Industry News

With suspended or smaller quarterly dividends and double-digit ad revenue declines still being seen across the radio broadcasting industry’s big publicly traded players, one may mistakenly believe that all is not well with the oldest form of social media in the world.

The Radio Advertising Bureau has released new data that thwarts such chat.

“Years of refining digital strategies” paid off for the radio industry in 2020, it says.

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According to RAB data compiled in association with Borrell Associates, digital ad revenue in 2020 hit $1.1 billion.

This accounts for greater than 14% of total ad sales.

Local radio stations saw digital sales increase nearly 12%, with growth forecast to accelerate 18% this year.

“The due diligence the radio industry has put into expanding its digital platforms and advertising offerings over the last few years contributed mightily to the 2020 bright spot of digital growth,” said RAB President/CEO Erica Farber.

And, says Gordon Borrell, “The pandemic actually delivered a gift to the radio industry last year. Stations saw very clearly how digital products can be a linchpin, especially when core-product sales are challenging. Digital kept the conversation going.”

The report also shined a light on how additive digital revenue can be for a radio station. The average station made $290,150 in digital revenue in 2020; the average market cluster made $1.3 million. The average revenue for the top five performers ranged from $2 million for top-performing clusters in the smallest of markets, to $17.8 million in the largest.

The findings are included in RAB and Borrell’s report, “Defying the Gravity of 2020, Radio’s Digital Sales Rise 11.8%.”

It is being released today to RAB members and analyzes online ad revenue from 3,621 radio stations, as well as survey responses from 944 local radio buyers and a survey of 238 radio managers.

Among the topline findings:

• 80% of stations offer digital sales training at least once a month
• 81% of stations are offering some form of digital services in addition to digital advertising
• Nearly 2/3 of radio sellers try to include digital offerings in every sales pitch
• More than half of stations flipped their sponsored events in 2020 to virtual events

The report and upcoming live-video presentation are both sponsored by Marketron.

On June 21, 2007, a group of AM and FM radio stations were placed into the Aloha Station Trust.

It involved properties owned by iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Communications, which was forced to divest of the properties after it became a reconstituted operation through a now-infamous investment by private investment groups right before the great economic downturn of the late 2000s.

Nearly 14 years later, the last station to be placed in that trust, originally overseen by the late Jeanette Tully, is heading to a new owner.

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With esteemed WFAA-8/Dallas VP/Station Manager Carolyn Mungo pinch-hitting following the retirement at the end of 2020 of John Remes, TEGNA’s NBC affiliate Minneapolis has been seeking his formal successor.

TEGNA has now found that individual. As such, its KARE-11 is preparing to welcome the News Director since 2018 of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliate in Seattle.

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LOS ANGELES — The largest independent sell-side advertising platform has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SpotX from RTL Group for $1.17 billion in cash and stock.

SpotX is one of the leading platforms shaping Connected TV and video advertising globally.

And, it is poised to become a part of Magnite.

When combined, Magnite and SpotX will create the largest independent CTV and video advertising platform in the programmatic marketplace.

“Sellers have been looking for a scaled independent alternative to the giant companies who dominate the CTV marketplace,” said Michael Barrett, President/CEO of Magnite. “The combination of Magnite and SpotX will make this a reality by bringing together the best CTV technologies and teams at a critical time. Ad-supported CTV is just beginning to draw budgets from linear TV and we will be well-positioned to participate in the strongest segment of industry growth for the foreseeable future.”

Mike Shehan, Co-Founder and CEO at SpotX, added, “As CTV flourishes and the media industry continues to turn to programmatic, there is a huge opportunity for an independent scaled company to offer the single most comprehensive technology in the market. We built SpotX with the mission of becoming the leading global video advertising platform, and our goal is now coming to fruition with Magnite. I am thrilled about what we will achieve together.”

Together, Magnite and SpotX will serve some of the world’s leading programmers, broadcasters, platforms and device manufacturers, including A+E Networks, Crackle Plus, The CW Network, Discovery, Disney/Hulu, Electronic Arts, Fox Corporation, fuboTV, Microsoft, Newsy, Philo TV, Pluto TV, Roku, Samsung, Sling TV, Tubi, ViacomCBS, Vizio, Vudu, WarnerMedia and Xumo.

