Radio+Television Business Report

The new year will bring big changes to the Washington, D.C. broadcast regulation scene.

There’s the inauguration of a new President and installation of a new FCC chair, who will make an imprint on the agency with his or her own priorities.

What can broadcasters expect with respect to D.C. regulation in January 2020? David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer offered a detailed look at what’s important to radio and TV station owners and managers.

As Oxenford writes in the WBK Broadcast Law Blog, on or before January 10, all full-power broadcast stations, commercial and noncommercial, must upload to their online public inspection files their Quarterly Issues Programs lists, listing the most important issues facing their communities in the last quarter of 2020 and the programs that they broadcast in October, November and December that addressed those issues.

Oxenford says, “These lists are the only documents required by the FCC to demonstrate how stations served the needs and interests of their broadcast service area, and they are particularly important as the FCC continues its license renewal process for radio and TV stations.”

He notes that one can find a short video on complying with the Quarterly Issues/Programs List requirements here.

Television stations should also be preparing their annual Children’s Television Programming Report (Form 2100, Schedule H – formerly Form 398) and certification of compliance with commercial limits in their children’s programming.

“The Form 398 would normally be due to be filed at the FCC on January 30 but, as that date falls on a Saturday, the FCC filing deadline this year is February 1, the next business day,” Oxenford says, noting that this is the first time that stations will file a “KidVid” report covering an entire year and not just one quarter.

FCC rules also require that stations place in their public files by January 30 of each year records documenting compliance with the limits on the number of commercial minutes that stations can allow in children’s programming.

Oxenford also shares that reply comments are due in two proceedings that will affect broadcasters.

Interested parties have until January 25 to submit reply comments in the FCC’s foreign entity sponsorship identification proceeding.  This proceeding seeks to enhance and standardize the on-air disclosure that broadcasters must make when programming is supplied or paid for by a foreign entity or its representatives.

Also due that same day are reply comments on the petition by the National Association of Broadcasters to clarify who is legally responsible for the programming on a subchannel of one TV station when that programming is a simulcast of another station’s programming.

This would include when the subchannel is acting as the required ATSC 1.0 “lighthouse” signal for the primary video stream of a station that has converted to ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV) operations.  The NAB suggests that the originating station, rather than the host station, should be liable for the public service, political broadcasting, public file and other legal obligations that arise from that programming.

Looking ahead to February, television and radio stations in several states must file applications for license renewal and file and upload EEO reports.

By February 1, TV stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and radio stations in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma must file their license renewal applications through the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS).

Those stations must also file with the FCC a Broadcast EEO Program Report (Form 396) and, if they are part of an employment unit with 5 or more full-time employees, upload to their public file and post a link on their station website to their Annual EEO Public Inspection File report covering their hiring and employment outreach activities that occurred in the period from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

TV and radio stations licensed to communities in New Jersey and New York also must meet their Annual EEO Public Inspection file report obligations on February 1.

Looking for something to listen to during your holiday downtime? Binge-listen to the RBR+TVBR InFocus Podcast.

Hosted by Editor-in-chief Adam R Jacobson, you’ll learn, be inspired, and be entertained by these short audio insights and observations on the important topics that can drive your business forward in 2021. Here are some of the people we’ve been talking to:

 

Gordon Smith, NAB Jeff Smulyan, Emmis Communications Eddie Esserman, Media Services Group Sean Compton, NewsNation – WGN America Anne Schelle, Pearl TV Rollye James, Veteran Air Personality and Radio Station Owner Brad Deutsch, Foster Garvey   Listen to the InFOCUS Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Podbay, or Deezer.

 

And, be sure to subscribe to the Podcast on the service of your choice, so you don’t miss out on forthcoming episodes each Tuesday and Thursday in 2021.

 

On December 10, 2019, Hubbard Radio’s Seattle station group selected Jeff Dubow to serve as the new Executive Producer for the highly successful Brooke & Jubal syndicated program, mostly heard in mornings across the country.

Dubow had been with flagship station KQMV-FM “Movin’ 92.5” in Seattle for nine years, and had been the Assistant Producer for the last seven years.

