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Say what you want about the Gotham tabloid New York Post, but their Business desk sure knows how to get a good Wall Street scoop.

The publication late Monday (9/20), citing unnamed sources, noted that Apollo Global Management — the controlling party of Cox Media Group — had teamed up with dissident investor Standard General, led by Soo Kim — on a binding TEGNA acquisition bid valued at upward of $8 billion.

TEGNA on Tuesday morning confirmed the offer.

In a brief statement, the broadcast TV station owner formerly known as Gannett confirmed it has recently received “acquisition proposals.”

And, it offered no further comment. “Consistent with its fiduciary duty to TEGNA shareholders, the Board will carefully review and evaluate these proposals,” the company said.

TEGNA owns and operates 64 television stations in 51 markets. And, since August 2019, TEGNA is the owner of Sports WBNS-FM “97.1 The Fan” and ESPN Radio affiliate WBNS-AM 1460. Those properties came along with WTHR-13 in Indianapolis and WBNS-10 in Columbus, acquired by TEGNA from Dispatch Broadcast Group.

 

IBC2021 convention organizers are welcoming the latest announcement from the Dutch government relaxing COVID-19 social distancing measures and removing quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers.

The convention is scheduled for Dec. 3–6, having been pushed back earlier from its original calendar slot this month.

“From Sept. 22, fully vaccinated international visitors from very high-risk areas will no longer have to quarantine on arrival in The Netherlands,” the organization wrote in an email to its show community.

“From Sept. 25, The Netherlands will no longer enforce social distancing rules of 1.5 meters apart or mandate mask wearing in inside areas. To this end IBC has updated the exhibition protocols on its website to reflect the latest rulings and to uphold its commitment to being the gold standard in live event safety.”

The unpredictable behavior of the pandemic has made it hard for many event planners to promote their events with certainty. For instance in July the Dutch prime minister had apologized for relaxing restrictions too soon.

With the latest changes, IBC notes that the country will make wider use of coronavirus access passes. It posted more details on its website, which also states that face masks will no longer be compulsory.

The organization also updated its safety guidelines for exhibitors.

“Seventy percent of IBC’s audience already have easy access to the event, being part of the EU COVID travel block,” IBC wrote in its email. “The removal of the international travel quarantine rules means that IBC will now be accessible to almost 100% of its usual audience.”

The unpredictable behavior of the pandemic has made it hard for many event planners to promote their events with certainty. For instance in July the Dutch prime minister had apologized for relaxing national restrictions too soon.

Pandemic conditions in the United States led the NAB to cancel its previously postponed 2021 NAB Show for Las Vegas.

The post IBC Show Welcomes Easing of Pandemic Measures appeared first on Radio World.

In a lengthy 30-minute soliloquy offered in a press briefing Monday by musicFIRST Chairman Joe Crowley, “research” reflecting the public’s view of artist royalties and radio’s “fair share” was a key focus of the conversation.

Crowley cited polling conducted by musicFIRST via a Survey Monkey online poll to get his market intelligence. NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith took direct aim at that, in blasting his remarks.

“NAB strongly opposes a performance fee on broadcast radio, and we applaud the more than 200 bipartisan members of Congress who are standing up for their local radio stations and listeners,” he said. “Not only would a performance fee upend the century-long symbiotic relationship between radio and the music industry, but it would devastate thousands of radio stations across the country.

“As musicFIRST is well aware,” he continued,  “NAB’s door remains open to continue discussions around a holistic solution to this issue that grows the partnership between the music and broadcast industries for another hundred years. It is unfortunate that the record labels’ focus is on gimmicky press conferences and questionable Survey Monkey polling rather than serious conversation.”

MORE LRFA SUPPORT

Three members of the House of Representatives have added their support to a resolution opposing “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on local broadcast radio stations. The Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA), which signals members of Congress’s opposition to any potential legislation that imposes new performance royalties on broadcast radio stations for music airplay, now has 187 cosponsors in the House and 22 in the Senate.

Adding their support recently for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR-4), Jake Ellzey (R-TX-6) and Michael Guest (R-MS-3).

Excellent article in Radio World by Mark Persons (“Analog veterans in the digital world,” May 12 issue).

