“Last night, the Broadcasters Foundation and the broadcast industry lost a great man,” said Scott Herman, chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation. “As chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation for many years, Phil left an indelible mark. He was passionate about our mission and one of our biggest donors, giving both time and money to helping colleagues in need.”

“It would be impossible for me to quantify all that I learned from Phil Lombardo over the course of our nearly 40-year association,” said Ray Cole, president and COO, Citadel Communications. “Phil was a boss, a mentor, and a partner. Most of all, he was a dear friend who changed my life in immeasurable ways. While his impact on the broadcasting industry was vast and deep, Phil’s enduring legacy will be the vision and passion with which he led the Broadcasters Foundation of America. His contributions to its mission — helping fellow broadcasters in need — had no bounds. That commitment is sure to live on forever.”

NAB President-CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a statement: “Phil Lombardo was a pioneer in the broadcasting industry; his contributions were immense and his influence widespread. His passion for broadcasting set a standard that will continue to inspire generations to come.

“Phil’s leadership extended beyond his business achievements. His service as NAB joint board chair helped shape the future of our association and left an indelible mark on our industry. But his legacy will certainly be his work to help broadcasters in their times of greatest need, through the Broadcasters Foundation of America (BFOA). I had the privilege of serving with him on the BFOA board and witnessing firsthand his unwavering dedication to the men and women of the broadcast industry, giving back to those who have given so much to our communities across the country.

“We extend our deepest condolences to Phil’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time. His legacy will live on, and he will be deeply missed.”

Lombardo’s impactful role as Broadcasters Foundation chairman from 2000 to 2015 was vital to the foundation’s ability to increase the amount of grants awarded annually to broadcasters in need from just over $60,000 in 2000 to nearly $2 million in recent years.

“Phil had a strong personality, but his heart was bigger,” added Tim McCarthy, president of the  foundation. “No one worked harder than Phil to raise money from our biggest donors. He gave more than anyone in our industry to colleagues who need it most.”

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Philip J. Lombardo Memorial Fund, which will be established by the Broadcasters Foundation next week in honor of Lombardo’s dedication and service to the broadcasting industry and to the foundation’s charitable cause.

To honor his longstanding dedication to the Broadcasters Foundation, in 2000 the board passed a near unanimous vote to rename the annual golf tournament and fundraiser, held during the NAB Show in Las Vegas, to the Philip J. Lombardo Charity Golf Tournament. The one “no” vote was cast by Lombardo.

Lombardo always knew he wanted to go into broadcasting. Growing up in a neighborhood on Chicago’s near north side, radio was his companion. He began his career at WBBM-TV in Chicago as a production assistant and quickly rose to executive levels, earning a reputation for being a ‘turnaround’ manager.

The majority of Lombardo’s storied career was focused on buying, turning around, and selling TV stations for his privately held company, Citadel Communications. In 2003, Lombardo was elected to serve as joint board chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters. He was inducted into the Broadcasting + Cable Hall of Fame in October 2015.

The Broadcasters Foundation has distributed more than $15 million dollars in aid over the past 20 years. This year, the foundation will award approximately $1.8 million. More information about the Broadcasters Foundation, including how to make a donation or apply for aid, is available at www.broadcastersfoundation.org, 212-373-8250, or info@thebfoa.org.

The post Philip J. Lombardo, Citadel Communications CEO And Chairman Emeritus Of Broadcasters Foundation, Dies At 88 appeared first on TV News Check.

With this new roster of top local news groups and stations joining the platform, VUit’s local news coverage increases to 174 out of 210 total local markets nationwide, with more than 83% of local markets now covered by the service.

The company said that beyond enabling VUit to expand its selection of hyperlocal programming, the deals “also help this diverse roster of station groups both large and small, as well as independent stations, increase audience and grow advertising revenue opportunities well beyond their local markets.”

