ATLANTA—Gray Media, Inc. has announced that it has concluded a deal with American Spirit Media, LLC (“American Spirit”) to acquire its six television stations for $50 million.

The deal builds on longstanding relationships between Gray and the stations. For more than a decade, Gray (and its predecessor company, Raycom Media) provided back-office services to five of these stations as well as local news to four of these stations.

The American Spirit being acquired are:

• DMA 81, Toledo, Ohio, WUPW (Fox)
• DMA 100, Jackson, Miss., WDBD (Fox)
• DMA 125, Wilmington, N.C., WSFX-TV (Fox)
• DMA 126, Columbus, Ga., WXTX (Fox)
• DMA 149, Wichita Falls, Texas, KAUZ-TV (CBS)
• DMA 176, Lake Charles, La., KVHP (Fox)

Gray also announced that the parties completed the first of two closings of the transaction with Gray paying $40 million to American Spirit and commencing a limited local management agreement for the stations. The consideration for the first of the two closings was funded with a portion of the proceeds of a private placement of $70 million of aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 7.250% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2033, which was completed on June 30, 2026.

As of May 15, 2026, prior to the deal, Gray owned 117 full-power television markets that collectively reach approximately 37% of US television households.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has named Annie Cordell as the next General Manager of WMBF, the NBC affiliate serving Myrtle Beach and Florence, South Carolina effective July 13.

Cordell brings to the new role a distinguished career spanning broadcast television sales, management, and digital media. She most recently served as vice president of sales and director of digital for Bahakel Digital and WCCB (CW) in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she navigated the industry's shift from traditional broadcast to multiplatform distribution and launched an in-house digital agency.

Cordell began her career at WNUV (IND) in Baltimore, Maryland, and her affiliation experience spans ABC, CBS, FOX, and CW within the ownership groups of Group W, CBS Television, and Bahakel Communications.

She is a graduate of Goucher College where she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Business and Communications.

ATLANTA—Hoping to tap into growing political ad spending on digital platforms in what promises to be a record breaking election year, Gray Media has launched a new political digital advertising platform powered by Aristotle, a provider of political data and analytics.

The offering integrates Aristotle's political and consumer data into Gray's Political 360 go-to-market strategy that aims to provide candidates, issues, and advocacy organizations ways to reach constituents with greater precision across digital channels.

"We're excited to bring this advanced capability to our stations and to the candidates and media buyers we serve," said Mike Braun, Gray’s chief digital officer. "By combining Gray's local market strength and expertise with Aristotle's trusted, continuously updated voter intelligence, we can help campaigns engage their right voters at the right time with the right message."

The new Political 360 strategy is designed to help advertisers to move beyond broad demographic targeting and activate more precise voter audience segments. The data-driven approach improves campaign efficiency across devices and platforms and reduces wasted impressions, which Gray hopes will set it apart in the competition for what promises to be a record setting political advertising year.

"Successful campaigns depend on reaching the right voters with the right message at the right time," said Aristotle executive vice president of data Andrew Tavani. "By combining Gray's unmatched local market presence with Aristotle's trusted voter and consumer data, Political 360 gives campaigns a smarter, more efficient way to connect with the audiences that matter most."

Through Political 360, Gray leverages Aristotle's large national databases, including:

• The National Voter File, covering more than 235 million registered U.S. voters and sourced from more than 4,000 election jurisdictions.
• The National Consumer File, built from more than 267 million consumer records and enriched with demographic and lifestyle attributes.

These datasets enable Gray to support campaign strategies such as targeting party-specific voters within a district during a primary window. Gray’s Political 360 helps campaigns focus their spend where it matters most, drive frequency, and build awareness and advocacy in the runup to Election Day.

Gray Media is holding a groundbreaking for an expansion and renovation of its media facility in Lansing Mich. today.

The building, which houses WILX News 10, mid-Michigan’s local NBC affiliate since 1959 will now also be the home of Lansing’s WSYM Fox 47, which the station group recently acquired.

“We are bringing NBC and Fox operations together, uniting teams under the News 10 brand and creating the infrastructure needed to support both stations’ staff and service to the community,” the company said in an announcement. “This renovation will create a modern, collaborative, future-ready media center designed to support today’s broadcast operation, the fast-growing ways audiences consume local news, and the people who power it.”

The South Lansing campus will be expanded by approximately 14,000 square feet, with the addition of a new studio, master control, newsroom, and sales space. Renovations to the existing building will bring the total footprint to approximately 30,000 square feet, the company said.

Gray Media is working with Lansing-based partners Granger Construction and Colliers Engineering & Design, together with Huffman Keel Associates, on the renovation and expansion project. The building is expected to be completed in December 2027.

“This project is an investment in Lansing, and specifically the southside,” said Debbie Petersmark, Vice President and General Manager of Gray Media Lansing. “We are proud to continue to call this great city our home.”

Gray said it has evolved into a “digital-first, multiplatform newsroom serving viewers and readers across streaming, mobile, social, web, and emerging on-demand formats and that the expanded facility is being designed to support:

• Around-the-clock content creation for TV, web, apps, OTT/streaming, and social platforms, and a modern space designed to support staff who work 24/7;
• Modern workflows that allow the stations to deliver local news, sports, First Alert weather and other content across platforms, and
• Flexible production capabilities to expand live, local coverage and special-event programming, as well as award-winning commercials for its clients.

“This investment in Lansing reflects Gray Media’s long-term commitment to local journalism and to the communities our stations serve,” said Mike King, Senior Operating Officer, Gray Media.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced the appointment of new general managers in Louisville, Kentucky and Evansville, Indiana.

Jay Hiett has been named general manager of WDRB, WAVE, and WBKI in Louisville, Kentucky, and Jamie Bremer has been appointed general manager of WFIE, the NBC affiliate in Evansville, Indiana, effective immediately.

Hiett is a veteran broadcast executive with more than 25 years of experience driving station performance across news, sales, digital platforms, and audience development. He most recently served as general manager of WFIE (14NEWS), the NBC affiliate serving Evansville, Indiana. Under his leadership, the station maintained a strong market presence while advancing growth across ratings, revenue, digital platforms, and audience engagement.