Count me among those who started out in the analog world but quickly became “digitally native.” I would be hard-pressed to recommend a new analog buildout these days, even for smaller stations. It just makes so much sense and is so much easier to make changes after the fact.

The biggest drawback is that unfortunately, digital equipment does tend to have a shorter lifespan than analog, simply because of the rapid pace of technology improvements, and often quicker part obsolescence.

Lifespans of 10 to 20 years for some equipment have now become more like five to 10, or three to five, not because it has failed but because technology has improved.

That said, in some cases the labor saved in maintenance and ongoing changes can often offset some of this cost. It’s just something that needs to be budgeted for, much like upgrades to desktop computing technology.

The letter writer is senior broadcast engineer at Educational Media Foundation.

The post Letter: Equipment Lifespans appeared first on Radio World.

A much-publicized press briefing conducted Monday via Zoom saw Joe Crowley, the former New York House Democrat who lost his 2018 reelection bid to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who now serves as Chairman of musicFIRST, blast the NAB, iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media.

Why? His group, along with such radio industry antagonists as Prometheus Radio Project and Common Frequency, insists that recording artists aren’t getting their fair share from existing royalty fees that AM and FM radio pays each year.

In this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, we are pleased to bring excerpts from Crowley’s press event. Following Crowley’s prepared remarks, RBR+TVBR and co-owned publication Radio Ink were first to ask questions to Crowley. We have his responses.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Joe Crowley” on Spreaker.

Under pressure from the VAB and the Media Rating Council (MRC), Nielsen on Tuesday morning revealed that it will now “take the lead” on an “Impressions First Initiative” designed to support an industry-wide move to impressions-based buying and selling in local markets across the country.

The move to impressions will occur in conjunction with the integration of broadband only homes (BBO) into Nielsen’s local measurement metrics in January 2022.

The move to an impressions-based currency will, in Nielsen’s view, “deliver a more complete, precise and representative audience measurement, along with the added benefit of enabling cross-platform audience measurement.”

Citing today’s fragmented media landscape, Nielsen added that the move to impressions lays the groundwork for implementing Nielsen ONE across local, national, and digital measurement.

The inclusion of BBO homes, Nielsen notes, “will enable the industry to rapidly transition to trading on impressions. Impressions represent all viewers regardless of platform—which is especially important given the significant and growing penetration of BBO homes in local markets.”

Nielsen for more than two years has been working with the media and advertising industries in preparation for the inclusion of broadband-only homes in Local TV measurement for its 56 LPM and Set Meter markets.

“Nielsen is committed to measuring all audiences and the complete video consumption across the local marketplace,” Nielsen CEO David Kenny (pictured, top left), said in prepared remarks. “Impressions are the great equalizer across all screens, programs, listeners and viewers. Nielsen’s move to prioritize reporting impressions will help standardize the way it measures ads and content, enabling greater comparability across National, Local and Digital and is in line with Nielsen’s initiative to drive comparable metrics which are foundational to Nielsen ONE.”

Giving its thumbs’ up and full support to Nielsen’s move is the No. 1 licensee of broadcast TV stations in the U.S., Nexstar Media Group.

“We believe the move to impressions and the integration of BBO homes into local measurement metrics is critical to making sure that every viewer is counted,” said Nielsen Chairman/CEO Perry Sook. “It also enables buyers and sellers to make comparisons across all video across platforms, gives them the most complete view of audience consumption and behavior, and facilitates automated buying.”

Nexstar President of Broadcasting Andrew Alford added that the company’s sales teams “have been working toward the transition to selling impressions in coordination with a number of our largest clients, as it is the best way to make sure that no viewer goes uncounted.”

Alford expects Nexstar to be transacting on impressions exclusively in early 2022, “so Nielsen’s decision to implement an impressions-based measurement metric at the same time is a very welcome development.”

Another major broadcast TV customer of Nielsen, Hearst Television, also voiced its support. “Broadcasters have known for years that our content is being viewed inside and outside the home on many devices and services,” said Hearst President Jordan Wertlieb. “This move to impression-focused selling is something that will not only allow the most-watched content to get the full credit it deserves, but will also allow our clients to truly see the unique value proposition we offer: the best environment with the largest reach.”