Now, Dubow will be co-hosting the program heard on KQMV and on more than 50 stations through Premiere Networks.

Jubal Fresh, a.k.a. Jubal Flagg, has formally exited the program.

News of Jubal’s exit became known Friday, largely thanks to veteran Chicago media reporter Robert Feder.

However, there were signs upon Dubow’s promotion that things were awry at the program. Extended rebroadcasts began in the fall of 2019, and Jubal has been absent from the show since the start of 2020.

He joined Movin’ in 2011, after a stint at iHeartMedia’s KBKS-FM “Kiss 106.1” in Seattle. Now, Jubal and his wife have entered the podcast realm.

Among the affiliates of the Brooke & Jubal show is WSHE-FM 100.3 in Chicago, a Hubbard property.

According to Feder, the show is being rebranded Brooke and Jeffrey in the Morning, with executive producer Dubow now alongside Brooke Fox. Jose Bolanos will remain a “regular contributor.”

“We’re very excited about the new show,” Jeff England, Hubbard Radio Chicago market manager, said in a statement to Feder. “We strive to provide outstanding and engaging entertainment for our listeners. Brooke, Jeffrey and Jose will continue to deliver on that goal.”

Jubal’s Back In Seattle, Competing Against Hubbard By Adam Jacobson – July 27, 2020

On March 30, with COVID-19 pandemic concerns cratering media industry stocks and questions galore arising over the company’s acquisition of Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) from FOX, Sinclair Broadcast Group took its lumps on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market.

The company’s stock dipped to $12.25, a price last seen roughly eight years ago.

Nine months later, SBGI has rebounded so strongly that it is just pennies away from its year-to-date high, and is priced stronger than in the days before the virus’s arrival in the U.S.

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In November 2009, Chuck Francis, in his former role as the owner of Remerge Media, penned a Media Information Bureau column on how radio can capitalize as “an effective and affordable marketing vehicle.” It was written at the height of a severe economic recession that resulted in lost jobs, and extreme share depreciation for publicly traded radio broadcasting companies. 

Eleven years later, Francis is nearly six years in to his role as the founder and owner of Take & Bake Marketing — and his words still matter to an industry seeking to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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On Dec. 21, a collection of full-power and FM translator stations serving communities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are being transferred into an irrevocable trust.

The FCC has just given its blessings to the move.

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An agreement has been reached for one of the biggest digital retailers — and parent to a major OTT video service — to acquire Wondery, a podcast creator and producer.

The deal will see Wondery join Amazon Music, bringing the entity such content as “Dirty John,” “Dr. Death,” “Business Wars,” and “The Shrink Next Door.”

“When the deal closes, nothing will change for listeners, and they’ll continue to be able to access Wondery podcasts through a variety of providers,” Amazon said.

With Amazon Music, “Wondery will be able to provide even more high-quality, innovative content and continue their mission of bringing a world of entertainment and knowledge to their audiences, wherever they listen,” it added.

Amazon Music launched podcasts in September 2020.

“Together with Wondery, we hope to accelerate the growth and evolution of podcasts by bringing creators, hosts, and immersive experiences to even more listeners across the globe, just as we do with music,” Amazon said. “This is a pivotal moment to expand the Amazon Music offering beyond music as listener habits evolve. Our commitment to podcasts, our focus on high quality audio with the Amazon Music HD tier, and our recent partnership with Twitch to bring live streaming into the app, make Amazon Music a premiere destination for creators.”

Completion of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Terms of the deal have not been announced.

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He was a close friend to many at Skyview Networks. There, he worked with his son, Kade, a board operator.

Now, Skyview staff and many across the Arizona sports sphere are paying tribute to Andy Luberda, who died Tuesday of complications directly tied to the COVID-19 virus.

Luberda had been associated with Skyview since May 2012, and served as a play-by-play board operator responsible for operating F.A.S.T. Web Automation and tracking live reads during sporting events, including MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA broadcasts.

Concurrently, Luberda was a sports writer for Copper Basin News Publishers, covering high school sports.

This work came after a career pivot a decade ago.

