Industry News

Early Monday, the big merger news in the cable TV industry became official: WarnerMedia is becoming part of Discovery Inc.

Interestingly, the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Cable report shows a big decrease in the number of promotional spots for Discovery+, the OTT arm launched January 4.

Is the coming tax-free merger the reason, or a mere coincidence?

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Amid the self-promotional announcements from iHeartMedia, including podcast pitches, there’s a shining example of how a brand has taken to AM and FM radio and established itself as a top-of-mind job search source.

Indeed, the use of spot radio is a success story worthy of sharing with CMOs across the U.S.

As seen in the latest Spot Ten Radio report for the week ending May 16, Indeed is the big No. 1 among fully paid advertisers, topping Progressive, Babbel and GEICO.

In fact, Indeed competitor ZipRecruiter may wish to increase its radio budget to better compete with its rival. While the job search category is burgeoning for radio, the spot differential as seen by Media Monitors suggests ZipRecruiter has room for growth — and for becoming a household name via AM and FM.

Warner Tillman is parting ways with an AM/FM combo that includes an FM translator and no less than four boosters designed to give that FM station coverage of Eastern Washington’s largest metropolis.

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DAYTON, OHIO — On June 21, 2007, a group of AM and FM radio stations were placed into the Aloha Station Trust.

Now, the final FM properties placed in this trust originally overseen by the late Jeanette Tully and now led by former Backyard Broadcasting head Barry Drake are being removed from the trust.

However, they’re not being sold. Rather, these “Big” Dayton-market properties are being donated.

Who’s getting WRZX-FM & WYDB-FM?

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Groups representing broadcasters and internet streaming companies are expressing reservations about how delivering EAS alerts through the internet would work and say the complexities of accomplishing the feat would be exceptional.

The FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry earlier this year to explore the feasibility of delivering EAS via the internet and how to leverage the capabilities of the internet to enhance alerting by radio and television broadcasters and cable systems. A review of comments from several groups indicates the complex nature of coordinating multiple technologies to offer advanced alerting in the United States.

The National Association of Broadcasters says “certain technical challenges and open policy questions make it extremely burdensome, and likely infeasible, to update the EAS system to enable alerts to consumers provided through the internet, including streaming services.”

[Read: FCC Will Explore EAS on the Internet]

NAB concludes “pure-play online content streamers are not well-positioned to participate in the existing EAS ecosystem for live streaming feeds or on-demand content.” The trade association adds that radio and TV broadcasters currently are very limited in their ability to offer any real enhancements to online alerts, according to NAB.

“We understand that the only online audio outlets that may retransmit EAS messages are websites and apps while simulcasting radio stations. Broadcasters may do so on their own website or through audio apps like TuneIn or digital media players like Roku TV,” NAB wrote in its comments.

NAB notes that “as a general matter, the streaming feeds at the broadcast station are originated upstream of the EAS encoder/decoder in the programming chain, meaning that an EAS alert is typically relayed only if it occurs while a station’s own programming is broadcast on-air.

“However, if an alert occurs during a commercial break in the on-air programming, when different content is inserted into the online stream, then the EAS alert is not usually retransmitted to the listener or viewer,” NAB commented.

The trade association urges the commission to report to Congress that EAS should not be extended to internet-based services at this time.

The Digital Media Association (DiMA) believes it may be it may be technically feasible to complete some, but not all, steps required for end-to-end transmission of EAS alerts through the internet, specifically, via the music pure-play streaming services offered by DiMA member companies.

“While receiving and processing EAS alerts may be technically possible, however, the national and global nature of these streaming services, which operate as apps on hardware devices or through websites relying on networks these services have no control over to transmit data, makes monitoring for, retransmitting, and delivering EAS alerts to end users infeasible, if not impossible,” DiMA wrote in comments filed with the FCC.

DiMA continues: “Further, for practical and technical reasons, doing so would not advance the purpose of the EAS. Music streaming services do not collect granular location data and, therefore, would not be able accurately target emergency messages to the relevant recipients. Rather than increasing the reach of EAS, streaming services’ involvement will duplicate and possibly interfere with activities of existing participants.”

