Scripps Completes Station Swaps with Gray Media
The E.W. Scripps Company and Gray Media have completed a cash‑free swap of six local TV stations after FCC approval. Gray acquired Scripps’ WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Michigan, and KATC (ABC) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Scripps took ownership of Gray’s KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, KKCO (NBC) and KJCT‑LP (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colorado, plus KMVT (CBS) and KSVT‑LD (Fox) in Twin Falls, Idaho. The transaction expands Scripps’ footprint in Colorado and adds a new market in Grand Junction.
Upfronts: WBD Expands Advanced Ad Capabilities and AI Ad Tech
Warner Bros. Discovery used its upfront to unveil a suite of AI‑driven ad technologies, including Scene‑Level Moments that target individual scenes, Shoppable Pause Ads that let viewers shop without interrupting playback, and Dynamic Creative that tailors headlines in real time....
Study: Data and Measurement Problems Reduce CTV Ad Budgets
Gracenote's new study reveals that data and measurement gaps are stalling the migration of ad spend from linear TV to connected TV (CTV). While 86% of U.S. media planners say they would allocate more linear budgets to CTV if show‑level...
Cloudbass Taps dB Broadcast, Grass Valley for New IP-Based OB Trucks for Sports
Cloudbass has commissioned dB Broadcast to build new IP‑based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for UK sports coverage, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras and K‑Frame switching. Each truck houses up to 15 UHD/HDR cameras, with 32 LDX 150 native‑IP units across...
Pearl TV's Anne Schelle Discusses NextGen TV Converter Box Program Progress
Pearl TV unveiled low‑cost ATSC 3.0 converter‑box prototypes at the 2026 NAB Show, aiming to let consumers upgrade to NextGen TV without buying a new set. The consortium is negotiating component pricing to hit a sub‑$60 retail target, backed by a consumer...
Congress Urged to Protect Live Sports on Broadcast TV
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), backed by all 50 state broadcaster associations, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, has urged Congress to revisit the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act. The coalition argues that the rise of streaming paywalls is...
G&D and CT Square Launch New Joint Venture in India
Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and CT Square have formed a joint‑venture in India to become the exclusive distributor of G&D and VuWall solutions. The new entity will launch a New Delhi showroom and office within months, offering KVM, video‑wall, and...
Gray Media Advances James Fitch to Senior VP, News Services
Gray Media has promoted James Fitch, a 30‑year veteran, to senior vice president of news services. Fitch previously served as the company’s vice president of news services for a decade, overseeing vendor relationships and the expansion of Gray’s news programming...
CBS Sacramento Debuts New AR/VR Studio
CBS Sacramento launched an augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) studio on May 11, integrating immersive graphics into its local newscasts. The rollout makes Sacramento the 12th station in the CBS Television Stations group to adopt in‑house AR/VR technology. Viewers will see the...
Report: Broadcast Employment Hard Hit by AI
A new Wiingy report finds broadcasting faces the steepest AI‑driven employment shock, with a 36.2% headcount decline and a 19.5% real‑wage drop between May 2022 and May 2024. The study leveraged Google Trends, comparing pre‑ and post‑ChatGPT search interest (the Temporal Resilience...
Louis Libin Preps for the World Cup’s Spectrum Crunch
The FCC has appointed Sinclair executive Louis Libin as the special frequency coordinator and RF spectrum manager for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be staged at 11 U.S. venues. Libin will oversee a complex web of wireless microphones,...
Why Broadcasters Are Rethinking Infrastructure One Practical Step at a Time
Broadcasters are moving away from piecemeal, hardware‑heavy setups toward software‑defined, hyperconverged infrastructure. The industry’s focus has expanded from pure reliability to include flexibility, efficiency, and the ability to adapt quickly to new formats or remote production models. By consolidating functions...
Dems Blast FCC Disney Probe As `Egregious Abuse of Power’
A coalition of senior Democratic senators sent a sharply worded letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr, condemning the commission’s recent order that forces Disney’s eight ABC broadcast stations to file early license renewals. The senators labeled the action an “egregious...
