MIAMI — An individual lauded by Telemundo Global Studios EVP of Production and Development Karen Barroeta as “a highly regarded production executive with decades of experience bringing premium, culturally relevant narratives to Latino audiences” has just been given the role of SVP/Scripted Production at Telemundo Studios.
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It appears a Central California school district didn’t realize that the FCC won’t accept a tardy slip.
As a result, it is on the line for a fine for its untimely submission of a license renewal application for the low-power radio station it operates.
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He assumed the role of CEO for one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies on February 25, 2020.
Nearly one year later, the leadership of The Walt Disney Company by Bob Chapek is getting praise from one of the top financial analysts on Wall Street.
Only, it’s not so much for Disney+ and Hulu growth, along with international OTT consumption that excites Michael Nathanson. Rather, it’s theme park revenue that’s eye-popping to him.
Bob Chapek’s Magic Kingdom that is Disney under his leadership appears to be a bigger success than anyone on Wall Street, including the Senior Analyst at MoffettNathanson, imagined.
That’s because Disney’s fiscal Q1 2022 results are in stark contrast with its fiscal Q4 2021 performance. With the release of that financial health report, Disney “meaningfully missed” MoffettNathanson’s Q4 2021 revenue and EBIT estimates. The company had also warned about its near-term profit outlook and all-important Direct-to-Consumer subscriber momentum.
In response to that report, MoffettNathanson “significantly cut” its fiscal 2022 EBIT estimates for Disney “with across the board reductions in profits.”
Then came a SEC filing from Disney disclosing their decision to invest some $33 billion in content during fiscal 2022, compared to $25 billion in fiscal 2021. The announcement came alongside “weak” fiscal Q1 2022 subscriber guidance from Netflix, which temporarily torpedoed stocks in the OTT subsector.
Yet, Disney+ is showing signs of life, with Secrets of Sulphur Springs cleared for a third season and feature films including Encanto enjoying strong audience response beyond in-cinema screenings. Furthermore, Hulu and ESPN+ are attracting consumers, while Disney’s international OTT offerings continue to magnetize viewers.
Then came the “massive surprise” from Disney late Wednesday, even with lackluster results from its linear networks.
The theme parks are the driver, and Nathanson is amazed at the performance. In an investor note distributed Thursday, he said, “When we reflect about the massive surprise that Disney delivered in Fiscal Q1 2022, we are primarily focused on the incredible beat in Parks profits that came from the most amazing set of drivers that we have ever seen. Consider this: from the September quarter (Q4 2021) to the December quarter (Q1 2022), domestic park revenues increased by $1.33 billion while domestic park profits increased by a nearly identical $1.31 billion. In other words, in a period of rising inflation, the domestic park business added zero incremental costs as revenues surged. The recovery was driven by a stunning rebound in both volume and price.”
In short order, Disney’s domestic parks are back to 2019 levels and poised to put up “a massive recovery in profits” over the next three quarters.
While the Parks segment will drive the earnings revisions for Disney, will the DTC results cause a further re-rating in the shares? Here, MoffettNathanson is less convinced. “DTC revenue growth of 34% was just slightly (-100 basis points) below our forecast,” Nathanson said. “Two million of these subs were driven by an automatic bundle with Hulu Live and another 2.6 million came from Hotstar, which we tend to ignore given the $1 monthly RPU. Netting that out, despite more markets to pull from, the 7.1 million in quarterly adds was about 60% of the net subscriber additions of the same quarter last year. With Fiscal Q2 2022 expected to be down from this 7.1 million net subscriber rate, our second half estimate is assuming 15 million during the April to September time frame, which have been historically seasonally slow months to add new SVOD subscribers.”
To MoffettNathanson, the biggest DTC surprise is the drop in Hulu SVOD RPU from $13.51 in fiscal Q1 2021 to $12.96 this quarter. It was driven by slower Hulu ad revenues per user and Black Friday price discounting that added lower RPU subscribers. “By our math, the growth in Hulu SVOD revenue has now slowed to low teens revenue growth,” Nathanson said. “It will be interesting to see if this deceleration and ad weakness is systematic to the AVOD/SVOD hybrid market.”
Still, those concerns are dwarfed by the theme parks business. As such, MoffettNathanson is raising its FY 2022 EBIT by $500 million (4%), led by the upside at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World. It is also hiking Disney’s total company revenue estimate by 1% to $85 billion again, and raising its FY 2022 segment EBIT estimate to $13.3 billion “due to a much faster snap back in profitability” at the parks.
Unfortunately, this is offset by lower EBIT at DMED driven by $465 million negative revision at DTC.
Lastly, MoffettNathanson updated its pricing model and is maintaining its Neutral rating for DIS, along with its $165 target price.
At 10am Eastern on Thursday, DIS was priced at $156.50 and rising, with more than a 6% climb on strong volume.
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LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Co.‘s fiscal first quarter of 2022 ended on January 1. How did the company do in its first three months of the fiscal year?
As CEO Bob Chapek sees it, “We’ve had a very strong start to the fiscal year.”
