Business

Regional cable company Breezeline is no longer carrying CBS affiliate WBOC in Salisbury, Md., but the TV station is insisting it is not engaged in a classic carriage dispute like the one going on between Tegna and DirecTV. “Please understand this is not a carriage dispute,” WBOC says on its website. “Breezeline stated it dropped WBOC because we are an ‘out of market’ station to the communities they serve, which are in the Baltimore viewing area as defined by Nielsen Media Research.”

Wall Street shaved off some losses Friday to close its worst week in the last 10.

Broadcasters Foundation establishes the Philip J. Lombardo Memorial Fund in his honor.

The AFL-CIO is pushing for Disney and Apple to explain how they use artificial intelligence.

The 40-year industry icon is taking on a leadership role in his church.

The growing group comprising stations in small and mid-size markets adds the new title to his chief revenue officer duties.

The deal includes football, men’s and women’s basketball, as well as Olympic sports through 2032.

The company, which debuted last year with big plans to disrupt journalism, generated only $3 million in revenue by the end of December.

Netflix has said it plans to be in gaming for years to come. Now the company is trying to figure out how to make money from it, a potential shift in strategy for the streamer. Some of the ideas that have been discussed include in-app purchases, charging for more sophisticated games it is developing or giving subscribers to its newer ad-supported tier access to games with ads in them, according to people familiar with the discussions. Pictured: Netflix’s most popular original game is tied to its Too Hot to Handle reality show.

Sam Liccardo (center) reports raising $1.65 million in the fourth quarter, just weeks after announcing his entry into a crowded field in a rare open Bay Area seat. (SusanWalsh/AP)

OpenAI has offered some media firms as little as between $1 million and $5 million annually to license their news articles for use in training its large language models, according to two executives who have recently negotiated with the tech company. That’s a tiny amount even for small publishers, which could make it difficult for OpenAI to strike deals.

The agreement, struck in September after a blackout, pulls some of Disney’s streaming services into the linear bundle.

New research from Woods & Poole Economics with support from BIA Advisory Services show stations generate $1.23 trillion in economic activity and provide 2.52 million jobs.

NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt says he’s “tremendously frustrated” with the FCC’s late December decision to reaffirm and tighten its regulations on broadcast ownership. So, what’s the organization’s next move? A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Wall Street ended mixed Thursday, and yields rose after solid data on the economy.

The former CNN president and onetime executive producer of Today, is investing in Media Res, the independent Hollywood studio behind the hit prestige dramedy The Morning Show on Apple TV+. It’s the latest gamble by Zucker in his effort to build a mini media empire for RedBird IMI, the venture company he founded in 2022.

YouTube TV is not only the fastest-growing virtual pay TV provider with an estimated 6.9 million subscribers, but has surpassed Dish Network (6.7 million), and now has become the fourth-largest of any pay TV provider of any kind, says MoffettNathanson Research. YouTube TV has grown 35% year-over-year (at just over 5.1 million subscribers in the third quarter of 2022).

Jeremy Helfand, who rose from a position at Hulu to supervise all advertising sales across Disney’s interactive businesses will take the reins as a vice president and head of sales efforts for Amazon’s Prime Video, the executive disclosed in a post on Linkedin on Thursday.

The founder of VideoAmp, a measurement-technology start-up that has been vying with Nielsen and others to create a new means of tabulating video audiences, is stepping down from his CEO role just as the company plans to lay off nearly a fifth of its staff. Ross McCray, who led VideoAmp as it struck deals with titans such as Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, will remain as a shareholder and board member at VideoAmp, but will be replaced by Peter Liguori, an industry veteran who has led Fox Entertainment, FX and Tribune Media, among other companies.

As Shari Redstone decides how to part with her empire, a number of players have emerged as suitors — all with varying, and conflicting, motivations to make a bid for the historic studio.

With television making the transition from a linear medium to a digital one, GroupM has formed a group designed to give advertisers a stronger voice in how TV advertising evolves. The GroupM Ad Innovation Accelerator consists of a combination of traditional media companies, streamers and tech companies. Initial participants are BrightLine, Disney, Kerv, NBCUniversal, Roku, Telly and YouTube. Other interested parties will be able to join.

CNZ Communications, owner of WGBP Opelika, Ala., claims that under FCC precedent, Dish needs to carry the station throughout the entire Atlanta, Ga., and Columbus, Ga., DMAs. CNZ filed a complaint with the FCC on Dec. 11 seeking full carriage in both markets. Yesterday, Dish asked the FCC to deny the complaint, saying it was “based on a misreading of the relevant statute, regulations, and FCC precedent.”

The NCAA and ESPN today announced a $920 million, eight-year agreement that will give the cable network exclusive rights to 40 championships, including the Division I women’s basketball tournament, an event growing in popularity that the association has been accused of undervaluing in the past. Pictured: Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (r) celebrates in front of Michigan State guard Moira Joiner after her three-point basket won the game on Jan. 2. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Venezuelan billionaire businessman Gustavo Cisneros, who grew the family business Cisneros Group into an influential media conglomerate across Latin America and the U.S., has died at age 78.

Perplexity, a startup going after Google’s dominant position in web search, has won backing from Jeff Bezos and venture capitalists betting that artificial intelligence will upend the way people find information online. Started less than two years ago, Perplexity has fewer than 40 employees and is based out of a San Francisco co-working space. The company’s product, which it calls an answer engine, is used by about 10 million people monthly. Pictured: CEO Aravind Srinivas.

The search giant plans to remove a technology seen as critical to the digital-ad industry.