FCC Urges Appeals Court to Toss Challenges to Nexstar-Tegna Deal
The Federal Communications Commission is asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss antitrust challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar‑Tegna merger. The appeals were filed by broadband trade groups, DirecTV and Newsmax after a district court denied an emergency stay....
Mavis Launches Mavis Studio iPad For Media Production
Mavis has introduced Mavis Studio, an iPad‑based live‑production app that combines multi‑camera switching, graphics, audio mixing, recording and streaming in a single interface. The app supports up to four NDI inputs, ProRes codecs, RTMP/SRT streaming and a 16‑channel audio desk,...
NAB Launches Weekly Podcast on Local Broadcast Policy
The National Association of Broadcasters has launched AirTime, a weekly podcast that drops every Wednesday to dissect legislative and regulatory issues shaping local television and radio. The inaugural episode, recorded at the NAB Show, features NBC Sports’ Jon Miller discussing...
CIMM, TVB Release Local TV Currency Measurement Guidelines
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have issued new “Guidelines for Local TV/Video Currency Measurement” along with a Buyer’s Guide to standardize evaluation of local TV and video measurement solutions. The framework centers on three principles—Inclusive, Transactable,...
Dang Ly Joins Operative as Chief Product Officer
Operative, a software provider for media ad management, has hired Dang Ly as chief product officer. Ly, formerly senior vice president and CTO at Universal Destinations & Experiences, will steer product strategy for Operative’s portfolio, including AOS, Operative.One, Adeline AI and STAQ. His mandate covers...
‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Is First Movie to Reach 1 Billion Viewing Hours
Netflix’s children’s film “KPop Demon Hunters” has become the platform’s most‑watched movie, surpassing 1 billion cumulative viewing hours. The title outperformed the 2023 blockbuster “Red Notice” and topped all subscription‑streaming films in 2025. Ampere Analysis notes the movie peaked in its...
Nielsen: Co-Viewing Pilot Delivers +4% Average Increase in Total Viewers
Nielsen released data from a February co‑viewing pilot that recorded an average 4.19% increase in total viewers across major live events, including the Super Bowl and the State of the Union. The pilot used advanced wearable devices to more precisely...
Gravity Media Taps Custom Consoles for Work on Production Center
Custom Consoles has outfitted Gravity Media’s West London Production Center with a large Module‑R master control room (MCR) desk and a 13.25‑meter MediaWall display array. The 38,000‑sq‑ft facility, one of Europe’s biggest, already hosts more than 50 Custom Consoles desks...
NABLF Announces 2026 Broadcast Leadership Training Award Winners
The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation (NABLF) announced the 2026 Diane Sutter Shooting Star Award for Lori Waldon, president and general manager of Hearst’s KOAT‑TV and a 2016 BLT alum, and the BLT Champion Award for Barbara Kreisman, retired FCC Video...
FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for May Open Meeting
The FCC announced a tentative agenda for its May 20 open meeting, highlighting four major initiatives. A third Report and Order will modernize the Disaster Information Reporting System to cut redundant paperwork for broadcasters during emergencies. The commission will also...
Analysts: ‘Hollywood’s Vertical Video Strategy Is Dead Wrong’
Analysts at LightShed Partners criticize Hollywood’s rush to vertical video, saying most platforms are merely repurposing existing content rather than creating original portrait‑native programming. Netflix, Disney+, ESPN, Peacock, Paramount+ and CNN have added vertical feeds to their mobile apps, citing...
Broadcaster Draper Media Names Bill Vernon President
Bill Vernon has been appointed president of Draper Media, effective May 1, after serving as vice president since December 2024. Vernon joined the company in 2020, first as general manager of the Delmarva Sports Network, then as station manager, before taking...
Translator Conference to Focus on Broadcasters' Current ATSC 1.0-3.0 Hybrid World
The National Translator Association’s annual conference in Reno (May 6‑9) will spotlight the need to keep ATSC 1.0 operational while broadcasters roll out ATSC 3.0. A panel led by Weigel Broadcasting’s Kyle Walker will explore hybrid‑signal strategies, new encoding techniques from Harmonic and...
