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Broadcast associations around the country are showing their support for legislation designed to boost broadcast ownership by women and people of color.

Broadcast associations from all 50 states along with the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, sent a joint letter asking Congress to support and pass two new diversity tax certificate programs. The legislation is designed to provide a tax incentive to individuals who sell their majority interest in TV and radio broadcast stations to people of color and women. Two pieces of legislation — Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2021 (H.R. 4871) and the Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service Act known as Broadcast VOICES Act (S. 2456) — would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate a diversity tax certificate program.

Similar legislation was in existence from 1978 to 1995 called the Minority Tax Certificate program. During that time, TV and radio broadcast station ownership by people of color increased by more than 550%. Today, however, there exists a dearth of diverse ownership in the broadcast industry due primarily to lack of access to capital, the groups said in their letter. Today, women make up less than 7% of broadcast radio ownership while people of color make up less than 3%.

“Our strength [as broadcasters] is in our ability to cover diverse community experiences and tell stories from an authentic perspective,” the undersigned wrote in their letter. “The tax certificate program will help us build a local media landscape that reflects our communities on the air, both in the control booth and boardroom.”

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The associations also noted that the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act of 2021 and the Broadcast VOICES Act will help to build a pipeline for a new generation of broadcast station owners — one that is inclusive of women, people of color and other underrepresented individuals. “We therefore urge Congress to act swiftly and pass H.R. 4871 and S. 2456 to make sure that all voices are accurately represented in the broadcasting industry,” the associations said.

The legislation also has support from the National Association of Broadcasters. Earlier this month the NAB released a statement expressing its commitment to market-based initiatives that expand radio and TV station ownership opportunities for women and people of color, calling a tax incentive program a “proven solution that significantly diversified the ranks for broadcast owners over its nearly two decades of existence.”

The support comes after the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council called on the FCC in early August to adopt seven new initiatives designed to better advance diversity within the media industry. The MMTC called the 1978–1995 tax certificate policy “by far the most effective vehicle for advancing minority broadcast ownership.”

 

The post Broadcast Associations Call on Congress to Reinstate Tax Credit appeared first on Radio World.

It’s a key position that involves the retransmission consent agreement reached with DBS providers DirecTV and DISH, and with every MVPD across the U.S.

And, Sinclair Broadcast Group — presently gearing up for a war with DISH — has given it to a Senior Corporate Counsel in that role for six years.

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It owns and operates the “River Radio Network,” comprised of a Weirton, W. Va.-based AM/FM combo and an FM translator.

Now, its owner has signed off on an asset purchase agreement giving it three FMs, and an AM with an FM translator, in the nearby Wheeling market.

With Tim Ohalek and Cindy Taylor the driving forces of River Radio Network, parent company Ohio Midland Newsgroup is growing beyond WEIR-AM & WCDK-FM in Weirton by agreeing to acquire the following properties from Forever Media:

• WLIE-AM 1290, licensed to Bellaire, Ohio, on the left bank of the Ohio River. It is a 1kw Class D with 30 watts at night and associated with FM translator W261DH at 100.1 MHz in Wheeling. It airs a Classic Country format as “Willie,” a homage to Willie Nelson.
• WBGI-FM 100.5, also licensed to Bellaire. It is a Class B 48kw facility branded as “Biggie 100.5,” airing a contemporary Country format.
• WUKL-FM 105.5, in Bethlehem, W. Va. It is a Class B1 13.5kw facility known as “Kool 105.5.” It is an Adult Hits station with a playlist ranging from Haddaway to England Dan and John Ford Coley.
• WRQY-FM 96.5, in Moundsville, W. Va. The Class A is a Classic Rocker, branded as “Rocky 96.5.”

Ohio Midland Newsgroup, a subsidiary of Cody Barack-led Morning Star Media, is paying $885,000 for the properties, with Lynn Deppen signing off on the agreement for Forever Media. A $50,000 escrow deposit has been made to Forever by Ohio Midland.

