Radio+Television Business Report

Global media ad sales platform maker Matrix has named a new Chief Operations Officer.

The Pittsburgh-based company says she will be “instrumental in helping execute the company’s global growth strategy, expanding their solutions portfolio into existing and new market verticals.”

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As RBR+TVBR first reported on Tuesday (6/22) a deal has been struck that will send two of its FM radio properties serving the Delmarva region to the owner of the local CBS, NBC, Telemundo and FOX affiliates, giving it a total of 7 radio stations across the area.

Now, RBR+TVBR has confirmed that Adams Media Group, led by Ron Stone, will be exiting the Eastern Shore of Maryland and southern Delaware altogether.

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One is a heritage Class B FM Rocker that gained national notoriety in the early 1990s thanks to the “Don and Mike” program and today serves as the Delmarva region’s home of the Cox Media Group-syndicated offering The Billy Madison Show in morning drive.

The other station is a Class B1 FM Classic Rocker, with the Townsquare Media-syndicated Free Beer and Hot Wings morning program as its anchor.

Both stations are being sold by the Ron Stone-led Adams Radio Group. Who’s the buyer of these rockin’ radio properties?

Look no further than the CBS television affiliate serving Salisbury and Ocean City, Md., which is taking advantage of “modernized” FCC media cross-ownership rules.

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Its stock price continues to surge. Hundreds of Talk stations have now transitioned from Rush Limbaugh to a new offering from the company’s Premiere Networks. Its music stations continue to dominate key markets across the U.S.

Things have never appeared to be better at iHeartMedia. With momentum fueling the nation’s biggest licensee of radio stations, a voluntary prepayment of term loan facilities and a repricing of an incremental term loan have come.

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Tom Birch is the President of North Carolina-based Lakes Media LLC and an industry veteran who come July 5 will beta test an innovative subscription app that is being hyped up as a potential game-changer for the radio industry.

It allows for commercial-free subscription based listening of broadcast radio stations.

Who would pay for what is available for free, even if the commercials are deleted? And, does that keep local radio local? Those are just some of the questions we asked Birch about Auddia in the latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM!

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Tom Birch” on Spreaker.

MESA, ARIZ. — The Single Frequency Network (SFN) capability of next-generation television can help TV broadcasters greatly enhance robust reception of broadcast TV signals.

That’s the conclusion of a report on the latest field trials of SFN technology recently completed as part of Phoenix Model Market testing.

“Since last summer, we’ve been testing out various configurations with another NEXTGEN TV transmission tower that can greatly enhance reception and make possible new services such as data sent to both cars and homes,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, which is coordinating the Phoenix Model Market project. “The results are very encouraging.”

The second Phoenix-area NEXTGEN TV station launched last summer from KASW-TV. That’s The CW Network affiliate in the Valley of the Sun. KASW used a Single Frequency Network to supplement existing signals in the nation’s 11th largest TV market.

KASW-TV is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company and hosts KSAZ-10, the FOX station serving the market.

“Starting in February, we began a series of tests of the Single Frequency Network broadcast from KASW on physical channel 27,” said Pearl TV Chief Technical Officer Dave Folsom. “With its primary transmitter about eight miles south of downtown Phoenix and a smaller transmitter on the same physical channel 27 about 18 miles away on Shaw Butte, we were able to determine the impact of how different power levels and polarizations affected reception at various locations around the Phoenix metro area. The robustness of the signal improved. Viewer reception in difficult areas was also improved. Technical coordination between the two transmitters was shown to dramatically enhance what a consumer would be expected to receive.”

Improved Signals Enhance Options

Folsom continued, “Our two testing transmission antenna patterns were designed to intentionally overlap each other. Their signals are timed (in frequency and time) such as to interfere with each other in a positive or additive fashion and thus improve viewer’s resultant signal level, service margin and receivability within their overlap area. This is the very basis of a Single Frequency Network’s design. The improvement in signal level and service margin translates into a marked improvement in the additive signal’s signal-to-noise component. That means we can either improve reception or increase carriage bandwidth for more data.”

