Radio+Television Business Report

With the spectrum repack fully in the rearview mirror, Dielectric has promoted its TV Antenna Manufacturing Manager to Director of RF Systems and Components.

The new role is part of the company’s shift in strategy to better serve broadcasters in the post-repack world.

Earning the promotion is Mike Spugnardi, who applied his extensive Dielectric experience
to lead all strategic repack initiatives around inventory control, production planning and
maximizing capacity.

“His successful strategy ensured that more than 1,000 repack customers were transitioned to new channel assignments within very tight timelines,” Dielectric says.

Now, Spugnardi is poised to bring that same strategic focus to the company’s RF Systems
and Components division. This includes new product designs that reflect changing
customer needs in today’s reduced UHF spectrum in the United States, as well as making
products more efficient for international TV and radio customers.

“Mike’s emphasis on the finer details was a primary reason we were so well-prepared for
repack, which was arguably the busiest period of Dielectric’s nearly 80 years of existence,”
said Cory Edwards, Director of OEM, Distributor and Southeast Asia Sales at Dielectric. “He is now leading the charge with an emphasis on new products and existing product redesigns, particularly around our UHF TV filters.”

Edwards says many of these changes optimize Dielectric’s bandpass filters for Channels 14 to 36, which represent the post-repack UHF band in the United States and much of the global broadcast market. In addition to redesigning existing filters, the company is adding models to serve increasingly common power levels. This includes 5kw and 22kw models that will allow Dielectric to provide more efficient single-filter designs for these power level requirements, while providing additional headroom to accommodate the higher peak powers of ATSC 3.0.

Spugnardi will lead a newly expanded team of senior RF engineers and mechanical
designers, which Edwards says will “strengthen our bench for a new RF era.” He is also
leading the charge on developing new internal technical resources.

As expected, Univision Communications on Tuesday formally launched its streaming channels-based and VOD service created specifically for U.S. Hispanic audiences.

The launch follows the recent acquisition of VIX, the largest Spanish-language ad-supported VOD streaming service for Latin American audiences and U.S. Hispanics.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

The recently formed Independent Broadcasters Association has forged a partnership with a top distributors in the broadcast and multimedia space. This gives member radio stations access to parts and service and new inventory.

The agreement is with Broadcast Depot, and brings member-only deals to IBA stations.

“Our goal is to provide a one stop shop for members of the IBA, where they can utilize
Broadcast Depot as a resource for knowledge, service, planning and equipment
acquisitions,” U.S. sales manager Tim Jobe said. “It has also proven beneficial for us and
our clients to have a partnership with Balboa Capital where we can present financing
options and jump the hurdles that usually slow projects and reaching goals.”

The IBA presently boasts membership of 1,500 independently owned radio stations.

IBA President Ron Stone, who heads Adams Radio Group, says, “This was one of the most important partnerships we wanted to solidify for IBA members. Having an equipment provider that can respond quickly, provide industry leading prices and provide our members with potential finaancing when needed was incredibly important.”

A Forrest Breese is flowing through the Western United States for clients of Point Source Audio.

No, that’s not a typo. That’s the name of the new regional account manager at the Petaluma, Calif.-based company.

Point Source Audio expanded its sales team with the addition of Breese as Account Manager for the Western U.S. He’s a familiar face to California’s pro audio industry for many years and brings with him considerable experience from previous roles with manufacturers, distributors, integrators—and on stage as a musician.

As a gigging bassist since the age of 13, Breese has been around the music and pro audio industry for most of his life. Starting his professional career as a manufacturer’s rep, Breese has worked across just about every aspect of the industry from sales to integration, and has extensive experience working with a number of microphone brands.

He is based in Southern California.

“We are delighted to welcome someone of Forrest’s knowledge and experience into the Point Source Audio family,” said Yvonne Ho, Point Source Audio’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “He has an incredible grasp of the technology and our industry so he will immediately be a valuable resource for all of our customers and dealers in the Western region. He will bring a lot to the Point Source Audio community and I know he can’t wait to get out there and meet everyone.”

To learn more about Point Source Audio products, visit www.point-sourceaudio.com.

Friend MTS, a global provider of content protection services, has launched 4th Generation ASiD, an enhanced and extended set of subscriber-level watermarking solutions that address a wide range of content protection scenarios to secure high-value content and revenue across all types of broadcast and OTT devices, clients and apps.

With an increasing need for content owners, broadcasters and operators to tackle real-world piracy, Friend MTS has also included ASiD OTT Edge-switched, a new smart server-side A/B variant solution with an additional robust method of watermarking premium content that works to protect Live and VOD assets from illegal redistribution.

