Radio+Television Business Report

The sixth day of active bidding in the FCC’s “Auction 109” concludes with the 26th round of activity, a 30-minute window between 4:30pm-5pm Eastern.

Six more rounds of bidding are on the slate for Wednesday (8/4).

What’s the current snapshot from Washington? The nation’s No. 1 owner of radio stations could wind up winning a big FM in the capital of the Golden State, filling a void left by the company formerly known as Entercom.

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Gray Television just selected her to succeed the retiring Frank Brady, an individual at the helm of an NBC affiliate in West Virginia.

She, like Brady, has been at the station — WVVA-6 in Beckley, W. Va. — for 15 years.

What does the longevity of these tenures say about life at a small-market Big Four affiliate? Listen to this RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM and hosted by Adam R Jacobson, and you’ll get the answer … and more!

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Charity Holman, WVVA” on Spreaker.

When it comes to retransmission consent agreement battles between broadcast TV stations and MVPDs, DirecTV under AT&T ownership was a difficult entity to negotiate with for a bevy of UHF and VHF owners.

With Tuesday’s creation of a new company named DIRECTV, following its spin from AT&T, will broadcast TV companies including Cox Media Group, TEGNA, Hearst and Cowles benefit when their next round of individual retrans talks start?

With private equity group TPG Capital fueling the $7.6 billion transaction, the DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse video services are no longer owned and operated by AT&T.

This creates a whole new company with approximately 15.4 million premium video subscribers at the end of Q2. To make the deal happen, AT&T received 70% in DirecTV; thus it remains the majority owner. TPG has a 30% interest in DirecTV, and paid $1.8 billion for the shares.

Nevertheless, DirecTV is not a unit of AT&T as of today.

Should broadcast TV companies with a difficult retrans history get excited? No. The DirecTV board will include CEO Bill Morrow and voting members Steve McGaw and Thaddeus Arroyo, appointed by AT&T.

MORE FROM THE RBR+TVBR ARCHIVES

Not included in this transaction are WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming platform and regional sports networks, both of which are part of the pending WarnerMedia-Discovery transaction; Vrio (AT&T’s Latin American video operations, which are being sold to Grupo Werthein); U-verse network assets; and AT&T’s Sky Mexico investment. DIRECTV will continue to offer HBO Max to subscribers along with any bundled wireless or broadband services and associated customer discounts.

If you receive your cable TV services from Cox Communications, there’s no fear of losing access to any ViacomCBS-owned station anytime soon.

In fact, Cox customers are gaining access to the company’s collection of streaming services.

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In the words of Zacks Equity Research, the second quarter 2021 results from Discovery Inc. “delivered earnings and revenue surprises” to the tune of 53.7% and 3.1%, respectively.

Yet, Discovery shares dipped below $27 a share in early trading on Tuesday and were off by 5% as of 11am Eastern. What are investors concerned about?

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One year ago, Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson and CFO Stu Rosenstein were sharing with analysts and investors its strategy to cut corporate expenses while holding in to its Townsquare Interactive team at the local level. The reason: Keeping staff would put the “Digital First” local media company at the best competitive advantage once the recovery began.

The plan has paid off, and it is fueling the company’s return to 2019 levels with a greater quest of exceeding them. But, is Q3 falling short of the performance seen two years ago — setting up a difficult narrative for Townsquare’s peers?

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As of August 16, Apollo Global Management-controlled Cox Media Group will have a new EVP/General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.

He reports to CMG President/CEO Dan York and will depart his role as a Partner in the Technology Transactions and M&A practice groups at a globally recognized law firm.

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The first of the broadcast media industry’s second quarter 2021 results arrived just before sunrise Tuesday (8/3), as Townsquare Media released its financial report card for the three months ending June 30.

How did the “digital first” owner of 322 radio stations located in markets outside the top 50 perform? Townsquare Media’s adjusted EBITDA in Q2 was the highest seen in company history.

That’s just one of the positives that helped the company sail past its own estimates and those of Zacks Equity Research.

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USSI Global has created a research and development program that will bring audience analytics to its broadcast customers delivering NEXTGENTV services. The technology component will be developed through its new partnership with AdMobilize.