Hiett joined WFIE as General Sales Manager in 2010 and has served as the station’s General Manager since 2015. Prior to WFIE, he held leadership roles at WTVW (FOX) in Evansville from 1999 to 2010 and at KARD (FOX) in Monroe, Louisiana from 1997 to 1999. Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his focus on strategic revenue growth, cross-department collaboration, and innovative approaches to local news and community outreach.

Originally from Paducah, Jay earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from Western Kentucky University.

Bremer replaces Hiett as the general manager of WFIE. She is a 13-year veteran of WFIE who has served in a variety of roles across the station. She began her career at WFIE as a Media Executive before transitioning into sales leadership, most recently serving as Director of Sales. She is known as a driving force behind new local direct and digital revenue for the station, bringing a strong focus on strategic partnerships, market development, and client success.

Bremer is also known for fostering long-term connections within both the business community and the station team. She serves as President of the board of Tristate Senior Wishes, a local nonprofit, and coaches several area soccer teams. Bremer is a graduate of Oakland City University.

CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company and Gray Media have announced that they’ve completed local TV station swaps across five mid-sized and small markets.

In late April, the FCC approved the license transfers.

The agreement, which was originally announced in July 2025 means that:

• • Gray Media has acquired Scripps’ WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Michigan, and KATC (ABC) in Lafayette, Louisiana.
• • Scripps has acquired Gray’s KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; KKCO (NBC) and KJCT-LP (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colorado; and KMVT (CBS) and KSVT-LD (Fox) in Twin Falls, Idaho.

The transaction expands Scripps’ presence in Colorado Springs and Twin Falls – markets where the company already operates trusted local stations – and establishes a new footprint in Grand Junction.

“Greater depth in these markets creates the economic durability to sustain our public service commitment: high quality local news, emergency alerts, weather coverage and local sports that keep people informed, engaged and connected to their communities,” said Adam Symson, Scripps’ president and CEO. “We see scale and localism as complementary, and strategic transactions like this help ensure our stations remain strong, trusted voices for the communities that depend on us.”

The swap involves an even exchange of comparable assets with no cash consideration exchanged between the companies.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced that Joanie Vasiliadis will join the company in the new role of Senior Vice President for Transformation on June 1, 2026.

In the new role, she will be tasked with accelerating the company’s on-going digital transformation of its content gathering, creation, workflow and distribution initiatives.

She brings more than a decade of experience driving growth across digital, streaming and broadcast platforms, with deep expertise in editorial strategy, product integration, audience development and organizational change. She’s known for building high-performing teams, creating scalable workflows and pairing strong editorial judgment with data-driven decision-making.

Most recently, Vasiliadis served as Vice President of Content at Tegna, where she oversaw content strategy and operations across 64 brands. During her tenure, she led major initiatives focused on newsroom modernization and platform growth. She spearheaded the launch of their national breaking news desk, audience team and streaming team.

In her career, she has also led enterprise-wide operational transformation efforts, developed AI and digital training programs for thousands of journalists and partnered closely with executive leadership on long-term growth initiatives. Prior to joining the Tegna leadership team, she served as Digital Director at WUSA9, Tegna’s CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.

She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Broadcasting & Cable’s Digital Dynamos list. She earned her degree in journalism from Penn State University.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has promoted veteran executive James Fitch to senior director of news services.

Fitch had been the station group’s vice president of news services for the past 10 years, serving as the primary corporate liaison for the company’s news directors and managing key relationships with the vendors and suppliers of Gray’s news technology and third-party content. His promotion is a reflection of his contributions to Gray in various roles and his expanding portfolio of responsibilities, as well as the group’s increasing number of news programs across a growing number of distribution platforms, the company said.

Fitch has worked for Gray and its predecessor companies over the past 30 years, the station group said. As VP of news services, he launched Gray’s newsroom training program, which provides onboarding and advanced skills training for reporters, photographers and producers.

He has also served as a local-station news director, corporate regional news director and as a journalism trainer, Gray said. A former active-duty U.S. Marine, James began his journalism career in the military working for newspapers and the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service overseas. He is a fellow in the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism and has completed the NAB Education Foundation’s Broadcast Leadership Training Program.

Atlanta-based Gray Media owns local TV stations and digital assets serving roughly 120 U.S. full-power television markets, reaching about 37% of U.S. TV households.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commissions’ Media Bureau has approved the transfer of TV station licenses from subsidiaries of SagamoreHill Broadcasting II and Block Communications to Gray Media.

In granting its approval of station acquisitions announced last year, the agency waived some of the FCC's station ownership rules.

In granting the transfers, the FCC rejected arguments from DirecTV, Georgia Cable Association, Illinois Broadband & Cable Association, Indiana Cable and Broadband Association, Tennessee Cable & Broadband Association, Business Forward, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media, Inc.

“After carefully and thoroughly reviewing the record, we find that there are no material public interest harms arising from the Transactions,” the agency noted. “We further find that certain transaction-related public interest benefits are likely to be realized, especially given Gray’s reaffirmed commitment to “strong local news and information programming.”

The approval gives Gray ownership of WAND(TV), Decatur, Illinois, its first full power station in the Champaign-Urbana & Springfield-Decatur, Ill. DMA, and WLIO(TV), Lima, Ohio, its first full power station in the Lima, Ohio DMA.

In addition, Gray will now own two full power stations, a duopoly, in the Columbus, Ga.-Opelika, Ala. DMA with WTVM(TV), Columbus, Ga., and WLTZ(TV), Columbus, Ga.

It will also have three full power stations, a triopoly in Lubbock, Texas with KCBD(TV) and KJTV-TV, Lubbock, Texas, and KLCW-TV, Wolfforth, Texas and a triopoly in Louisville, Ky. with WAVE(TV) and WDRB(TV), Louisville, Ky., and WBKI(TV), Salem, Ind.

With the approvals, Gray announced that it had closed on its previously announced transaction with Block Communications, Inc. for a total purchase price of $80 million.