Concurrent with Nielsen’s support of an industry-wide move from ratings to impressions in January 2022, Nielsen will default its local reporting settings to impressions in its software systems (Arianna, NLTV, eVip) and will lead with impressions in all of its external communications. Ratings will remain available to end-users for planning purposes.

Nielsen, which had previously announced a BBO implementation date of October 2021, made the final decision to begin implementation in January 2022 in response to industry requests.

The new timing will enable Nielsen to publish an official BBO UE that will be audited and reviewed by the Media Rating Council (MRC).

In addition to delivering one month of impact data, a January implementation will include all BBO homes. Adding BBO homes will increase reporting sample sizes significantly and capture impressions that may be missing, especially for sports and OTT.

DigiCAP Co., the South Korean company highly involved in NEXTGEN TV’s rollout, has announced new interoperability for DigiCaster, its virtualized ATSC 3.0 broadcast gateway. This technical achievement enables ATSC 3.0 signals to be integrated with AWS Elemental Media Services and AWS Elemental Live to help accelerate ATSC 3.0 station deployments and open up OTT program distribution opportunities.

Accelerating ATSC 3.0 Station Deployment

This new interoperability enables broadcasters to build a single cloud instance using the DigiCaster ATSC 3.0 broadcast gateway coupled with virtual encoder and transport services from AWS Elemental Media Services and AWS Elemental Live. This combination can be used to create a cloud based STL (studio to transmitter link) that could be deployed using a single instance on AWS Marketplace. Imagine being able to put an entire ATSC 3.0 station STL on the air using a single software download and typing in the IP address for the station’s transmitter exciter input. This can greatly simplify and speed ATSC 3.0 station launches.

Opening an Era of OTT Innovation for Broadcasters

What features can ATSC 3.0 bring to this existing live streaming process? The ATSC 3.0 roadmap includes interactive and personalized distribution capabilities which are a natural fit for a streaming environment. The first requirement for these innovations to begin is enabling ATSC 3.0 signals to enter a virtualized cloud workspace. The first step has been taken!

DigiCAP VP Joonyoung Park says, “We are very excited to provide broadcasters the opportunity to use a single cloud instance to accelerate the ATSC 3.0 adoption process and open the doors for ATSC 3.0 OTT innovation.”

Codec manufacturer Tieline  has announced a new firmware release for Gateway and Gateway 4 codecs supporting RAVENNA, used widely by broadcasters around the world to advertise and discover streams when streaming real-time IP audio.

Integrating RAVENNA support facilitates interfacing between Gateway and Gateway 4 codecs and RAVENNA devices over AoIP networks.

Tieline codecs specialize in streaming low latency, high quality audio over a range of wired and wireless IP transports and facilitate the integration of compressed and uncompressed IP audio streams around the broadcast plant. The codecs are often gateway devices in IP networks bridging between wide area network (WAN) nodes that may include the broadcast plant, other studios (inter-studio links), production facilities and live events. Gateway and Gateway 4 codecs deliver a flexible platform capable of adeptly routing audio between a range of equipment using proprietary AoIP protocols like WheatNet-IP, as well as devices supporting RAVENNA, AES67 and ST 2110-30.

The new firmware release is a free upgrade for existing customers.

For more information on Gateway and Gateway 4 codecs visit www.tieline.com/products or contact Tieline sales at sales@tieline.com

On September 9, a resource management software manufacturer serving the broadcast, studio, media services and video transmission industries planned to launch the Version 10 update of one of its more widely used products at the 2021 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Then came the Sept. 15 announcement from the NAB that the show would be cancelled.

Where does this leave Xytech?

That’s unclear, with the launch of MediaPulse 10 planned for an event that’s no longer being staged.

The NAB’s decision, however, isn’t likely to put a stop to product rollouts and upgrades, and the latter is what Xytech, which purchased ScheduALL in April 2021, is ready to share.

“Over the course of the past year, significant upgrades have been made to the platform to upgrade performance, security, transmission, project budgeting, asset management as well as major updates to the scheduling system and application UI,” Xytech says.

