TV/Cable News

Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Co. have jointly fired back at the many entities opposed to their merger, formally putting its words into writing via an Opposition to Petitions to Deny the deal filed late Tuesday (8/22) with the FCC.

From Mar-a-Lago to the shores of Maui, DirecTV subscribers could soon be missing a local broadcast station from their lineup. That's because Raycom Media's 65 television stations in some 44 markets across the U.S. are locked in the latest dispute over a new retransmission fee agreement, which is needed by midnight Sept. 1 in order to avoid the DBS provider from engaging in a "blackout."

Two weeks after 14-year company veteran Adam Symson took the reins as President/CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, he's already putting his stamp on the media operation previously led by the now-retired Rich Boehne. 

In a transaction brokered by Kalil & Co., the NBC affiliate serving the Redwood Coast some 4 1/2 hours north of San Francisco is trading hands. The buyer owns the crosstown CBS affiliate, and that's now on the market.

Will Univision Communication TV stations offering four English-language multichannel networks continue to do so for the next several years? The answer is ¡Sí! thanks to a new agreement inked this week.

Pivotal Research Group Senior Research Analyst of Advertising Brian Wieser is at it again, as Wall Street's Wordsmith Watchdog has penned another report based on his analysis of trends associated with the use of TV along commercial share trends for U.S. media owners. Wieser examined the calendar month of July 2017, and his prognosis isn't so great for the TV industry.

Are broadcasters "abusing outdated rules to boost their bottom lines" and the main culprits behind the "blackout" of local broadcast TV channels on MVPDs and such DBS providers as DISH Network? That's what the American Television Alliance (ATVA) thinks, and this provides needed background as to why it is expressing concern with the FCC regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media, and why it met Thursday with the FCC to discuss ATSC 3.0 rollout.

The end of model year clearance events are on across the nation, as auto dealers seek to make way for newly arrived 2018 model vehicles. As a result, a host of dealer associations have substantially increased their spot activity at broadcast TV, as last week’s Media Monitors TV Spot Ten report indicates. Chevrolet made the biggest move.

Arby's has been an active user of TV as of late, thanks to its "We Got The Meats" campaign featuring voiceover work by actor Ving Rhames. It's now among the top 10 advertising using cable television spots to reach consumers, and build sales.

In an impassioned statement released late Friday, Univision President/CEO Randy Falco expressed pride in the multicultural America "we live in and our making." He then turned to the recent racially motivated events in Charlottesville, Va., by turning to the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall before noting, "The current insanity threatens to spiral out of control and has to stop. Leadership is needed."

A video of 180 seconds in length is being circulated by the NAB that's focused on a big topic of interest for those in the TV industry's collective C-Suites. What's it all about? The Next Gen TV transmission standard: ATSC 3.0.

Come Wednesday at 7pm Eastern, DISH Network subscribers in Rhode Island, parts of Massachusetts, and one county in northeast Connecticut could have some difficulty tuning to their local ABC affiliate. That's when a carriage agreement between the DBS player and a privately held company with a name wholly familiar to radio industry veterans: Citadel Communications.

The company that intends to merge with Tribune Media on Thursday announced an agreement for all of its ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC affiliates, and the Tennis Channel, to be carried in their respective markets once YouTube TV debuts in those respective locales.

The E.W. Scripps Co.'s all-news "over-the-top" digitally distributed news channel is now available to half of all U.S. households through YouTube TV. The addition of Newsy was announced Thursday afternoon by Scripps. 

The VP and Division GM for The E.W. Scripps Company is retiring after nine years with the owner of radio and TV stations, and 45 years in the industry. He will officially begin his leisure-time activity on Jan. 1, 2018.