Radio+Television Business Report

The Walt Disney Company announced late Thursday that it would raise its monthly subscription fee for Disney+, its OTT service, to $7.99 per month as of March 2021.

It then tripled its subscriber projections for 2024.

Investors responded in resounding fashion, with DIS soaring by nearly 14% in the final hour of trading Friday on the NYSE.

As of 3:21pm Eastern, Disney shares were trading at $175.37, up roughly 13.3%.  A $179.39 session high was logged in midday trading, as volume soared past 78.2 million shares with 40 minutes left in the trading day.

Average volume for Disney is 9.68 million shares.

The growth for DIS is exceptional, as shares were at $112.64 six months ago and were at $93.53 on March 11.

With today’s activity, Disney stock will finish at an all-time high.

With just under three weeks remaining in 2020 and so many counting down to a new year, now is the time to finalize the broadcast, online and social coverage of New Year’s Eve events being delivered from Times Square in New York.

While the public will not be allowed to partake in the Midtown Manhattan festivities this year due to the ongoing pandemic, there will be a televised ceremony. And, live feeds at no charge are again available.

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RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION

In the Jacobson household, mornings begin with a few rituals. Among them is a morning meditation, which is also the case for Streamline Publishing Chairman Eric Rhoads.

On Dec. 11, Mrs. Jacobson deviated from the regular selection of morning meditations saved on the iPhone by trying out a selection from a new app downloaded Thursday evening — Ten Percent Happier. How did she learn about the app? Entertainer Sara Bareilles shared it on her Instagram feed.

Welcome to the new paradigm of advertising for the 2020s. Is this bad news for radio?

Not at all, and here’s why.

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Travel east of Atlanta, and you’ll reach Morgan County, and the small town of Madison, its county seat.

Here, a Class D AM offering religious programming is being spun.

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On December 2, the nation’s No. 1 broadcast TV station owner saw its broadcast TV stations and its recently acquired WGN America cable network blocked from Dish subscribers, as negotiations reached a stalemate over a new retransmission consent deal.

As of Friday afternoon (12/11), a resolution was not expected soon. That said, Nexstar Media Group has gained new clearance for WGN America.

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The suburban Detroit-based mobile strategy and development company led by COO Bob Kernen is releasing what it says is the first app designed for radio with voice activation.

According to jacapps, consumers can now open station apps with just a voice command. In an environment where users have on average 32 apps on their phone, this technological advance makes it easier for listeners to find their favorite apps.

“From Echo and Google Home to our cars and even our TV remotes, more and more devices are controlled with our voices,” said Kernen, “It just made sense to enable users to open our clients’ apps using Siri and Google Assistant.”

Lisa Waters, Digital Media Director for Local Media San Diego, participated in beta testing of V5 for one of her stations, KFBG-FM 100.7, formerly KFMB-FM.

“As soon as you fire-up the updated app, you get an immediate sense of the station personality because of the inclusion of more spot-graphics from our radio station’s website,” she says. “I asked Siri to ‘PLAY BIG FM’ when I was driving the other day, and it opened the app and started playing the stream though my car speakers flawlessly. It’s one of those features that you don’t know you need until you have it.”

The platform continues to support connected car platforms including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and push notifications.

The platform also continues to have a complete location guide and directory option, which can help radio stations support and generate revenue from local businesses.

— RBR+TVBR West Coast Bureau, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Starting this week, viewers in the nation’s 14th largest TV market — Detroit — get a taste of the future as five local TV stations have banded together to launch NEXTGEN TV in Detroit.

This market is vitally important for ATSC 3.0’s data capabilities, as automotive executives and production facilities can learn first-hand of how the connected car can benefit.

Are companies such as Ford and General Motors aware of what NEXTGEN TV can provide? Yes, says Anne Schelle, the Managing Director of Pearl TV, who speaks exclusively with Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.
Listen to “RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast: Anne Schelle” on Spreaker.

It’s presently airing an all-Christmas format, but with country music artists.

Soon, it will be devoting all of its musical choices to Jesus Christ and his teachings.

A Class B1 FM serving Canton, Illinois, with coverage of much of Peoria, has just become the latest acquisition for Educational Media Foundation.

The parent of the KLOVE and Air1 noncomm Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) networks is agreeing to purchase WCDD-FM 107.9 in Canton, Ill.

The seller is Illiana Communications, which is earning $170,000 from the divestment. An $8,500 deposit has been made by EMF.

The deal does not include the tower for WCDD. As such, EMF will lease it from Illiana. Terms call for monthly rent of $500, starting on the first anniversary of the lease, enacted at closing. The monthly rent is payable for the following 47 months. When that agreement ends, a new one is exercisable at a 10% increase in value.

