Category: Member News

Programmers Band Together in Joint Industry Committee To Battle Nielsen Dominance

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JIC’s goal is to create multiple currencies for premium video, using first-party viewing data

Most of the biggest television programmers have banded together in a new attempt to fix what they see as an audience measurement problem and promote competition to Nielsen, ending its stranglehold on the industry.

Comcast NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, TelevisaUnivision and the VAB said Monday they formed a Joint Industry Committee so they can work together to set standards for measuring what they call premium video, which generates $70 billion in advertising revenue.

The JIC will certify multiple currencies from multiple providers and promote the use of the programmers’ first-party viewer data as a foundation for measuring streaming as part of multi-screen campaigns.

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FCC Extends Quarterly Issues and Programs List Deadline

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Just announced, the FCC has extended the deadline for uploading Quarterly Issues Programs list to your online public file from January 10 to January 31. As you may know, the Commission has been having issues with its Online Public Inspection File system and because of that the deadline has been extended until the end of the month.

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Solutions for the CE Recruitment Problem

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Local markets need local technical skills to address IP issues as they arise

Consolidated broadcast ownership groups face a concerning trend in recent years: Engineers are retiring or leaving the industry. There are very few or no trainees in the pipeline to replace them.

Outsourcing the work comes with risks for ownership including unstable expenses, lack of direct accountability and little loyalty. Outsourcing also draws from the same pool of older talent that continues to shrink.

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JCPA and AMFA Are Dead In D.C.

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Klobuchar Loses ‘Lame Duck’ Vote On JCPA. Is AMFA Dead, Too?

With the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act’s omission from a Congressional omnibus bill, there will likely be no legislative action during this Congressional session. At the same time, the much-ballyhooed but lightly supported American Music Fairness Act, introduced by now-retired Democratic House Member Ted Deutch of Florida, appears to have also met its end.

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FCC Hikes Radio Application Fees

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Radio stations to pay hundreds of dollars more for some FCC applications

Commercial radio broadcasters in the United States will pay more to apply for construction permits, license assignments and special temporary authority requests. The Federal Communications Commission is adjusting the fees it charges radio stations, and other businesses under its purview, for the processing of applications and other filings.

The commission on Friday said it is adjusting its Schedule of Application Fees to reflect a net change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 11.6%. That will be applied to the fees various commercial AM and FM broadcast services pay. The rates will take effect 30 days after publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

This increase is not to be confused with the one involving annual regulatory fees that was recently in the news.

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Proposal To Allow Radio And TV To Air Cannabis Ads Introduced In Senate.

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There is yet another path open to potentially allowing cannabis advertising on radio and television stations. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) has introduced a bill that would permit radio and television stations to accept advertising for legal cannabis products if the station is licensed in a state that permits the advertising of medical or adult-use cannabis.

The proposed Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Advertising Act is similar to a provision tucked inside the proposed Federal Communications Commission budget for fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. But unlike the budget maneuver under which the ad moratorium would only last for one-year, Luján’s bill would permanently remove any doubt about whether stations could accept cannabis advertising.

“As more states enact common-sense cannabis legislation, it’s crucial that radio and TV stations can accept advertising without fear of losing their license,” said Luján in a statement. “With health and safety measures in place, this legislation will allow broadcasters to accept cannabis advertisements in accordance with state laws.”

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What the Facebook changes of 2022 mean for local news outlets

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Six tips to navigate a continuously transforming social media landscape

Summer 2022 has brought waves of changes at Meta that demonstrate its deprioritization of news products, including its wind-down of payments to U.S. news publishers.

In parallel, the company has been planning shifts to how it delivers content. The new default home feed will function as a discovery engine, serving up more sizable proportions of algorithmically selected “suggested posts” based on a user’s habits. Users can select an alternative feed dedicated to showing the latest posts from a users’ friends, groups, and followed pages in chronological order.

These recent announcements have left local news publishers wondering what the changes mean for their Facebook strategies moving forward. Here’s what we know.

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Analysis Finds 35% Increase In Local Broadcast TV News Over Past Decade

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Television stations significantly increased the number of local news telecasts and hours of news content they aired over a 10-year period, according to an analysis of Nielsen data conducted by the National Association of Broadcasters.

NAB examined the number of programs classified by Nielsen as “local news” as well as the hours of local news aired across the country, comparing data from the same month (November) in 2011, 2016 and 2021.

NAB’s findings show that 154,445 local news telecasts aired in November 2021, an increase of nearly 16% from November 2016 and 35% from November 2011. In addition, more than 107,000 hours of local television news content aired in November 2021 across the country, an increase of more than 16% from November 2016 and over 40% from November 2011.

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Effort To Allow Cannabis Ads On Local Radio And TV Clears House.

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Broadcasters’ hopes of cashing in on the cannabis legalization trend took a step forward Wednesday. The U.S. House approved a series of budget bills on a 220 to 207 vote, including one that would pave the way for local radio and television stations to accept cannabis ads as long as it is located in a state where the drug has been legalized.

As Inside Radio first reported last month, the language that would open the door for broadcasters to carry cannabis ads was tucked deep inside the proposed federal budget in the Financial Services and General Government portion of the hulking federal budget. It would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from taking administrative action against broadcasters that accept cannabis ads, as long as cannabis has been legalized in the state or jurisdiction in which the station is licensed. But even in places where local laws have not been changed, the FCC would not be able to go after a station if it takes ads from a business selling hemp, hemp-derived CBD products, or other hemp-derived cannabinoid products.

The Safe Advertising Coalition – the group of state broadcast associations advocating for cannabis ads – says the change recognizes the unfairness of the present situation with respect to cannabis advertising.

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FEMA Says No National EAS Test Is Planned For This Year.

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The national test of the Emergency Alert System has become a near-annual tradition since the first one was conducted in 2011. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will not conduct a nationwide EAS test in 2022.

“It will not happen this year,” said Antwane Johnson, FEMA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator. “We are planning to do that in the early part of ’23,” he announced at last week’s NAB Show. Johnson said FEMA is working to develop a new survey system that would allow the government to better monitor the results of the national test of the Wireless Alert System (WEA), which is expected to be tested alongside EAS in the coming year.

The survey would poll the public about whether they heard or saw the alerts. The information would then be shared with broadcasters and the wireless industry. “We can use that information to improve our alert and warning capabilities for the nation,” said Johnson.

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