The recent testing was devised to test 40 locations in an approximate grid within the system’s transmission overlap area. An omnidirectional test receiver antenna was purposely used in the testing to ensure the reception was taking full benefit of both transmission signals within the overlap area.

Large improvements in signal level and service margin were found in nearly all test locations when the Single Frequency Network nodes were both transmitting. Error-free reception was improved in approximately 80 percent of the sites, according to the test report compiled by broadcast engineering consultants Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace as part of the Phoenix Model Market testing program.

“We believe that broadcast TV has the potential to offer a new data delivery service, because of television’s new broadcast standard speaks the same language as the internet itself,” Schelle said. “A Single Frequency Network arrangement with multiple transmission towers can help broadcasters develop new markets and new opportunities.”

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — Audio commercials have a particular trait that sets them apart from visual advertisements, and the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters is now on a quest to illustrate that positive differentiation point to marketers.

Emotional engagement rings true with audio ads. And, the PAB is partnering with a former longtime Philadelphia radio station owner, along with a consumer engagement specialist, to prove its point.

The PAB is working with Sensory Logic, a Minneapolis-based company, and former WBEB-FM in Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee, now associated with Spot Q Services.

The agreement will see Sensory Logic test audio campaigns to ensure commercials are emotionally engaging to consumers, the PAB says.

Sensory Logic will also provide “detailed, step-by-step, feedback to help copywriters, agencies and radio stations create advertising campaigns that generate a larger return-on-investment.”

One individual eager to see the results of the study is Jim Loftus, former WBEB CEO under Jerry Lee and now a key figure at Seven Mountains Media alongside Kristin Cantrell. “Engaging commercials delivered results unlike anything that I’d ever worked with before,” he says. “Better results provided clients with activated consumers and helped grow our business, making WBEB Philly’s No. 1 station for more than 20 years.”

Lee was instrumental in developing Sensory Logic’s system to test and give feedback for Audio Commercials.

The PAB’s plan: to jump start audio testing on behalf of its members. The professional organization will initially pay for testing and feedback for 5 advertisers group member per market.

The goal of the PAB, Sensory Logic, and Jerry Lee’s Spot Q Services is to increase revenue for more than 3,000 Pennsylvania radio advertisers who annually spend above $10,000.

Sencore has announced advancements to the audio, closed captions and video capture features of the VB440 – Uncompressed Video over IP Monitoring Appliance.

The VB440, the newest addition to its VideoBRIDGE IP monitoring suite, focuses on
monitoring the latest uncompressed video over IP technologies; SMPTE 2022-6/7 and SMPTE 2110.

Enabling both early deployment and long-term system monitoring and troubleshooting of video, audio and ancillary data payload, the VB440 includes new audio features that include support for SMPTE 2110-31 compressed audio, 5.1 and 7.1 multichannel configurations and room meter analytics.

In addition to these features, this release adds 608, 708 and OP-47 caption support, including overlaying on the live video, an engineering view for caption command data, and grid view for alignment.

Expanding on the existing functionality, the VB440 now includes a rolling capture feature which allows users to capture hard to catch issues or events.

As with all Sencore products, the VB440 and the entire VideoBRIDGE product line are backed by Sencore’s ProCare support engineers.

More information about Sencore can be found at www.sencore.com

The NAB has revealed the recipients of the Digital Leadership Award, NAB Engineering Achievement Awards for Radio and Television and the Service to Broadcast Engineering Award.

The winners were honored during “The Future of Media and NAB Technology Awards,” a special event hosted exclusively on NAB Amplify.

NAB Digital Leadership Award

Established in 2015, the Digital Leadership Award honors an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who has played a role in significantly transforming a traditional broadcast business to succeed in the digital sphere. The 2021 Digital Leadership Award was presented to Adam Wiener, executive vice president and general manager, CBS Local Digital Media.

Wiener is a member of NAB’s Digital Officers Committee and is an Affiliate Board Member of Digital Content Next.

NAB Engineering Achievement Awards

Established in 1959, the NAB Engineering Achievement Awards are given to individuals who are nominated by their peers for significant contributions to advancing broadcast engineering. Awards are given separately for radio and television.

