TV/Cable News

With approximately 60% free cash flow accretion to be arrived from Nexstar's acquisition of Tribune Media, the company Perry Sook founded roughly a quarter-century ago with the purchase of a Scranton, Pa., TV station is riding high. "We view this as best of the 36 transactions we've done in our history," he said.

The company led by a man known for his stint as Group Publisher of the Los Angeles Wave Publications Group has voluntary filed for Chapter 11 in a Houston-based U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It follows an April lawsuit filed against Nexstar Media Group for what this company says are efforts “to undermine” its three TV stations.

Here's the good news: Sinclair Broadcast Group's stock will finish 2019 ahead of where its started the year, by nearly $4.50 per share. Here's the bad news: The second half of the year was full of consistent declines that erased healthy growth seen through early July for the TV station owner that now has the former Fox regional sports networks.

As the U.S. radio industry continues to discuss widespread programming and on-air job losses at the nation's biggest owner of AM and FM stations, the BBC has launched a plan designed to reach a $104 million savings target within two years by slashing its BBC News budget. The result: hundreds of job losses.

On the same day that Gray Television announced that it is taking a minority stake in TEGNA-owned connected TV and “over-the-top” (OTT) advertising business PREMION,  NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations revealed that its 42 NBC and Telemundo broadcast stations will be fully integrated into a new advanced video ad business -- designed for local/regional CTV and OTT advertisers.

Nine television stations operated by Nexstar Media Group won't be participating in any "great affiliate swaps" forcing local TV viewers to find a new channel to watch such programs as "The Price is Right" or "NCIS."

Veritone next week is hosting a series of webinars focused on “Proven AI for M&E.” It's a learning opportunity to discover how AI-driven solutions help radio, TV, sports and podcasters save time, reduce costs, and improve workflow productivity and efficiencies while generating revenue. The April 22 webinar will focus on "Hyper Indexed + Highly Intelligent Content for Linear TV and VOD."

Local stations have a significant opportunity to help provide a valuable platform for advertisers. Yet, stations have been struggling to convert this increase into ad revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two senior leaders at Magid believe the solution relies on stations owning their coverage of the local story in a way that positions their brand long-term, with a focus on the future.

Brick Eksten, the brand-new CEO at Qligent, shares his insight on ad monitoring and verification, and on the growing importance of reliable and distributed compliance marketing in the all-new RBR+TVBR INFOCUS Podcast, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson. LISTEN HERE

One month from Wednesday, the nation's largest owner of broadcast TV stations will deliver its second quarter financial report card. Will it trigger another dip in share value, or will the results help propel the company's stock back above the $100 mark?

"We delivered solid results that were in line or above the outlook we provided in April amid a challenging environment due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, with both Media and Connect executing well," Nielsen CEO David Kenny said Wednesday. On a constant-currency basis, Nielsen Q2 revenue was down 5.9%, or 8.1% on a reported basis.  But, it could have been worse.

Fresh off the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, political advertising is ramping up for TV broadcasters as limitations due to COVID-19 are expected to boost TV's take of the important revenue segment. With lower-than-expected political revenue in Q2, a windfall of political advertising in the second half of 2020 will be needed for the segment to reach a record.

What does Smart Money think about TEGNA? That's a question posed by Wall Street blog Insider Monkey, and it specifically looks at hedge funds to determine its answer. What's the conclusion?

It's official: The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) is creating three new events and a completely virtual NATPE Miami. "Due to circumstances and restrictions surrounding the ongoing pandemic, NATPE Miami will be held entirely online," the association says.

The largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations in the United States has merged with a developer of wireless communication, tower sites and infrastructure -- a move that increases the buyer's owned and master-leased tower portfolio to over 20,000 sites.