Tegna

Tegna is the largest independent owner of NBC affiliates. The 20 markets renewed cover more than 21 million households, nearly 17% of U.S. TV households.

Some DirecTV customers were able to watch a national programming feed of NBC in areas where the local affiliate has been unavailable for weeks due to a prolonged dispute with Tegna, StreamTV Insider confirms. The test appears to be a first step toward replacing local broadcast affiliates with national network feeds in order to offset the loss of programming during programming disputes, like the one DirecTV currently faces with Tegna.

Top news executives from Tegna, Hearst Television, Spectrum News and The Weather Channel told a NewsTECHForum panel last week that safety, security, mental-health services and higher pay are all top prerogatives in a more dangerous and stressful newsroom environment.

Top executives from Tubi, Tegna, Sinclair, Cisco and Lawo told a TVNewsCheck webinar Tuesday that hybrid technology architectures and business models would be a major dynamic in 2024, along with an expanding and promising use of generative AI that also compels great caution. To watch the video of the full webinar, click here.

DirecTV is looking to establish a new regime for the distribution of TV stations, one it says would arrest the tide of TV station-caused price hikes and consumer anger over blackouts before the big game. The satellite TV provider with 11.8 million subscribers nationally is proposing a new a la carte model for the industry. The company wants to jettison the “retransmission consent” requirement in current law that says DirecTV must negotiate carriage with TV stations, even if it means losing stations in the absence of a mutual deal.

Dozens of TV stations owned by Tegna, most of them NBC and CBS affiliates, have gone dark on DirecTV in a carriage dispute. The companies failed to reach an agreement before a 5 p.m. PT deadline Thursday. The outage will immediately affect roughly 5 million customers in markets across the U.S.

For starters, Tegna and DirecTV had a carriage dispute in 2020that led to a 19-day channel blackout before the two sides finally reached a new deal. The disagreement was over how much the satellite service should pay to carry Tegna’s signals, just as it is now. But Tegna has been involved in several other fee fights over the last few years. The company clearly has no compunction allowing its channels to go dark if it helps get the best deal possible. Likewise, DirecTV this year had a 10-week blackout battle with Nexstar, a two-month dispute with Newsmax, and still has ongoing fights with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight.

Tegna is back on the rocks with DirecTV, signaling to viewers Saturday that its stations could soon be pulled off the programming grids of the pay TV operator’s platforms amid failing broadcast retransmission licensing negotiations. The broadcaster, which owns 64 network affiliates in 14 markets, told viewers with DirecTV satellite, DirecTV Stream and U-verse subscriptions that they could “lose” Tegna stations starting Nov. 30 without DirecTV agreeing to “fair, market-based” terms on broadcast retransmission licensing.

Until 2024’s political windfall machine can kick in, TV groups have been leaning into revenue opportunities from sports rights and streaming prospects like FAST channels, where the breakeven mark is getting closer.

The attorney and former executive with Vox, Hulu and AOL will oversee all legal functions across a broad range of disciplines.

With this announcement, the company this year has committed to nearly $800 million in share repurchases.

Top broadcast technology executives from Tubi, Tegna, Sinclair, Cisco Systems and Lawo will offer their predictions for cloud, IP, streaming, generative AI, cybersecurity, NextGen TV and more in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on Dec. 5. Register here.

CEO Dave Lougee: “With the existing RSN and cable model in the final innings, the move of local sports from cable to broadcast is in the first inning of a new era.”

The decrease to $713 million is attributed to lower political advertising compared to 2022’s mid-term election cycle.

Executives from NBCUniversal Local, Disney Advertising Sales Local, E.W. Scripps, Tegna and Ticker News shared their insights and experiences in maximizing streaming revenue and the most promising pathways to growth at a TV2025 session. Despite the expected election year bonanza, there are challenges. Among them: the lack of consensus about what currency should be used for transactions.

Daily Blast Live, a Tegna-produced topical talker shot in Denver, may be heralding a new wave of cheaper, functional syndicated daytime shows. Its producer, Burt Dubrow and Tegna’s Brian Weiss, VP of entertainment programming and multicast networks, make the case. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Tegna moves him from leading  WVEC Norfolk, Va., to overseeing its NBC affiliate in Minnesota.

There is no 1-800 number to get a major market news director to parachute into market 104 on a temporary basis. How WQAD pulled it off is a matter of timing and providence.

