Radio+Television Business Report

Without agriculture, and agribusiness, much of Wall Street, Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley would be “hungry, homeless, naked and sober.”

That’s why agribusiness is nothing city folk should scoff at, says Steve Alexander, who will succeed the legendary Orion Samuelson as the chief agribusiness reporter for Nexstar Media Group‘s legendary Chicago talk station, WGN-AM 720, come January 1.

Alexander spoke exclusively with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson about his new role, where he gets his information from, and why Nexstar elected not to sunset the reports — clearly seeing value in their continuation.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Steve Alexander, WGN Radio” on Spreaker.

The Comcast-owned multi-platform video advertising unit known as FreeWheel has agreed to purchase a software as a service (SaaS) advertising company in a move that expands FreeWheel’s current programmatic marketplace capabilities across all forms of television and video advertising, including Connected TV (CTV) and Set-top Box Video on Demand (STB VOD).

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden, who once owned radio stations in Hood River, Ore., become embarking on a career in state and federal politics is retiring from Congress after 22 years.

He’s already said his goodbyes on the floor of the full House. Now, Walden has shared more about his accomplishments — and thoughts on current tech policy debates including the Section 230 controversy that put Nathan Simington on the FCC — with a top Inside-the-Beltway federal news publication.

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With Lisa Knutson rising from the EVP/CFO role to lead the newly combined businesses of ION Media, the digital multicast channels under the Katz Networks brand, and its OTT-to-MVPD offering Newsy, The E.W. Scripps Company has appointed a television industry veteran with a surname matching its multicast unit to head them on a day-to-day basis.

Jonathan Katz as chief operating officer and head of entertainment for its new national television networks business.

Katz will report to Lisa Knutson, who Scripps previously announced will lead the newly combined businesses of ION Media, the Katz networks and Newsy. Both appointments will be effective upon the close of Scripps’ acquisition of ION Media.

Katz is founder, president and chief executive officer of the Katz networks, which Scripps acquired in 2017. In his new role, Katz will have responsibility for the networks’ entertainment brands including Bounce, Laff, Grit, Court TV Mystery and the ION networks as well as Brown Sugar and “The List.” He will have additional oversight of revenue, research, marketing and programming for the entire portfolio of Scripps’ national networks.

After starting the Bounce network in 2011 as the nation’s first-ever over-the-air broadcast television network dedicated to serving African-American audiences, he founded the Katz networks in 2014, expanding the portfolio to several additional niche-targeted over-the-air networks.

In his current role, Katz has steered the multi-platform networks’ year-over-year growth, outperforming expectations and delivering over-the-air audience growth while spearheading strategic launches of new networks, including the relaunch of the Court TV network in 2019, its expansion into the United Kingdom this year and the development of true crime-focused Court TV Mystery.

Katz’s visionary leadership in the television, news and entertainment industry will help Scripps transform its networks business into a powerful national leader in news and entertainment with broad consumer appeal and reach, said Knutson.

“With his many years of experience in launching, growing and expanding some of the country’s most-watched networks and leading best-in-class teams to fuel growth and innovation, Jonathan has proven time and time again his ability to anticipate and super-serve consumers’ diverse and evolving interests,” said Knutson. “Jonathan is a tremendous asset to Scripps as we bring our national networks businesses together to capture the momentum of over-the-air audience growth and multiplatform TV viewing.”

Katz’s career includes leadership roles at some of the country’s top television networks. Before founding the Katz networks, he was senior vice president and general manager of program planning and acquisitions for all of the Turner Entertainment Networks including TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and TCM, including acquisitions work for the original Court TV and The WB broadcast network. Additionally, Katz oversaw the re-branding and relaunch of WTBS in Atlanta as WPCH/Peachtree TV and led all aspects of the station’s operations as general manager.

Before joining Turner’s Entertainment Group in 2000, he was vice president of marketing for CNN Newsource.