More specifically, that transaction included WDRB and WBKI, the Fox and The CW affiliates for the Louisville, Kentucky, market (DMA 49), where Gray owns and operates NBC affiliate WAVE-TV. The transaction also includes WAND, the NBC affiliate for the Springfield-Champaign-Decatur, Illinois, market (DMA 92), and WLIO, the NBC affiliate for the Lima, Ohio, market (DMA 190), as well as WLIO’s associated low-power television stations.

Last year in July, shortly before the Block deal, Gray announced it was buying SagamoreHill Broadcasting’s WLTZ, the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ga. (DMA 127), and KJTV, the Fox affiliate in Lubbock, Texas (DMA 140).

ATLANTA—Gray Media has closed on its previously announced purchase of 10 stations from Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group for $171 million plus working capital adjustments.

On March 26, Gray closed on stations in three new markets: Columbus-Tupelo, Miss.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and West Lafayette, Ind. It acquired the seven remaining stations, all in overlap markets, on May 1.

The deal included the following stations:

• DMA 75: WAAY, Huntsville, Ala. (ABC)
• DMA 90: WSIL, Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg, Mo. (ABC)
• DMA 109: WEVV, Evansville, Ind. (CBS/Fox)
• DMA 110: WWFT, Fort Wayne, Ind. WFFT (Fox)
• DMA 121: WCOV, Montgomery, Ala. (Fox)
• DMA 124: KADN, Lafayette, La. (Fox/NBC)
• DMA 134: WTVVA, Columbus-Tupelo, Miss. (ABC/NBC)
• DMA 137: WREX, Rockford, Ill. (NBC)
• DMA 159: WTHI, Terre Haute, Ind. (CBS/FOX)
• DMA 189 WLFI, West Lafayette, Ind. (CBS)

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has approved previously announced station swaps between Scripps and Gray Media that were announced in July of 2025, creating new duopolies for both station groups.

The station groups said that the swaps were of equal value and no cash was exchanged.

In allowing the deal, the FCC rejected arguments by the American Television Alliance and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (NCTA) in filings with the regulator that contended that the new duopolies would give the station groups too much power in retransmission consent negotiations.

More specifically, the deal transferred the following licenses from Gray to Scripps: KKTV in Colorado Springs; KMVT and KSVT-D in Twin Falls, Idaho, KSVT-LD; and KKCO and KJCT-LP in Grand Junction, Colo. as well as some translator licenses.

In addition, the FCC approved the transfer of the following licenses from Scripps to Gray: KATC in Lafayette, La. and WSYM-TV in Lansing, Mich.

The letter granting the license transfers and the FCC’s reasoning behind its decision is available here.

Building on a deal announced last August to unify Gray Media's digital footprint, Quickplay has announced the full-scale deployment of Gray Media's next-generation streaming platform, which is now delivering hyper-local news and entertainment to 37% of US TV households.

Built with Google Cloud AI, the new platform is currently live across Gray's 113 legacy television markets, and will soon be launched across four new markets that recently joined the Gray Media family.

The new platform, which is built on Quickplay's orchestration infrastructure and Google Cloud's unified AI stack, is a notable development in AI-powered digital delivery of local news because it consolidates Gray's entire digital footprint — 163 websites, 326 mobile apps and 815 smart TV applications — onto a single data-driven architecture.

The integration allows Gray Media to manage 1,300 digital touchpoints with real-time viewer intelligence, delivering hyper-local news and entertainment to 37% of US TV households with unprecedented speed. The integrated operation is now running 269 live channels under centralized management and 123 FAST channels active across Amazon Prime, FireTV, Roku, Samsung TV Plus and Vizio.

"Our vision to transform the local news experience has taken a step forward today," said Pat LaPlatney, president and co-CEO, Gray Media. "Our collaboration with Quickplay and Google Cloud has enabled us to not just build but scale a platform that empowers our local newsrooms and provides our viewers with a truly next-generation experience. With well over 1,000 digital touchpoints and 123 FAST channels now active, we are leading the charge in AI-powered streaming innovation – redefining the delivery of tailored local content to our viewers on every screen they own."

To manage the complexity of 1,300+ digital touchpoints at scale, Gray has implemented Quickplay's orchestration layer, providing a cohesive framework that seamlessly integrates live channel management, content scheduling, ad insertion and distribution into a single automated workflow, driving greater operational agility and efficiency.

Early data from the rollout shows that moving to this unified, AI-driven cloud platform is already delivering significant business value, Gray and its tech partners said. Quickplay described those advantages as follows:

• Lower costs: Consolidating hundreds of separate systems into one cloud platform has significantly reduced infrastructure spending.
• Higher engagement: Personalized content recommendations are keeping viewers watching for longer.
• Faster news delivery: Newsrooms can now get breaking stories to the public twice as fast as before.
• Greater ad value: Precision targeting has increased the value and efficiency of Gray's advertising slots.

The platform is built on two primary pillars designed to bridge the gap between traditional broadcast and digital-first streaming. Quickplay acts as the operating system, organizing video and data into one orchestrated flow. Google Cloud AI provides the intelligence and global reach to power Gray's 113+ markets.

More specifically Quickplay handles the following:

• Unified management at scale: Quickplay provides a single, AI-ready orchestration layer that handles 269 live channels simultaneously, ensuring that high-quality video never lags for the end viewer. This centralized control allows Gray to manage its entire digital footprint through one interface.
• Seamless, broadcast-quality transitions: By leveraging LiveOps and Digital Scheduling, the platform manages the switch between shows and commercials with frame-accurate timing. This ensures that the streaming experience feels as smooth as traditional television while enabling the modern, addressable advertising necessary to drive digital revenue.
• Rapid market expansion: The architecture allows Gray to quickly launch and distribute content across 815 distinct smart TV applications and 123 FAST channels, allowing Gray to easily grow its audience.

"Gray Media is one of the largest local broadcast operations in the country, and deploying a unified infrastructure across 113+markets was not a simple integration," said Paul Pastor, Chief Business Officer, Quickplay. "But this is what Quickplay's content to value operating system was built to do. And the deployment is only the starting point – our goal is to set operators up for what comes next. That means an architecture that is ready to optimize AI at every layer and open to publishing endpoints that do not exist yet."

