Radio & Television Business Report

Alongside Suzyn Waldman, John Sterling's time behind the mic calling New York Yankees baseball games for radio listeners is among the most legendary of pro sports. Now, fans and many from across the broadcast media world are paying tribute to Sterling, who has died at the age of 87.

A particularly bitter battle over carriage fees for Gray Media's broadcast television channels on one of the nation's two direct broadcast satellite TV service providers ended late Friday, with its channels being restored just in time for the Kentucky Derby on May 2.

Ohio's Attorney General late Thursday announced that it had reached a deal with Nexstar Media Group to keep newsrooms at TEGNA stations in two Buckeye State markets intact for the next several years. Then came word that five state AGs joined California's Rob Bonta in its Sacramento-filed federal lawsuit against Nexstar.

Two heritage radio stations serving Blacks across North Texas for decades are being sold to Urban One. This results in the company led by Alfred Liggins III agreeing to sell its FM at 94.5 MHz to a regional broadcast ministry that plans to switch that station to Spanish-language Christian programming.

Brendan Carr made it clear that the FCC's early license renewal order handed to The Walt Disney Co. regarding its eight ABC Owned Stations properties is tied to potential DEI-linked discrimination and dates to a Commission look that began in 2025. Sen. Ted Cruz feels otherwise, broadening a gulf between Congress and the Commission.

Lee Harris, the President of NewsBalancer who has also served as Director of Integrated Operations for NewsNation and spent more than three decades at iconic all-News WINS Radio in New York, has taken the title of VP of News for both WABC Radio and the fledgling World dwide News Network., which is coming soon from Red Apple Media.

A privately held licensee of broadcast radio stations found across the Show-Me State is largely to thank for the end of the FCC's TV "Top-Four Prohibition," as it successfully sued the Commission in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2025. Now, it has written to the Commission to outright eliminate its local radio restrictions.

Together, Cumulus says the tools will give its account executives a framework for advertiser conversations built around category demand, consumer targeting, and competitive positioning rather than tuning data. The alliance comes as Cumulus continues its legal spat with Nielsen over coverage and pricing.

If there was any doubt as to the seriousness of the chatter regarding a potential merger between SiriusXM Holdings and iHeartMedia, the early Thursday Q1 2026 SiriusXM earnings call held for analysts and investors perhaps offered a subtle yet plainly obvious sign that talks are indeed ongoing and quite substantial.

It serves the blue-collar communities of Groton, New London and Norwich, Conn., with a Class A signal that as of today airs a Classic Hits format and is branded as a "Big" choice for local listeners. Soon, that will change, as Hall Communications has sold the station to the nation's biggest purveyor of CCM programming.

A Class A FM serving a portion of Florida's Panhandle region in mid-February debuted a Spanish-language format under a LMA agreement forged between the station's owner and JVC Media, led by John Caracciolo. Now, JVC is converting that lease deal into an outright purchase, adding to stations in the market. 

A host of free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels and The Weather Channel will continue to be available to users of the YouTube TV virtual MVPD television service, thanks to a new agreement signed by the Alphabet Inc. property with the Google subsidiary. 

DirecTV filed a petition to deny the $171 million transaction that would see 10 Allen Media Group TV stations wind up in the growing stable of the second-largest broadcast television licensee in the U.S.: Gray Media. Erin Boone's replacement as acting Media Bureau Chief tossed DirecTV's plea. The deal's closing came late Friday.

Global consumer spending on overall media content and technology grew 2.8% to $2.439 trillion in 2025, decelerating from a 4.4% increase in 2024, as there were no major international sporting events and fewer federal elections and related media buying.

Audio advertising intelligence and measurement firm Magellan AI has expanded its relationship with the nation's largest audio creation and distribution company, giving it access to iHeartMedia data that maps listeners exposed to broadcast radio to "measurable outcomes."

Known across the media industry for its revenue management and CRM products, Matrix forged a strategic partnership with Microsoft through the Cloud Accelerate Factory, an elite program that provides selected companies with a zero-cost investment of Microsoft’s architecture and development resources.