The three areas of concentration for the MediaPulse 10 update are mobility, the cloud and
features to support the changing nature of the business. “The MediaPulse Managed Cloud is faster and more secure, and the new mobile features support a customer base with new remote needs in a very different and evolving environment,” Xytech says.

The new budgeting module addresses the need to control costs on projects of all sizes including large annual facility projections, it adds. “Xytech is also tapping into the ScheduALL client base and has developed new features across the transmission and scheduling modules to make MediaPulse more impactful for users.”

For more information, visit xytechsystems.com.

In response to the rapidly growing immersive audio market and growth of the Dolby Atmos format in film, television, gaming, and music production, a Finnish loudspeaker manufacturer has brought to market an amplifier designed specifically for the needs of multi-channel workflows.

By combining the latest advanced Class-D technology and in-house designed proprietary buffer stage, Amphion‘s Amp400.8 offers up to 410W of power across up to 8 identical channels.

“Atmos is naturally of great interest to us and we have been digging into it deeply,” says Amphion CEO Anssi Hyvonen. “It has the potential of being something very interesting to the end customer, but only if it is done right. We strongly believe that the only way to utilize the considerable, often updatable DSP processing power of the latest immersive monitor controllers is to keep the monitoring chain as transparent as possible. Therefore, it should be free of any unnecessary additional DSP or other electrical circuitry. As the number of channels grow, even the slightest shortcomings in monitoring lead to lack of cohesion, which is clearly audible through speakers as well as headphones.”

Amp400.8 is available for $4,500 and is shipping now.

For more information about Amp400.8, please visit: http://amphion.fi/create/

Issued an Admonishment to Central Ohio Association of Christian Broadcasters for public file violations for Station WGCT-CD, Columbus, OH

Issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $1,500 to Immanuel Baptist Church for failure to timely file a license renewal application for Station KCIB-LD, El Dorado, Arkansas

Wireless microphone system maker Shure has issued a firmware update for the recently released ADX5D wireless receiver.

Now available in the dual-channel portable receiver is a party dial feature that enables users to enables users to

Construct a custom group of frequencies, for instance open channels at a venue, and rapidly move between them.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

In addition, the menu structure has been “optimized” to make frequently used features closer to each other and shortcuts are dedicated to most popular items.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: www.shure.com

The post Shure Updates ADX5D Firmware appeared first on Radio World.

The Copyright Royalty Board judges on Monday issued the public version of their final determination for webcasting royalty rates and terms.

Those are the royalty rates for webcasters that stream sound recordings from 2021 through 2025. This is one of the final steps in the process of implementing rates that we told you about earlier.

The document released by the judges is a deep dive into a legalistic discussion over how rates for entities like Spotify, AM/FM broadcasters, colleges and other streamers are calculated. The public version of their document is available here. Some confidential information has been redacted.

The document includes an extensive discussion of why the judges rejected the NAB’s idea that simulcasters should pay lower rates. They ruled that simulcasters and other commercial
webcasters “compete in the same submarket and should be subject to the same rate.
Granting simulcasters differential royalty treatment would distort competition in this submarket,
promoting one business model at the expense of others.” (That discussion starts on page 218 of the document.)

The rate for commercial subscription services in 2021 is $0.0026 per performance. The
rate for commercial nonsubscription services in 2021 is $0.0021 per performance. Subsequent rates will change based on a Consumer Price Index.

Noncommercial webcasters that don’t exceed a certain total number of tuning hours per month have a flat rate of $1,000 annually for each station or channel.

Public broadcasters and certain educational webcasters previously reached their own separate rate settlements for the five-year period with SoundExchange; the CRB approved those last year.

The post CRB Judges Release Their Rationale for New Rates appeared first on Radio World.

From Podcast Business Journal

Baton Rouge-based radio broadcasting company Guaranty Media has launched a new podcast network.

The company owns four stations in the Louisiana market, and the new podcast network has six shows.

Full details on the network, including an interview with Digital Content Director Jay Parker, can be found HERE.

What does Evergrande have to do with Entravision, Nexstar or Nielsen?