Google Cloud described its role as follows:

• Hyper-personalization at scale: Using Vertex AI, the platform understands viewer intent in real-time, delivering tailored content discovery that keeps audiences engaged longer.
• Operational intelligence: BigQuery enables Gray to analyze viewership patterns across 1,300+ touchpoints. This turns raw data into immediate programming and business strategies. This helps Gray's leadership see exactly what is trending across 113+ markets instantly, so they can make better business decisions.
• High-fidelity delivery and monetization: By integrating Media CDN with Google Ad Manager's Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), Gray is able to handle ads and videos in the same system, which removes the delays and glitches often caused by using outside ad companies. This allows Gray to deliver personalized ads directly into the stream to maximize revenue without operational overhead or latency.

"This isn't just a migration; it's an AI-driven reimagining of the local media business model," said Albert Lai, global director of Strategic Industries, Telco, Media and Technology, Google Cloud. "By unifying their footprint on our AI and data platform, Gray Media has become a dynamic, data-driven enterprise. The scale of this rollout proves that when a media leader innovates with Quickplay's agility and Google scale, you create a new gold standard for ROI in the streaming era."

Over the next quarter, Quickplay reported that it will deploy the next phase of capabilities across Gray's platform, including:

• A Next-Gen application interface (a ground-up redesign)
• Native Mobile Verticalization
• AI-Embedded Shorts Creation
• Live Clipping with Ad-Marker Preservation
• Hybrid Hyper-Personalization (Content- and User-based recommendations)
• Precision Interactive Player Controls and Picture-in-Picture
• Dynamic Bitrate Adaptation
• Cross-Platform Universal Search
• Advanced Stream Monitoring & Tracking

ATLANTA—Gray Media has named Jim Hays as the next General Manager of WTHI (CBS/Fox) in Terre Haute, Indiana, effective April 13, 2026.

Hayes is an Emmy Award-winning marketing executive with more than 30 years of experience building brands, driving local revenue, and helping stations have a positive impact on the communities they serve.

He most recently served in Cleveland, OH as the marketing director for Gray Media’s WOIO (CBS), WUAB (MyNet), and WTCL (Telemundo), and for the Rock Entertainment Sports Network, an Ohio-based regional sports network partly owned by Gray.

His career includes leadership roles at WIS-TV and WLTX in Columbia, SC, KATV in Little Rock, AR, WXLV in Greensboro, NC, and WLOS in Asheville, NC. During his time in Columbia, Gray’s WIS-TV was honored with the NAB Service to America Award for Families Helping Families, an annual Christmas Giving campaign that helps thousands of needy children and families during the holidays.

Hayes is a graduate from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the Atlanta Braves have announced that the Braves’ 2026 home opener against the Kansas City Royals on Friday, March 27, will simulcast on BravesVision and Braves on Gray television stations, bringing the game to fans across the Southeast.

BravesVision, the multimedia platform owned and operated by the Atlanta Braves, will serve as the team’s official local television home for the 2026 season. Fans across the organization’s six-state territory will have multiple options to watch Braves games without blackouts, including through video service providers and streaming on Braves.TV.

For more information on how to watch is available at braves.com/watch.

The home opener will feature pregame festivities celebrating 60 years of Braves baseball in Atlanta. The pregame ceremony will include a tribute video, appearances by franchise legends, and a ceremonial first pitch.

“Opening Day is a celebration that belongs to the fans, and Gray Media is committed to making it accessible to viewers across our stations in the Southeast. We’re excited to simulcast this milestone event as the Braves honor six decades in Atlanta and begin what promises to be another exciting season,” said Hilton H. Howell Jr., Gray Media chairman and co-CEO.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau has approved the transfer of WLFI-TV, Lafayette, Indiana; WTHI-TV, Terre Haute, Indiana; and WTVA(TV), Tupelo, Mississippi from subsidiaries of Allen Media to Gray Media.

DirecTV, Georgia Cable Association, Illinois Broadband & Cable Association, Indiana Cable and Broadband Association, Tennessee Cable & Broadband Association, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and others have filed papers with the FCC regarding the license transfer of the stations.

On March 23, the Media Bureau issued a letter granting the transfer of three stations. “Based on our own review of the Applications and the record in this matter, we find that the Applications fully comply with the Commission’s rules,” it noted. “In addition, we have not identified any other issues or potential public interest harms that would require further consideration. We therefore conclude that grant of the Applications would serve the public interest.”

The full letter can be found here.

Gray Media and Dish continue to trade barbs over a retransmission dispute that has prevented Dish subscribers from watching 226 local stations owned by station group in 113 markets across the U.S.

The Gray stations were dropped from the Dish lineup on March 10 after the two sides were unable to reach an new retransmission consent agreement, with retransmission fees being the main sticking point.

“For the first time in its history, Gray Media’s television stations have been dropped by Dish Network, a serial instigator of disputes that have removed thousands of broadcast and cable channels from their paying customers over the years,” Gray said in a statement, which included a long list of retransmission consent blackouts between Dish and various broadcasters. “Gray’s track record for fair and reasonable distribution negotiations is undisputed in the industry. Gray has never had its signals dropped by a satellite operator, and its last multimarket cable system dispute lasted just a few days over a decade ago.”

Gray, which accused Dish of not negotiating in good faith as required by FCC rules, also said that “Dish’s action…follows weeks of Dish operating under extensions of the companies’ prior distribution agreement that Gray provided to prevent Dish from removing Gray’s signals to its paying customers during the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star Game, and numerous breaking news emergencies occurring in many of Gray’s local markets over the past several weeks. To the great surprise and disappointment of Gray’s leadership, Dish insisted that Gray agree to a materially adverse provision in the new agreement that is unlike any provision in any distribution agreement with Gray’s roughly 400 other distribution partners, and, to Gray’s knowledge, unprecedented in the several decade history of the pay-TV industry across any cable or DBS operator and any broadcaster. Because this new demand from Dish has no precedent in history, it is flatly inconsistent with marketplace conditions in clear violation of Dish’s federal statutory obligation to negotiate retransmission in good faith.”

“Dish’s tactics here are all too familiar for the shrinking number of consumers who still subscribe to their service: from 14 million in 2014 to 5 million today,” Gray Media concluded.

