air property along the Wasatch Front.

The Media Bureau is temporarily lifting a freeze imposed on the filing and processing of full power and Class A station applications—a move that it says "will help ensure the utility of an upcoming application filing window for secondary stations displaced by the incentive auction repacking process."

For DirecTV subscribers across the Hawaiian islands seeking to view The Doctors at 7am or the 8am edition of Hawaii News Now Sunrise, there was nothing but darkness this morning. At midnight Eastern today, KFVE-9 in Honolulu — the MyNetwork TV affiliate for the state of Hawaii — was "dropped" from DirecTV's lineup. It's the latest dispute resulting from the failure of a new retransmission fee agreement between a service provider and a broadcast company, and the second ongoing dispute involving a TV station serving Hawaii.

The company's SVP/Public Policy & Government Affairs, Kathleen Grillo, has fired back at Univision Communications some three days after its Spanish-language stations were yanked from all FiOs and Verizon mobile delivery systems. Grillo did so with a strongly worded letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stating her company's case, and defending its actions. We've got a RBR+TVBR Observation on the situación.

There's a little year-end bonus on the way for Nielsen shareholders of record as of Nov. 21. The nation's dominant provider of audience estimates and consumer research saw its Board of Directors declare a quarterly cash dividend, payable in early December.

Prolific Pivotal Research Group advertising analyst Brian Wieser is hardly a fan of broadcast TV, with respect to its ability to continue growing ad dollars that can contribute to profits. In his latest assessment of the biggest cable and TV networks, he's even more sour on the medium with respect to the ad climate. In short, growth is slowing — and lower margins will persist.

The FCC late Wednesday paused by 15 days the 180-Day transaction "Shot Clock" in the proceeding for transfer of control of Tribune Media Co. to Sinclair Broadcast Group to allow for additional comment. By midday Thursday, Tribune Media signaled it was ready to roll with its acquisition by Sinclair, leaving it up to the Federal government to make the next move. 

A potentially costly retransmission fee impasse between Viacom and Charter Communications' MVPD Spectrum has been averted, as the two companies on Wednesday approved a new deal. It's a win for Spectrum and its customers: The new retransmission fee agreement will put eight Viacom networks on Spectrum's most basic of cable TV tiers.

The independent measurement of subscription-based streaming content has taken a giant leap forward, as Nielsen has officially flipped the switch on Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) Content Ratings. Nielsen calls this "a game-changing service," and it has received widespread support from key players in the TV industry. It puts a solid metric on Netflix viewership, for starters.