The FCC in its notice of inquiry noted the apparent challenges of using the internet for EAS alerting, including the large geographic service areas of streaming services and how those companies would monitor alerts from state, territorial and local governments for EAS alerts in Common Alerting Protocol.

Digital Content Next told the FCC the group believes extending the EAS obligations to streaming services would be very complicated from a technical perspective given the number of devices and services where content is viewed or heard.

“For example, consumers can receive content from streaming services on a wide variety of phones, tablets, laptops and televisions. Each of these devices may utilize different kinds of software. Also, software is frequently updated by the device manufacturer, which results in additional diversification of devices,” Digital Content Next commented.

The group, which represents a wide-array of internet publishing brands, said ensuring that emergency alerts can be delivered, viewed and heard properly on the myriad combination of devices, software versions and platforms would be immensely complex. “In order to monitor for and deliver EAS messages, streaming services would need to make different adjustments for each kind of device, software and platform,” Digital Content Next wrote.

In addition, streaming services “generally lack local network architecture and are not geographically proximate to their customers,” and “streaming providers would have to reconfigure their technology to have the capability to properly deliver geo-targeted local emergency alerts,” the trade association said, whose members include Disney, Bloomberg and ESPN.

The FCC is looking at ways to modernize EAS infrastructure after a mandate from Congress to broaden the capabilities of EAS and WEA [Wireless Emergency Alerts] in the United States and improve reliability to prevent false alerts.

Reply comments to the notice of inquiry on the feasibility of updating EAS or to improve alerts through the internet are due June 14.

The post FCC Collects Feedback on Using Internet for EAS Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

The Director of Sales for a pair of Sinclair Broadcast Group TV stations serving Asheville, N.C., and the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Clemson region of upstate South Carolina, is rising to VP/GM of the MyNetworkTV and ABC affiliates.

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What will emerge in mid-2022 as a new Discovery Inc., with WarnerMedia‘s assets merged into what will be a new company, is poised to surge past the company led by Bob Bakish and ultimately controlled by Shari Redstone and National Amusements, Inc.

That’s the biggest takeaway of the blockbuster Reverse Morris Trust-fueled merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc., announced early Monday, by S&P Global Market Intelligence’s TV Networks research analyst.

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The NAB on Friday filed comments with the FCC regarding a proposal to extend the Emergency Alert System to the Internet — including through streaming services. Congress is requesting a study of the issue.

But, the NAB cautions that updating EAS to enable internet alerts would be too complex, and likely infeasible, at this time.

Whether that is conjecture or a confirmed fact is perhaps up to debate. And, given the comments come on behalf of the biggest lobbying voice for broadcast media, there’s likely a tinge of defending radio and TV’s most important “go-to-now!” emergency traits before Congress.

That said, the concept of bringing EAS alerts to those streaming audio or video is clever, and likely one of concern for the American public.

Is it worth the investment in both time and dollars?

The NAB appreciates the Commission’s “forward-looking consideration of how EAS alerts may be disseminated through the internet,” consistent with legislation passed in this fiscal year. “The public interest benefits of expanded access to EAS alerts via internet services are plain, and we applaud Congress for requesting a study of this question,” the NAB’s top legal counsel say. “However, at least for the time being, certain technical challenges and open policy questions make it extremely burdensome, and likely infeasible, to update the EAS system to enable alerts to consumers provided through the internet.”

Before explaining why it would be so difficult, the NAB attorneys took the approach of demonstrating how broadcast radio and TV have a key role as “first informers” and are “essential service providers.” This empowers broadcast media to access disaster areas, the NAB says.

This led the NAB to illustrate the “reliability” of the EAS today, given how local radio and television stations “diligently implemented the ability to receive alerts from FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), routinely test and upgrade their
EAS equipment as needed and take other steps — both voluntary and mandated — to
support EAS, and at their own expense. In addition, broadcasters are often the leaders (and in some cases the only engaged members) of their State Emergency Coordinating Committees.’

The NAB and individual broadcast companies also partner with the FCC and FEMA on various emergency-related initiatives and advisory groups intended to further
improve public alerting.

Today, to the broadcast media lobbying group’s knowledge, there are no pure-play independent streaming services that participate in EAS. Furthermore, the only online audio outlets that may retransmit EAS messages are websites and apps while simulcasting radio stations, and similar online video outlets while simulcasting local television news programming, as well as over-the-top (OTT) services that livestream local television channels.