In return, Ohio Midland is spinning silent FM translator W235BX at 93.9 MHz in Colliers, W.Va. to Forever Media for a token price of $10.

The translator will be used to rebroadcast what WOHI-AM 1490, licensed to East Liverpool, Ohio.

Forever Media is owned by Kirby Confer and Donald Alt.

Do you know a broadcast engineer in Georgia who does outstanding work?

The Georgia Association of Broadcasters is accepting nominations for its 2021 Angelo Ditty – Frank McLemore Engineering Award.

Here at Radio World we wish that more state associations had award programs specifically for engineers and technical people and we appreciate those that do. GAB has been doing so since 2013.

It will present the awards on Oct. 23 during its annual GABBY Award ceremony.

Nominees must have 20 or more years in broadcast engineering, with the majority of that time in Georgia. They must exhibit professionalism among their colleagues and a willingness to help other engineers in support of the industry.

Nominations are due Sept. 20. Email yours to mailto:gchapman@gab.org.

The idea for this award came about when the state of Georgia revised its Emergency Alert System plan in 2012; the association worked closely with the state and received important support from four engineers, so decided to honor them.

It was then named the Angelo Ditty Engineering Award after the association’s longtime ABIP inspector. GAB added the name of another ABIP inspector, Frank McLemore, after his death.

Below is the list of past recipients.

2013

Dick Boekeloo

Robert Butler

Daniel L. Davis

Frank McLemore

 

2014

Marty Foglia

Michael Lawing

 

2015

David Williams

Jeff Brock

 

2016

LaVaughn Thompson

Randy Mullinax

Perley Eppley

 

2017

Bill Williams

Stu Graham

Knox Carreker

 

2018

John York

Dick Byrd

Vic Lester

 

2019

James Gay

Tom Giglio

Bob Helbush

 

2020

Phil Baker

Jim Gantner

Charlie Harrell

 

The post Nominate a Georgia Broadcast Engineer appeared first on Radio World.

Given what MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson calls The Walt Disney Co.‘s “relatively flat share price performance” through the first 8 1/2 months of 2021, his Wall Street financial house believes there is “ongoing tension” in the market between those that look at the drivers of Disney’s Earnings Per Share and those that look at the drivers of Disney’s valuation multiple.

What is the main driver right now? Theme parks are driving the U.S., not Disney+. The latter is fueled by international growth.

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The Media Ratings Council late Thursday responded with stern words to a formal request from Nielsen to enter an MRC accreditation hiatus period for its National Television measurement service.

First, a decision on Nielsen’s request has not yet been made by the MRC. Second, the MRC notes the National TV measurement service is challenged by “deep-rooted, ongoing performance issues.”

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The author is chief engineer of The Joy FM.

Playing the best in Christian Contemporary Music, listener-supported The Joy FM has been serving Florida, Georgia and Alabama for over 30 years. As part of the Radio Training Network family of stations, The Joy FM also supports multiple sister stations including WAFJ(FM) in Augusta, S.C., as well as KWND(FM) and KWFC(FM) in Springfield, Mo.

With more than two dozen transmitter sites in five states, audio-over-IP solutions are essential components of our multilocation infrastructure. Barix’s Instreamer and Exstreamer product lines are our “go to” codecs for a variety of critical use cases.

 

Backhauling EAS

Sister station LF Radio offers positive alternative, pop and hip-hop music, while our Joy Worship station supplements worship during the week. Joy FM supplies Joy Worship and LF Radio as HD2 and HD3 to six cities from our Sarasota, Fla., headquarters.

Of course, EAS must match between all of the subchannels at each site, so the same EAS that’s on HD1 must also be on HD2 and HD3. We run all of our HD importers for Joy Worship and LF Radio virtually in Sarasota, so we use Barix Instreamer 100s and Exstreamer 100s to backhaul the EAS from each location back to Florida.