For its part, Dish said that “following Gray Media's decision to black out its local stations from the Dish TV lineup, 226 channels in 113 markets are currently unavailable to Dish customers. Gray Media chose to disconnect these stations—which provide critical local news, sports, and weather—after Dish refused to accept unreasonable rate increases that would have raised monthly bills for consumers.”

"It is deeply disappointing that Gray Media is using its viewers as bargaining chips," said Kevin Covell, senior vice president, DISH Video Services. "We offered a fair agreement to keep these stations on the air, but Gray Media walked away. Gray Media chose to black out their own viewers, rather than reasonably negotiate, in an attempt to extract significantly higher fees."

Dish also accused Gray of introducing `last-minute’ “demands regarding stations they don't yet own, stalling negotiations just hours before expiration. Dish remains ready to restore these channels immediately if Gray Media agrees to a fair, market-based deal.”

ATLANTA—The Cincinnati Reds have announced a deal with Gray Media that will see WXIX FOX19 to simulcast a select number of regular-season Reds games on free, over-the-air (OTA) television.

Under the two-year agreement, Gray Media will simulcast 10 regular-season games per season, including Reds Opening Day on March 26, making the broadcasts available to fans on Gray-owned television stations in Cincinnati, Rock Entertainment Sports Network, and throughout Reds Country in seven states.

“Making Reds baseball available through over-the-air television is a win for our fans,” said Doug Healy, Reds' COO and CFO. “Our partnership with Gray Media provides fans in 17 communities throughout Reds Country another opportunity to experience the excitement of Reds baseball.”

The first simulcast will air on Reds Opening Day, Thursday, March 26, followed by nine additional “Red Hot Mondays” games. All the following game times are EST:

• Thursday, March 26, Reds vs. Boston Red Sox, 4:10 p.m.
• Monday, April 20, Reds at Tampa Bay Rays, 6:40 p.m.
• Monday, May 4, Reds at Chicago Cubs, 7:40 p.m.
• Monday, May 18, Reds at Philadelphia Phillies, 6:40 p.m.
• Monday, June 1, Reds vs. Kansas City Royals, 7:10 p.m.
• Monday, June 8, Reds vs. San Diego Padres, 9:40 p.m.
• Monday, June 15, Reds vs. New York Mets, 7:10 p.m.
• Monday, July 20, Reds at Seattle Mariners, 9:40 p.m.
• Monday, August 31, Reds vs. San Diego Padres, 6:40 p.m.
• Monday, Sept. 14, Reds vs. L.A. Dodgers, 6:40 p.m.

The games can be seen on Gray Media stations in the following markets:

• Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo Kentucky:Bowling Green, Lexington, Louisville.
• Indiana: Evansville, Ft. Wayne, South Bend West Virginia:Charleston-Huntington.
• Tennessee: Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis
• North Carolina: Charlotte.

"Gray's extensive television station footprint provides a great home for Reds baseball, free over-the-air," said Sandy Breland, executive vice president and COO of Gray Media. "We appreciate our relationship with the Reds, Major League Baseball, and most importantly, the fans."

WASHINGTON—While broadcasters have made the elimination of ownership caps a major policy priority for decades, a new report from OpenSecrets documents how those efforts went into overdrive in 2025, as the Federal Communications Commission signaled it might be willing to change the rules and station groups announced a number of major deals that would require regulatory changes.

In 2025, Nexstar Media Group spent $3.2 million lobbying the FCC in 2025, roughly 10 times more than it did every year from 2018 to 2023, when its lobbying activity remained steady, according to OpenSecrets.

Meanwhile, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the second largest station owner, last year spent $800,000, up from $770,000 in 2024 and about four times its 2023 federal lobbying total.

As previously reported, broadcasters have long argued that the current rules that limit the reach of station groups to no more than 39% of all TV homes in the U.S., put them at a severe competitive disadvantage to big tech companies and streaming services who have captured a large share of the TV ad and subscription market in the last 15 years. Our full coverage of that issue can be found here and here along with our FCC coverage here.

The issue has become even more important as Nexstar announced in 2025 a $6.2 billion deal to acquire Tegna, Sinclair began talks about acquiring E.W. Scripps and station groups like Scripps and Gray announced deals and station swaps that would require changes to the rules.

The study also noted that “to help sway the FCC, Congress and the White House, Nexstar hired lobbyist Jeff Miller, who served as finance chair on President Donald Trump’s second inaugural committee, at the start of 2025. Miller heads Miller Strategies, one of the firms that have benefited most from their close connection with the Trump administration. Nexstar paid the firm $510,000 over the course of the year, although most of its lobbying was handled by the company’s in-house team. Tegna reported its first year of lobbying in 2025, spending $550,000 exclusively on Miller Strategies. Combined, the lobbying firm raked in over a million dollars from just the potential Nexstar-Tegna merger.”

The report also highlights the ongoing debate over whether the FCC has authority to change the rules, as the NAB and broadcasters have argued, or whether it would require Congress to pass new legislation, as opponents of changes to the ownership caps have argued.

The full report is available here.

ATLANTA—The Atlanta Braves and Gray Media have announced an expanded spring training broadcast offering that will bring 15 spring training games to Gray local television stations in 26 markets throughout the Southeast.

Fans will also get to relive the 2021 championship season with a new 10-episode series titled Celebrating '21, which will air before select spring training matchups. The series will feature commentary from former Braves manager Brian Snitker and will be narrated by Braves announcer Ben Ingram.

“We are committed to making Braves baseball accessible to fans across Braves Country,” said Derek Schiller, Atlanta Braves president & CEO. “We saw an amazing response to our partnership with Gray Media last year, and expanding their Spring Training coverage this season is one of the ways we plan to bring fans closer to the action than ever before. We’re excited to have these 15 Braves spring training games available for free throughout the Southeast and look forward to continuing our partnership with Gray this season.”

“Gray Media is proud to partner with the Atlanta Braves to bring quality baseball programming to our viewers across Braves Country, free over-the-air across our portfolio of leading Southeastern television stations,” said Hilton H. Howell, Jr., chairman and co-CEO of Gray Media. “This partnership allows us to deliver engaging sports content that resonates with our local communities.”

