Radio & Television News 8/16/2016

RCN, Grande Head To The Altar With $2.25 Billion Deal
TPG Capital is buying RCN Telecom Services for $1.6 billion and Texas player Grande Communications for $650 million. The two telcos will be combined. More…

How To Avoid Photo Copyright Fights? ‘Get Consent.’
Nearly a half-dozen lawsuits have recently filed by a Long Island, NY attorney representing a professional photographer whose photos were illegally used on a radio station’s website. Womble Carlyle attorney John Garziglia has one easy solution to potential legal problems. More…

Liberty Media Sets Private Debt Offering
The Sirius XM owner and minority investor in Viacom and Time Warner expects to close August 17 on a private debt offering valued at $444.6 million. The debt securities are supported by Liberty’s shares of Time Warner Inc. More…

New Top Five on Radio
The Media Monitors Radio Spot Ten landscape has changed. GEICO maintained its #1 position. Burger King ascended from #13 to #2, while McDonald’s moved up to #3. More…

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Sinclair’s Private Debt Offering Rates Strong With Moody’s
Sinclair Television Group has set a private offering of $350 million in senior debt, with net proceeds used to redeem its 6.375% senior unsecured notes due 2021. That led Moody’s Investors Service to assign a B1 rating to the proposed notes – a good sign for the TV station owner. More…

McDonald’s Serves Another #1
In the Media Monitors TV Spot Ten, McDonald’s maintained its grip on #1. Soaring like an eagle from #92 to #2 was Burger King, while Ford Lincoln Mercury leapt up from #14 to #3. More…

Is Twitter Near A Deal With Apple TV?
According to The New York Times, Twitter will live-stream a National Football League game in its entirety on Thursday, September 15. Is a wider agreement in play, with Apple TV involved?
RBR+TVBR Observation: Is Twitter the latest threat to MSOs, television networks and broadcast television companies such as Sinclair? Given the live-streaming deals it has forged with the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA, there may be no true need for cable TV anymore. Good thing savvy MSOs got into digital broadband, because it may just save them from extinction in 10 years. More…

MEDIA MOVES: Shari Berg, Daniel McDonald
SVP/News Ops at Fox TV stations now COO; McDonald takes key research role at NAB. More…

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Sales & Marketing
Programming Considerations For Your FM's HD3 Channel
By Marty Hadfield, President, The Hadfield Group
In April 2008, Seattle radio industry veteran Marty Hadfield penned for RBR+TVBR an insightful piece on what stations could put on an HD3 signal. As many FM stations don't even have an HD2 signal more than eight years later, it's a perfect time to revisit what Hadfield had to say. More…

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Duhamel Gets An FM Signal For KOTA
An AM News/Talker in South Dakota has acquired a low-power FM facility presently located 300 miles to the southwest, in Cheyenne, Wyo. Duhamel paid $30k for the LPFM. More…

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Stocks Climb on Oil Highs
U.S. stocks climbed Monday as oil prices reached a one-month high. Radio and Television followed the market, with both posting gains. The RBR Radio Index rose 10.508, or 1.68%, to 635.351. The TVBR Television Index rose 10.775, or 1.16%, to 937.287. More…

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