“I am passionate about sports and motivated to work in sports media,” Luberda wrote on his LinkedIn profile. “After almost 16 years in the Medical Financial Management industry, I returned to school in 2010 to finish my college education. I expect to work as a writer/reporter, sports media relations, or in a sports information department.”

That goal came to fruition at Skyview and at Copper Basin.

According to AZPreps365, a high school sports blog in Arizona, Luberda was a fixture on the sidelines of Friday night high school football games in the Grand Canyon State.

“Andy’s love of sports and media attracted him to work full-time at Skyview Networks, and he quickly became a valued member of the operations department, running many professional play-by-play radio broadcasts, including his beloved Chicago Cubs,” Luberda’s longtime manager at Scottsdale-based Skyview Networks, Aaron Mellis, told the publication. “Andy’s warm heart and genuine care for his colleagues will continue to be a part of the Skyview Networks culture.”

The AZPreps365 blog also reports that Luberda was about to move to Kentucky to be with his wife, Kelli, who is need of a kidney transplant.

Skyview Networks had granted Luberda the go-ahead to work from Kentucky while the Luberdas waited for a kidney donor.

To help the family, Skyview Networks has organized a GoFundMe fundraiser “to help cover medical and memorial costs and to provide financial support for Kade during this difficult time.”

With a $5,000 goal, some $4,450 had been raised by 12:30pm Arizona Time on Wednesday (12/30).

Ed Stolz is widely known in the radio industry as the man who continues to seek to negate the sale of a radio station in Sacramento to Entercom Communications consummated nearly 25 years ago.

In July 2018, a new legal struggle surfaced, as Stolz was ordered by a federal court to pay ASCAP license fees neglected for several years at three of his four radio stations. That never happened, with the trio of FMs heading into receivership, Stolz ordered to jail for failing to pay a cent to ASCAP, and Stolz in late September attempting a “Hail Mary” to stave off the stations’ sale.

It didn’t work. A Form 314 filing transferring the stations to a non-secular broadcast ministry has been made with the Commission.

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On July 13,  paperwork was submitted to the FCC seeking its approval of the sale of a former Tribune Media property serving the Big Apple.

The buyer? A favored shared services partner of Nexstar Media Group.

The Commission gave its blessing to the deal, and on Wednesday (12/30) it formally closed.

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The individual hand-selected by President Trump to succeed Mike O’Rielly as a Republican FCC Commissioner has named an acting media advisor, acting wireless advisor and acting wireline advisor.

The moves come ahead of his first appearance as an FCC decision-maker, set for January 13.

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There is no denying that 2020 has been a tough year. At the intersection of compounded crises, our communities looked to broadcast TV and radio stations to provide critical updates, reports and resources.

“While 2020 challenged us, you and your team demonstrated the importance of local broadcasting and what it means to give back,” the NAB says.

As this year concludes, the NAB Leadership Foundation is asking you to telling your station’s story during the 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards.

“We encourage you to take this time to reflect on your station’s community service efforts and how you kept your communities safe, heard and informed,” the NAB says.

The 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards call for entries will open in early January.

What you’ll need for your application:

• Description explaining how your campaign or project impacted your local community
• A five-minute video (for television stations) or audio (for radio stations) file showcasing the impact you made
• Entry fee of $150 for each entry you submit (stations can submit more than one entry)

The 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards will be a televised program airing in early summer.

It’s certainly been a bumpy year for Dish when it comes to preventing its customers, by law, from receiving broadcast TV stations in the absence of a fresh retransmission consent agreement.

Just hours before Santa Claus’ COVID-19 clearance to arrive in homes across the globe, it reached a new carriage agreement with Nexstar Media Group, ending three weeks and one day of a “blackout” of every Nexstar-owned free-to-air station — and the WGN America cable network — on Dish.

This followed the Sunday, Dec. 14, announcement that after nearly five months without a carriage deal, Cox Media Group finally signed a new agreement with Dish.

And, it came in a year that saw Dish — over Labor Day weekend — end a five-week retrans impasse with The E.W. Scripps Co. that led to a “blackout” on Dish.

