Evening Headlines — 6/18/13

Posted every Monday through Thursday @ 4 p.m. CT

How PBS Won at Digital

Millions of Americans can point to PBS as a third parent, as the network that helped raise them with programs like “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” But PBS is not immune to the transition from analog to digital and needs to continually reinvent itself. Recent data points to success, no matter that Mitt Romney wants to kill Big Bird. [Digiday]

Wheeler Won't Be Pinned Down On Retrans

At his Senate confirmation hearing to be FCC chairman today, Tom Wheeler respectfully declined to answer a question on the FCC's ability to change retransmission consent rules. Referring to recent court actions, he said: "I am not trying to dodge the questions, but I think this ... is a situation that is in flux at the moment." [TVNewsCheck]

Scripps Launches TV Everywhere With TWC

Scripps Networks has a TV Everywhere deal with Time Warner Cable, allowing viewers access to on-demand programming. Content from five networks will be available to the cable operator’s subscribers on an authenticated basis. The programming comes from Travel Channel, Food Network, HGTV, DIY Network and Cooking Channel. GAC is the one holdout. [MediaPost]

BRIEF: Spectrum speculator buying 52 LPTVs and construction permits from Mako Communications

$46.5M deal includes St. Louis' KPTN-LD

Corpus Christi, Tex.-based Mako Communications is selling its 52 low-power TV stations and construction permits to Landover 5 LLC, a spectrum speculator* which says it's developing a nationwide 4G network.

The $46.5 million deal includes KPTN-LD (ch. 7 [RF 36]), a low-power station in St. Louis which currently is an affiliate of HSN, Jimmy Swaggart's SonLife network, QVC and Punch TV.

The FCC must approve the sale.

* Spectrum speculators are companies that buy up TV stations expecting a big payday when the FCC auctions the broadcast spectrum now in use by said stations. The auction is supposed to happen in 2014, but there is some question about that.

BRIEF: New channels for some NewWave customers in SW Indiana

Company releases new lineup for Jasonville, Dugger, Farmersburg, Hymera, Shelburn, surrounding area

There's a new channel lineup for some NewWave Communications customers in Southwestern Indiana.

If you live in Jasonville, Dugger, Farmersburg, Hymera, Shelburn or surrounding areas of Clay, Greene, Sullivan or Vigo counties in Indiana, your new channels — and there are a lot of 'em — can be found by clicking here.

As of now, there is no new lineup for those in the rest of the area formerly served by Suddenlink. I'll keep watching for that and will bring it to you as soon as it's available.

H/T to Anonymous @ 8:02 for the new card!

Sinclair buys antenna manufacturer Dielectric

Move comes two months after Maine-based company said it was shutting down

UPDATE, 12:30 p.m. CT: “This was an insurance policy for us. I now know if I get hit under any circumstance, I own all the intellectual property involved in creating any replacement parts for anything I own.” That's the word from Sinclair boss David Smith, many of whose stations use Dielectric antennas.

Experts suggest that 2/3 of the nation's broadcasters use Dielectric antennas, and say what you will about Sinclair, but at least they're keeping everyone else from having nowhere to go for parts and service.

PREVIOUSLY: TVNewsCheck reports this morning that there is new life for a down-on-its-luck antenna manufacturer that was going out of business, and it's coming from a rather surprising source.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached a deal to purchase Dielectric, which is based in Raymond, Maine, from SPX Corp. The price was not disclosed.

“Dielectric has supplied more than two-thirds of the TV industry’s high-power antennas, and its name is synonymous with expert engineering and quality products,” Sinclair CEO David Smith said in a statement. “We feel fortunate to have this opportunity to acquire the Dielectric intellectual property and assets related to our most critical infrastructure.”

Sinclair will keep all of Dielectric's staff in place and operations at the company will continue as before, according to the report.

In our region, Sinclair owns and/or operates the following television stations: Paducah/Cape Girardeau — KBSI-FOX 23 and WDKA-My49; St. Louis — KDNL-ABC30; Nashville — WZTV-FOX17, WUXP-My30 and WNAB-CW58.

more coverage

• Dielectric: Sinclair's $5 Million Insurance Policy [Playout/TVNewsCheck]
• Sinclair Acquires Antenna Manufacturer Dielectric [Broadcasting & Cable]

National Religious Broadcasters say FCC should stay tough on indecency

Group proposes just two acceptable exceptions

It's been proposed that the FCC should only concern itself with the worst of the worst when it comes to indecent material on the broadcast airwaves, but that's apparently not good enough for the country's religious broadcasters.