At each of those six transmitter sites, a Barix Instreamer takes in the EAS from the HD1 and analog channel as well as GPIO from ControlByWeb, which provides Ethernet IO for remote relay control. The combination of Barix and ControlByWeb is ideal, as both are reliable and robust. Barix sends the EAS and GPIO to our Florida office, where we use Axia Pathfinder to do the logic switching between sources to provide the HD importers with either the music feed or EAS feed.

We also use Barix for another HD Radio use case. WAFJ in Augusta offers its own worship channel, The Song. We use Barix codecs to bring The Song down to our importers in Sarasota, so WAFJ listeners get The Song as HD2 (instead of Joy Worship) and LF Radio as HD3.

Secondary STL

We also use Barix codecs for our backup STL at most of our sites. We have nine independent stations in Florida alone, each with its own traffic breaks, liners, IDs and other elements that make them local. Each station is created and mixed in Sarasota, where a 1RU system encodes 14 Livewire feeds to AAC+ streams that are sent to an external server.

A Barix Exstreamer at each transmitter site pulls the stream, which then goes through level converters. The backup STL stream is always on, rather than on-demand, and a Broadcast Tools Audio Sentinel automatically switches transmission to the Barix-decoded stream if the main audio path fails.

All of our sites have at least two internet connections, if not more, with separate ISPs for fault tolerance if one of our internet providers has an outage. Our backup STL workflow has worked very well, as the Barix devices are so reliable and easy to work with.

 

Preferred Choice

I use Barix codecs for other applications, from confidence monitoring for PPM to simply distributing audio from my office throughout our extensive facility. Whenever I have a new need to get audio from Point A to Point B via an IP network, I’ll grab a Barix box. They’re robust, they’re cost-effective, and they can pretty much do whatever you need on the first try.

Info: Contact Barix at 1-866-815-0866 or www.barix.com. For international queries contact Reto Brader in Switzerland at +41-43-433-22-11.

Radio World User Reports are testimonial articles intended to help readers understand why a colleague chose a particular product to solve a technical situation.

 

The post User Report: Barix Powers Critical Infrastructure for The Joy FM appeared first on Radio World.

New Media Broadcasters, Inc. enters into consent decree to resolve political file investigation

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF. — The creator of the podcast “Your Own Backyard” — Chris Lambert, who’s credited with renewing interest in murder of missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, may testify on August 30th in the case against her alleged killer Paul Flores.

Flores is accused of killing Smart and hiding her body. Flores’ defense team sent Lambert the subpoena because of his podcast interviews with witnesses before their client was arrested.

According to The Tribune when authorities arrested Paul Flores and his father in April, the Smart family thanked Lambert and credited him with breakthroughs in the investigation.
Paul Flores is charged with murdering Smart. His father is being charged as an accessory.

It’s alleged that Paul Flores, now 44, was the last person known to have seen the 19-year-old freshman alive after walking her back from a party toward campus in 1996.
The case is being heard in San Luis Obispo Superior Court

MediaCo Holding Co., led by CEO Rahsan-Rahsan Lindsay and formed as a partnership between Emmis Communications founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan and Standard General’s Soohyung Kim, has filed paperwork with the SEC indicating that it wishes to offer millions of dollars worth of shares in the open market to investors.

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The Walt Disney Co.’s stock price zoomed upward by 5.3% in early after-hours trading on Thursday, as the diversified entertainment and communications company that owns ABC and its ESPN arm delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts’ estimates.

How did the Broadcasting division perform? Over-the-air TV performed better in the quarter.

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As of August 2, Adrienne Roark began serving as a President of CBS Stations, serving the East Coast following a tenure in Portland, Ore.

Now, two other veteran local television executives have earned the President/CBS Stations title at ViacomCBS.

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Meredith Corp. on Thursday (8/12) released its fiscal Q4 and full-year 2021 earnings results, which will be the last fourth-quarter fiscal health report from the company that includes its broadcast TV arm.