David L. Hershberger is the recipient of the 2021 Engineering Achievement Award for Radio. Having retired as Continental Electronics’ senior scientist, Hershberger worked for Harris Broadcast, Grass Valley Group and Axcera, focusing primarily on exciters and modulators for transmitters, and low-level signal processing. Hershberger co-developed the world’s first digital FM exciter as an experimental prototype and holds 21 U.S. patents.

David A. Folsom is the recipient of the 2021 Engineering Achievement Award for Television. He is the technology lead for Pearl TV specializing in the advancement of Next Gen TV through operational and technical education. Formerly, he was the chief technology officer of Raycom Media Inc, now part of Gray Television. Folsom has worked in broadcast and engineering management for more than forty years and holds two television equipment design patents.

Service to Broadcast Engineering Award

The Service to Broadcast Engineering Award is presented periodically to individuals who have provided extraordinary service to the industry. This year’s recipient is Brady Dreasler, corporate director of engineering and technology at Quincy Media, Inc. Dreasler began his career almost 50 years ago with Quincy Media, Inc. at WGEM-TV. He held various positions, including operations manager, local television sales manager and account representative. Throughout his career, he has gained experience in virtually every department of a television and radio station. Dreasler also serves as vice chairman of the NAB TV Technology Committee.

It owns radio stations in Victor Valley, California and Yuma, Arizona.

Now, it has launched a unique mobile app platform for all of its radio station brands as a way to gain more ad dollars in challenging small Southwestern U.S. markets.

The company winning the account: RadioFX Inc.

That’s the selection from El Dorado Broadcasters. 

Led by EVP/GM Chris Fleming, he says “I have long been a proponent of radio station brands becoming platform agnostic. Mobile is of primary importance as it is ubiquitous. Of almost equal importance is having the interface with Android Auto and Apple Car Play, making our brands part of the in dash experience.”

Mark Mitchell, VP Programming for El Dorado Broadcasters, adds, “The primary benefit will be the streaming capabilities for the user, but our stations will be able to do in app, unique contesting, audience polling, and we will have a chat function with our on-air staff – giving or audience yet another unique experience.”

John Wanuzng is the CEO of RadioFX Inc. He says, “Local radio broadcasters are the heartbeat of the American audio experience, and the family of El Dorado Broadcasters stations shines a bright light on how radio delivers a meaningful, entertaining and impactful listener experience to its local communities.”

Bitmovin, known for its online streaming video technology, has announced that VuClip, which delivers on-demand entertainment to emerging markets, has achieved “scalable, high-performance video encoding” with Bitmovin’s products on Google Cloud.

The deployment is part of a new Bitmovin service offering, “Bitmovin Cloud Connect,” that enables over-the-top (OTT) content providers such as VuClip to deploy the company’s cloud-agnostic encoding solution on all existing cloud platforms.

VuClip delivers on-demand entertainment to active users in emerging markets such as India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Bitmovin was able to achieve scalable high-performance encoding on Google Cloud by increasing VuClip’s probability of securing and using preemptive virtual machines (VM). Bitmovin does this through segmented transcoding, which enables VuClip to utilize Google Cloud virtual machines in parallel and reduce the cost of encoding. Bitmovin’s API is designed to efficiently move data with varying amounts of excess capacity so that less data is stored and less bandwidth used to distribute  acceptable, high quality video across CDN to diverse audiences.

The Bitmovin encoding solution is cloud-agnostic and supports multiple codecs such as H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP8, VP9, and AV1. It also offers advanced features such as per-title and three-pass encoding to guarantee that the streaming service is providing the lowest possible bitrate on video assets. These features ensure the delivery of video despite bandwidth restrictions. Bitmovin also releases SDKs that developers can customize enabling flexibility and fastest time to market.

A look at the latest Spot Ten TV report shows a pharmaceutical brand is now the leader at the stations monitored by iHeartMedia-owned Media Monitors.

That hardly takes away the continued fight for consumers being waged by auto insurers through the use of spot TV.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report is littered with in-house promotional announcements from Media Monitors owner iHeartMedia.

Is that a sign of a spot slowdown for national radio advertisers?

Answering that question may not be an easy one, as play counts may not equate to dollars spent by CMOs and brand managers at the radio stations tracked by Media Monitors.

