TV/Cable News

With the spectrum auction now concluded, Meredith is looking to be a buyer: The company said in releasing its fiscal Q3 2017 results prior to Thursday's Opening Bell on Wall Street that it "expects to continue to grow its Local Media Group organically and through strategic acquisitions." How did the owner of broadcast TV stations fare in its fiscal Q3? We dissected the numbers for you.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), along with other House E&C committee members and Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, gathered Thursday afternoon at the House Triangle to voice their disapproval of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to take away Title II, thus ending net neutrality. To Pallone, Pai's efforts "undercut" net neutrality protections.

DISH Network has reached a multi-year retransmission fees agreement with Hearst Television, ending a nearly two-month stalemate with the owner of stations in 26 markets across 30 states. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, DISH said in a late Wednesday (4/26) release.

The Los Angeles Chargers, formerly the San Diego Chargers National Football League club, have agreed in principle to multi-year television and radio agreements that will make The Walt Disney Co.'s West Coast flagship and the nation's biggest Azteca América station as its official TV partners. At the same time, the No. 1 radio broadcast company's L.A. cluster and a historic AM now owned by Lotus Communications are now the franchise's official radio partners.

The NAB has a preliminary take on its registered attendance for the 2017 NAB Show. Considered the world’s largest annual convention encompassing the convergence of media, entertainment and technology, more than 100,000 people are on hand in Las Vegas for this year's event, which saw activities begin on Saturday and will conclude on Thursday afternoon.

Though they share one thing – the lack of a traditional paid cable or satellite TV subscription – "Cord Cutters" and "Cord Nevers" in the U.S differ in a host of ways, including their tastes in streaming video platforms and shows. That's just one of the key finding from a new "Cord Evolution" study from GfK MRI.

More than two-thirds of "Over-the-Top" free trials will not fork over the dollars to pay for a subscription. That's a key takeaway from a "connected entertainment research" study from Parks Associates that sought to put a positive spin on OTT—a big buzz topic and exhibit hall draw at the 2017 NAB Show.

In May 2016, Gray Television agreed to acquire a pair of television stations in the Clarksburg, W. Va., market from Withers Broadcasting. The $26.5 million deal, struck prior to the start of the spectrum auction, saw Gray grab the CBS affiliate and its FOX station. But, the FCC reviewed the deal, as Gray said the deal qualified for a waiver of the local TV multiple ownership rule. That's because the FOX station in the deal is a "failing station," Gray contended. The Commission agreed.

In last week’s Media Monitors TV Spot Ten report, the Chevrolet Dealer Association held steady at No. 1 with 25,080 spots. Neutrogena also held steady at No. 2 with 20,345 ads and the Honda Dealer Association climbed up a notch to No. 3 with 19,326 commercials.

In last week’s Media Monitors Cable Spot Ten report, GEICO moved up to No. 1 with 39,439 spots. Burger King slid down to No. 2 with 38,291 ads while Progressive ascended to No. 3 with 31,465 commercials.

The Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau have finalized the assignment of Regional Coordinators to support broadcast television stations moving to new channel assignments in the post-incentive auction transition period.

If you believe a global study released this morning by New York-based Accenture, the percentage of consumers worldwide who prefer watching TV shows on television sets plummeted to 23% between October and November 2016, compared to 52% in the same period one-year earlier. That's one of the key takeaways from the Accenture 2017 Digital Consumer Survey, and RBR + TVBR got its hands on exclusive data that shows U.S. consumers are leading this trend.

If you're not wholly familiar with Bonten Media Group and its primarily sub-No. 100 DMAs, such as Eureka-Arcata, Calif., radio industry veterans will likely recognize the name of its Chairman and CEO. That would be Randy Bongarten.

Less than 24 hours after the FCC restored the UHF discount, allowing broadcast TV companies to effectively own more stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to acquire Bonten Media Group Holdings. Concurrently, as part of this deal, Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. will purchase the membership interest of Esteem Broadcasting. The aggregate purchase price: $240 million.​​

When it comes to ATSC 3.0, broadcasters don’t have a complete picture yet of the technologies that need to be replaced or upgraded. That's a key finding in newly released research from WideOrbit.