Headlines
Faced With Unprofitability In ’25, Station Groups Must Pivot Now
For more than two decades local television has been a biennial business, feasting on political ads during even years, fasting during odd ones.
Lessons From The Pandemic
Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of the day the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I remember where I was as I am sure most do, too.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Estrella Sells Houston AM To Hispanic Religious Broadcaster
A Houston, Texas AM is changing hands from Classic Hits to a Spanish-language broadcast ministry.
Television
Pay-TV Operators, Broadcasters Clash over FCC Retrans Rebates
Federal regulators want pay-TV consumers to receive rebates when channels go dark as a result of contract disputes between pay-TV operators and their content vendors, including TV stations and cable networks.
Radio
Milestone Reached In Fight Against Radio Royalty As House Majority Now Opposes Law Change.
The addition of ten more names to a House resolution opposing any changes to copyright law to create a performance royalty on radio airplay as given broadcasters another symbolic, and likely pivotal victory in Washington.
A Blueprint For Radio
These are dicey times for “legacy media” – the ones who have been around the longest, seen and done it all, and somehow are still there after three decades or thereabouts of the Internet.
Media
U.S. News Organizations Could Receive $11 Billion Windfall If JCPA Passes.
Chances are “pretty good” that Google's precedent-setting decision in December to compensate Canadian news sites $100 million for the use of their content could translate into billions of dollars in payouts to local news sites in the U.S.
Verticals
Polarization, Not Presidential, Drives Political Revenue In ’24
Campaigns and PACs are also spending on down-ballot races and issues, say executives from NBCUniversal Local, E.W. Scripps, Sage Media Planning and WideOrbit during a TVNewsCheck webinar last week.