TV/Cable News

There's no need to call the Ghostbusters. A zombie has been captured in New York City, and the thankful party is none other than one of the biggest PBS member stations in the nation. There's no payment involved, and we've got all of the not-so-spooky details on this Halloween treat for Channel 13—including the "Hero" in this deal, which is the party handing over this TV creature.

Nielsen today published its November 2017 cable network Universe Estimates, which indicated an ongoing – and likely worsening – decline in traditional pay TV network penetration rates, led by lower traditional MVPD subscription levels. Brian Wieser, Senior Research Analyst of Advertising at Pivotal Research Group, put on his stethoscope and grabbed a magnifying glass as he perused the latest data and offered his thoughts on the new UEs. His conclusion is right here.

It's been a difficult 10 full months since WBTS-LD signed on the air as "NBC Boston." News ratings have lagged. But, NBCUniversal is hardly giving up—it's just engaged in a complex deal that transfers a channel-sharing agreement tied to a Class A TV station that fetched millions in the FCC spectrum auction to WBTS, presumably to bump up its signal in the greater Boston area.

The automotive category continues to flex its muscles at broadcast TV, and with the end of October approaching, half of the Media Monitors TV Spot Ten is comprised of both foreign and domestic brands promoting cars and trucks. 

FOX Sports is making sure that nine commercials set to air during its Thanksgiving Day NFL game from Ford Field in Detroit aren't total turkeys. That's because it's sliced down the air time of each of these spots to a swift 6 seconds.

As RBR+TVBR reported Thursday, the FCC has included in its November Open Meeting agenda an Order that approves the use of the next-gen TV standard, known as ATSC 3.0. This resulted in a strong endorsement of the plan from the NAB, as full details emerged as to what it will bring. But, it also came with another warning from an anti-tax group and pro-MVPD organization actively seeking support for its case against ATSC 3.0's rapid deployment, should it come at a cost to consumers.

Word up ... Comcast didn't discriminate "by reducing distribution" of a religious broadcast network targeting African American consumers "without a valid business justification." That's the key takeaway from a ruling released Friday by the Media Bureau, which also determined that Comcast negotiated carriage agreements without violating financial interest provisions of the Commission's rules.

One of the nation's biggest noncommercial public media entities has added another outlet to its collection of Boston broadcast properties. It's a post-Spectrum Auction Channel-Sharing Agreement (CSA), and no dollars are trading hands. That's fine. Both the donor and the recipient of the CSA collected millions of dollars in the FCC's Auction 1000.

As we enter the final weeks of 2017, it has become clear that several players residing within the U.S. media and telecom sector have embraced many of the key trends, regulatory conditions, and economic benefits forecast for several quarters by PwC. Deal volumes in Q3 reached another two-year high, at 238 deals. That surpassed volumes in Q2 2017 by 9%, and Q3 2016 by 72%. Deal values also made a splash, exceeding $30 billion with seven mega-deals.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has a friend in TEGNA President/CEO Dave Lougee. With 46 television stations in 38 markets, the company formerly known as Gannett prior to the spin-off of its newspapers voiced his support of Pai's proposal that "modernizes" broadcast media ownership rules. Of course, TEGNA stands to benefit from the rule revisions — and an expected "yes" vote on approval of ATSC 3.0, which is set for the FCC's November Open Meeting.

What's the good word from Meredith Corp., the Des Moines-based company superserving women with brands including Better Homes & Gardens, in addition to serving all consumers through its Local Media Group — comprised of 17 owned or operated television stations? Despite tough comps in a non-political year, its Local Media Group saw revenue, net income and EBITDA that came in higher than any other non-political fiscal Q1 seen by the company.

As astute RBR+TVBR readers likely know, "TV-49 Inc." is an entity tied to Norman Shapiro’s Weigel Broadcasting Co.  Quietly and with no comment, the Commission on Friday (10/20) gave its approval to an application filed Sept. 11 that sees Southern California License LLC selling the channel-sharing agreement for KAZA-TV, licensed to the island municipality of Avalon, Calif., to TV-49 for $9 million. Now, TV-49 is adding a pair of TV stations in Northern California and a pair of TV stations in the Pacific Northwest's biggest DMA.

With the battle between MVPDs and broadcast TV companies as heated as ever going into the all-important Q4 negotiating period for 2018 retransmission fee agreements, local advertising and media research firm BIA/Kelsey today placed a microscope on the DMAs where retransmission fees account for more than half of over-the-air revenue. Six markets stick out, with one market's TV stations reporting that some 63.5% of its revenues are tied to retrans fees.

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."