No, the National Religious Broadcasters want the regulators to stand firm against expletives and other indecent material, so they've dutifully proposed two — and only two — allowable exceptions:

1. Unexpected use of something like the "F-word" in a live event broadcast
2. Such words in a program with “serious artistic, literary, social, political, or scientific value for children.” 

“We believe," writes NRB general counsel Craig Parshall, "that the rules should be enforced against all indecency between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., not just the most outrageous kind. Our children are worth protecting, and that notion has been made clear by the Supreme Court."

NRB president and CEO Dr. Frank Wright added, "Families with children need a media safe harbor. From the standpoint of protecting children, there are already many dangers permitted in broadcast programs and ads. It would be egregious for the FCC to lower its standards more."

What do you think about the NRB's proposal? Are they on the right track? Is it unfair to subject broadcast media to standards that cable networks need not adhere to? You tell me.

more coverage

• Middle ground proposed on indecency [Inside Radio]
• NRB Weighs In At FCC On Indecency [All Access]

Morning Headlines — 6/18/13

Survey shows near-record year for local news

After four straight years of setting new records for the amount of news, the number actually dropped slightly this year — by 6 minutes per weekday.  But the latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found the median remained at 5 hours per weekday, and both average and median rose for both Saturday and Sunday, so if you throw in the weekend, then there was a small, overall increase.  Call it a semi-record. [RTDNA]

CBS Drops July 4 Boston Pops Concert
For the first time in more than 20 years, the July 4 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular will not be televised nationally. The Boston Globe reports that CBS declined to renew a contract with producers of the show. [AP/TVNewsCheck]

Is cable holding back superfast broadband adoption on purpose?

The cable industry says it is more than ready to compete with Google Fiber, but adds that consumers are nowhere near ready for gigabit speeds. Is it cable's pricing schemes that are holding back adoption? [CNET]

Evening Headlines — 6/17/13

Gannett Promises to Keep Same Market Stations Separate in Belo Acquisition

Gannett Broadcasting president David Lougee gave TVSpy a look at what it plans to do with some of the Belo stations it will own as soon as the inks dries on its deal to buy the station group. “In those two markets where Belo owns a television station and we own a television station they will continue to compete head-to-head so there will be no reduction in editorial voices. They will be completely independent,” Lougee said. “It’s kind of like when one company owned Gap and Old Navy. They both competed against each other.” [TVSpy]

Bill Shory named WAVE's new ND

After Kathy Hostetter left WAVE 3 in Louisville to take over as news director at Indianapolis NBC affiliate WTHR, Raycom had a spot to fill, and they've done so with Bill Shory. Rick Gevers has more about him. [Rick's Weekly Newsletter]

Louisville: WHAS, WAMZ still #1 and #2 in radio

The Spring Phase 2 Arbitron numbers are out, and Clear Channel's WHAS (840 AM) and WAMZ (97.5 FM) remain #1 and #2, respectively, among Arbitron-subscribing radio stations in Louisville. And the change in ownership for WQNU, WSFR and WVEZ hasn't hurt those stations, either; they're third through fifth. [Radio Online]

CBS announces its fall premiere dates

Survivor gets early premiere on Sept. 18; 65^th Primetime Emmy Awards kicks off the rest of the new season Sept. 22

CBS announced Monday that it will premiere nearly all of its new and returning series during official premiere week (Sept. 23-29), following the network's Sept. 22 broadcast of The 65^th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air live that night at 7 p.m. CT / 8 ET.

How I Met Your Mother, entering its final season, returns with a special one-hour episode on Monday, Sept. 23 (7 p.m. CT / 8 ET). 

The new comedy Mom premieres Monday, Sept. 23 (8:30 p.m. CT / 9:30 ET) followed by the freshman drama Hostages (9 p.m. CT / 10 ET). Freshman comedy We Are Men will premiere a week later on Monday, Sept. 30 (7:30 p.m. CT / 8:30 ET).