Katz launched his career in local TV with roles in programming, advertising, publicity, promotion, production and news at WTOG in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida; WJZY in Charlotte, North Carolina; WDBB in Birmingham, Alabama; and WCFT in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Consumers inform content creators of their preferences by voting with their money.

Globally, Pay TV subscription revenue dominates the market, accounting for $172 billion in consumer spending worldwide in 2020 and 70% of total global home video spend across Pay TV, SVoD, TVoD, EST, DVD and Blu-ray.

But, is a mix of subscriber-fueled video on demand services primed to replace the traditional MVPD? Futuresource Consulting’s Tristan Veale recently presented this question, and his findings, and Veale has shared some of the highlights on the shifting content consumption habits of consumers across the globe.

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The NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance (NVISA), a worldwide coalition of developers and manufacturers working to accelerate the industry’s evolution toward next-generation broadcast and OTT television systems, is expanding through the addition of four new members and the formation of three new specialized working groups.

With the addition of DigiCAP as the alliance’s newest regular member, the alliance now represents the full spectrum of ATSC 3.0 middleware solution providers that have joined forces toward making the vision of NextGen TV into reality. Expanding its membership of public broadcasters across the U.S., NVISA is pleased to welcome New Mexico PBS, Kentucky Educational Television, and UNC-TV Public Media North Carolina as the alliance’s newest associate members, joining ranks with Capitol Broadcasting Company, News-Press & Gazette Company, OneMedia, and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

NVISA has a global membership of organizations that are driving the definition and realization of ATSC 3.0 technology. This global network of companies includes ATEME, BitRouter, DigIt Signage Technologies/ChyTV, Digital Alert Systems, ENENSYS Technologies, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark and CDS, Triveni Digital, Verance, and other leaders in advanced technology and content.

“NVISA is extremely pleased to welcome these organizations as the alliance expands toward a truly global scope, supporting advanced next-generation TV services,” said Edward Czarnecki, NVISA chairman and executive director. “The addition of these three public broadcasters also shows the key role that public TV will play in NextGen TV. ATSC 3.0 is starting to coalesce rapidly, with a growing number of station deployments. NVISA members are dedicated to realizing the enormous potential that ATSC 3.0 offers to transform broadcast television worldwide.”

“By joining NVISA, DigiCAP is committed to contributing its effort to cultivating the next-gen ecosystem and growing the market,” said Sang Jin Yoon, SVP of business development at DigiCAP. “NVISA’s mission of driving innovation while minimizing fragmentation of solutions for information services is essential for the success of ATSC 3.0 deployment globally.” DigiCAP brings additional international experience to NVISA through their involvement in building the world’s first ATSC 3.0 alerting service in South Korea, which launched last year.

“Kentucky Educational Television is pleased to join with NVISA members to work toward NextGen TV advanced information solutions for public safety, civic engagement, and educational service,” said Tim Bischoff, KET chief technology officer.

“New Mexico PBS has been an active participant in the ATSC standards process, and we look forward to contributing to the effort to promote forward-looking technologies with the potential to move our industry forward,” said Mike Snyder, New Mexico PBS’ studio technology manager.

“UNC-TV has been a leader in NextGen TV Public Safety communication research, and we see our partnership with NVISA as a vital part of the equation that will help the industry develop new products for consumers, first responders, and other sectors and, ultimately, help us fulfill our mission of delivering trusted, educational, and informative content to all North Carolinians,” noted Fred Engel, UNC-TV’s chief technology officer.

NVISA members collaborate, implement standards, and create best practices to help broadcasters accelerate their transformation toward next-generation ATSC 3.0 systems. Among the organization’s initial objectives is ensuring the successful deployment of enhanced emergency information solutions across the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem, including next-generation Advanced Emergency Information applications, enhanced media display for the Emergency Alert System, and accessible emergency information audio. To this end, NVISA has formed three working groups.

NVISA’s Video Integrated Display Symbology (VIDS) working group focuses on harmonizing a recommended practice for emergency information display in visual media, including a shared symbology and look and feel that can be used by video services across the Emergency Alert System, ATSC 3.0, and other visual media. Bill Robertson of Digital Alert Systems serves as the group’s chair.

