New year, new administration brings changes When 2021 started, we had hope in a new year. But it looks like we’re going to spending a lot of time cleaning up the messes of 2020. For one, we had an insurrection in Washington D.C. just six days in the new year, as white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups descended on the Capitol […]
FCC punts on racism allegations In a marked departure from the last time the FCC dealt with this issue, the agency has rejected a complaint regarding racial and homophobic content on a TV show. The content in question comes from a Puerto Rico TV show called La Comay, where as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected a complaint from New York […]
Closes book on botched Tribune deal In one of the biggest fines ever levied against a broadcast company, the FCC fined Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcasting $48 million Wednesday for misrepresenting themselves in their pursuit of Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting, which was later sold to Nexstar. The fine and consent decree also closes three investigations into the company, […]
Latest controversy tells us the show’s producers aren’t willing to learn their lesson on social issues When a contestant named Colton Cumbie exhibited racist behavior on Survivor: One World, this blog called out the show, Hollywood, and the media business in general for failing hard on diversity in a business that’s overwhelmingly white and male. Nearly eight years later, the […]
Could have an impact nationwide, including CAN TV Chicago In a move that could have devastating consequences for community-based cable TV channels, the dysfunctional and useless FCC voted among party lines Thursday (like they do for everything else) 3-2 to let cable networks and data assign a value to their networks and can reduce fees owed to localities by that […]
Also: Decades finds new station group; FCC votes to modify kidvid rules and strike down San Francisco apartment broadband law Hubbard Broadcasting continued its dominance of local Chicago radio in the recently released May PPM Nielsen rankings. As reported by Robert Feder, WTMX finished first again, with sister station The Drive (WDRV-FM) finishing a strong second. The Minnepaolis-based company also […]
And in a surprising twist, Tribune is suing Sinclair for breach of contract Captain Chesapeake isn’t coming to Chicago after all. Blame overpaying a hand in a regulatory poker game leading to his ship sinking faster than the Exxon Valdez. Approximately fifteen months after it was announced, Chicago-based Tribune Media announced Thursday morning it was walking away from its merger […]
Sinclair thought a change in administration would enable to get what they wanted. They thought wrong, but botched deal might not stop more consolidation While Sinclair Broadcasting is in trouble with the FCC on how it misrepresented itself in its proposed merger with Tribune Media, it won’t slow down the merger and acquisition activity expected. That’s because an appeals court […]
In order to have government regulators approve the merger with Tribune, Sinclair agree to withdrew controversial plans to sell stations in three markets including Chicago FCC votes to send matter to Administrative Law Judge (Editor’s Note: This story is frequently changing. Follow @tdogmedia on Twitter for updates.) Aren’t you sick of this already? After being smacked down by FCC Chairman […]
FCC Chairman has concerns about the deal; could be knockout blow – Sinclair and Tribune both pledge to fight on (Editor’s Note: Updated at 4:10 p.m. on July 17 with new information.) Even Ajit Pai is seeing through the scam. On Monday, the FCC Chairman released a statement saying he had “serious concerns” about the $3.9 billion deal between Sinclair […]
Sinclair selling off WPIX, WGN to win approval? Meet the Shell Answer Man. During the eight years I worked at the Better Business Bureau, yours truly has seen plenty of scams perpetrated onto by the public the organization had to warn about. But even those can’t compare to what Sinclair and the FCC are pulling. In a filing revealed on […]
Back a year ago, yours truly did a look ahead into 2017. So how did everything turn out? I have the answers right here! 1. The FCC under a Trump administration. With a 3-2 FCC majority, issues the FCC championed under Tom Wheeler: net neutrality, preserving the cross-ownership rule, and other issues are going to get a hard look at […]
This Bud’s for you – 2017 a carbon city of 2016 2016: The worst year ever. 2017: Hold my beer. Yes, you saw this type of “hold my beer” exchanges this year as 2017 turned out to be lousy as advertised. For one thing, American Idol is coming back thanks to ABC. This and host Ryan Seacrest appearing on TV […]
FCC reverses 2015 vote; leaves uncertain future for Net Never in the years I’ll followed the media business I’ve seen so much hatred for the FCC – even during the Nipplegate controversy and when former chairman Kevin Martin was running the agency. But what we saw Thursday may have Trumped everything. In yet another bitterly partisan divided vote in an […]
Also approves ATSC 3.0 television transmissions If there is any federal agency that gives the Illinois legislature a run for their money for being the most dysfunctional in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission would win hands down. An example of this came Thursday when the FCC relaxed the media ownership rules and modified the lifeline program in votes […]