CBS's new Thursday two-hour comedy block premieres Sept. 26 with the return of The Big Bang Theory (7 p.m. CT / 8 ET), new comedies The Millers (7:30 p.m. CT / 8:30 ET) and The Crazy Ones (8 p.m. CT / 9 ET) followed by Two and a Half Men (8:30 p.m. CT / 9:30 ET).  

For the 11th time in the past 12 seasons, Survivor will get an early start to the season when it returns with a special 90-minute premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 18.

The network's mid-season drama, Intelligence, will premiere Monday, Feb. 24, 2014.

In the Tri-State and immediately surrounding region, CBS programming is seen on area stations CBS44 WEVV (Evansville), WTHI-TV 10 (Terre Haute), WLKY 32 (Louisville), KFVS12 (Cape Girardeau), KMOV 4 (St. Louis), WNKY-CBS (Bowling Green) and WTVF-NewsChannel5 (Nashville).

See the #1 network's full list of premiere dates after the jump.

MDA announces that its annual Telethon is moving to ABC

For first time in more than 4 decades, WFIE won't air annual Telethon in Evansville market

The Muscular Dystrophy Association’s nationally broadcast telethon, one of America’s longest-standing and beloved fundraising and entertainment events, will return this Labor Day weekend with a new broadcast home:  ABC.

The move to a single network means that, for the first time in more than four decades, 14WFIE will NOT air the Telethon in the Evansville TV market. It will instead air on WEHT Local.

Outside of Evansville but still in our region, other ABC affiliates that will air the Telethon include: WAWV (Terre Haute), WHAS11 (Louisville), WSIL/KPOB (Harrisburg/Poplar Bluff), KDNL (St. Louis), WBKO (Bowling Green) and WKRN (Nashville).

These and other ABC stations across the country will air the Telethon on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. CT (9 ET). As in the past, the entertainment event will raise funds and awareness to support MDA’s mission to help children and adults affected by progressive and often fatal muscle diseases.

“This is a remarkably hopeful time for MDA and our mission to find new treatments and cures as we set our sights on pursuing muscle health,” said MDA President and CEO Steven M. Derks. “We’re delighted to partner with ABC. Broadcasting our show nationwide and on prime-time TV provides a critically important way to tell our story of progress in fighting muscle disease, while recognizing and engaging new supporters.”

This is the first time in MDA’s 48-year history of doing annual telethons that it will broadcast on a single television network. Previously, it partnered with an ad-hoc lineup of network affiliates in markets across the U.S. In recent years the majority of the stations have been ABC affiliates, which makes the new exclusive agreement with ABC a natural fit.

FCC Report — 6/17/13

FM STATION APPLICATIONS FOR MINOR MODIFICATION TO A CONSTRUCTION PERMIT GRANTED:

WAYW (89.9 FM), New Johnsonville, Tenn.; Way Media, Inc. Mod of CP to chg.

WAYW feeds WAY-FM's translators in Central City (W201DD - 88.1 FM), Brentwood (W212BZ - 90.3 FM) and Owensboro, Ky. (W217BP - 91.3 FM).

FM TRANSLATOR APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSE TO COVER GRANTED:

W238AN (95.5 FM), Mayfield, Ky.; Bristol Broadcasting Co., Inc. License to cover.

W238AN, a 250-watt translator, simulcasts WNGO (1320 AM), also licensed to Mayfield.

KET a partner in developing middle school math resources for $2M grant from CPB

KET is one of four public
broadcasting partners which
are expanding the math content
available through the free
PBS LearningMedia service.

Grant allows stations to address critical need in middle school math education

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) recently announced a nearly $2 million grant to expand middle school math content available through PBS LearningMedia, a free digital media service with more than 30,000 resources, including videos, games, images, audio files and lesson plans to help teachers enhance learning in classrooms nationwide. The grant was awarded to public television station WGBH in Boston; and KET is one of four total producing partners for the grant, along with WGBH, WNET in New York City and KQED in San Francisco.

The grant allows these stations to address a critical need in middle school math education and provide new teaching tools for educators who use PBS LearningMedia resources. KET and the other public television producing partners will contribute and oversee the development of more than 400 new and repurposed digital resources focused on math at the middle school level.

KET, which already has a large collection of resources available on PBS LearningMedia, will be the second-largest contributor to this project by creating 50 pieces of content devoted to middle school math. Mary Duncan, director of K-12 instructional resources at KET, said that all resources will be created with a strong focus on how a conceptual approach to math through digital learning can benefit students.