USSI Global’s development platform will leverage the native IP backbone of ATSC 3.0, the broadcast industry’s next-generation over-the-air TV standard, to support real-time analytics during live NEXTGENTV broadcasts using AdMobilize software.

AdMobilize powers digital out-of-home (DOOH) networks worldwide with real-time, fully anonymous, AI-driven software. The USSI Global and AdMobilize partnership was established in January 2021 to implement computer vision-based audience analytics across USSI Global’s digital signage projects. USSI Global is a turnkey project management specialist for large DOOH projects worldwide, including multi-site retail networks and outdoor digital menu boards.

USSI Global will provide options to broadcasters that build AdMobilize analytics within live over-the-air broadcasts. AdMobilize measures audience impressions, giving valuable audience experience feedback on any new NEXTGENTV features, content or advertising. This will additionally complement the native audience measurement capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 standard.

Public venues which show over-the-air content would represent the first phase of the rollout. The workflow would be similar to a DOOH or digital signage network that dynamically pulls media from a content management system, but instead using workflow components and systems familiar to broadcasters.

NEXTGENTV continues to gain momentum through an acceleration of US rollouts. As many as 62 market rollouts are expected through Q1 2022, bringing the benefits of NEXTGENTV including advanced 4K UHD video, immersive surround sound audio and streamlined media capabilities to more consumers around the country.

Evertz, the Canadian media and entertainment technology firm, has successfully deployed its DreamCatcher BRAVO Studio live production replay platform for EA SPORTSTM FIFA 21 Global Series and Apex Legends Global Series broadcasts.

EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series is an international tournament comprised of hundreds of matches played online using PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Over several months, more than 1,000 competitors go head-to-head in hopes of being crowned FIFAe World Cup 2021 champion and claiming a portion of the $3 million in prizes Electronic Arts Competitive Gaming Entertainment (EA CGE) division will hand out to competitors.

Apex Legends Global Series is a competitive online and live event ecosystem produced by EA CGE and Respawn. Played on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the Apex Legends Global Series competition format places teams around the world against each other within five global regions.

EA CGE division uses DreamCatcher BRAVO Studio as the preferred live production tool to match the scale of its largest events due to DreamCatcher BRAVO Studio’s ability to virtually operate in any public or private cloud environment over a low latency, low
bandwidth interface.

Using NDI, SRT, RIST, RTMPE and RTMPS protocols, multiple sources in different formats can be sent to a DreamCatcher BRAVO Studio in the cloud, where EA CGE operational staff can log in to access feeds, produce live shows, isolate replays, edit highlight packages, and send produced content to a Media Asset Management (MAM) service or distribution platform in the cloud for playout to content distributions networks (CDNs) – all from the comfort of their own homes.

To learn more about the DreamCatcherTM Live Production platform, visit evertz.com/applications/live-production/.

The integration of Fraunhofer IIS’s MPEG-H authoring workflow into The Telos Alliance’s Minnetonka AudioTools Server is now complete.

The toolset is suitable for a wide variety of audio-processing fields and is designed to bring benefits to terrestrial, IPTV, and satellite broadcast, as well as pre- and post-production.

The Minnetonka AudioTools Server is a collection of essential aids for file-based media work, and can be used for automating audio processes like loudness control, data encoding, and future-proofing of databases. The accompanying UI editor enables integration with the customer’s ecosystem and creation of new custom workflows. Over 1,000 audio functions come with the product.

The owner and operator of Pittsburgh’s NPR Member station and its long-running Adult Alternative noncomm has appointed a Director of Technology. He’ll be charged with leading the IT and engineering staff at the organization.

Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation, parent of WYEP-FM and WESA-FM, has named Jason Price to the post.

“Jason was by far the most outstanding candidate from a broad pool,” said Chris Capato, Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting’s Vice President of Finance. “I’m certain that Jason’s knowledge, planning ability and service approach will result in his continued success.”

Price began his tenure at Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting in 2018 as IT Manager.

In other moves, Tom Hurley is being promoted to Engineer. Hurley has worked with the organization as a freelance audio engineer since 2012 and joined the staff full time as Operation and Engineering Technician in 2018.