The transaction does include the following:

Entering the Peoria area is likely one of many objectives for EMF as it seeks national coverage. The closest station airing KLOVE to Canton, Ill., is WLKU-FM 98.9 in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa.

“Radio is one of the best performing media to help brands recover from a recession.”

Really? For broadcasters across Great Britain, that seems to be the case, new research from Ebiquity indicates. What learning lessons are there for U.S. radio broadcasting companies that can’t seem to propel themselves out of the COVID-19 bog?

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FCC has issued a Report and Order updating its rules to promote the introduction of ATSC 3.0-enabled innovative ancillary and supplementary broadcast services, a.k.a Broadcast Internet.

The positive response from key lobbying groups in Washington, D.C., was immediate, and positive.

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For Nielsen Holdings, Wednesday was “Investor Day.”

It was also the day the company formally unveiled the “new Nielsen,” with a “detailed view of its focused growth strategy and medium-term financial framework” on display.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yes, there was an agenda. But there stories about Buffalo and a lemonade stand, too, and smiles as the FCC’s December Open Meeting entered its first 15 minutes on Zoom.

It’s the end of an era, and the meeting is the last for one of its Republican Commissioners — with its Chairman’s goodbye scheduled for January 13, 2021.

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CAMARILLO, CALIF. — It is hardly a secret that a large segment of the Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic population is conservative and greatly tied to Christian values. As such, serving this group of consumers with in-language news and information could be of some value to the right media company.

Salem Media Group believes it is the entity to bring such an endeavor to its successful fulfillment.

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NBCUniversal is expanding digital inventory and audience targeting capabilities to local marketers across the nation by bringing its recently launched NBC Spot On platform under the NBCUniversal One Platform trading model.

This, the Comcast unit says, is the next way it is scaling its offerings, opening up more of its audiences and assets to even out the playing field for all marketers on a global level.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — He was once the licensee of radio station in Hood River, Ore.

Then, he became nationally known as the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for which he served as Republican Leader since January 2019.

On Wednesday, Greg Walden, who opted not to seek re-election, delivered his farewell remarks on the House Floor. He’s retiring from more than 30 years of public service — including 22 in Congress.

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ST. LOUIS PARK, MINN. — MPR News has been selected as a host newsroom with Report for America, a national service reporting program.

Report for America places talented emerging journalists in newsrooms across the country to meet an identified gap in local coverage.

MPR News applied to be a Report for America host newsroom with the goal of expanding coverage and building stronger relationships with Minnesota’s growing Latino communities.

The assigned corps member’s work will include extensive travel around the state. The journalist will focus on telling solutions-related stories that offer new perspectives on immigration and highlight people within the Latino community.

“We’re honored to have been selected to host a journalist in this role,” said Mike Mulcahy, interim managing editor of MPR News. “This reporter will help expand our coverage of an important community that has become a major part of Minnesota’s neighborhoods and economy. We’re also looking forward to welcoming a new colleague to MPR News and helping them grow in their career as a journalist.”

The Report for America corps member assigned to MPR News will be announced in April and will begin reporting in June 2021. The application period for the Report for America corps is open now through Jan. 31. The journalist assigned to MPR News will be selected from a pool of highly competitive candidates as part of the national competition.

Minnesota Public Radio is seeking donor support to go towards this project. Report for America encourages local philanthropy to support journalism by matching donations to this project up to $25,000.

Megyn Kelly became a household name as a FOX News journalist. Today, she’s the host of the podcast The Megyn Kelly Show.

The well-known journalist, attorney, and best-selling author was just one of the highlights for the concluding day of Radio’s Financial Summit: FORECAST 2021 LIVE, as Kelly participated in an engaging conversation sponsored by Spanish Broadcasting System with Juliet Huddy, co-host of Curtis & Juliet on Red Apple Media’s WABC-AM in New York.

Didn’t get a chance to enjoy FORECAST 2021 LIVE? You can enjoy EVERY session on-demand with your registration today! Simply click HERE for access.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — What do the father of a former FCC Commissioner and interim Chairman, a current FCC Commissioner, and a now-retired highly esteemed communications law of counsel for Foster Garvey have in common?

All are “champions of digital equality,” and were honored Wednesday for their efforts by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council.

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Two days ago, Beasley Media Group revealed that its Director of Sales for its cluster stations in New England’s biggest market was rising to the corporate level position of VP/Sales for the entire radio broadcasting company.

On Wednesday, Tina Murley’s successor was revealed.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — She founded the company presently known as Urban One and run by her son, Alfred Liggins III.

On Tuesday, Cathy Hughes was recognized for her 40 years of service to African American media consumers on Capitol Hill.

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