Industry News

Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to announce that it will be co-presenting this year’s annual Forecast conference with Radio Ink.

Both publications are owned by Streamline Publishing.

In making the announcement, EVP/Publisher Deborah Parenti explained the reasons that prompted enhancing this year’s agenda.

“The unique challenges faced over the past year have demonstrated the importance of both radio and television broadcasters to local communities as well as the leadership they have provided in leading many of the national conversations that have taken center stage during this time,” Parenti said. “As legacy media, both also share commonality in areas of advertising revenue, investment capital, and a constantly changing competitive landscape filled with digital players and streaming services. The pending Supreme Court decision on cross ownership and other critical regulatory issues are also focuses of shared interest. As such, we believe the time is ripe to examine those mutual concerns and explore how broadcasting’s combined assets can encourage and enhance industry growth over the coming years.”

Forecast 2022 will be presented on November 16, 2021 at the Harvard Club in New York City.

This will be the 19th year for the annual event that gathers the smartest minds in broadcast and advertising to forecast trends, expectations, and revenues for the coming year. The prestigious conference is capped by the traditional executive cocktail reception in Harvard Hall, this year honoring the Top 40 radio and the Top 15 broadcast television leaders.

FOR FULL DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

NAB Show Premiere, a special online event, will convene top brands in media and entertainment and offer exclusive educational content on NAB Amplify, April 12-23. Program highlights include new product launches, award presentations and networking opportunities.

NAB Show will take place in person October 9-13, 2021 in Las Vegas.

“NAB Show Premiere is strategically timed to bring the media and entertainment community together in April when we would normally be gathering in Las Vegas,” NAB EVP of Conventions and Business Operations Chris Brown said. “The content is indicative of our commitment to connecting the NAB Show community year-round and provides a critical touch point for companies to roll out new products.”

Sony, Panasonic and Grass Valley are among the featured companies scheduled to announce new products and provide demonstrations beginning April 19.

Featured content includes an executive perspective on the state of streaming, a look back at one year of broadcasting amidst a pandemic, tech deep dives on HD Radio and edge computing, and curated networking opportunities. Additionally, the editors behind Zack Snyder’s Justice League will lead a panel discussion on their creative process.

Post | Production World Online, produced in partnership with Future Media Conferences, is also taking place in April, 10–14. The program, currently in its 18th year, aims to deliver best-in-class training for creative professionals and will complement NAB Show Premiere with live, interactive sessions.

The NAB will present the TV Chairman’s Award and the Crystal Radio Awards during NAB Show Premiere.

Participants must have or create an NAB Amplify account to access NAB Show Premiere.

Still not convinced that the leadership team at TEGNA Inc. is delivering the best results for all of its shareholders?

You may want to take note of the increase in the company’s quarterly dividend its Board of Directors just approved.

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The final days of the first quarter of 2021 are upon us. For auto dealer associations, that means the push is on to attract potential customers.

It’s a welcome sign, as it marks the first time in nearly a year under the pandemic that multiple automotive brands are actively using Spot TV.

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He served from 2016-2018 as Sr. VP of Content and Programming for Fusion, an English-language MVPD-distributed network owned and operated by Univision Communications.

Now, he’s being called on by The E.W. Scripps Co. to lead its Washington Bureau’s national investigation team as Deputy Bureau Chief.

Taking the newly created role is Keith Summa. According to Scripps, he’ll “chart the editorial strategy and creative vision for the bureau’s investigative journalism while leading its talented team of reporters, producers and photojournalists.”

Summa also will be responsible for helping to direct the bureau’s strategic planning and operations. He reports to Bureau Chief Ellen Weiss.

The bureau produces documentary-style investigative stories in support of Scripps’ 61 local TV stations and its Scripps Networks, including Newsy. It also produces original, investigative serialized podcasts.

“Scripps is a company uniquely committed to journalistic excellence and the Scripps Washington Bureau is a center of that excellence,” said Summa, who led the CBS News Investigative Unit before joining Fusion. “So I’m eager to work with the bureau’s extremely talented team of journalists and producers, as well as the leadership of the Local Media and Scripps Networks divisions, to extend the bureau’s high-impact reporting across the company and across new and emerging television platforms.”

Before joining CBS News, Summa spent 15 years as a producer and writer for ABC News and Peter Jennings Productions.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report is out, and it shows a top job-seeker website is tops with respect to the number of spots played at radio stations tracked by the iHeartMedia-owned service for the week ending March 29.

That’s Indeed, which beats out Progressive for the No. 1 slot.

Other activity of note includes continued action from Babbel, GEICO, ZipRecruiter and Allstate, while iHeart busily promotes itself across its own radio stations.

From Ellensburg to Walla Walla, Washington, and down to Pendleton, Oregon, Hispanavisión has established itself over three decades as a home for Spanish-language television content in an area that’s long attracted first-generation immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

Today, EstrellaTV is a “marquee” network within the Hispanavisión operation, which earlier this month struck a local TV measurement services agreement with Nielsen. While that agreement covers two full-power TV stations, Hispanavisión is now expanding with the purchase of low-power facility.

The seller? It’s HC2 Holdings.

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Travel between the city of Sarasota, in the heart of Florida’s Suncoast region, south to Venice, and you’ll find a rarity — a noncommercial radio station that in the 3pm hour today doubled up on classic Diana Ross tunes. It’s home base is a Class D AM with a pair of translators.

Now, WSRQ is set to expand its coverage area.

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In a move that could present more questions than answers, Estrella Media has added a full-power TV station serving the entire San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose TV market to the EstrellaTV coverage map.

The station? A HC2-owned facility that has been home to the company’s very own Spanish-language television network, Azteca América. 

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Head’s up, broadcast TV station owners: Comscore has scored an exclusive agreement with a full-service advertising agency.

This means Comscore currency will be the lone source of audience consumption data used by this ad shop across 20 markets. And, it includes Comscore’s advanced automotive audiences overlay in the South and Southwest.

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