The deals also further VUit’s mission in establishing itself as a destination for local news and cultural content that has appeal well beyond the hyperlocal market. For example, VUit’s broadcast of the 2021 Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Gray TV’s Anchorage-based KTUU was viewed by consumers from 178 markets. Similarly, its stream of The Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial from Heritage Broadcasting’s Traverse City, MI-based 9&10News attracted viewers from 132 markets.

This summer, 9&10News reached viewers from 58 markets with its stream of the Michigan High School All-Star Softball game and most recently, the kick-off of high school football in Iowa, streamed by Gray Television’s Cedar Rapids-based KCRG, reached viewers in 36 markets.

“VUit has enabled our local stations to reach viewers with not only live news and programming relevant to them, but locally-produced on-demand content that viewers from across the country tune into,” said Pat LaPlatney, co-CEO-president of Gray Television, a major investor in Syncbak, VUit’s parent company. “We want every local station to be streaming on VUit. Viewers download the app to watch their local channel, and stick around to watch programming from local stations all across the country.”

VUit says the stations will also benefit significantly from the agreements. “Each member station will see increased advertising revenue opportunity from streaming ads on VUit’s platform, at no cost to the station. In this way, VUit creates new digital growth opportunities for local stations and empowers them to create a custom and unique viewing experience for audiences anytime, anywhere on any device.”

Here are the recent national groups and locally-owned newsrooms that have signed on to be part of the VUit platform:

• National media company Morris Network now streams all six of its stations on VUit that come from across six markets including Lexington and Chattanooga.
• National broadcast group Hearst Televisionhas stations in dozens of markets including Boston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, reaching 20% of all U.S. households. They are now streaming Very Local-branded channels from 27 markets on VUit including Boston, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. WCVB in Boston is VUit’s first station in the market.
• WSNN, Citadel Communications’Suncoast News Network, is a 24-hour news channel airing more than 40 hours of live news each week in the Tampa market. The station’s content will now be available on VUit.
• Cox Media Group.Ten stations from 10 markets including Atlanta, Seattle-Tacoma, and Charlotte have come to the platform as part of the recent deal with VUit.
• News Press & Gazettehas stations in 10 markets across the nation. The station group has signed on to stream all 20 of its stations on VUit, including KRDO in Colorado Springs, the group’s largest market. KVIA in El Paso is also joining the platform, which will be a new market for VUit.
• Family-owned Bahakel Communicationsjust signed on to deliver six stations in five markets to VUit, including its flagship, WCCB in Charlotte. Other top markets include Columbia and Myrtle Beach, both S.C.
• Syncbak investor Gray Television has added another eight stations in eight markets through its purchase of Quincy, including Ft. Wayne, Peoria-Bloomington and Duluth-Superior.
• Marks Radio Grouphas signed on to stream two of its stations on VUit, including its flagship station WBKB from Alpena, Mich., which serves the northeastern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
• WFMJ Televisionin Youngstown is the only locally owned and operated station in the market. The station broadcasts more than 23 hours of live news each week and will soon begin streaming on VUit.

Jack Perry, CEO of Syncbak, VUit’s parent company, said, “We’re looking forward to working with these high caliber partners who create the kinds of content that in many cases appeals to viewers well beyond the local market.  They are not only adding volume, but also quality that will enable VUit to continue to affirm its position as a top destination for hyperlocal programming.”

The post VUit Expands Hyper-Local News And Event Coverage appeared first on TV News Check.

The Ray Center annually honors Iowans who show the Six Pillars of Character Counts!: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship. Since 2005, the organization has recognized more than 100 Iowans for showing good character.

The Ray Center’s top award, the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character, will be presented to Ray Cole.  He is president and chief operating officer of Citadel Communications. In this capacity, he was responsible for the oversight of Iowa television stations serving viewers in the Des Moines, Quad Cities and Sioux City markets until their sale in 2013.

Citadel recently announced the sale of its remaining ABC stations in Lincoln, Neb., and Providence, R.I. When that deal closes later this year, it will mark the end of Ray’s 42-year association with the ABC Television Network.

