Industry News

ORLANDO — Attention, media companies with apps and other digital consumer tracking software designed to build databases filled with viewer and listener data optimized for marketing and advertising solutions.

The Sunshine State is about to send a big Central Florida-sized thunderstorm in your direction.

Proposed statewide legislation just introduced and supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis would increase data privacy and security “and uphold the rights of Floridians over major technology companies.”

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There’s a part of the U.S. where New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas meet.

Here, an AM/FM combo licensed to a husband and wife has been adjusted due to a death. The result: the wife will be the sole owner of the stations.

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On November 4, Salem Media Group stock sat at 84 cents per share. As 2020 ended, the company’s shares finished December 2020 at $1.04.

Since then, SALM has been on the rise. Then came February 8. In the last seven days, Salem shares are up by 70% in value.

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On Feb. 17, 2020, iHeartMedia shares were priced at $17.82. Then came COVID-19.

By the end of March, IHRT had shriveled to $4.87 per share. Questions about iHeart’s ability to see profits amid a flurry of advertising cancellations and “hold for now” calls arose. An early June rally fizzled just one month later.

Then came Election Day 2020. Since then, iHeart shares haven’t stopped growing.

The question is now is … now what?

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It seemed inevitable.

Nexstar Media Group shares have over the last five years enjoyed progressive growth, with intermittent dips that have only served to fuel further increases in the broadcast media company’s stock price.

Even as shares dipped to nearly $50 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home restriction period, there was an underlying belief that NXST would rebound at some point.

That point is now. Nexstar shares begin Tuesday’s trading on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market at a record high.

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TORONTO — It’s over … at least for now.

Bell Media last week received much press attention across Québec and Ontario for a substantial reduction in force at its heritage Anglophone News/Talk AM in Montréal following major shifts at its Windsor operations that reach Detroit listeners.

Now, a staff memo from the company’s president has emerged, indicating that a significant cull of Bell’s employee roll has ceased. And, it impacts its TV network, too.

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In 1997, he launched what is one of the first software systems designed specifically for online music research. How, he’s ready to call it quits.

What does that mean for Madison, Wisc.-based TroyResearch?

Its longtime VP of Sales is poised to launch a new service that picks up where Troy will conclude its operations.

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The coronavirus pandemic-led macroeconomic downturn, to little surprise, impacted the Zacks Broadcast Radio and Television industry portfolio in a negative way.

Furthermore, the increased rate of cord-cutting and significant delays in production of movies and shows have cast a shadow on the industry’s prospects, the respected financial analyst house notes.

Nevertheless, one broadcast TV company stands out as one with a stock to buy.

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By John Wells King
Special to RBR+TVBR

The FCC’s Online Public Inspection File server for radio and television broadcasters has been “live” for nearly three years.

Much has been written about what goes in the OPIF, and when. And, the FCC provides a good summary at publicfiles.fcc.gov/about-station-profiles.

Little attention has been paid, however, to what comes out of the OPIF: the co-equal obligation to remove expired material.

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Larry Morton and Greg Fess both worked at ill-fated Equity Communications, which fell into bankruptcy and saw its television holdings dispersed to numerous buyers.

Now, Morton is investing in an AM radio station with an FM translator serving an Arkansas market that’s home to Walmart’s corporate headquarters.

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