Transaction Details

Magnite is targeting in excess of $35 million in run-rate operating cost synergies, with more than half of the synergies realized within the first year of combined operations.

Magnite plans to finance the transaction with cash on hand, 14 million shares issued to RTL Group and committed financing from Goldman Sachs. The company expects the transaction to close in the second quarter, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Until the transaction closes, both companies will continue to operate independently.

Goldman Sachs and LUMA Partners acted as financial advisors to Magnite and Goldman Sachs is providing committed financing for the transaction.

Gibson Dunn provided legal counsel to Magnite.

In early 2019, Community Broadcasters, the company led by Bruce Mittman and Jim Leven, agreed to sell their radio stations serving the Twin Tiers of New York and Pennsylvania to a growing radio station owner led by CEO Kristin Cantrell and COO Jim Loftus.

Nearly one year later, in December 2019, Cantrell’s Kentucky-based company struck again, snagging three more stations serving a portion of the region that includes Corning, Elmira and Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Guess what? Seven Mountains Media is at it again, and this time two other players are involved.

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The FCC has popped another Kentucky AM broadcaster for not filing paperwork to renew an FM translator license on time.

We told you yesterday about a case involving Heritage Media of Kentucky station WMTL(AM).

Now, in a very similar notice, the FCC has issued a notice of apparent liability to WKVG(AM), licensed to Letcher County Broadcasting Inc., in Jenkins, Ky.

The application for renewal of its FM translator was due April 1 but not received until mid-July; and the FCC said the licensee didn’t explain.

As in the other case, the broadcaster has 30 days to pay or to reply with more information if it thinks the fine should be reduced or dropped.

The rules require that applications for renewal of license for broadcast stations must be filed “not later than the first day of the fourth full calendar month prior to the expiration date of the license sought to be renewed.”

The post Another Translator, Another Fine appeared first on Radio World.

In the Spanish language, “humo” means smoke.

But, there’s definitely no smoke and mirrors behind a new effort from NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises that gives a breath of fresh air — and life — to parent Comcast’s free ad-supported streaming TV service.

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Locast, the donation-based broadcast TV-via-IP service that the Big Four television networks and the NAB despise for its unique weave-round regarding retransmission consent, has now entered its 29th market.

The service is now available in a city some refer to as “The Big Tomato.”

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Wireless microphone equipment company Shure Inc. has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to reverse its decision and guarantee that at least one 6 MHz UHF channel in each market is reserved for wireless mic use.

The FCC recently terminated its Vacant Channels rulemaking initiated during the TV spectrum incentive auction. The rulemaking considered dedicating a UHF TV channel for wireless mic use.

The company told the FCC that now more than ever wireless mic users need clear spectrum. On one hand, reallocation of 600 MHz spectrum for mobile phones and the repack of stations into 500 MHz spectrum has reduced available spectrum. On the other, continued growth of broadcast, performance and sports production is requiring more wireless mic channels than ever, Shure said.

While the FCC identified 900 MHz, 1.4 GHz and 7 GHz as alternatives in 2017, Shure says these bands fall short of addressing the needs of wireless mic users because they don’t offer the same characteristics and flexibility as UHF frequencies.

Use by other industries licensed to operate in these bands means their use for wireless mics is conditioned on requests to share, which may or may not be granted, it said.

The 600 MHz duplex gap and VHF frequencies are helpful but are not alternatives to a dedicated UHF channel and the certainty that offers, Shure said, adding that a designated channel is also important for other applications, such as intercom, IFB and other wireless uses.

Without clear spectrum for wireless mic use, the integrity of a variety of productions, ranging from professional sports and concerts to live TV and theater, will suffer, Shure said.

“The amount of available UHF spectrum for wireless microphone use continues to shrink,” said Ahren Hartman, Shure vice president, Corporate Quality. “With the loss of 700 MHz, 600 MHz, and the DTV repack into 500 MHz, we are at an all-time low for access to UHF spectrum. However, the need for open and clear wireless microphone spectrum is higher than ever before.”

More information is available on the Shure website.

The post Shure Asks FCC to Dedicate UHF Channel for Wireless Mics appeared first on Radio World.

It’s share price is now higher than where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in stay-at-home edicts and, with it, a sharp financial downturn on Wall Street, Broad Street and on stock markets across the globe.

With that positive momentum, Nielsen Holdings plc‘s Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend.

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