2026 Spring Training Broadcast Schedule:

• Sunday, Feb. 22, Braves vs. Minnesota at 1:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, Feb. 24, Braves vs. Detroit at 1:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 25, Braves vs. Pittsburgh at 1:00 p.m.
• Thursday, Feb. 26, Braves at New York Yankees at 1:00 p.m.
• Friday, Feb. 27, Braves vs. Boston at 1:00 p.m.
• Sunday, March 1, Braves vs. Tampa Bay at 1:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 4, Braves vs. Colombia at 1:00 p.m.
• Thursday, March 5, Braves vs. Toronto at 1:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 7, Braves vs. Baltimore at 1:00 p.m.
• Thursday, March 12, Braves at Pittsburgh at 6:00 p.m.
• Friday, March 13, Braves vs. New York Yankees at 1:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 14, Braves vs. Boston at 6:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, March 17, Braves at Boston at 1:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 21, Braves at Boston at 1:00 p.m.
• Saturday, March 21, Braves at New York Yankees (Spring Breakout Game vs. Braves Prospects) at 6:30 p.m.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has entered into a multi-year affiliation agreement with Telemundo Network that extends its Telemundo affiliations to three new markets.

The new agreement includes new local affiliates in Dayton, Ohio (WZCD-LD); Chattanooga, Tennessee (WTVL-CD, WDNN-CD); and Lafayette, Louisiana (KNGC-LD), on Gray-owned stations in those markets.

Gray’s expanded Telemundo portfolio now reaches over 1.6 million Hispanic TV households across the country, delivering comprehensive news and entertainment programming tailored to US Hispanics including the first and/or only Spanish-language locally produced newscasts in numerous markets.

Gray is Telemundo’s largest affiliate group. The popular Spanish-language television network is also the exclusive Spanish-language home of popular sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup 2026 and Super Bowl LX.

“This expanded relationship with Telemundo demonstrates Gray’s deep commitment to serving this fast-growing viewer and business segment in America,” said Susan Sim Oh, senior vice president of strategy and operations of the Gray Telemundo Affiliate Station Group. “We are excited to continue our strong partnership with Telemundo to deliver high-quality Spanish-language content, sports, and news that resonates with US Hispanic audiences. This growth directly reflects our corporate mission to be the trusted news source in every community we serve.”

Gray Media’s Telemundo stations deliver more than 1,100 hours of local Spanish-language news and investigative news programs each month across all markets and have more than 50 million digital impressions annually across local news sites and apps, making it one of the most important local Spanish-language news operations in America.

ATLANTA—Kristy Santiago was named general manager of Gray Media stations KFVS Cape Girardeau, Mo., a CBS and The CW affiliate, and WQWQ-LD Paducah, Ky., a Telemundo affiliate.

An experienced television station management and sales operations executive, Santiago most recently served as general manager of CBS affiliate KION, Telemundo affiliate KUMV and The CW affiliate KCBA in Monterey, Calif. She has also worked in station leadership posts in Grand Junction, Colo., and Palm Springs, Calif., Gray said.

Santiago’s community involvement includes serving on the boards of the California Broadcasters Association, Girls Inc. and Goodwill Central Coast, Gray said.

Atlanta, Ga-based Gray owns local TV stations and digital assets in some 113 television markets reaching about 37% of U.S. television homes, the company said.

ATLANTA—Gray Media, Inc. and NBC have announced a multi-year deal that extends and renews station affiliation agreements for all 54 markets nationwide where Gray owns and operates NBC affiliated television stations.

The deal covers stations reaching more than 14 million households – nearly 11% of all U.S. TV Households.

Gray noted that the new agreement includes full carriage of the NBC broadcast network, including “TODAY,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Sunday Night Football,” the NBA, the Olympics and Paralympics, “One Chicago” franchise, “The Voice,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and more.

In the current 2025-26 television season, NBC is the #1 network in all programming in both demos, Gray reported.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced an agreement to buy the Jackson, Tennessee, ABC affiliate WBBJ-TV, known locally as WBBJ 7, from Bahakel Communications, Limited.

Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in Q1 2026, were not disclosed.

Since its launch 70 years ago, WBBJ 7 has been the most-watched local news television station in its market. Upon closing, the station will join Gray’s portfolio of leading local news television stations across the country and throughout the region, including in the adjacent markets of Nashville, Memphis, Huntsville and Paducah.

“Gray is honored to be entrusted by Bahakel Communications as the next long-term stewards of WBBJ 7,” said Kevin Latek, Gray’s chief legal and development officer. “We look forward to welcoming the station and its dedicated employees into our extensive local news and sports operations in this region and working with these employees to further enhance their long record of service to local viewers and businesses.”

“This sale marks a pivotal step for Bahakel Communications as we focus our footprint and strengthen our digital platforms and entertainment division,” said Beverly Bahakel, CEO. “We are committed to ensuring a smooth and positive transition for WBBJ’s audience, advertisers, and employees. We believe Gray is the right group to build on WBBJ’s longstanding legacy of serving the Jackson community and its commitment to delivering trusted local news and information.”

Gray anticipates that the transaction will be immediately free cash flow accretive, and it expects to fund the acquisition with cash on hand. The parties anticipate closing the transaction following receipt of regulatory and other approvals in the first quarter of 2026.

Kalil & Co., Inc. represented Bahakel in this transaction.

ATLANTA—As the Gray Innovation Lab celebrates its first anniversary this week, Gray Media’s push to accelerate innovation at the company has already produced some notable advances in the adoption of AI solutions by newsrooms, ad sales and engineering staff.

“The goal [for the Gray Innovation Lab] was really to take a wholesale, fresh look at everything we are doing in a multidisciplinary way,” explained Claire Ferguson, vice president, assistant general counsel and senior technology counsel at Gray Media. “The idea was to take a look at what we are doing, ask why we are doing things the way we do them and think about what we can do to make things better.”

One major focus since the launch of the Lab a week before Christmas in 2024 has been AI solutions. Ferguson estimates that they spent about 80% of their time in the first 10 months developing what they call the “ask grAI” platform. It went live in October.