NVISA’s Advanced Emergency Information working group will develop recommended practices and use cases for the advanced emergency information capabilities of ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV. Ed Czarnecki, NVISA chairman and executive director, is the group’s chair.

NVISA’s Bitcasting and Broadcast Internet working group will examine advanced data broadcast technologies and applications (including public safety applications). Mark Corl of Triveni Digital serves as the Bitcasting and Broadcast Internet working group chair.

— Sunny Branson, for Weekly Tech Roundup, a Streamline Publishing newsletter produced by the Radio + Television Business Report

The Board of Directors of Media Ratings Council, Inc., the independent watchdog devoted to insuring the accuracy of audience measurement services, has agreed to create a subcommittee focused on the organization’s efforts to assess and promote the quality of data sources.

Introducing the MRC Data Quality Subcommittee, which will formally commence its activities “in the coming months.”

The board will determine where this subcommittee will sit within the existing organizational structure of MRC later in 2021.

The news was publicly disseminated some eight days following the MRC’s annual Board of Directors meeting. At the event, the following members of the Board were appointed to serve on MRC’s Executive Committee for the 2021-22 term:

Board of Directors Chair:                         Dale Coons, Campbell Ewald

Board Chair, ex officio:                            Matt Ross, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations

Print Committee Chair:                            Rob Frydlewicz, Carat USA

International Committee Chair:                Atin Kulkarni, PepsiCo

Radio Committee Chair:                           Annette Malave, Radio Advertising Bureau

Out of Home Committee Chair:               Andy Sriubas, OUTFRONT Media

Television Committee Chair:                    Kevin Stuart, Hearst Television

Digital Committee Chair:                         Eric Warburton, Horizon Media

The departing members of the 2019-20 MRC Executive Committee include Board Chair ex officio Joanne Church, Radio Research Consortium; Digital Committee Chair Nathalie Bordes, CBS Interactive; Radio Committee Chair Dan McDonald, National Association of Broadcasters; International Committee Chair John Montgomery, GroupM; Television Committee Chair Beth Rockwood, Warner Media; and Print Committee Chair Maria Sacchetti, Initiative.

Matt Ross, who was the 2019-20 MRC Board of Directors Chair, and Dale Coons, the Out of Home Committee Chair for 2019-20, will continue to serve on the 2021-22 MRC Executive Committee in the new roles noted above.

It appears the broadcast TV company that eventually merged with Tribune Broadcasting also has a desire to monetize the consumer product recommendations company that Tribune Publishing Co. put on the map.

A definitive agreement has been reached that sees Nexstar Inc., a subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, grab BestReviews for $160 million.

It’s a transaction that is “immediately accretive to Nexstar’s operating results,” the nation’s top owner of broadcast TV stations and the WGN America cable TV channel said.

How does the consumer review-focused website make money?

“BestReviews monetizes its content through a revenue share model with its retail partners against all sales generated by BestReviews,” Nexstar explains.

There are more than reviews, however: BestReviews also produces seasonal, lifestyle and
how-to articles with integrated links to retailers distributed across its publisher network, and these could feed broadcast TV station websites while also sparking product review news reports in its newscasts and news magazines.

The volume of content currently authored by BestReviews includes more than 8,000 product categories covering more 40,000 product reviews — on behalf of a network of more than 50 retail partners.

Nexstar President/COO and CFO Tom Carter explains, “The planned accretive acquisition of BestReviews diversifies our digital content portfolio while presenting the company with new and significant revenue channels by leveraging our media content, national reach and significant consumer digital usage across multiple platforms.”

He adds that Nexstar’s digital properties are No. 1 according to Comscore for local news and information, in terms of unique users. As such, “we are ideally positioned to quickly scale BestReviews through increased content syndication and brand awareness.”

Carter also considers BestReviews to be “a fast-growing digital product review company with a profitable and scalable business model at an attractive pro forma EBITDA multiple.”