Add to the mix a $210 million settlement of a telemarketing lawsuit brought against the direct broadcast satellite services provider by a host of states, reached in early December.

With 2021 just two days away, what more could Dish deal with as its stock struggles to overcome a five-year low?

Just ask the owners of a trio of TV stations that have taken the lead in the rollout of NEXTGEN TV and ATSC 3.0.

In a carefully worded press release distributed Tuesday evening, Dish accused Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting of taking its stations away from Dish customers, “ignoring DISH’s calls for a contract extension this holiday season.”

Now, WRAL-5 and WRAZ-50, the NBC and FOX affiliates in Raleigh-Durham, respectively, are effectively blocked from Dish subscribers across the Triangle region of North Carolina. Unaffiliated WILM-10 in Wilmington, N.C., has also been blocked from Dish subscribers.

With typical bravado, Dish put the blame on a TV station owner.

“We don’t understand why Capitol Broadcasting has chosen to put our customers in the middle of these negotiations,” said Melisa Boddie, Dish’s Programming Vice President. “We offered an extension to keep these stations up for customers while negotiations continued, but Capitol never responded. Instead, they ignored our offer and forced a blackout of three North Carolina TV stations.”

Dish says it remains open to working with Capitol Broadcasting “to reach a fair, long-term deal and hopes to restore these channels to customers soon.”

But the definition of “fair” greatly varies between the MVPD and the free-to-air TV station owner.

As WRAL News Director Rick Gall sees it, “After weeks of negotiations, Dish and Capitol have not come to terms on a new contract.”

As such, Capitol’s trio of stations faded to black on Dish as of 5pm, December 29.

And, Capitol President/COO Jimmy Goodmon says, “WRAL and FOX50 are not pushing for things that are unreasonable. We are asking to be paid market rate for our programming so we can pay the affiliation fees required by NBC and FOX. This isn’t about greed; it’s about survival for our small, locally owned media company. Now, more than ever, local television news and original programming is a critical service to our community.”

Goodmon and his WRAL & WRAZ have been essential wheels in the voluntary rollout of the next-generation broadcast TV standard, powered by ATSC 3.0 technology. WRAL is one of the first stations to broadcast in ATSC 3.0, launching an experimental station in June 2016. In 2014, it became the first local broadcast station to produce programming in the 4K Ultra High Definition format. Six years earlier, at the 2008 NAB Show in Las Vegas, WRAL-5 deployed Harmonic Inc.‘s digital video solutions were deployed for the first time, used to provide real-time broadcast delivery of four simultaneous basketball games in 1080i HD format to a regional cable operator during the recent NCAA National Collegiate Basketball Tournament

And, in 2009, Capitol Broadcasting worked with the City of Raleigh on the nation’s first public deployment of broadcast DTV to mobile devices. The venture delivered real-time digital television and interactive data to Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses serving passengers throughout the capital city.

WRAL also took center stage in February 2018 by gathering hundreds to watch live action of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games from PyeongChang, South Korea, as delivered in the “next gen” ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard that TV stations can now voluntarily roll out, with 4K UHD video and other heralded advances put to the test in partnership with NBC Universal and the NAB. The event also included the inaugural over-the-air broadcast of the new Dolby AC4 format, using LDM (Layer Division Multiplexing) technology, along with other new interactive applications designed to enhance the broadcast TV experience for viewers.

In addition to its TV holdings, Capitol owns and operates WRAL-FM “Mix 101.5,” WCMC-FM “WRAL SportsFan 99.9,” WDNC-AM “ESPN Triangle 620,” WCLY-AM 1550 “The Ticket,” and Wolfpack Sports Properties (a joint venture with Learfield) in Raleigh; WILM-LD 10 and Sunrise Broadcasting in Wilmington, N.C.; the Durham Bulls Baseball Club, Bull City Hospitality and Bull Durham Beer Co., and the American Underground startup hub in Durham; and real estate interests including the American Tobacco Historic District in Durham, Rocky Mount Mills in Rocky Mount and Professional Builders Supply (an equity partnership) in Morrisville, N.C.