Still, six of the top 10 spots represent fully paid brands, and Progressive was beaten by iHeartRadio Music Festival promo spots that likely aired only on the company’s own radio stations.

As such, the lone campaign of note for the week ending June 20 is for Liberty Mutual Insurance.  From nowhere, LiMu has grown in name recognition and brand value through quirky TV spots. Now, it is attracting potential customers via spot radio.

As RBR+TVBR has reported, HC2 Broadcasting has been selling various non-essential properties as part of an effort to raise capital — a major campaign being waged by chief executive Wayne Barr Jr. following the exit one year ago of Philip Falcone.

Within HC2 is DTV America Corp., and that licensee is selling properties, namely unbuilt construction permits. In the latest deal to involve yet-to-be-constructed LPTVs facing a July 13 sign-on deadline, DTV via HC2 is parting ways with three mini-stations in Wisconsin and a fourth in Texas.

The buyer is a family-owned entity based in Central California.

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In Grand Junction, Colo., Gray Television enjoys a formidable presence, with ownership of NBC/Telemundo/MeTV affiliate KKCO-11 and a low-power TV station that serves as the western Colorado market’s home for ABC, Ion Network and The CW Network.

Gray is adding another LPTV property to the mix.

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There will be a new Vice President of News, who will also serve as Managing Editor, of NewsNation, come July 19.

She will oversee the Nexstar Media Group-owned network’s day-to day news gathering and production process and supervise a staff of more than 100 reporters, producers, writers, and photojournalists.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In reply comments filed with the FCC regarding its plans for FY 2021 regulatory fees, the NAB says the Commission has the authority to ensure that all industries pay for their “fair share” of the agency’s indirect costs.

As such, “Big Tech” companies and other unlicensed spectrum users should pay regulatory fees “to more accurately reflect” the FCC’s work.

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Exactly one year ago, the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led Saga Communications to join the list of audio media companies to put its quarterly cash dividend for shareholders in a cryogenic state.

The Saga board has just brought out the EKG machine, breathing new life into a historically robust dividend that will reward SGA shareholders in mid-July.

Saga’s Board of Directors on Monday (6/210 declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share.

The dividend will be paid on July 16 to shareholders of record on June 30.

The aggregate amount of the payment to be made in connection with the quarterly dividend will be approximately $960,000, and Saga says the quarterly cash dividend will be funded by cash on the company’s balance sheet.

Including this dividend, Saga will have paid over $72 million in dividends to shareholders since the first special dividend was paid in 2012.

Saga adds that it currently intends to pay regular quarterly cash dividends in the future as declared by the Board of Directors. “Consistent with returning value to our shareholders, the Board of Directors may also consider declaring special cash dividends, stock dividends, and stock buybacks in the future,” the company adds.

Saga owns or operates 79 FM and 35 AM radio stations in small and mid-sized U.S. markets.

As of 12:10pm Eastern, Saga shares were priced at $20.97.

Saga in 2020 suspended its dividend to conserve the company’s cash position. This included reducing planned capital spending and seeking discounts from vendors.

There’s a new President and GM for the FM radio stations serving the Denver market owned by Max Media.

It’s an individual who started off his career in radio as an Account Executive at iHeartMedia’s properties due south on I-25, in Colorado Springs.

Taking the role, which will see him lead KJHM-FM and KFCO-FM, is Sean Rhoads.

He jumps up from VP of Sales, a role Rhoads earned in 2016. Rhoads joined Max Media in 2010 as a Sr. AE, and rose to the posts of Digital Sales Director and General Sales Manager across the next six years.

“We have an incredible team here in Denver and we’re ambitious to take Denver to new heights,” Rhoads said. “Our company has always placed the highest value on results for advertisers, enjoyment for listeners and happiness of employees. I’m excited and honored to carry on with this mission.”

Concurrent with Rhoads’ rises, Max Media/Denver GSM Jeff Silver has been promoted to a VP.

Silver is a veteran sales leader with over 20 years of experience leading sales teams for Entercom (now Audacy) in Denver and the stations under prior owner Lincoln Financial Media.