“It is the biggest thing to come out of our work so far,” Ferguson said. “We have about 10,000 employees and all of them now have a login because we felt it needed to be a very democratic product.”

The "ask grAI" solution leverages LLMs or large language models, but was developed and customized to both protect Gray’s data and take advantage of Gray’s internal data to train the platform.

“It is a product that uses standard LLMs as sort of the meat of the hamburger,” Ferguson said. “But below it, we have our own company data, our own company training materials and any number of proprietary and specialized data that we want it to leverage as well. There's robust data security and protection so that there's no data leakage, as there would be if you were simply using ChatGPT. You can use the GPT LLM within ask grAI, but it will add a filter [to reflect] the Gray way that protects your data and gives you a response that we have spent 10 months really carefully training and honing to help our teams.”

`A LOVING EDITOR'

The launch makes Gray a notable example of how station groups are trying to use AI to both create new business opportunities and strengthen their traditional operations.

Gray’s approach to applying AI tools is particularly evident in the newsroom, which is where the tool has been the most heavily adopted.

Here, one major goal has been to automate menial tasks so that journalists have more time to report stories and interact with the local community. “It can do things like give SEO guidance, things that journalists didn’t claw their way into journalism school to spend their time doing,” Ferguson said. “If we can push some of that work to AI, it will let our journalists get back out into our communities.”

“By allowing our journalists to get back to doing what they want to be doing, we think there is a real opportunity in terms of improving the volume and quality of stories,” she added.

Other notable examples of its use are in reversioning stories for different platforms and in editing.

Its editing capabilities include tools for fixing grammar and adhering to AP Style guidelines, as well as providing feedback for stories.

“It does not rewrite stories,” she stressed. “It might simply say, 'have you considered asking the mayor for a comment on this?’ Or it might say, `the story seems one-sided, have you considered alternative views?’ It acts as a loving editor.”

“It can also assist our news teams with versioning,” she added. “So if you've got an on air script and you're looking to turn it to a digital story, it will assist in changing all the capital letters into standard use.”

Ferguson stressed that they’ve put safeguards in place to ensure that journalists oversee the whole process: “Our journalists are trained to understand that even with light editing touches, the finished product has to be the responsibility of the journalist who is using the tool. It has to be carefully reviewed by the journalist to ensure that there were no changes made to that digital story that they haven’t approved.”

HYPER-PERSONALIZED STREAMING

Looking forward, the use of AI to reversion stories for different platforms is likely to become even more important, as Gray ramps up its digital and streaming efforts.

In early 2026, Gray’s plans to launch a hyper-personalized video streaming platform, for example. The platform is the result of an wide-ranging streaming deal that Gray inked for a full end-to-end streaming solution on Google Cloud powered by Quickplay.

The new platform aims to redefine the streaming experience by combining the power of Google Cloud's AI infrastructure with Quickplay’s flexible, cloud-native platform to deliver deeply personalized viewing experiences, the companies reported in an August 2025 announcemen.

“That partnership goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of distribution and OTT delivery,” Ferguson said. “It will offer some really interesting, consumer friendly and facing capabilities, like using AI in a limited capacity to create YouTube shorts, or, convert video to vertical. Those are important efforts for our distribution strategy going forward to reach larger audiences on more platforms.”

The ability of AI to search through large document dumps and collect data has also been adopted by Gray’s investigative journalists and units. In one case, it is being used to collect data on local arrests, which in the future could help identify trends in the criminal justice system. In other cases, it opens up opportunities to develop stories around large document releases or data sets that might otherwise be too time-consuming to analyze and report.

“I do think it can reignite a spark in folks who feel as though they’re spending too much time on things like SEO,” she said. “We train our people not to rely on it exclusively and write stories based on AI summaries. But it can certainly help them dig into a trend that might not have been covered in the past.”

AI TRAFFICKING

Another major area of focus for AI solutions has been in advertising sales and trafficking. “We think of our platforms as a way to reduce friction,” Ferguson.

In terms of ads sales, many station groups like Gray have already been using AI to create ads and creative for smaller advertisers who couldn’t create their own 30 second or 60 second spots. “We think there is a massive upside for that,” she said.

But can also have an important impact on ad operations. Ferguson noted that “we’re still working through this application but, preemption trackers and tracking which sports ads are approved in different leagues can free up a lot of time.”

Engineering, “is another area where we have a lot of really excited folks,” she added. “We think there is a big opportunity here in terms of uploading manuals and leveraging the information we have at each of our 114 different television stations. We want to see how we can utilize AI to better know that information and leverage it.”

And, while AI and automation is often discussed as a way to reduce staffing levels, Ferguson stresses it can also be a way to avoid burnout by journalists and other employees who are tasked with feeding content to multiple platforms.

“Burnout in newsrooms is an incredibly real thing and something we’re hyper focused on,” she said. “Our ask grAI is very much intended to be a response to that. People don’t burn out from being in their communities and telling stories that are meaningful to them.”

ATLANTA—Gray Media has concluded an agreement with the Ohio Valley Conference (“OVC”) to broadcast OVC college basketball games across 20 Gray markets in five states.

As part of the Conference’s multi-year contract with ESPN, the entire package will also be simulcast live nationally on ESPN+ and available through the ESPN app without digital blackouts.

As part of the agreement, Gray’s Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network looks forward to bringing three Tennessee institutions – Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University, and University of Tennessee – Martin, to Tennessee viewers across the state.

The Tennessee Valley Sports & Entertainment Network broadcasts over-the-air in Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gray’s WMC+ in Memphis also participates in the network. The OVC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

In addition, Gray’s Matrix Midwest in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will serve hometown viewers of OVC’s Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, and Lindenwood University and Gray’s Illinois stations in Peoria, Quincy, and Rockford will serve fans of OVC’s Western Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University. Gray’s Indiana stations in Evansville, Ft. Wayne, and South Bend will focus on University of Southern Indiana, and Gray will also bring the package to fans of Morehead State University in Lexington, KY.

Gray reported that it anticipates signing an agreement for a third-party broadcast partner in Little Rock for the University of Arkansas – Little Rock.

Garson of Excelsior Sports and Entertainment represented OVC in the deal.