A longtime supporter of The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center, Ray has consistently worked to back its Character Counts! mission. He enjoyed a long and close relationship with former Governor Ray. They worked together on a wide range of activities, including Easter Seals of Iowa’s annual Camp Sunnyside Raft Regatta. They were also fellow members of The Breakfast Club Ltd., which allowed them to see each other regularly at weekly meetings and social events. This friendship prompted Ray to be an early supporter of The Ray Center’s efforts to improve civility through character development and ethical leadership. He has been especially involved with the annual All-Star Evening fundraiser.

Since 2011, Ray has leveraged his personal and professional connections to secure ESPN’s involvement with the meaningful participation of a high-profile ESPN personality and exclusive auction packages such as VIP experiences at the ESPYS, Good Morning America, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol and the Billboard Music Awards. Ray and his wife, Susan, served as honorary co-chairs of the All-Star Evening in 2014.

The group said: “Ray also demonstrates good character through his leadership in the broadcasting industry and many civic engagements. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the ABC Television Network, and on the board and executive committee of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Ray previously served on the boards of the National Association of Broadcasters and Television Bureau of Advertising. He was inducted into the Iowa Broadcasters Association’s Hall of Fame in 2015.”

Awards will be issued in 10 additional categories:

Aaron Eilerts Community Service Award: Alicia Kamran, Norwalk

Citizen of Character: Lois Turnage, Pleasantville and Jordan George, Des Moines

Business/Organization of Character: The Job Foundation, Cedar Falls

Character Champion: Julie Kopecky, Dallas Center

Communities of Character: Pella

Educator of Character: Corwin (Corky) Stewart, Brooklyn

Partner of the Year: Iowa Bankers Association, Johnston

Pursuing Victory with Honor: Lynnville-Sully Football Program

School of Character: Lakewood Elementary, Norwalk

Student Team/Organization of Character: Joyology, Carlisle

The post Ray Cole Among Iowa Character Award Honorees appeared first on TV News Check.

Deb McDermott

Operating under the banner of Standard Media, veteran broadcaster Deb McDermott has built the foundation of a new station group with the purchase of ABC affiliates WLNE Providence, R.I. (DMA 53), and KLKN Lincoln-Hastings, Neb. (DMA 111).

According to the McDermont, Standard Media is paying $83 million for the two ABC affiliates. She would not say what multiple she paid.

The seller is Citadel Communications, owned by Phil Lombardo, a longtime, small-market broadcaster and former NAB chairman who has been selling off his holdings. He bought WLNE out of receivership in 2011 for $5.8 million.

Standard Media is not the same Standard Media that agreed to buy, but never closed, on nine stations that were being spun off from the Sinclair-Tribune merger last year. That Standard Media was controlled by investor and former Media General principal Soo Kim. Its deal for the nine stations collapsed when the FCC decided not to approve the Sinclair-Tribune merger.

The new Standard Media is owned by McDermott, whom Kim tapped to run his broadcasting investments. Kim got to know McDermott when he acquired control of Young Broadcasting while McDermott was running it.

Kim does not have equity in this new Standard Media, but he — along with some banks and other private investors — are providing the financing for WLNE and KLKN and, possibly, for future acquisitions.

McDermott says she is in the market for more stations: “We are always working on something.”

In buying KLKN, she says, she is returning to her broadcasting roots. She spent her first seven years out of college working for the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, starting in promotion and PR and ending with management of “basically everything except sales.”

Lombardo said in a prepared statement: “It is gratifying to sell our remaining ABC stations to someone with whom I have enjoyed a long professional relationship, and who also has unique experience and insights in both markets. I am confident that our deal will serve as a catalyst for Standard Media’s plans to build a new, large station group.”

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman acted as legal adviser to Standard Media in connection with this transaction. CobbCorp acted as exclusive financial adviser and Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard acted as legal adviser to Citadel.

The post McDermott In The Station Game With WLNE, KLKN appeared first on TV News Check.

