Radio+Television Business Report

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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Subscription-free sports betting audio content is poised to reach more listeners on more devices.

That’s the promise VSiN and iHeartMedia are sharing, as the nation’s No. 1 audio media company has expanded its partnership with the Las Vegas-based sports information network dedicated to bettors and wagering statistics.

“Building on our success with podcasting and betcasting partnerships, VSiN will move its dedicated streaming radio station to iHeartRadio beginning on January 1,” iHeart and VSiN said in a joint release.

That will happen “just as the ball drops” at Midnight Eastern.

“Until then, the network will continue to air as a subscription service of SiriusXM, which has been VSiN’s live audio home since February 2017, more than 15 months before the Supreme Court ruling allowing states to legalize sports betting,” the companies said.

As of today, VSiN has offered multiple sports betting podcasts available for download on all podcasting platforms via the iHeart Podcast Network.

The agreement does not impact the select programming from VSiN that is syndicated for use on terrestrial radio stations across the U.S. via The Bet R Network. In its home market of Las Vegas, VSiN’s affiliate is Lotus Communications-owned KRLV-AM 920.

“We’re thrilled to build on the success we’ve had with iHeart on the podcasting and betcasting front to announce an expanded partnership that will help us offer a better product to a broader audience for free,” said Brian Musburger, founder and CEO of VSiN.

He was also upfront about the biggest concern regarding its dedicated audio channel’s presence on Sirius XM.

“We believe that removing the subscription hurdle on audio platforms will launch the critical next chapter for us on a technologically ubiquitous platform and set us up for 24/7 live programming in the very near term,” he said. “This not only allows VSiN to get to more listeners on more devices but also to capture more advertising revenue as legalized sports betting continues its rapid spread across the U.S.”

The new, expanded deal also sees iHeartRadio and VSiN collaborating on the development of new upcoming sports betting podcasts, while a “betcasting” product focused on English Premier League football (soccer) offers wagering content plus one live match to listeners each week.

As RBR+TVBR first reported on Monday (12/29), a $200 million “blank check” company with a forthcoming stock to be traded on the Nasdaq market will see two key figures at Emmis Communications in lead roles. Its board includes three others — an ex-Indianapolis mayor, an individual tied with Shamrock Communications in the early 1990s, and a “retired” ESPN Audio chief.

The SPAC, Monument Circle, seeks to merge with a media company focused on sports gaming news and information and content focused on the bettor, although investment in broader areas is possible. With so much attention on audio programming devoted to sports fans who wager on teams and their respective players, RBR+TVBR revisits a recent InFOCUS Podcast interview with Bill Adee.

Adee is the Principal and COO of VSiN, formally known as the Vegas Sports Information Network. It’s grown quickly since the spring of 2017, when Adee joined the Musbergers to launch VSiN, and he shares the latest on how things continue to roll — even through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Listen to “RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast: Bill Adee, VSiN” on Spreaker.

Across December, stories of discord and disconnect dominated the headlines, as disgruntled MVPD customers were left to bemoan the loss of local TV stations due to two big retransmission consent fee impasses.

As 2020 comes to a close, Gray Television can rejoice in its signing of a carriage agreement with the fifth-largest cable TV services provider in the U.S.

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With a handful of exceptions, including Cumulus Media, radio and TV stocks were largely on the rise as the final trading week of 2020 kicked off on Monday.

Among the gainers: Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Dish, which just resolved its retransmission consent impasse with Nexstar Media Group.

RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION

Travel around Manchester, England, and you’ll hear radio stations with the same branding — Radio X, Capital, Heart, Smooth Radio, and Greatest Hits Radio — as other stations across Great Britain.

In Australia, the Nova and KIIS brands can be found in both Melbourne and Sydney.

Now, Canada is swiftly becoming a nation where national branding of radio stations, while retaining their unique program offerings, is being employed to help attract more advertising.

Interestingly, it hasn’t exactly happened in the U.S. — yet.

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In just days, the much-anticipated — and heavily marketed — discovery + OTT platform bows. How is Discovery telling consumers about its pending debut? Ironically, it is using cable TV to push viewers away from MVPDs and toward its soon-to-debut streaming service.

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At Spot TV, GEICO is most certainly one of the stalwarts with respect to ad activity by commercial count.

Indeed, it is No. 2 for the week ending December 27. But, there’s a big new No. 1, and it is a germ-fighting brand.

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RBR+TVBR EXCLUSIVE

Gene Loving has enjoyed a remarkable career in radio broadcasting. In the 1960s, his syndicated interviews with The Beatles could be heard on stations across the U.S., as he attracted big audiences for his daily radio program at WGH-AM 1310 in Norfolk.

In 1991, he co-founded the original Max Media Properties, and its current incarnation dates to 2001, when Loving teamed with local TV sales veteran John Trinder and the late Chuck McFadden — a former GM of WTVZ-TV in Norfolk — to build a company that today includes radio stations in the Tidewater region, including WGH.

Now, the ownership partners are shifting at Max, with Loving gaining a greater stake in the company.

It’s thanks, in part, to the departure of a key institutional investor.

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It was a largely expected deal. Still, the Media Bureau of the FCC used the time-honored tactic of burying big news before a major holiday to tell the world of its decision.

It has given its OK to a transaction that will see a global private investment firm and a related media-focused operating and investment company take majority ownership interest in the biggest multimedia company targeting U.S. Hispanics.

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A radio industry notable has moved forward in forming a “SPAC” focused on sports media. It is an effort sparked by the man who once owned the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club.

But, it also involves the man who serves as President/COO of the company this industry leader founded in 1979, and three board members.

Among those board members: the former head of ESPN Audio, Traug Keller.

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For those who were raised in Upstate New York, SPAC is shorthand for a popular outdoor concert venue in Saratoga Springs. On Wall Street, a “SPAC” is shorthand for a “Special Purpose Acquisition Company” — like the one Cumulus Media co-founder Lew Dickey Jr. created for an early 2019 merger with international digital music streaming platform Akazoo.

Now, another radio industry notable of the last 25 years has moved forward in forming a “SPAC” focused on sports media. It is an effort sparked by the man who once owned the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club.

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For years, it was safe to say that GEICO was the biggest user of broadcast and cable to reach consumers, given their dominance at spot radio, spot cable and spot TV according to Media Monitors. That’s not true today, as one of its auto insurance competitors has surged to the top of the latest Spot Radio report.

As shown below, State Farm is the big leader at Spot Radio, and accounts for a stunning 94,230 spot plays.

By comparison, GEICO is ranked No. 8 for the week ending December 27, with some 45,757 spot plays detected. That puts GEICO slightly below Progressive in an ever-competitive brand category.

While State Farm is firmly ensconced at the top, Bank of America and Merrill are again major users of spot radio, as is Pfizer — the maker of one of two approved COVID-19 vaccines.

An AM/FM combo serving Minot, N.D., has been involuntary placed into an estate administered by Virginia-based attorney Todd Steiner, following the recent death of the stations’ licensee.

The estate is being led by the deceased owner’s son, who continues to manage business affairs of the properties.

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A Class B AM licensed to Salt Lake City, and an unbuilt FM translator at 94.5 MHz in Draper, Utah, are among the assets that have been licensed to Vic Michael. He’s been trading translators across Hawaii and the Southwestern U.S. over the last several months, and Michael is at it again.

This time, it sees his Utah LMA partner converting its operation to a purchase.

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