Thank Encanto and a rise in streaming portfolio subscriptions for that positive news. While the company’s linear networks saw lackluster results, investors approved of the overall results.
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He’s been with Beasley Media Group for the past 26 years and presently serves as the VP of Brand Strategies in addition to his role as a regional Operations Manager for two of the company’s radio markets.
Tee Gentry isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
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Updated at 12:50pm PT to include a comment from Xperi Corp.
On Sunday, January 30, an owner of a 2016 Mazda hatchback was driving in Ballard, Wash., when his in-dash entertainment system suddenly went awry. For some strange reason, the HD Radio his vehicle was equipped with would only play the main NPR member station for the Seattle-Tacoma market.
This driver wasn’t the only to experience the exact same problem. Is the glitch something every station equipped with the Xperi Corp.-owned product needs to be concerned about?
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“Against the high bar we set in our fiscal second quarter last year, we have once again delivered revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth in the second quarter of our 2022 fiscal year, while continuing to invest in our digital growth initiatives.”
Those are the words of Lachlan Murdoch, as the Executive Chair and CEO of Fox Corporation enjoyed a three-month period that saw net revenue and earnings per share each beat Wall Street forecasts.
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With the cancellation of NATPE Miami, originally scheduled for January 18-20 in Miami Beach, the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) has moved forward with a slate of in-person and virtual events across the next several months.
Among them: a virtual February 17 “Station Group Summit” that, based on the agenda, is curiously devoid of the nation’s largest broadcast TV station ownership groups.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — One week after a second nomination hearing for Gigi Sohn to serve as the FCC‘s fifth Commissioner was originally set to take place, the Counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler appeared solo Wednesday morning in front of the Senate Commerce Committee.
While Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) spoke warmly of Sohn, Republican members — led by its Ranking Member — came armed with questions for Sohn on two key topics. First, her ties to now-shuttered “vOTA” service Locast and the timing and monetary value of its settlement agreement with the “Big Four” networks needed further explanation. Second is her decision, after her first nomination hearing held in December 2021, to sit out on matters involving retransmission consent or TV broadcast copyright for the first three years of her term.
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NEW YORK — Local radio stations hit the jackpot with digital sales last year, generating $1.5 billion, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau’s 10th annual benchmarking report on the industry’s digital activities.
Stations are poised to follow last year’s growth of 33% with another strong year, with digital sales forecast to grow 22%, approaching the $2 billion mark.
“The radio industry seems to have finally found its digital groove,” the RAB report, compiled by Borrell Associates and sponsored by Marketron, notes. The 47-page analysis covers the activity of more than 3,000 radio stations.
“The findings from this report highlight the rewarded efforts of stations’ digital offerings to drive results for local advertisers,” said RAB President/CEO Erica Farber. “The focus on the importance of digital training has produced dividends for stations and sellers alike. RAB continues to provide business and professional development training that will help stations to super-serve their local businesses.”
For Gordon Borrell, he was happy to report that Borrell Associates underestimated radio’s digital determination when last year’s report was published. He comments, “We predicted that radio would hit a double by increasing sales 18%. They hit a triple – maybe even a home run. It’s quite impressive, especially when you see that little stat that shows how digitally savvy radio sales reps are in the eyes of local advertisers.”
The annual report showed that the average station made $362,250 in digital revenue in 2021, and the average market cluster made $1.6 million.
Top-performing market clusters made more than $10 million, even in some of the smaller markets.
“The local radio salesperson is now the marketing expert in their community by bringing linear and digital solutions to advertisers that produce real, measurable results,” said Todd Kalman, SVP/Sales at Marketron. “In this report, you’ll find data and insights that position radio and digital together for new advertising opportunities in 2022.”
The findings are a part of the RAB and Borrell’s 10th annual report, “Finally, A Digital Bounty: Radio’s Digital Sales Rise 33%,” released today to RAB members. It analyzes online ad revenue from 3,645 radio stations, as well as survey responses from 1,107 local radio buyers and 256 radio managers.
Among the findings:
• Advertisers now rate radio sellers higher than all competitors for marketing expertise.
• Advertisers now rate radio sellers on par with or higher than competitors for digital expertise.
• Nearly one in four station managers now deem their digital strategy “brilliant.”
• Eighty-eight percent of radio advertisers buy digital advertising, but only 46% buy it from their radio rep.
• Twice as many stations as last year say online-only reps are the best way to drive more sales.
• Virtual events didn’t stick in 2021; only 13% of stations are planning them this year.
• While 44% of stations have a local podcast, only 20% have one that produces revenue.
He’s made it clear that his media enterprise plans to invest approximately $10 billion to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations over the next two years with the goal of creating the largest broadcast television group in America.
Now, Byron Allen may be taking a page from Jeff Smulyan’s playbook by confirming his interest in owning a professional sports franchise.
The revelation also notes that it was the Commissioner of the National Football League, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who suggested to Allen three years ago that he consider the investment.
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Working age adults who report to a jobsite or office outside the home are highly essential for the continued success of broadcast radio.