Yet, wouldn’t it be prudent if Netflix, Hulu or similar over-the-top services offered EAS messaging?

To be clear, any on-demand service would be, today, technically impossible to integrate into EAS. Pure-play content streamers, in the NAB’s view, are not “well-positioned to participate in the existing EAS ecosystem” for live streaming feeds or on-demand content.

Here’s why, as the NAB sees it: “With respect to ingesting EAS alerts, the FCC states that
streaming services’ ‘large geographic service areas’ presents a monitoring challenge. Of
course, ‘large’ does not begin to describe the reach of a cloud-based service which is
available everywhere access to the internet is available. Video and audio streaming services
routinely have thousands or even millions of customers worldwide. NAB understands that the current web-based design and architecture of online streaming services does not typically incorporate or even contemplate any localized infrastructure that would enable a streaming service to monitor for EAS alerts based on either geography or the type of event.”

But, isn’t geotargeting and addressability the hallmark of digital media — and couldn’t Netflix easily incorporate EAS alerts using this granular data?

The NAB isn’t convinced of such a possibility, at least in the near-term.

The broadcast lobby also claims that streamers “simply lack the infrastructure and local presence to monitor other EAS Participants or alert originators for EAS messages.”

As Spotify inches closer to radio-like services, having recently hired veteran Los Angeles programming executive Kevin Weatherly, this could also change given the right technological advancements it wishes to invest in.

The NAB is steadfast in offering a “don’t count on it”-styled response to such suggestions.

“Even if such a mechanism could be created, requiring streaming services to somehow monitor, manage and prioritize all EAS alerts from the thousands of sources in every municipality (or EAS operational area) across the entire country would be extremely problematic,” the NAB said, adding that it also dismisses the belief that creating a process for streaming services to differentiate between market areas they serve when determining what kinds of EAS alerts to monitor, even with advice from state and local government officials, would help solve this problem.

Then, there’s the scenario of a Florida-based family watching a local newscast live on a streaming app — only the newscast is from a California-based TV station. “This could lead to dangerous confusion” if an EAS alert came on, the NAB says.

That said, the viewer could likely realize that, if locales in California were mentioned, they would be thousands of miles outside of harm’s way.

With Rick Kaplan and Larry Walke signing off on the NAB petition, the association concludes, “In light of all these challenges, NAB urges the Commission to report to Congress that EAS should not be extended to internet-based services at this time.”

It’s now up to legislators on Capitol Hill to judge for themselves if the NAB’s efforts have merit, or are simply crafted to defend one of the most valuable traits of over-the-air media — owned by companies whose revenues have been battered by digital entities.

Add Bonneville International to the list of U.S. radio companies that have agreed to consent decrees involving their online political files.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau said it reached agreement with Bonneville International Corp. to resolve “the matter of … [Bonneville’s] public file derelictions.”

[Read: The FCC Can See Your Public File]

This follows the template that the FCC has taken with numerous other broadcast groups large and small, in which the companies have promised to implement compliance plans and follow the rules in future.

As Radio World recently reported, the commission as of early May had adopted about 135 of these consent decrees, covering approximately 2,100 stations, including those of major companies like iHeartMedia, Audacy, Beasley, Alpha Media and Salem.

As with those other large groups, Bonneville has agreed that the general terms of the compliance plan will apply to all of the commercial stations it owns. Bonneville owns 22 radio stations in six western U.S. markets

In addition, its four Denver-area stations whose license renewal applications prompted this review must file compliance reports later this year before the next general election.

The post Bonneville Joins FCC Consent Decree List appeared first on Radio World.

Most of the time we receive a reader e-mail or, on rare occasion, a hand-written letter from a RBR+TVBR Member, the topic of conversation is usually about our poor proofreading and copy-editing, our choice of wording in a Headline E-mail subject line, or request that RBR+TVBR gives up trying to win a Pulitzer Prize by offering up very lengthy stories on a very esoteric subject.

Today’s RBR+TVBR Mailbag, however, includes a letter that was worth sharing. The topic: the lack of presets on a brand-new Sport Utility Vehicle’s snazzy OEM in-dash entertainment system.

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