Univision Communications has unveiled its plans for what it calls “a comprehensive global streaming service” that includes both free ad-supported and premium subscription-based options.

This service would launch in the U.S. and Latin America in 2022.

The two-tier streaming service will offer “a differentiated product proposition, vast content scope, expansive library and more Spanish-language originals than any other streaming service,’ Miami-based Univision boasts.

And, what is poised to become Univision-Televisa, following the completion of Univision’s blockbuster merger with the iconic Mexican media operation, will be fueled by full access to the Televisa content library.

It will incorporate content found on its PrendeTV platform, and on its VIX and Univision NOW services, with each of those unique entities “transitioned and unified into one global service and brand.”

But, brand and pricing information are forthcoming. Furthermore, a specific launch date for the service will be announced following the close of the Televisa-Univision merger later this year.

The ad-supported tier (AVOD) will be anchored by PrendeTV, the free Spanish-language streaming service that’s gained considerable attention since Univision snagged it in early 2021. “This free tier will feature an upgraded, broadcast quality content proposition, including select originals, major studio films, premium Spanish-language titles, an expanded live sports offering and a unique 24/7 news service,” Univision said.

The 24/7 news service could see a particularly fervent battle for viewers, as Estrella Media — the former LBI Media now led by CEO Peter Markham — has invested heavily in a 24/7 news operation for Spanish-speaking U.S.-based audiences.

For the Univision AVOD service, the no-cost tier will feature more than 100 linear channels and wholly owned and acquired content that will also be offered in VOD form.

The new premium subscription tier (SVOD) will feature more than 6,000 hours of Spanish-language content and more than 30 original productions exclusively on the service within its first year, Univision says.

“The original productions for the service are being developed by some of the most notable established and up-and-coming creators in Spanish-language content today,” Univision notes.

With that, Univision is announcing projects with Maria Dueñas, Santiago Limon and Mario Vargas Llosa, “with many more to be announced in the coming weeks.”

Univision adds that the vision for the premium SVOD offering “is to bring audiences more originally produced Spanish-language content than any other streaming service globally.”

To execute on this vision, Rodrigo Mazon has joined as EVP & GM of SVOD, reporting directly to Pierluigi Gazzolo, President and Chief Transformation Officer at Univision.

With more than 10 years experience in streaming, Mazon joins Univision from Netflix, where he most recently served as VP of Content. Mazon will be responsible for all elements of the SVOD service, including content and programming strategy, original content production, talent relations, content acquisitions from third-party producers and subscriber growth and retention.

Mazon’s appointment follows the recent addition of Michael Cerdá as Univision’s EVP of  Product and Engineering/Streaming.

Rafael Urbina, Univision’s EVP & GM, AVOD Streaming, continues to lead PrendeTV, and will lead the future free ad-supported tier both in the U.S. and internationally.

The SVOD tier will launch with more than 30 original productions throughout 2022, Univision says.

BEHIND THE PRODUCTIONS

Dueñas is the author of “El tiempo entre costuras” (The Time in Between) and “La templanza” (The Vineyard). She signed a first-look deal with Univision for her future content and novels and will develop her first-ever series exclusively for Univision’s SVOD streaming service.

Peruvian author and Nobel Prize winner Vargas Llosa will have his 2006 novel “Travesuras de la niña mala” adapted into a television series, which will be executive produced by Patricio Wills from Televisa’s W Studios. The novel is a love story set in the 1960s across various cities in Europe.

Limon is the creator and co-writer of the film “Hasta que la boda nos separe” and director and executive producer of the reboot of teen band-focused telenovela “Rebelde.”

Univision CEO Wade Davis, in prepared comments, said, “With today’s announcement we are giving an early view into the scale and scope of our streaming ambitions. My partners and I closed on our acquisition of Univision less than six months ago, and I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made to date … Pierlugi has brought together some of the best streaming executives in the industry. Michael has built, scaled and globalized one of the most successful streaming products in the world. Rafael has extensive experience scaling large, ad-supported video audiences, and Rodrigo is a pioneer in premium Spanish-language streaming and content. With this team and the resources we are allocating, we will launch a service that is differentiated, high quality and best in class.”