Industry News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prominent telecommunications, media, and technology law firm Fletcher Heald & Hildreth has elected a new Member of the firm. It’s an active litigator who first joined the firm in January 2020 and continued to have a substantial hearing and deposition schedule — remotely — through the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The future of television arrived Thursday in Western New York, as five local television stations, owned by The E.W. Scripps Co., TEGNA, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Nexstar Media Group, are the latest in the U.S. to begin broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV.

For those across Lake Ontario in Toronto, a taste of ATSC 3.0-powered television is that much closer to fruition.

With a promise of improved audio and video for consumers and the benefit of data services for TV station licensees, the stations saw planning and rollout of NEXTGEN TV coordinated by BitPath.

While competitors, the participating stations worked together to ensure that current programming remains available to all viewers, regardless of whether their television service is provided over-the air or by a cable or satellite company.

The stations now using NEXTGEN TV delivery are WGRZ-2, WIVB-4, WKBW-7, and Sinclair dup WUTV-29 and WNYO-49.

Those stations, with the exception of WNYO, can be viewed across much of Southern Ontario, including the GTA, where Rogers includes WGRZ, WIVB, WKBW and WUTV as part of its local channel lineup.

The Federal Communications Commission is continuing its freeze on changes in the St. Louis market in an effort to protect four former stations.

On March 17, 2020, the Media Bureau extended the temporary freeze it put in place a year ago on accepting any minor change applications that conflict with the most recently licensed facilities of certain former AM radio stations in that market.

It was back in February 2020 that a judge dismissed renewal applications in the case of four AM radio stations: KFTK(AM) in East St. Louis in Illinois, WQQW(AM) in Highland, Ill., KZQZ(AM) in St. Louis and KQQZ(AM) in DeSoto, Mo.

[Read: FCC Hands Down Decision on Four St. Louis AM Stations]

At that time, the judge decided that ownership of the station was not clear — it was alleged that some stations were actually controlled by a convicted felon. After back and forth, the bureau said the original licensee, Entertainment Media Trust, did not effectively prove ownership. As a result, the bureau dismissed the four applications and imposed a related filing freeze on the acceptance of any AM minor change applications that would potentially conflict with any of these four stations’ expired licenses.

With an auction filing window on the horizon, the bureau set up the freeze to avoid the possibility of mutual exclusivity with any submitted applications. The bureau said that the freeze would remain in effect until the close of the window or when the bureau announced it was lifting the freeze.

“This freeze was intended to avoid the possibility of mutual exclusivity with applications submitted during a forthcoming auction filing window, and thus promote a more certain auction process,” the Media Bureau said.

Then in February 2021, a new auction of AM and FM broadcast construction permits was announced — including construction permits for the previously licensed four AM stations. The new public notice is to announce that the ongoing filing freeze is now extended. The extension will terminate the day after the filing deadline for the post Auction 109 long-form applications.

The post FCC Extends Freeze to Protect Four Stations appeared first on Radio World.

As cord-cutting began to rapidly increase in recent years, Wall Street became increasingly focused on looming National Football League television rights negotiations.

Why? As MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson points out, “the singular importance of this sport on the Pay TV eco-system” is a vitally important topic to flush out.

With Thursday’s announcement that the NFL has handed exclusive rights for Thursday Night Football match-ups to Amazon, Nathanson has some “significant takeways” that need to be discussed.

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In 1974, Steven C. Roberts teamed up with his brother, Michael, in creating a minority-owned business consulting and construction management firm headquartered in St. Louis. Fifteen years later, they expanded beyond commercial real estate investments with the creation of a broadcast media operation, serving the biggest city in Mississippi.

Now, Roberts is ready to demonstrate how a much-debated new technology the FCC could soon authorize for voluntary use by an FM radio station can aid a minority or women-owned station.

A ZoneCasting demonstration is on track for “The Beat of the Capitol.”

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After amassing a formidable stable of low-power and full-power television properties between the first quarter of 2017 and third quarter 2019, HC2 Holdings appears to be in the midst of a significant asset paring.

The company now led by Chief Executive Officer Wayne Barr Jr. has signed off on its fourth divestment deal since the start of 2021.

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The nation’s No. 1 audio media company, iHeartMedia, has made another notable move in the podcasting arena. Three new shows will shine a light on the “curious tales, historical oddities and stranger-than-fiction true stories that are often left out of history books.”

“We are excited to share our newest slate of iHeartRadio Original Podcasts focused on the curious true stories left out of history books,” said Jason English, Lead Executive Producer of iHeartRadio Original Podcasts. “This spring you can spend time with the Black cowboys who found freedom on the high plains after the Civil War; get a first-person account of the most insane government project in American history; and meet desperate World War I veterans who camped outside the White House for months during the Great Depression.”

The first historical podcast in the slate, “Black Cowboys,” available now, tells the story of what freedom looked like for Black Americans after the Civil War. The podcast shares a more honest version of the settling of the Wild West and shines a light on the one-in-four cowboys who were Black. Upcoming podcasts include “Operation Midnight Climax,” which details the stranger-than-fiction events that took place at a CIA-run brothel in the 1950s; “The White House Coup,” which chronicles a club of powerful Wall Street millionaires in a plot to overthrow President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR); and other little-known odd histories of historical figures and events.

New and upcoming iHeartRadio Podcast Originals include “Operation Midnight Climax,” just launched, and “The White House Coup,” coming in April.

The National Football League has reached new long-term deals with its media partners, and the head of the lobbying group representing the interests of small MVPDs is less than pleased with what it will do for cable customers.

As ACA Connects President/CEO Matthew M. Polka sees it, it only strengthens the need for Congress to pass legislation that eliminates retransmission consent.

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According to Magellan AI, which monitors how much advertisers spend on podcasts, BetterHelp spent $4.3 million in February on 386 podcasts.

One of radio’s favorite advertisers, GEICO, was second with $2.6 million spent on 260 mainly sports podcasts.

Here are the top five:

Its earnings per share increased 57.58% over the past year in Q4. And, it beat the Wall Street consensus estimate by a penny.

While that’s a positive feat in COVID-19 times, investors have soured of late on Veritone Inc., the technology company that has built a reputation on harnessing media sales growth opportunities through AI attribution in audio and video content — including advertising.

On Thursday, Veritone shares were down by nearly 11%. What’s upsetting shareholders?

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