How did Meredith Local Media perform in the three-month period ending June 30? Net revenue rebounded from a COVID-19-influenced dip to break the $100 million mark as adjusted EBITDA and operating profit were each on the rise.

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It’s pronounced “E-VOCK-A,” and it is the next-generation television service under development in Boise, Idaho, that deserves a closer look. Why? It is built on ATSC 3.0 and IP-based.

With a Phoenix rollout in the works, ahead of additional markets, the individual behind Avoca, Edge Networks President/CEO Todd Achilles offers an exclusive update in this new InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Todd Achilles” on Spreaker.

The CEO and the CFO of Townsquare Media have confirmed that they will participate in a two-day virtual investor conference scheduled for August 18-19.

The “Local First” radio station owner and digital media solutions provider will appear on the second day of the online affair.

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iHeartMedia will get a new FM CP in Sacramento after bidding more than $6.1 million in a just-concluded auction held by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC held Auction 109 for new FM and AM construction permits. Sixty-seven bidders won a total of 97 CPs. (Here’s the list of winning bids in PDF form.)

The commission said the auction raised about $12.3 million in bids.

Half of that total came from a single winning bid by iHeartMedia’s iHM Licenses LLC, which won the Class B FM CP on 107.9 MHz in Sacramento, Calif.

The second largest net winning bid was from Radio Brands for a permit in Sanger, Texas, at about $2.3 million for a Class C3 on 104.1.

No other CP went for more than $300,000, and most were far less than that.

The smallest winning bid was $750, from Mekaddesh Group Corp. for a Class A FM CP in San Isidro, Texas on 98.9.

The winners must pay their down payments by Aug. 26. At the end of the process, licenses will be issued for an eight-year term.

The post iHeart Snags a Sacramento FM CP in FCC Auction appeared first on Radio World.

Nielsen on Wednesday “proactively initiated” an accreditation hiatus process for its National TV ratings service.

Why? “While we remain confident in the integrity of our data and measurement, and fully support the audit process,” the nation’s dominant supplier of audience measurement and consumer data says, “we believe that moving to a hiatus allows us to concentrate our audit-related efforts on continuing to address panel concerns alongside the transformation of our National TV product and development of Nielsen ONE.”

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While not a publicly traded company, Univision Communications has long been transparent in sharing its quarterly earnings results with the public. On Thursday (8/12), the nation’s largest Hispanic-focused media organization did just that.

How did Univision do in Q2? The “Media Networks,” housing its visual media offerings including Univision’s television assets, enjoyed a revenue rebound that single-handedly swung the company from a net loss to net income.

And, despite a big year-over-year revenue jump, Univision Radio‘s net loss widened from the COVID-19 impacted Q2 2020. It is due to a sizable impairment loss.

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Florida – The Opportunity

Help build one of America’s best public media operations at the University of Florida and the UF College of Journalism and Communications. WUFT-TV/FM, WUFT Classic and GHQ make up part of the University of Florida’s Division of Media Properties and the foundation on which the College of Journalism and Communications prepares the next generation of journalists and media professionals. WUFT-TV/FM is looking for the next underwriting/sales superstar to join our team and to help provide the revenue and fuel that makes this engine go! The ideal candidate has experience in selling underwriting to businesses in support of public media and wants to work at an incredible institution like the University of Florida.

Specific Duties Include:

Sell underwriting to clients both directly and through advertising agencies. This includes typical outside sales duties such as regularly making new business calls, conducting Customer Needs Analysis, presenting revenue-generating ideas and providing customized solutions that will get results for clients.
Write proposals that include research of customers’ products as well as use of relevant proprietary research supplied by the companies.
Conduct daily plan activities to achieve budget goals. This includes organized activity that is mandated by management (such as attending weekly meetings, updating account lists, annual account-by-account budget plans and providing plans/summaries of activities) as well as self-imposed planning which includes setting appointments and lead generation.
Complete required paperwork to ensure the entire sales process is conducted in a fluid manner. This includes traffic orders, new business account worksheets, production order request forms along with all other communication-related materials.
Provide excellent customer service to all underwriting/advertising clients.
Talk with potential businesses and personal donors to pursue donations and pledge challenges for WUFT Pledge Drives.
Assist membership in donation strategies, securing volunteers for pledge drives, work in concert with Ambassador volunteer group to secure donations, and assist during pledge drives as needed.

