TV/Cable News

The E.W. Scripps Co. expected to incur a steep Q3 loss, due to asset impairment and restructuring costs. The good news for investors is that the net loss is better than what a consensus of Wall Street analysts expected. Even so, Scripps shareholders went into "sell" mode in Friday's trading.

Entravision Communications enjoyed a stunning Q3, based on a top-line look of its earnings results. This is primarily thanks to millions of dollars in revenue tied to the media company's participation in Auction 1000 — the FCC's spectrum auction. If not for that, Entravision's growth story lies in digital, which eclipsed the company's radio division for the first time on the revenue front.

Univision publicly distributes its quarterly earnings results, and on Thursday the company saw its total core revenue grow by 3.9%. But, Univision achieved this through that all-important "non-advertising revenue" -- a.k.a. retransmission consent fees. Advertising revenue slipped by 1%, and by double-digits when looking exclusively at Univision Radio.

Discovery Communications on Thursday reported "decent" Q3 earnings, says Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst for Advertising Brian Wieser. But, he's focused on commentary from the media company that reflects weak subscriber trends and a worse-than-expected outlook for international advertising. Are those concerns big enough to ding this pay-TV network stalwart?

In 2016, Nexstar Media Group teamed up with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting in what was heralded as the "largest multicast distribution launch in the history of broadcast TV." Now, new partners Shield Media, Tamer Media and Vaughn Media have come on board and have agreed to add multicast networks Bounce, Escape, Grit and Laff on 43 additional channels. At the same time, affiliation agreements have been renewed for 21 current stations — with all affiliations extending well into the next decade.

Discovery Communications has put its stamp of approval on a multi-year product agreement with TiVo Corporation for TiVo’s Audience Works for Marketing. The tool is described as "an end-to-end inventory management and execution product suite that enables the company to drive ratings and viewership through audience-driven on-air promotions and cross-channel media plans."

On the afternoon of Oct. 19, the MyNetworkTV affiliate serving the state of Hawaii suddenly faded to black for DirecTV subscribers across the state. The station still hasn't returned to the lineup, and the station's GM is furious. He's also painting a "David and Goliath" picture ... even though Raycom is involved in the operation. What's the true story behind KFVE-9 in Honolulu? Is AT&T-owned DirecTV playing fair, or is this another mud-slinging battle over "must carry" status? RBR+TVBR spoke with KFVE GM John L. Fink to get his take on the thorny situation.

"Despite challenges in the quarter, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the loss of certain technical school advertisers versus last year and mainly transaction-related one-time charges, Sinclair stations continued to deliver," says Sinclair Broadcast Group President/CEO Chris Ripley. But, total revenue was down in Q3, as was Sinclair's operating income. As a result, its net income shrank by 24 cents per share — missing the consensus street estimate by a dime. Investors reacted by selling SBGI stock in the first two hours of Wednesday's trading. 

For those wondering how Nielsen would leverage Gracenote's media and entertainment metadata following its $560 million acquisition of the East Bay-based entity, a big reveal came from Nielsen's New York headquarters early Tuesday. Gracenote's Real-Time Smart TV Data will now be used to enhance the audience targeting, consumer analytics and measurement capabilities of Nielsen Marketing Cloud's Data Management Platform (DMP).

The tranquil town of Red Lion, Pa., nestled to the southeast of York, Pa., has now attracted national headlines for another "zombie" capture. This time, there's a multi-million payment involved, and a big pay-day for the seller. The deal was signed and sealed on Aug. 29. However, it's only now been filed with the FCC.

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.