News of another retrans battle with a broadcast TV company likely won’t please Dish investors. It finished Tuesday’s trading at $31.70, down 23 cents from Monday, and has been struggling to a five-year low of $24.81 seen on October 28. A rebound to $37.87 was seen on December 3, giving Dish a six-month high for its shares. By December 22, erosion to $28.88 was seen.

Dish’s year-to-date high is $41.29, seen in mid-February.

But, that’s a far cry from where Dish regularly was prior to February 2018, as a growth spurt for DISH suddenly stopped in July 2017. Then, DISH was priced at just over $64 per share. In Q1 2015, prices topped $70 per share.

Today, Dish investors hope the stock price can reach at least half of that value as the company enters its fourth battle with a broadcast TV station owner over a retrans deal.

Snapchat’s purpose on smartphones may still be questioned by some, despite Radio’s use of its social media platform to connect with listeners. Yet, there’s no question that Snapchat’s parent company has had one of the hottest stocks on the NYSE since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Tuesday’s close, it is more than $42 per share above its March 11 level.

At the closing bell, SNAP was priced at $51.23, up 6.2% from Monday.

With a recent high of $53.25, seen December 17, Snap Inc. is on a roll.

And, it came even as Election Day jitters put a sputter to SNAP’s meteoric rise in 2020.

As the novel coronavirus became a big threat on March 11, SNAP shares were valued at $8.91.

Prior to that, SNAP had reached the $18.38 level at the start of 2020, and came off a strong 2019 that began with shares in the mid-$6 range.

Kiss that growth goodbye.

SNAP is certainly crackling. Now, it’s ready to perhaps pop.

Goldman Sachs has raised its target price on the issue to $70 per share, with analyst Heath Terry predicting Snap Inc. will beat its own Q4 2020 guidance.

The $70 target is a 45% premium to Monday’s close.

 

On October 19, a broker release obtained by RBR+TVBR revealed that Ramar Communications had agreed to sell The CW Network affiliate in Lubbock, along with two low-power facilities, to Gray Television.

The deal required a closer look by the FCC’s Media Bureau. And, it has just given its approval to the deal brokered by Kalil & Co. VP Fred Kalil, giving it a common ownership waiver for the Texas market.

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The latest broadcast TV retransmission consent fee impasse appears to be brewing — this time in the Keystone State and in New England communities where Verizon Fios customers have access to cable television packages.

Verizon has started to notify its customers that they may lose “some channels” in the coming days, because of “unreasonable demands” by the stations’ owner.

That would be Hearst Television.

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As RBR+TVBR first reported via Twitter on December 23, the FCC, as expected, gave the green light — with agreed-to conditions — to Searchlight III UTD and ForgeLight‘s acquisition of a majority stake of Univision Holdings.

This set the wheels in motion on reaching a closing date before the end of 2020, as originally envisioned.

On Tuesday afternoon, the transaction was formally consummated.

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In July 2010, Curtis Media Group acquired a heritage 5kw Class B with 2 daytime and 4 nighttime towers that for much of the 1960s and 1970s offered a high-energy Top 40 presentation.

The station had been a Radio Disney O&O, taken silent in January of that year.

In recent years, an FM translator was added, and Sports Talk programming could be found. Now, the company led by Don Curtis is parting ways with the Triad duo.

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The lone radio stations within a 30-mile radius of a small Mitchell County, Tex., town have just been sold.

It’s an “Extreme” transaction — one that involves the owner of a Tejano station serving the Abilene market and the seller, Linda Baum, who owned the station with her late husband, Jim Baum (pictured, at left).

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SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — The COVID-19 health crisis has fundamentally impacted the lifestyles and routines of all consumers. Shelter-in-place orders are back in Southern California, along with a new 10-day quarantine for any out-of-area visitors to Los Angeles County. Work-at-home mandates are largely intact nine months later. This, a Parks Research/Applicaster study shows, has driven in-home video consumption to unprecedented levels.

Their research found that nearly 3 in 10 U.S. broadband households saw a usage increase of online video services. Furthermore, nearly 1 in 5 reported an increased use of pay-TV services.

Can this momentum continue into 2021?

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