NAB Hires FCC Staffer Ben Arden as SVP, Deputy General Counsel
Ben Arden, a former special counsel in the FCC’s Media Bureau, has been hired by the National Association of Broadcasters as senior vice president and deputy general counsel. In his new role, Arden will lead NAB’s policy and legal advocacy...
Ocean Blue Software Launches ATSC 3.0 Inspector for Smart TVs
Ocean Blue Software has released ATSC 3.0 Inspector, a dedicated analysis tool for Smart TV broadcast streams. The utility provides engineers with visual breakdowns of ATSC 3.0 components, speeding error detection and validation. It targets TV manufacturers, broadcasters, and semiconductor partners seeking faster...
NAB Show 2026: AI, Vertical and BPS Dominate Broadcasters’ Discussions
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, roughly 58,000 attendees—half of them first‑timers—convened to discuss AI, vertical video, and next‑generation broadcast technologies. Major vendors unveiled AI‑driven tools such as AWS Elemental Inference for automatic 9:16 cuts and TVU Networks’...
KEET PBS Deploys PMVG TechBundle Services To Modernize Operations
KEET PBS in Eureka, California has adopted two components of the Public Media Venture Group TechBundle—PMM Cloud and Transmission Services Group’s managed transmission and monitoring. The cloud‑based master‑control platform lets the station shift from multiple on‑premises racks to a streamlined,...
Sencore’s VB440 Monitoring, Analysis Tool Debuts at NAB Show
Sencore unveiled its VB440 high‑density monitoring and analysis platform at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, alongside the MRD 8000 receiver‑decoder, AFN Platform, OmniHub series, and TXS 3800 transcoder. The VB440 is NMOS‑certified, supports up to 80 Gbps of simultaneous SMPTE 2110/IPMX streams,...
The NAB Show Gets in Your Bloodstream
The 103rd NAB Show highlighted the media industry’s shift toward the creator economy, emphasizing that today’s independent producers demand broadcast‑quality standards across platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Long‑time exhibitors such as AWS, Sony and Blackmagic Design showcased AI‑driven production...
NFL To FCC: Ending Antitrust Exemption Would Mean “Higher Costs and Confusion”
The NFL warned the FCC that ending its league-wide antitrust exemption would fragment media rights, driving up consumer costs and creating confusion. The league highlighted that 87% of games still air on broadcast networks and that the 2025 season remained...
Warner Bros. Discovery Shareholders Approve Paramount Skydance Deal
Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholders voted to approve an $81 billion takeover by Paramount Skydance, setting the stage for a major media consolidation. However, a majority of investors opposed a proposed $550 million compensation package for CEO David Zaslav and other executives. The transaction...
NBCU’s Universal Production Services to Launch Solar, Off-Grid Trailer Fleet
Universal Production Services, a unit of NBCUniversal, has signed a deal with Hollywood Trucks Technologies to roll out a fleet of solar‑powered, off‑grid Ecoluxe trailers for its studio operations. The trailers, available in 1‑, 2‑, and 3‑room layouts, generate up...
XR Extreme Reach Expands Celebrity Payments To Support Ai Performers In Advertising
XR Extreme Reach unveiled a pioneering payment solution that aligns AI‑generated advertising talent with SAG‑AFTRA’s Commercials Contract. The platform now supports two new performer categories—Digital Replicas, which are AI‑enhanced versions of real celebrities, and Synthetic Performers, wholly AI‑created characters. Payments...
G&D and VuWall Strengthen International Sales Team
G&D and VuWall announced a joint leadership overhaul, appointing Mirko Aubel as Executive Vice President of Sales for EMEA and APAC and naming Eric Hénique as Chief Revenue Officer for both brands. The new structure consolidates international account management, channel development,...