Absolutely nothing. Yet, media stocks were swept up in a decisively down day on Wall Street, fueled by what some are calling the potential collapse of a Chinese property Goliath.

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The DRM Consortium is characterizing its own data from recent FM-band trials in India as “extremely positive and very encouraging.”

Digital Radio Mondiale is one of two digital systems being considered by AIR (All India Radio) for local and regional services on the country’s FM band. HD Radio is the other platform in the running.

AIR is expected to make a recommendation to the country’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Tests and trials of DRM were done in February and March.

The AIR R&D organization did its own measurements but the DRM Consortium says it took measurements too. “While the final official recommendation of the AIR Committee is still awaited, the DRM Consortium has gathered and visualized the data and measurements it recorded in parallel with AIR in New Delhi and Jaipur,” the consortium said in an announcement Monday.

“The measurements clearly demonstrate that DRM as the global all-bands digital radio standard can deliver an unmatched number of digital audio services in the given spectrum (up to three audio plus one multimedia service per DRM signal block), while allowing for maximum utilization of the FM band spectrum (with every DRM signal occupying only 96 kHz spectrum bandwidth, half the bandwidth analog FM requires for a single audio service).”

It said that the trial confirmed that DRM transmissions would not interfere with ongoing analog FM services. “Also, DRM as a pure-digital radio standard proved its ability to efficiently broadcast multiple DRM signals side by side from a single transmitter (multi-DRM transmitter configuration), and for operating in flexible configurations alongside an analog FM signal from the same transmitter (simulcast transmitter configuration).”

Further, it said DRM could deliver Journaline advanced text service in multiple languages, “to be ready for delivering Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF with CAP interface), and to efficiently enable traffic, travel and online teaching services over broadcast, without requiring internet connectivity.”

DRM said reception in the FM band was demonstrated on various receivers of various types including car receivers and mobile phones. “It was proven that existing receiver models, already supporting DRM in the AM bands as adopted by India, can support DRM in all bands by a simple firmware upgrade without hardware modifications.”

The consortium has posted its overview of these findings (PDF).

The post DRM Says India Trials Make Its Case appeared first on Radio World.

A global media company operating 42 TV channels and multiple digital products across six continents that’s a major player in content distribution and broadcasting worldwide is joining forces with Paris-based Canal+ Group.

CANAL+ is taking a 70% majority stake in SPI International. It’s a move that’s also a vote of confidence in SPI, as has pledged to keep the current management team and operational structure in place.

SPI’s Founder Loni Farhi and CEO Berk Uziyel will continue to manage and develop SPI’s business with the support of their executive committee. “The parties will be able to generate reciprocal synergies to further strengthen the two groups’ presence in the
international markets,” Canal+ says.

In a joint statement, Farhi and Uziyel said, “It is very exciting news and the start of a new era for SPI INTERNATIONAL. CANAL+ and SPI share a common vision for continuous growth and a strong international presence. We have been strategic partners for years, where we have built a great tradition of collaborations and achieving mutual goals. Now we will have the chance to join forces under one roof. SPI will further accelerate its growth with CANAL+ while leveraging natural synergies. SPI International has an amazingly talented team that has produced incredible growth in the last decade. Now, with this great team and with much enthusiasm, we are delighted to become part of the CANAL+ family. Our joined forces will strengthen the existing entertainment products and expand the distribution of our compelling content to far larger audiences.”

Maxime Saada, CEO of CANAL+ Group, adds, “The acquisition of SPI INTERNATIONAL is
part of the strategy we have been implementing for several years. We have set ourselves the goal of reaching a minimum of 30 million subscribers by 2025, and SPI INTERNATIONAL will certainly be a key asset in achieving this ambition.”

The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is designed to help CANAL+ expand its content investment strategy, which already includes Studiocanal, and Kino Świat in Poland.

The power of the auto insurance brands can be seen once again at Spot Cable.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Cable report is out, and for the last week, four of the top 10 spots by play count are represented by auto insurance specialists. Who’s at No. 1?

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As social media and technology companies face criticism for not doing enough to stem the flow of misleading information on their platforms, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that some 48% of U.S. adults get news on social media sites “often” or “sometimes,” a 5 percentage point decline from 2020. 

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