Nexstar Communications announced Monday that, along with its sidecar company Mission Broadcasting, it’s buying all but two of Citadel’s station for $103.25 million.

The deal also cashes Mario Gabelli out of his partnership, via Lynch Entertainment, with Citadel via two stations — WOI, the ABC affiliate in Des Moines (DMA 72) and WHBF, the CBS affiliate in Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Ill. (DMA 100), also known as the Quad Cities metropolitan area.

Those two stations not part of the deal — WLNE, the ABC affiliate in Providence, R.I. (DMA 53), and KLKN, the ABC affiliate in Lincoln, Neb. (DMA 105) — are likely to keep Lombardo and Ray Cole, president and COO of Citadel, busy for quite a while.

Indeed, they could form the nucleus for future acquisitions.

“It was the right time for us to sell,” Cole says. “Phil Lombardo at 78 years of age has to start looking at his exit after 50 years in the business. Mario Gabelli has been a great partner, but it was time for him to mine his investment.”

But Cole says there’s “unfinished business” that he and Lombardo will pursue with  those two remaining stations.

Citadel purchased WLNE in May 2011, not long after it emerged from bankruptcy, Cole notes, and the station is “on a terrific growth curve right now and there are some things Phil and I would like to see through.”

As for KLKN, “It’s a terrific award-winning station but it doesn’t cover the entire market,” Cole says. “We want to expand the footprint of the station across the entire DMA.”

The Nexstar-Citadel deal took “six weeks start to finish,” Cole says, adding that there was no attempt at marketing the group by issuing a “book.”

“We had no interest in an auction,” he says.

As Cole and Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker noted, the Citadel acquisition gives Nexstar a presence in the key swing state of Iowa with two Big Four affiliated stations and the opportunity to tap substantial political revenues from the 2016 presidential election.

Along with owning the two stations, Lombardo and Cole also own a piece of a 24/7 cable news operation in Sarasota, Fla.

“I look forward to staying active in the business but maybe slowing down a little,” Cole says, noting that he’s worked with Lombardo, whom he characterized as his “mentor, partner and friend,” for 38 years.

Looks like that’s 38 years and counting.

The post Lombardo, Cole Cut Back, But Far From Out appeared first on TV News Check.

The effort grew considerably last spring when Citadel added a fifth station to the fold, WLNE Providence, R.I., after winning it at auction with a $4 million bid. It, too, was soon on the air with HD news.

Directing the post-transition transition to HD has been Dan Ackerman, Citadel’s director of engineering for the past 11 years. In this interview with TVNewsCheck, Ackerman talks about the HD upgrades, IP backpacks, his low-power solution to VHF reception problems and complying with the new loudness rules.

An edited transcript:

When was the decision made to go HD and how big a project was that or where are we in that process?       

After we put our HD transmitters on the air [in 2009], we wanted to take fairly little steps, but still get to where we were full HD news and master control. The first thing we did was buy a 360 [Systems] HD server at our four stations and we put our syndicated programming on in HD. Our next step was we bought the Video Technics’ Apella servers and put commercials on in HD and then we upgraded our production control to HD. At the heart of master control is VT’s Scheduler Pro, which runs on a separte computer, but drives the 360 servers, the Appellas and Harris IconMaster switcher.

We were doing all network and syndicated programming and commercials for probably six months or more before we went HD with our news.

When did you rollout HD news?

Last year. We started in Des Moines and every month we put on one of the four stations in HD.

All in one year? That’s impressive.

Yeah. We did one after another for four months.

So what was the order?

We did WOI [Des Moines], then we did KLKN in Lincoln [Neb.], then KCAU in Sioux City [Iowa] and then WHBF in Rock Island [Ill.]

What about Providence?

We got Providence [WLNE] in June and we went with HD news Sept. 1. At the point that we got to Providence, we had a master plan. We had our format and system on how we did the other four stations all pretty well laid out.

Tell me about the upgrade to HD news production. What was involved there?