The College of Journalism and Communications (www.jou.ufl.edu) offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and certificates, both online and on campus. CJC students have the opportunity to gain practical experience in the Innovation News Center, which generates content across multiple platforms, and The Agency, an integrated strategic communication and consumer research agency focused on marketing to young adults. The College includes seven broadcast and digital media properties, the Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and the nation’s only STEM Translational Communication Center and Center for Public Interest Communications.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The UF College of Journalism and Communications and WUFT/WRUF is committed to creating an inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We attribute our success to a work force that embraces the contributions of people of all backgrounds and ability levels.

The City of Gainesville

Gainesville (http://cityofgainesville.org) is home to Florida’s largest and oldest university, and so is one of the state’s centers of education, medicine, cultural events and athletics. The University of Florida and UF Health Shands Hospital are the leading employers in Gainesville and provide jobs for many residents of surrounding counties. Gainesville is also the largest city in Alachua County and is the county seat, with approximately 269,000 residents county-wide. It serves as the cultural, educational and commercial center for the north central Florida region. The city provides a full range of municipal services, including cultural and nature services and necessary administrative services to support these activities. Additionally, the city owns a regional transit system, a regional airport, and a 72-par championship golf course. Known for its preservation of historic buildings and the beauty of its natural surroundings, Gainesville’s numerous parks, museums and lakes provide entertainment to thousands of visitors. Because of its beautiful landscape and urban “forest,” Gainesville is one of the most attractive cities in Florida. The city is in a central location to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, providing easy access within a day’s drive to beaches, nature preserves, and water-based activities. Explore Gainesville in 60 Seconds.

EXPECTED SALARY:

$45,000 – $48,000; base salary plus commission, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

A high school diploma and four years of appropriate sales/marketing experience. Appropriate college coursework or vocational/technical training may substitute at an equivalent rate for the required experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

College degree in a related field such as advertising, marketing, journalism or business and a proven track record of sales success with public media.
The candidate must be able to work under pressure in a deadline-intense environment and be self-motivated, outgoing, creative, determined to succeed, committed to excellence and able to problem-solve quickly and efficiently.
Solid analytical skills and proficiency at using the telephone, writing, reading comprehension and basic math skills and capabilities are essential.
The ability to utilize the Microsoft suite of products and to learn proprietary software is also required.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS:

In order to be considered, you must upload your cover letter and resume.

This position is eligible for veteran’s preference. If you are claiming veteran’s preference, please upload a copy of your DD 214 Member Copy 4 with your application for consideration. See our Veteran’s Preference Page for more specific information.

Application must be submitted by 11:55 p.m. (ET) of the posting end date.

Applications must be submitted online via https://explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/517648/wufttvfm-account-executive .

The University of Florida is committed to non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, genetic information and veteran status in all aspects of employment including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training.

By Ed Ryan and Adam Jacobson
Streamline Publishing

Cumulus Media isn’t commenting publicly, but its CEO on Wednesday (8/11) — in a video message sent to all employees — declared that combating the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus means anyone who works for the audio content and distribution company “must be fully vaccinated” by the official return-to-office date of October 11.

News of the internal communiqué was first made known publicly by radio industry blog RadioInsight.com. Further details were gathered by both RBR+TVBR and Radio Ink on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

In the video, Berner said, “All employees, except for those few who are already designated permanent remote like our traffic organization, must be fully vaccinated by our grand reopening date.”

The mandate is the first for a radio broadcasting company, and it includes the entire Cumulus market-by-market sales force and each of the Cumulus Media corporate employees in its New York and Atlanta offices.

