Industry News

The latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.fm, expands on the Radio + Television Business Report’s coverage on October 6 of how a radio or television company should act when one of its high-profile employees becomes the subject of allegations that not only harm the individual, but could also damage the station they are associated with. The topic is today a big one, largely due to claims offered by three women who once worked with a Chicago-based morning show host employed by Hubbard Broadcasting. One of the women is a former co-host who exited in December 2020. Allegations are just that, claims. But, a radio or TV station can’t just sit there while its employee is tarnished through social media and, quite frankly, the crosstown linear media competition. What’s the first best act a station’s management should take? Scott McIntyre, a partner and the employment practice leader at the law firm of BakerHostetler, joins us from its Cincinnati office to answer this and other timely questions in an interview with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Scott McIntyre, BakerHostetler” on Spreaker.

Nielsen, which offers streaming content and ad measurement in its role as the nation’s dominant ratings and consumer data supplier, is congregating its streaming measurement tools under a single platform.

This, Nielsen explains, will include both ad-supported and subscription-based service models across content, ads and platforms.

Nielsen explains that its renewed focus on “comprehensive streaming measurement” comes at a moment when U.S. consumers now spend over a quarter of their total TV time engaging with this type of content.

“By combining our streaming solutions under one banner, Nielsen is providing the industry with a single destination to understand streaming audiences and how they are engaging with content, allowing media buyers and sellers to make the best decisions around ad strategies,” said Deirdre Thomas, Nielsen’s Managing Director of U.S. Audience Measurement Product Strategy. “Content creators, platforms, studios and advertisers will have an unprecedented view of who is streaming, what they’re watching, which platforms consumers are gravitating to and how much time they are spending with streaming content.”

The relaunch results in the rebrand of two streaming measurement platforms “to better align with its transition to Nielsen ONE,” the company’s cross-media product. In addition, Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings “will provide the most comprehensive view of streaming activity across connected TV (CTV), computer, mobile and tablet,” Nielsen claims.

• Streaming Video Ratings will now be referred to as Nielsen Streaming Platform Ratings. Nielsen’s Streaming Platform ratings will still provide a macro view of streaming activity across major subscription and ad-supported streaming services. It was launched in January 2021.

• Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings will be known now as Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings. Launched in 2017, Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings is used by seven of the top 10 TV network groups and 14 of the top agencies, the company says.

Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) will continue to deliver audience measurement for streaming ads on CTV devices.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in streaming throughout the past year — with ad-supported content, in particular, generating incredible growth,” said Iván Markman, Chief Business Officer of Yahoo.

This explains why the heritage online brand has expanded its partnership with FOX Entertainment’s ad-supported Video-on-Demand (AVOD) service known as Tubi.

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Laura Gore Ross, Bruce Ramer

The board of directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has re-elected current Chair Bruce Ramer and Vice Chair Laura Gore Ross to one-year terms.

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Ramer has a background Southern California and entertainment/media law. He has also been on the board of KCET(TV) along with numerous boards at the USC Annenberg School of Communications.

Ross is a retired lawyer from New York who has also served on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post CPB Re-Elects Ramer and Gore appeared first on Radio World.

Between Utica and Albany, N.Y., along the Erie Canal is the city of Amsterdam.

Here, an AM radio station with an FM translator are being spun. The buyer: THNK Think Tank Media.

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Astute Wall Street watchers on Tuesday may have wondered what, exactly, was going on at Emmis Communications.

It appeared that Emmis’ stock, traded on the OTC Pink Sheet, had suddenly plummeted in value. On Wednesday (10/6), there was no movement.

What’s the story?

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According to section “47 U.S. Code § 331” of the Communications Act, the Rules that the Federal Communications Commission enforces, it is the policy of the FCC to allocate channels for VHF commercial television broadcasting “in a manner which ensures that not less than one such channel shall be allocated to each state, if technically feasible.”

But, does that language require that station to focus on content for that state’s viewers?

A group of Capitol Hill Democrats say yes, and they want to use the language to help craft legislation that would force a Secaucus, N.J.-licensed station owned today by FOX to turn its attention away from the Big Apple and focus instead on the Garden State.

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The organization that represents some 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals has reached a tentative three-year agreement for a new contract with Telemundo.

It’s positive news for unionized employees, and comes four years after a trio of unfair labor practice charges filed against the NBCUniversal-owned Hispanic television network on behalf of certain telenovela actors by the labor union were settled.

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Happy Diwali … and earnings release day, Gray Television investors.

The broadcast TV station owner has finalized the date and time for the distribution of its Q3 2021 fiscal report card.

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As of October 25, the FOX brand won’t be known for solely news, sports, business news, and for reality programming including The Masked Singer.

It’s a new entrant in the growing desire to offer consumers more coverage of a subject largely free of political bias concerns — the weather.

Introducing FOX Weather, which will use FOXWeather.com and an app available via download from the Apple App Store and for Android-based phones, too.

“You’ll be able to read all the awesome web stories we’ve been writing over the past several months … Excited for everyone to see!,” Scott Sistek, a meteorologist at FOX TV Stations-owned KCPQ-13 in Seattle, Tweeted on Wednesday morning. 

The new service marks FOX News Media’s eighth platform under the leadership of CEO Suzanne Scott, as its original linear FOX News Channel network celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.

Who can viewers expect to see when they log on to FOX Weather? WABC-7 meteorologist Amy Freeze has joined FOX Weather as an anchor; her departure comes after the notable exit of Bill Evans from WABC-7 in late 2019.

FOX News Media President Sharri Berg said, “We have been working towards this moment for the last nine months and are thrilled to debut FOX Weather with our talented and innovative team, including Amy Freeze whose versatility and decades of experience are a great addition.”

A free service, FOX Weather will also be available on internet-connected TVs via FOX NOW, the FOX News app, and Tubi.