Tegna taps the VP, media operations to add oversight of its NBC-MNT stations in Georgia.

The syndicated daytime talker adds 21 stations as the new season gets underway, now carried in over 55% of U.S. TV homes.

The sales veteran will oversee the Tegna unit’s political sales efforts, drive new business development and manage relationships with political agencies and consultants.

Carrie Hofmann has been named president and general manager of Tegna’s CBS affiliate in Columbia, S.C., WLTX, effective October 2. Hofmann has been news director at Tegna’s NBC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., WCNC, since since 2020. (Image of Hofmann: Business Wire)

CEO Dave Lougee: “Automotive … has steadily recovered and is generating strong year-over-year growth — and it did so in the second quarter for the fourth consecutive quarter, and is doing it again and is strong in Q3 as well.” Tegna SVP of Financial Planning Julie Heskett has been tapped to succeed the retiring Victoria Harker as CFO.

The decrease to $732 million is attributed to lower political advertising compared to 2022’s mid-term election cycle.

Executives from NBCUniversal Local, Disney Advertising Sales Local, E.W. Scripps, Tegna and Ticker News will share the revenue upsides and expectations they’re framing up for different streaming platforms in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025: Monetizing the Future conference at the NAB Show New York on Oct. 25. Register here.

Leaders from Graham, Tegna, Cox and Gray told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week that station projects with a strong local value proposition — and a deeper collaboration between the newsroom and creative services — can yield remarkable audience engagement.

Tegna taps the news director of NBC’s KXAS Dallas to oversee its Texas stations in Midland-Odessa, Abilene and San Angelo beginning July 31.

Austin is now the second-fastest growing city in the country, and KVUE’s Boomtown project reveals how that growth is affecting housing pricing and its very identity.

Executives from Warner Bros. Discovery, Sinclair, Tegna, Ross Video and TAG shared the latest in how they’re using the cloud to gain new flexibility and efficiency, from unlocking AI’s progress to “decomposing” news workflows and building “digital backlots,” in a TVNewsCheck webinar last week.

Collaborating journalists at eight Tegna stations across the country took a deeper look at gun violence to reclaim a signal out of crime reporting’s usual noise. The result, 7 Days, 1,000 Shootings, charts a path to more impactful local journalism on the epidemic.

Marketing leaders from Cox Media Group, Graham Media Group, Gray Television and Tegna will discuss projects that get to the heart of localism and how they’ve successfully built high audience engagement around them in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on July 13. Register here.

Tegna said it received 8.64 million of its shares from Standard General, whose effort to buy the broadcaster failed as regulatory review extended beyond the data its financing expired. Standard General’s deal with Tegna called for a $136 million termination fee, and Tegna said the shares it received satisfied that obligation.

Thwarted in his bid to buy Tegna by an overlong and deal-breaking FCC review process, Soo Kim (and his right hand Deb McDermott) is indeed a victim of prejudice and discrimination. Only it’s probably not the sort you may think.

Leaders from Warner Bros. Discovery, Sinclair, Tegna, TAG Video Systems and Ross Video will discuss how the cloud’s use for live production is likely to advance this year in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on June 22 at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.

In the company’s first call with analysts since 2021, the CEO said “I did not have a lot of interaction with the FCC,” during concerning the now-scuttled buyout by Standard General. “Nor did Standard General have a lot of interaction, or as much as they would have liked,” he added.

Tegna has been named a 2023 honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light and the Telecommunications Sector Leader. The Civic 50 honors the most community-minded companies in the United States. This year marks Tegna’s fourth consecutive year on the list, and the third year as Telecommunications Sector Leader.

The Republican leadership of the House and Senate committees overseeing the FCC has asked the regulator’s acting Inspector General, Sharon Diskin, to look into FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s handling of the review of the Standard General-Tegna merger.

With Standard General’s deal to buy Tegna hanging by a thread, the broadcaster may continue on its pre-deal trajectory or be sold in pieces, analysts say. But the FCC’s glacial review process, which may have been triggered by private equity’s role in the deal, has had a chilling impact on other potential large transactions in the industry. Note: This story is available to TVNewsCheck Premium members only. If you would like to upgrade your free TVNewsCheck membership to Premium now, you can visit your Member Home Page, available when you log in at the very top right corner of the site or in the Stay Connected Box that appears in the right column of virtually every page on the site. If you don’t see Member Home, you will need to click Log In or Subscribe.