Further, it is believed but not confirmed that all Westwood One employees are impacted by the vaccination order from the C-Suite.

“The company is not commenting,” a Cumulus spokesperson told RBR+TVBR Tuesday evening.

“There will be no exceptions unless it’s mandated by law,” Berner added, noting that the vast majority of Cumulus employees were already vaccinated. “If you are someone who has not made that choice, it is for your own protection.”

In its 10Q SEC filing made along with its second quarter 2021 earnings, Cumulus stated, “Since March 2020, most of our employees have been working from home, with only certain essential employees working on site at our radio stations. Beginning in the third quarter of 2021, a majority of our employees will be returning to our stations or offices. For all employees returning to work, we have instituted COVID-19 protocols, increased the level of cleaning and sanitizing in the offices and radio stations and undertaken other actions to make these offices and stations safer for our employees.”

Now, it is clearly going one step further.  Issues tied to existing employee protection initiatives, Cumulus stresses, are not fueling the vaccination mandate.

“We are generally following the requirements and protocols published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and state and local governments and will continue to monitor the latest public health and government guidance related to COVID-19,” Cumulus said. “As of the date of this filing, we do not believe these safety protocols, including the remote working environment, have adversely impacted our internal controls, financial reporting systems or our operations.”

Thousands of employees are impacted, as Cumulus Media owns and/or operates 413 stations across 86 markets. Then, there is Westwood One, which offers national programming ranging from 24/7 formats, syndicated music programming, a bevy of sports talk and play-by-play coverage, and daily and weekly Talk shows.

The hosts of those shows include Dan Bongino, viewed by many as the true heir to the late Rush Limbaugh‘s conservative talk radio throne. Westwood One’s syndicated talk shows also include The Ben Shapiro Show, The Mark Levin Show, The Michael Knowles Show and The Bob & Tom Show, largely tied to Classic Rock stations thanks to its many years based at WFBQ/Indianapolis.

With Cumulus not commenting, how these hosts would be impacted by the vaccination mandate — if at all — is unclear; with home studios and auxiliary facilities more common, the hosts and other air talent may not be impacted.

That said, thousands of Cumulus employees are impacted.

As of December 31, 2019, Cumulus employed 4,732 people, 3,139 of whom were employed full-time, the company said in its SEC 10-K filing earlier this year. Of these employees, approximately 170 employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements.

“We consider our relations with our employees to be positive,” Cumulus said.

Could that have changed on Wednesday, with a potential rebellion in at least one market possible from the mandate from the corporate office? There’s also chatter that the vaccination mandate is also a way for Cumulus to further trim its employee roster as it continues to seek ways to deleverage.

While that’s simply gossip and internet chatter, one thing is clear: Cumulus has taken a step not replicated at its peers.

Audacy is mandating that all new employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine but has refrained from requiring its current employees from getting it or risk losing their job.

A Townsquare Media executive tells Streamline Publishing that the company has “encouraged our team to get vaccinated given the benefits and protection it provides from COVID-19. We have provided [Paid Time Off] to allow the time to get vaccinated. But, we have not mandated it as a condition of employment.”

Meanwhile, the industry’s largest audio media company, iHeartMedia, has not issued any statement regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and its employees.

The Cumulus announcement comes as NBCUniversal on Wednesday issued its own internal memorandum to staff, alerting them that it has delayed its return-to-office date until October 18 “at the earliest.”

According to TVNewser, an opening after the Jewish New Year on September 6 was planned. Until then, fully vaccinated employees can return to the office on a voluntary basis.

CNN last week offered a similar announcement, stating that its reopen date of Sept. 7 was now delayed to mid-October, TVNewser reports. The network, similar to NBCUniversal, has a vaccination advisory in place for anyone who wishes to work from the office. Three individuals who were not vaccinated and worked from CNN facilities were fired for not adhering to the advisory.