We went to NAB and we looked at different switchers and we looked at really what we could get the most bang for our buck [from] and we came up with the Broadcast Pix  production switcher because it had everything all built into one box. We thought that since we had to do everything in production control, that would be a good way to do it. It’s worked out pretty good.

Did you automate the news production?

No we did not. But there is some automation. Our studio cameras are robotic, we do file formats, but it is not Ignite or anything like that. We actually use our Broadcast Pix and they also do the CG clip play and the still store.

What about the studio cameras?

We got a really good deal on Grass Valley robotic cameras and we put those in before we had our HD production switchers. We downconverted [the video from the cameras] into our analog production switcher so we could use them.

Did you installed new sets for HD?

We’re still actually working on them. We did minor upgrades in the studio to make them look a little bit HD. We put 16×9 HD monitors in where we had 4x3s. That’s really the last step and we’re just starting to do that. We will do that in 2012, probably at all four stations.

Who will you use for your set design?

We have gotten drawings from, I would guess, four or five [firms] and we have cut it down to a couple. We have given them some feedback and we will see what they come back with.

Which newsroom system do you use?

We have used Comprompter’s NewsKing for probably 10 years at four stations. At WLNE, they had ENPS already there and we put in a second Apella server there, which automates the newsroom better for commercial or for clip playback.

What are you using for news acquisition?

We use JVC [ProHD] 100 and 700 cameras and I think we have some of those new 750s, too. The 100s are pretty small little cameras. They shoot pretty good video.

Do you have a lot of video journalists — one-man bands?

Almost all of them are one-man bands.

So, when you went HD you went full HD in the field and studio?

Full HD. We converted everything, master control, production control, news gathering, everything except for the microwave trucks which are SD.

So how do you get live video back to the station in HD?

We have [IP] backpacks that we can send out. If we use microwave trucks, we send them back SD and upconvert it. For the backpacks, we use TVU Networks. We have one at each station.

And what’s your experience with those?

If you get good cell phone areas, they work excellently, live. It is hit and miss, of course, if you have bad cell phone reception, if you send them back as-live. If we’re doing a football game in Lincoln where the cell phones are so busy and want tailgaters, we can shoot a two-minute clip, send it back in five minutes and put it in the show [as if it were live].

Let’s talk a little bit about the multicasting. Citadel just announced it is going to pick up ABC’s Live Well in five markets.

We’re going to replace RTV at three of our stations. One had AccuWeather.

Will you still have room for mobile?

We have investigated mobile, but we haven’t really moved on mobile. [Citadel CEO] Phil [Lombardo] sends me clippings and stuff all the time on any new innovations. It hasn’t moved as much as we maybe had hoped.

Are you going to be able to fulfill your obligation under the FCC’s new loudness rules?

We actually had loudness equipment in last year’s capital budget and we held off on it to see what exactly the FCC wanted us to do. And now that they came out with the rules, we will again look. It’s in this year’s capital budget. We will get it on line well in advance of when we need to have it.

Is that a big deal?

It’s a big deal as far as I see it in how we monitor it and how we record our data so that we can prove that we are in compliance. The way the rule looks to me is you not only have to be in compliance, you have to prove you’re in compliance if somebody complains.

So if somebody complains, you can go back to the Tuesday in July at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and say, “Here’s our meter readings.” The equipment has to be able to be calibrated so that you know that it’s accurate.

The other part is what we have already done. You put in a limiter and an AGC to make sure everything stays pretty consistent. I think the biggest problem is in people’s perception of the difference in loudness between 5.1 and stereo because it switches back and forth all the time.

Your Midwest stations are all on VHF channels. How are they performing in the digital world?

We kind of hedged our bet. We kept our UHF channels and we broadcast the stations on low-power UHF channels in our metro areas.

So over-the-air viewers in those markets have choice of what channel they want to watch you on?