Nexstar Inc. President of Digital Karen Brophy adds, “The acquisition of BestReviews further strengthens Nexstar’s core product offering by adding new content and gathering expert and user-generated insights that help build consumer confidence in products. This will allow Nexstar to strengthen its focus on distributing content consumers want most.”

The transaction is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of 2020.

Townsquare Media has priced an offering of $550.0 million in aggregate principal amount of its 6.875% senior secured notes due 2026.

The notes will bear interest semi-annually at a rate equal to 6.875% per annum and were offered at par value. They are senior secured obligations of Townsquare Media and will be guaranteed on a senior secured basis by the company’s direct and wholly owned subsidiaries.

Closing of the offering is anticipated to take place on or about January 6, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

As previously reported, Townsquare intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with cash on hand, to repay its existing senior secured credit facilities, to redeem all of Townsquare’s outstanding 6.500% senior notes due 2023, and to pay the premium, fees and expenses related to the offering.

Townsquare also intends to terminate its existing senior secured credit facilities, including its existing revolving credit facility.

DISH shares were off by more than 11% in the final hour of trading on Wednesday (12/16), as investors soured on the news that it plans to offer $2 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible notes.

DISH Network also expects to grant to the initial purchaser an option to purchase up to an additional $300 million aggregate principal amount of the notes to cover over-allotments, if any.

The net proceeds of the offering are intended to be used for “general corporate purposes,” including 5G network buildout costs.

Moody’s assigned a B1 rating to the offering. It notes that the rating is supported by the substantial asset value derived from DISH’s “vast spectrum holdings, although they have yet to be deployed and monetized.”

It further noted, however, that its rating “reflects our concern that competition from cable and telecommunication companies, who offer multiple products (video, voice, and data in particular), and pressure from changing television consumption habits towards SVOD (subscription video on demand) services like Netflix and other emerging OTT (over-the-top media) platforms, will result in increasing cord cutting of traditional linear pay TV.”

The notes will be unsecured obligations of DISH Network.

Upon any conversion, DISH Network will settle its conversion obligation in cash, shares of its Class A Common Stock, or a combination of cash and shares of its Class A Common Stock, at its election. The interest rate, the initial conversion rate, and other terms and conditions of the notes will be determined by negotiations between DISH Network and the initial purchaser of the notes.

The offering didn’t charm investors. On heavy volume of 15.7 million shares as of 3:15pm Eastern (normal volume is 2.7 million shares), DISH was down $4.05 to $31.63.

The dip erased one month’s worth of gains on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market,

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has officially been inked on the growing list of institutions of higher learning that no longer want to put its dollars toward the upkeep of a broadcast radio station run by its enrolled students.

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As the $2.65 billion merger between West Palm Beach-headquartered ION Media and The E.W. Scripps Co. winds its way toward completion, a series of amendments have been submitted with the FCC that have seen the inclusion — and now exclusion — of three stations that had been designed for sale to INYO Broadcast Holdings, which is getting a host of spin-off properties.

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A partnership that enables “a new way” to measure TV marketing has been brought to market.

And, it is being billed as a “first-of-its-kind solution” that combines MarketCast‘s data science expertise and Kinetiq‘s ad detection platform to measure competitive benchmarking for tune-in TV attribution.

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SAVANNAH, GA. — Just how much did Gray Television‘s broadcast TV stations and digital platforms attracted in the form of political advertising in 2020?

It’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and the twin U.S. Senate runoff races in Georgia are the icing on the cake.

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Gray’s total tally for political advertising since Jan. 1, 2020, is now upward of $400 million, net of commissions and agency fees.

There’s more: Since Election Day, Gray’s local television stations and digital platforms in the Peach State have run approximately $20 million net in political campaign and political issue advertisements related to the two run-off election races for U.S. Senate seats.

With the special elections scheduled for Jan. 5, 2021, and President-Elect Biden campaigning for the Democratic candidates in Atlanta on Tuesday, Gray expects political advertisements in Georgia to continue well past New Year’s Eve and into the first days of 2021.