MATC Elevates Production Training With Vinten Versine 360 Heads
Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) upgraded its broadcast training labs by installing Vinten Versine 360 pan‑and‑tilt heads on existing Osprey pedestals. The new heads accommodate Sony HDC3100 cameras and additional accessories that the legacy heads could not support. Instructors report that...
Frezzi’s PocketLight LED Kit for DJI Osmo Pocket 3: The Perfect Match
Ashley Esqueda, founder of Rowdy Skeleton, tested Frezzi’s PocketLight LED kit with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 while covering CES 2026. The magnetic LED attaches to the camera’s extended‑battery case, delivering adjustable brightness without adding bulk. The kit’s lightweight design let her...
MS NOW Uses Community to Build Up Its Brand
MS NOW is shifting from a traditional linear news outlet to a community‑first brand, leveraging its recent independence after NBCUniversal’s spin‑off. The network plans to launch a summer‑time app focused on direct audience interaction rather than streaming. Executives highlighted the rise...
Cinematic Feel Makes ‘Survivor’ Built to Last
The NAB Show honored CBS’s "Survivor" with the Spirit of Broadcasting Award, marking its 50‑season legacy and spotlighting the show’s shift toward a more cinematic production style. Host Jeff Probst, who became showrunner in 2010, explained how upgraded cameras and...
Why Broadcast Is Well-Positioned to Safeguard Freedom of Speech
A panel convened by FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez examined the growing tension between regulators and broadcasters after Chairman Brendan Carr warned of license revocations for stations deemed not to serve the public interest. Experts described the practice of “jawboning,” where...
AWS Demos AI Tools to Deliver Vertical Video
Amazon Web Services is showcasing a suite of AI‑driven tools at the NAB Show aimed at delivering vertical video streams for mobile‑first audiences. The centerpiece, AWS Elemental Inference, can generate a vertical feed from live encoding with only a six‑to‑10‑second...
Live Event Technology Expands Fan Engagement
Germany‑based ASB GlassFloor’s LED sports flooring system, which can display graphics during games, was showcased at the Big 12 tournament and highlighted at the NAB Show as part of a broader push toward immersive, interactive venues. System integrators such as Advanced...
Audio Systems Get Boost From Cloud and AI
At NAB 2026, leading audio‑technology vendors showcased cloud‑centric and AI‑enhanced mixing solutions that decouple the console from physical racks. Telos Alliance introduced its flexAI automixer, while Wheatstone, SSL and Lawo demonstrated virtual consoles and containerized workflow platforms that run on...
ATSC Celebrates 3.0’s Global Expansion
Brazil announced in August 2025 it will adopt the ATSC 3.0 physical layer as the core of its new DTV+ (TV 3.0) broadcast protocol. The rollout targets the country's 212 million residents, 80% of whom watch over‑the‑air TV, with pilot tests slated for...
Video Podcasting Leaps in Popularity
Podcast listening in the U.S. reached a record 58% of adults (about 167 million) in February 2026, according to Edison Research’s Infinite Dial. The surge is accompanied by rapid growth in video podcasting, with 80% of adults 18+ saying they both...
FCC Commissioner Trusty Explores `That Elusive Angel of the Public Interest’
At the 2026 NAB Show, FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty delivered a measured speech titled “Finding the Angel of Public Interest,” reaffirming the broadcaster‑specific public‑interest obligations that set TV stations apart from streaming services. She highlighted long‑standing duties such as localism,...
TV Azteca to Bring Dolby Atmos to Free-To-Air TV in Mexico
Dolby Laboratories and Mexico’s TV Azteca have agreed to deliver Dolby Atmos immersive audio over existing ATSC 1.0 free‑to‑air transmissions. The rollout, announced at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, will bring three‑dimensional sound to millions of households without requiring new broadcast...
Ross Video Showcases End-To-End Production Ecosystem at 2026 Nab Show
Ross Video unveiled Indigo, a browser‑based, end‑to‑end production platform, at the 2026 NAB Show. The announcement was paired with a suite of new hardware and software tools—including NRG UHD routing, Carbonite Code Solo switching, XPression.cloud graphics, and AI‑driven audio solutions—designed...