Yes, they do have a choice. If they scan their TVs and they don’t get  good reception on 8 on VHF, they can try the UHF channel. It’s PSIP, so the UHF channel would still come up as ch. 8. They don’t really know if they are getting our UHF channel or our VHF channel.

But they could get both, I guess.

There are a lot of them that do. We have people that call us up, tell us they get two ch. 8s and ask which one are they supposed to watch.

The post Citadel: From Zero To Full HD Newscasts appeared first on TV News Check.

And going beyond its technology roots, Perry says, Syncbak is also lining up national programming to supplement whatever programming the participating stations choose to put on the platform.

According to Perry, the platform is being developed at Syncbak headquarters just outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and at two stations in Cedar Rapids, Sinclair’s Broadcast Group’s KGAN and Quincy Newspapers’ KWWL.

Perry says that he expects to have the system up and running for preliminary testing on about 50 stations by the middle of next month. If all goes well, it should be ready for testing with programming in September or October and then for a commercial rollout in January, just in time for the Consumer Electronics Show.

Perry concedes the timetable is ambitious, but, he says, “we have been doing the groundwork for a couple of years.”

In addition to Sinclair and Quincy, cooperating station groups include Morgan Murphy Media, Northwest Broadcasting, Citadel Communications, Communications Corp. of America and Allbritton Communications, Perry says.

“He’s got an interesting product that can help broadcasters compete,” says Brian Brady, CEO of Northwest Broadcasting, who has taken an equity position in Syncbak. “As broadcasters, we have to be active participants in getting to the other screens. I’m committed to figuring it out and doing something with it.”

Sheldon Galloway, VP of Knight Broadcasting, a duopoly partner with Communications Corp. of America, says that Knight and CCA have been testing Syncbak’s basic authentication system on stations in two Texas markets — Waco and Tyler-Longview.

“If we were able to get the rights for all our [network and syndicated] programming, the concept of using the Internet to drive people back to TV stations is pretty interesting,” he says.

As envisioned by Perry, stations would use the Syncbak platform to offer broadband users within their markets an array of local and national programming — linear channels as well as individual shows — supported by advertising and subscriptions.

The programming would be restricted not by technology, but by copyrights. Stations would have to secure local broadband distribution rights for whatever programs they put on the platform. Generally, they have the rights only for their newscasts and other programs that they produce themselves and, perhaps, some syndicated programs. They don’t have the rights to network programming.

Dell Parks, VP, engineering and operations, Sinclair TV Group, calls Syncbak an “exciting” technology, but says that he doesn’t necessarily share Perry’s vision.

“It could allow us to have some interactivity with our viewers and provide us with another way of sending content to them,” he says. However, whether the technology is the basis for a full-blown OTT business remains to be seen, Parks adds. “We can dream of a 100 ways of using the technology. Let’s find one way that really works first.”

In addition to NAB, CEA and Northwest, Syncbak’s investors includes Equity Dynamics Inc., a venture capital firm headed by John Pappajohn, and a handful of  wealthy individuals, Perry says, noting that the company has just completed another round of private financing, raising more than $5 million.

OTT services go “over the top” of cable and satellite by delivering TV programming to TV sets through broadband connections and Internet-connected TVs, gaming consoles and proprietary set-top boxes from companies like Roku, Apple TV and Boxee.

The OTT phenomenon is being driven by the penetration of broadband access in U.S. homes and the proliferation of Internet-connected TVs — CEA expects some 13 million to be sold this year.

Syncbak was founded last year to develop a system that would “authenticate” online viewers as local — that is, confirm that they live within the stations’ market.

Such a system is key to stations interested in the TV-over-Web business because they must obtain local broadband distribution rights from networks and syndicators. To even have a chance of doing that, they must promise that they can restrict the programming to their markets.

“All the local broadcaster really wants is territorial exclusivity and our technology gives them that,” Perry says.

The Syncbak system uses a sliver of a station’s over-the-air TV signal to deliver an encrypted authorization code to receivers — Internet-connected TVs, desktops, tablets and smart phones. Only receivers within the stations’ coverage area, of course, could receive the code.