Effective immediately, she’s the new Station Manager of Chattanooga’s NBC affiliate.

In early 2022, she’ll further climb the latter of this Sarkes Tarzian station, taking the position of General Manager.

Consider it great job security for Callie Starnes.

The bump set to come is the result of President/GM Pam Teague’s pending rise to COO of Sarkes Tarzian, which the company previously announced.

She’ll continue in her role as News Director for WRCB-3, while assisting in overseeing the station’s operations across broadcasting, digital and mobile platforms.

“Callie truly deserves the opportunity to lead Channel 3 as its General Manager,” said Tom Tolar, Sarkes Tarzian’s Chief Operating Officer. “She is passionate about providing outstanding service to our viewers, community, and advertisers.  Her leadership and focus have produced impressive results for the Eyewitness News Team.  I am confident she will use those same leadership and decision-making skills to continue the strong performance of WRCB.”

Teague agreed, “Callie’s commitment to excellence in news and strategic thinking make her a natural for this new role. She is highly respected in the industry and by her peers. She will lead the talented staff of Channel 3 for years to come.”

Starnes first joined WRCB in 2008. After serving as an anchor and investigative reporter for several years, Starnes was named Assistant News Director. She has led the news department since being named News Director in 2016.

If there ever was a man true to his words, Byron Allen is perhaps the best example of one who turns bold statements into big deals.

He’s stated that his Allen Media Group intends to invest impressive amounts of cash on broadcast TV station purchases. The first deal struck: 10 spinoff sales tied to Gray Television‘s blockbuster $950 million merger with Quincy Media, Inc.

AMG’s deal for those spins has just closed, coinciding with the completion of the Gray/Quincy deal.

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On January 7, Illinois-based broadcast media operation Quincy Media Inc., owner of 24 over-the-air TV stations, confirmed that it was “considering” a sale of all of its assets. Less than one month later, a buyer emerged.

With today’s closing bell on Wall Street, the mega-deal was officially done. Gray Television is now the owner of the QMI stations not spun to Allen Media Group. 

And, it formally marks the end of an era — and the leadership of Ralph Oakley.

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If there’s a silver lining to the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Florida, California and parts of Ohio and Georgia, it is this: Lysol has your back, broadcast TV.

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When the year started, influential Wall Street financial house MoffettNathanson was optimistic that the first half of 2021 was going to be “all blue skies” for broad patches of the traditional media and digital ecosystems.

After taking a close look at domestic digital advertising growth, Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson uses the word “only” to describe the acceleration in dollars for the GAFAN group.

What does this mean for broadcast media companies set to release their Q2 earnings reports?

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A Bay Area entrepreneur who once appeared on-camera at KGO-7 in San Francisco has been an active buyer of late of low-power TV stations across the U.S.

He’s at it again. Ravi Kapur has just snagged a pair of LPTVs serving two of the Sunshine State’s biggest markets.

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DAYTON, OHIO — With little fanfare, two FM radio stations serving the Miami Valley officially ended their respective formats, with a change transpiring just past 12:01am Monday.

The stations, which had been operated by iHeartMedia as part of its Dayton cluster, are now licensed to a different operator.

They weren’t sold, however. The FM pair were given away as a donation by the trust that had served as its licensee for 14 years.

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RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION

As the month of July 2021 came to an end, an important anniversary in the history of rock ‘n’ roll music was observed by at least one terrestrial radio station. It was also observed on the Sirius XM channel that’s home to three of the four personalities that helped make it an institution. Just past midnight on August 1, 1981, MTV officially signed on the air, available to a lucky few in New Jersey.

By February 1983, however, MTV was growing. It was Channel G on Manhattan Cable systems in New York City. And, it was shaping popular music for a new generation of radio listeners. Among those who perhaps looked to MTV to determine what local listeners wanted was the owner of a Mercedes 450 SL convertible getting attention for an unconventional morning “Zoo” at a radio station in Tampa owned by Gary Edens.

Twenty-four months and one day after MTV’s midnight splash, Scott Shannon signed WHTZ on the air from 333 Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus, N.J.

Today, MTV is remembered for what it was. Shannon, and the station he built, are still going strong and very much part of today’s consumer choices.

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