Gray has a presence in Augusta, Albany, Columbus and tiny Thomasville, Georgia, where WCTV-6 also serves Tallahassee, Fla. Most notably, Gray owns long-dominant CBS affiliate WTOC-11 in Savannah, Ga.

ATSC 3.0-powered next generation television signals have been launched in the biggest DMA to date: the home of Russell Wilson, and the setting for the cinematic classic “10 Things I Hate About You.”

Seven Seattle TV stations are now broadcasting with NEXTGEN TV, the new digital broadcast standard.

It makes the Seattle-Tacoma DMA the largest market where NEXTGEN signals are available, following the recent launch of Tampa-St. Petersburg.

The stations offering ATSC 3.0-powered signals are Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s ABC and Univision affiliates, KOMO-4 and KUNS-51; Cox Media Group‘s CBS affiliated KIRO-7; FOX O&Os KZJO-22 “Joe TV” and KCPQ-13; and TEGNA‘s NBC and unaffiliated KING-5 and KONG-16.

BitPath led the planning process and coordinated efforts across Seattle’s seven local television stations.

In a major about-face that signals a fresh retransmission consent deal — perhaps under pressure from key Massachusetts legislators on Capitol Hill — Comcast‘s Xfinity cable TV service will no longer be pulling the plug on stations from “neighboring DMAs” that would have seen all Hearst Television stations not bound by must-carry rules removed from its channel lineups.

It’s also signals a big victory for some small communities near Brunswick, Ga.

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Media ad sales platform Matrix has formed a group of thought leaders from across the industry, including some of its own executives, to identify outcomes and workflows that will advance how television will be bought and sold within the next three years.

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A graduate of the University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University School of Law, he’s served as an artist manager and has been a professional drummer with The Chris McCarty Band. 

Since August 2008, he’s been in the Atlanta office of legal giant Greenberg Traurig LLP.

Now, he’s leaving, as the music and entertainment industries has come calling … sort of.

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Former Senior VP and Head of Corporate Communications and PR Esther-Mireya Tejeda exited in September, later resurfacing as SoundExchange‘s Chief Marketing & Communications Officer.

Soon afterward, Jennifer Morales Mathews exited as VP/Corporate Communications and PR and shortly thereafter took the role of Public Relations Manager at Amazon Music.

The exits left a big hole at Entercom Communications. Now, it has filled it with Tejeda’s successor.

Now SVP/Head of Corporate Communication and PR at the audio media company that owns Radio.com and podcasting platforms Pineapple Street and Cadence13 is Ashok Sinha.

He will serve as a member of Entercom’s executive leadership team, reporting to Chief Marketing Officer Paul Suchman.

Who is Sinha? He has been VP of Corporate Communications at WarnerMedia since October 2016, and in that role most recently headed internal and external communications strategy for WarnerMedia’s technology organization, as well as employee communications across the company’s direct-to-consumer, sales and distribution divisions.

Before joining WarnerMedia, Ashok was SVP/Corporate Communications at Publicis Media from March 2013, VP/Corporate Communications for Current TV for 11 months, Director of Communications for Oxygen Media for 15 months, and Chief of Staff at (RED) for 20 months.

From May 2005-September 2008, he was Manager of Communications and Public Affairs for MTV Networks’ Logo, at the time a LGBTQ-focused cable TV offering.

“As a lifelong consumer of music and the spoken word, I believe in the power of audio and its ability to engage, entertain and inform the world,” Sinha said. “I’m delighted for this opportunity to join Entercom and its award-winning corporate communications team, and lead the charge as we tell the story of audio in this dynamic time for media.”

Subscription video on demand (SVOD) consumers between the ages 13 and 49 have become more culturally literate, primarily due to Netflix, YouTube creators and social media featuring increasingly diverse and global content.

In fact, more than half of Gen Zers and parents have watched a show in a language they do not speak, with Hispanics over indexing on this trend.

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