Williams' sentencing delayed until October

WVMC owner facing 40 years after pleading guilty to federal charges

WSJD (100.5 FM) in Mt. Carmel reports this morning that Kevin Williams, a Mt. Carmel accountant who owns WVMC (1360 AM) in the Wabash County seat, won't be sentenced in September after all.

Williams, 53, who pleaded guilty to federal money laundering and wire fraud charges earlier this month, will instead be sentenced on Oct. 24 in Benton, Ill.

He faces up to 40 years in prison.

The reason for the delay isn't immediately known, but WSJD also reports that Williams is scheduled to stand trial in Wabash County Circuit Court on Oct. 7. In that case, he is charged with violating an order of protection, which is a misdemeanor. That trial is expected to last just a couple of days.

EDITOR'S NOTE: While Williams does own WVMC, he was in the process of selling the station to W. Russell Withers, Jr., and it has been run by Withers alongside WYNG (94.9 FM) since 2010.  However, for reasons which are still not clear, Greenfield, Ind. "broadcasting gadfly" Marty Hensley (Radio Journal's words, not mine) turned in the license and threw the station's long-term future into doubt. That situation remains unresolved at the FCC.

Will Charter be next to buy — or sell?

Time Warner Cable says it's not interested in being
bought out by Charter, but it looks like the smaller
company is in full growth mode. So who will fall under
John Malone's sway? Analysts have thrown some
names out there, like Cox, Mediacom and Suddenlink.

Company said to have discussed buying out giant Time Warner Cable

Multiple reports are out there this morning that Charter Communications is interested in growing again — and growing much larger, at that.

Bloomberg, CNBC, Multichannel News and others are reporting that the formerly-St. Louis-area-based cable company (which once had operations in the Tri-State, and still does just to our west) made overtures toward Time Warner Cable (which now is the top dog in cable here), with the intent of purchasing the larger company.

TWC isn't interested in being bought out by a smaller outfit, but that didn't stop both companies' stocks from jumping on the news.

So what might be a better fit for Charter? Some analysts suggest smaller operators like Mediacom, Cox and Suddenlink would be more attractive targets for Liberty Media's John Malone, who wants Charter to grow and make his 27% stake in the company more lucrative. Perhaps even Sikeston, Mo.-based NewWave might be on that list.

Which would put Charter right back into the Tri-State once more, as much of NewWave's footprint is made up of former Charter systems.

Will it happen?

We shall see.

more coverage

• Time Warner Cable, Charter Shares Jump on Merger Speculation [Bloomberg]
• Charter, TWC Up Sharply on Consolidation Speculation [Multichannel News]

BRIEF: WITZ-FM studio renovations slated

Work scheduled to begin July 12

WITZ-FM in Jasper (104.7 FM) will get a renovated studio next month.

The station reports via its weekly newsletter that work will get underway on July 12 and will take about a week. A new broadcast console is also part of the package.

Listeners will get to hear more about the upcoming changes over the next few weeks.

Morning Headlines — 6/17/13

End of an era: WTHI-TV anchor Allen has come long way since debut in 1967

Reflecting on his career at WTHI-TV, Jim Swander pokes fun at retiring news anchor Mark Allen saying, “He has made millions by reading a teleprompter at a sixth-grade level.” Both Allen and Swander, local sales manager, are retiring next month from WTHI-TV. They were honored at a party Thursday night at Stables Steakhouse. [Tribune-Star]

EDITOR'S NOTE: Allen's replacement is named in the Tribune-Star's article linked above.  He is Mike Cleff, formerly of LIN's CBS station in Lafayette, WLFI.

WJDE Not Broadcasting and the Reason Why

Nashville station WJDE-LD is off the air, and NashDigie dutifully found out what's happening. [Nashville DTV News & More]

Big stars to host iHeartRadio Pool Party

Clear Channel's iHeartRadio and the Fontainebleau Miami Beach have announced that LL Cool J, Jason Derulo, and Miley Cyrus will co-host this year's iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party. The two-day musical weekend takes place June 28-29. [Radio Ink]

The Cable Show comes to Washington

The cable television industry has seen an ideological tug-of-war emerge in recent years between the creators of television programs and those that distribute them. As the Internet continues to transform the way people consume entertainment, who has the upper hand? [Washington Post]