How so? They use radio more than two times as much as those who work from home, newly released data from NuVoodoo Media Services show.
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American Public Media (APM) and BBC World Service have renewed their distribution partnership for BBC World Service’s English-language radio programming.
This ensures that the U.S. noncommercial radio stations presently airing the content will continue to receive it via APM for the next five years.
This is APM’s second distribution renewal with BBC World Service, and it will remain in place until June 2027.
As the only distributor of BBC World Service content in the U.S., APM services some 600 public radio station across the U.S.
APM took over the partnership in 2012.
BBC broadcasts include news and current affairs programming, including its flagship global daily program Newshour. In 2014, BBC and APM also introduced BBC Topline, a daily 90-second program recapping the world’s most important stories, curated for U.S. audiences.
In early 2020, the Deeply Human podcast was launched as a BBC World Service and APM co-production with iHeartMedia, exploring the psychology, biology and anthropological explanations of human traits.
In a stunning turn of events, a Nevada Federal Bankruptcy Judge has — in an oral ruling — paved the way for Ed Stolz, who lost ownership of his three FM radio stations in a protracted California federal court battle over unpaid music royalty fees, to regain ownership of the properties.
What does this mean? The telenovela-like saga of the stations will more than likely end up with the stations in someone else’s control. In an exclusive interview, the court-appointed receiver, Larry Patrick, tells RBR+TVBR it is simply a last-minute act of desperation for an individual financially unable to keep them.
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She’s the Chief Research Officer of the not-for-profit trade association representing America’s local broadcast television industry, TVB. And, she’s the latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast guest.
In this fresh episode, Hadassa Gerber joins RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to talk about some very intriguing new info from the just-released GfK 2022 Media Comparisons Study. In short, it’s great intelligence for broadcast and cable TV.
LISTEN NOW!
Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Hadassa Gerber” on Spreaker.
SANTA CLARITA, CALIF. — A veteran local news executive has been named VP and News Director for CBS News and Stations’ Los Angeles operations, comprised of KCBS-2, news-intensive unaffiliated KCAL-9, and the CBSLA.com streaming channel.
He reports to CBS Los Angeles President/GM Joel Vilmenay.
Earning the role is Mike Dello Stritto.
He was formerly the News Director for CBS News and Stations’ CBS-affiliated KOVR-13 and The CW Network-affiliated KMAX-31 in Sacramento. He’d been there since 2018.
Dello Stritto has spent nearly 13 years of his local news career with CBS Stations, beginning in 2006 when he worked for three-and-a-half years as reporter at KOVR-13.
His resume includes a two-year stint as the managing editor at the company’s KPIX-5 in San Francisco. Dello Stritto began his career as a weather forecaster at WCJB-20 in Gainesville, Fla. in the early 2000s, following his graduation from the University of Florida. He gained his first experience as a news director with KTNV-13, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas.
Dello Stritto succeeds Andrea Parquet-Taylor, who last month was named VP and News Director for the CW Network and independent stations managed by CBS News and Stations.
“I am excited to join the team at CBS 2, KCAL 9 and CBS News Los Angeles,” Dello Stritto said. “Harnessing the power of two TV stations and our CBS News Los Angeles stream allows us to deliver an unparalleled local product. I am grateful for the support I have received from Joel, Jennifer and the other members of the CBS News and Stations leadership team, and I feel very fortunate to be succeeding my friend and esteemed colleague, Andrea.”
— With reports from RBR+TVBR West Coast Bureau
On February 1, KPCQ-AM celebrated its fourth birthday under the ownership of its current licensee.
But, it may not have future birthdays, thanks to the FCC and its new Media Bureau Chief, Holly Saurer. That’s because a Hearing Designation Order and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing has been dispatched to the station’s owner.
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In May 2020, Michael Stapleford was engaged in several transactions, each of which involved radio station sales.
Now, Stapleford-run Magnum Broadcasting has agreed to buy a low-power television station serving Key West, Fla. — a sign that he wishes to operate a multimedia business serving the Florida Keys.
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The 2022 Radio Mercury Awards nomination window is officially open.
Eighteen trophies will be awarded in 14 categories, and the final round judges have the option to award a Best of Show winner. All categories are eligible to compete for Best of Show. The Radio Mercury Awards will also bring back prize monies for all award winners.
In 2022, a classic Radio Mercury Awards category, “Creative Use of Sound Design,” is back on the slate and will recognize radio/audio work that utilizes sound design to creatively communicate its message. The Radio Mercury Awards is also expanding the campaign category with “Creative Radio Campaign by a Radio Station or Group,” which will award two winners to radio station-produced campaigns.
In addition, the Student-Produced Radio Commercial category has been brought back this year. Entries into this category are free for students.
The Call for Entry deadline is Wednesday, April 6. Finalists for the show will be announced in mid-May, and winners will be announced at the live Radio Mercury Awards, June 9 at Sony Hall in New York.
For more information regarding entry categories, guidelines, entry fees and deadlines, click here.
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