The code tells the receiver exactly what programming it may receive according to the instructions of the broadcasters.

Syncbak is now leveraging the authentication technology to develop a turnkey OTT system that that also includes software for back-office program management and the user interface — a Syncbak “cloud” where programming can be stored and accessed by viewers as they would on a DVR — and rack-mounted hardware that generates the authorization signals and the online video for installation in stations.

“When we started to solve the problem of how do you get the linear broadcasts authenticated, we realized that what we have here is really a platform so that a local broadcaster could become kind of the a mini cable headend — an over-the-top guy delivering all kinds of content to people,” Perry says. “As long as they have a connected TV and we can authenticate them, then [stations] could deliver anything they want.”

An important feature of the Syncbak system is audience measurement, Perry says. “Every moment of viewing … is going to be measured, which we think will set the stage for innovations on the broadcaster side of things.”

With the local authentication tool and the promise of maintaining market exclusivity, Perry says, stations have a shot of persuading their networks and syndicators to give them the right to distribute their product online locally.

So far, the networks have been reluctant to give their affiliates such local rights. But Perry is undaunted. “What we have learned from ivi and FilmOn … is you can’t just take other people’s property and put it on the Web,” he says. “What I’m saying is, look, I will build an authentication system first and then we can have that discussion about local rights.”

Last year, startups ivi and FilmOn challenged the broadcast networks by streaming their O&Os on the Internet without permission. The networks raced to court and won injunctions shutting down the two services.

While waiting on the broadcast networks, Perry is trying to convince popular cable networks and others to provide programming that would supplement the broadcasters’ local fare.

One source of programming, he says, will likely be MHz Networks, a Falls Church, Va.-based broadcaster that delivers 10 channels of international programming, including Al Jazeera English, in the Washington market over two TV stations, WNVC and WNVT.

“We have a great relationship building with [CEO Fred Thomas] and we expect great things out of that,” says Perry.

Thomas could not immediately be reached for comment.

The post Syncbak Moving Forward With OTT Platform appeared first on TV News Check.

Citadel Communications LLC, which bought the WLNE $4 million at auction last month, has hired Tzianabos to run it as VP and GM.

Tzianabos’ background is in sales. He was VP and GSM at WFXT Boston from August 2000 to May 2009.  And, prior to that, he was local sales manager for WXFT; national sales manager for Sunbean Television’s NBC affiliate in Boston, WHDH; and local sales manager for the New England Sports Network.

The appointment is effective May 1, when Citadel is set to take control of the station under a local marketing agreement. Citadel expects to close on its purchase of the station this summer after the FCC approves the deal.

 “Chris has a long employment history in New England and earned the respect of the  business community during his long tenure in the Boston market,” said Citadel President Ray Cole in a press release.

“He’s uniquely qualified to re-position WLNE/ABC6 in a way that better serves Providence and all of Rhode Island. We are extremely pleased to have an executive of his caliber taking the helm of WLNE/ABC6.”

Tzianabos, in the press release, said he was thrilled with the challenge. “This is a very exciting time as we move forward with our goals to improve the quality of ABC6’s programming and overall level of community service on the station, especially our plans to convert our local broadcasts to HD.”

The post Citadel Hires Ex-Boston GSM To Run WLNE appeared first on TV News Check.

“We are very pleased that an established, successful and financially secure company like Citadel has emerged as the stalking horse bidder in this process,” said McGowan. “We have a number of other well-qualified offerors who are interested in acquiring the station, and now that the stalking horse bid has been established, we are prepared to move forward toward obtaining court-approval for a sale.”

Those offerors will have until March 18 to submit competing bids. There will be a hearing in the Superior Court in Providence on March 22 during which the prevailing bidder will be selected and approved by the court.

CobbCorp serves as the exclusive adviser to WLNE’s receiver, Salter, McGowan, Sylvia & Leonard.

The post Citadel Named Top Bidder For WLNE appeared first on TV News Check.