“We are at the forefront of developing and deploying real world end-to-end content protection solutions at scale for our valuable sports and entertainment customers, which is important now more than ever as the pandemic continues to shape the piracy landscape as well as the technology needs to combat this prevalent issue,” Friend MTS CEO Jonathan Friend said. “These new watermarking and monitoring solutions with enhancements to help our customers protect their valuable content in a larger industry effort to drive subscriber growth and safeguard revenue.”

Friend MTS’ advanced subscriber identification watermarking (ASiD) now includes:

ASiD Embedded (Enhanced): Offers accelerated watermark generation in certain devices (especially those without functional FPUs), and optimisations to enable memory and CPU-efficient watermark parameters for different content types (UHD, HD, linear channels vs on-demand content, etc).

ASiD OTT Client-composited (Enhanced): Introduces a new collaboration mechanism between headend and client, and improved intelligence feedback to take action on bad actors. The solution now offers higher precision of session identification and stronger support for cloud PVR, as well as a new feature to enable variable per-device watermark parameters for different content and playback types to enable optimised watermark compositing based on individual client devices’ capabilities.

ASiD OTT Edge-Switched (New): Based on the proprietary algorithms, ASiD OTT Edge-switched benefits from other Friend MTS’ best-in-class mature technologies and offers accelerated watermark extraction working in conjunction with the company’s distributor-level watermarking solution, Distribution iD.

The new and enhanced 4th Generation ASiD solutions remain fully compliant with the MovieLabs Specification for Enhanced Content Protection, including 4K/UHD and HDR content, and provide robust Live and VOD content protection.

As a family of advanced forensic watermarking solutions, Friend MTS’ ASiD OTT offerings share the optional ASiD iQ enhancement that monitors for fraudulent user behavior, flags bad actors, and enables content owners and service operators to react in real-time.

As a result, Friend MTS proactively prevents content theft and other business-affecting activities such as credential or account sharing by revoking access to compromised accounts.

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.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

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.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

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.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

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.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

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. 

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON TWITTER!

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

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.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

The use of broadcast TV signals to help educators has been one of the touted benefits of the ATSC 3.0 standard that is voluntarily being introduced to consumers in a growing list of U.S. markets.

Now, a next-generation TV service using Boise, Idaho, as its launch point has developed an umbrella of content and delivery channels expressly designed to augment classroom learning.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

In 1976, former industry trade publication Radio and Records offered its readers a lengthy column from a man who had gained attention for his success as the Sales Manager of Album-Oriented Rock station WMMS-FM in Cleveland.

He had joined WMMS in 1972, and began selling Rock radio in 1969 at another Cleveland radio station. Today, he’s looking back on a career that he believes has come full circle, as he’s been associated with an independent owner of a unique radio station serving Southwest Florida’s adult populace.

Walt Tiburski is retiring.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

As RBR+TVBR has reported across the first quarter of 2021, HC2 Holdings is trimming its TV assets while very much continuing its ownership of key TV stations as an entity led by COO Les Levi and chief executive Wayne Barr Jr.

It is now known that HC2’s commitment to “streamlining” a portfolio created under former CEO Philip Falcone and “enhancing” its capital structure includes the shedding of HC2’s insurance segment.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

With a whole new C-Suite led by CEO Wade Davis, Univision Communications is on a reinvigorated path to growth, as demonstrated by the company’s March 24 get-to-know-you “pre-Upfront” presentation for marketers and advertisers.

The 30-minute virtual affair was the first from Univision since Davis replaced Vince Sadusky, and a major leadership shift that saw the arrival of Donna Speciale, Pierluigi Gazzolo and Luis Silberwasser.

But, before all can progress forward with new momentum, Univision must take one last look at its performance under its former leadership.

This will come on Wednesday (3/31), when Univision Communications will conduct a conference call to discuss its Q4 and full-year 2020 fiscal results. The call is scheduled for 11am, with a detailed report including the results offered on Univision’s corporate website earlier in the day.

While Univision is not publicly traded, the company has regularly offered its quarterly earnings reports to the public.

For over 30 years, Ascential-owned WARC has been serving marketers as a data analytics company that has also taken a key role in examining domestic ad expenditures by medium on an annual basis.

WARC’s 2021 U.S. ad spend projections have been released. And, “even in a build-back year,” WARC says, “ad spend in the U.S.” is projected to be pretty significant.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)