While most station groups reported major declines in ad revenue in the third quarter, thanks to a steep decline in political advertising compared to a year ago, this week’s earnings calls with analysts were generally bullish. Most station groups beat expectations, reporting better-than-expected year-over-year results for core advertising sales that exclude political and the Olympics.

A close review of those earnings calls also provides a snapshot of the state of the industry in the latter half of 2025 and its prospects for 2026.

Station executives offered bullish comments about next year, thanks to the prospects of heavy political advertising and the likelihood regulators will relax ownership rules and allow a wave of dealmaking.

For the moment, though, all the station results were heavily impacted by the absence of political revenue in Q3 2025 compared to the record spending during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Advertising revenue of $476 million decreased $146 million or 23.5% over the comparable prior year quarter, primarily reflecting a $145 million year-over-year decrease in political advertising,” Nexstar Media Group President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Biard noted. “However, nonpolitical advertising was essentially flat and better than our expectation of a low single-digit decline.”

Sinclair also reported year-over-year declines in total revenue, thanks to the absence of significant ad income in Q3, but reported revenue that was generally better than expected. “We delivered strong performance and met or exceeded guidance across all key metrics,” Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley said on the company’s Q3 earnings call. “Total revenue of $773 million came in higher than the high end of our guidance range. Core revenues were up 7% year-over-year on an as-reported basis.”

Likewise, Gray Media generally beat analysts’ expectations and while overall revenue was down 21% YoY, Q3 2025 revenue was above analyst expectations.

Hilton Howell Jr., Gray Media’s chairman and CEO, said: “Our results for the third quarter of 2025 compared favorably to our Q3 guidance for both revenues and expenses. Total revenue in the third quarter of 2025 was $749 million, at the high end of our guidance for the quarter.”

Pat LaPlatney, president and co-CEO at Gray Media added: “Q3 continued the theme we’ve been describing throughout 2025, with advertisers remaining somewhat cautious due to the macro environment. Through the quarter, though, we saw core activity strengthen more than we had projected back in August, and we ultimately finished on the high side of guidance. Remember that the Olympics on NBC provided about a $20 million uplift in July and August of 2024, of which about $16 million was core ad revenue and $4 million was political. Factoring that in, our third quarter was up about 1% over 2024.”

E.W. Scripps reported that third-quarter company revenue was $526 million, down 19% or $120 million from the prior-year quarter, mainly due to political advertising. But its Local Media division reported that core advertising (excluding political) was up, due to the services category and ”overall growth in national advertising due to strong sales efforts and Scripps’ sports strategy.”

“During the quarter, our Local Media division revenue was down 27% due to the absence of political advertising revenue compared to the prior year,” Chief Financial Officer Jason Combs said. “Core advertising revenue was up nearly 2%. We grew national advertising revenue, driven by an increase in our largest category, services. Our sports strategy helped drive that Q3 performance as well. Local Media distribution revenue was flat."

‘We’re Very, Very Optimistic About 2026’
While broadcasters haven’t released detailed guidance for their 2026 revenue expectations, executives offered generally bullish comments for the year ahead in terms of the impact of political advertising and the prospects for deregulation.

“I would say that we’re really optimistic about 2026,” said Gray Media’s LaPlatney. “We have some early Q1 numbers that are encouraging, in fact, very encouraging…As we sit here today, we’re very, very optimistic about 2026.

“We think broadcast is going from strength to strength at this moment,” explained Perry Sook, founder, chairman and CEO of Nexstar. “In the near term, we see a decreasing interest rate environment, the reset of the majority of our distribution contracts at the end of this year, the acquisition of TEGNA and an election year in 2026, all of which we expect to drive shareholder value. Longer term, we expect to accelerate our CW and NewsNation network growth strategies, our deployment of applications for ATSC 3.0 and innovation around how we go to market and the products and services we bring to benefit our viewers and our advertisers.”

As expected, M&A activity was a major topic of discussion.

‘We're Operating in the Wild Wild West’
Sinclair’s Ripley noted that “the broadcast sector is facing secular challenges within linear TV while having a unique opportunity for significant consolidation. We believe the industry is at an inflection point where scale and operational efficiency will increasingly separate high-performing companies from the rest. … Against this backdrop, in mid-August, we launched a strategic review of our broadcast business and an evaluation of a potential separation of ventures to optimize value creation across our portfolio,” that has already led to “several transactions, including partner station acquisitions and select acquisitions and divestitures.”

“One potential path for industry evolution could involve consolidating into two similarly sized scale broadcast groups," Ripley continued. "[C]reating another group comparable in size to the large broadcast combination announced in August [i.e., the proposed Nexstar-Tegna combination], could unlock an estimated $600 million to $900 million in annual synergies through mergers and subsequent portfolio optimizations. This level of consolidation would strengthen the industry's financial footing and position broadcasters as more capable competitors to big media and big tech.

“While we present this as one potential industry scenario rather than a prediction, the fundamental point is clear,” Ripley added. “The regulatory environment now enables transformational consolidation that can benefit Broadcast Group shareholders, creditors, employees and the communities we serve. Sinclair is well-positioned in this environment, and we're actively evaluating how best to participate to maximize value for our stakeholders.”

Scripps’ discussion of M&A opportunities was more modest. “As I've said from the start, we are totally focused on optimizing our portfolio of stations to structurally enhance performance and economic durability in service to our vision to create connection,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson sais. “We've already announced a station-swap deal with Gray where we are exchanging two Scripps stations for five Gray stations, a transaction that improves our market positioning and creates immediate efficiency opportunities. We also announced station sales in Fort Myers, Fla., and Indianapolis for cash. The sale prices represent premium multiples for the industry. These are quality stations we agreed to sell only at strong valuations, and the cash we receive will go directly to delevering.”

Deregulation Continues
In the Q3 earnings call, Nexstar’s Sook reiterated his previously expressed belief that the industry should see significant deregulation of broadcast ownership rules.

“The 8th Circuit mandate was issued on Oct. 21,” he said, refrencing the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to vacate the Federal Communications Commission’s rule barring a station group from owning more than one of the top-four stations in audience share in a given market. “That eliminates the top-four ownership rule, that will go into effect as soon as that order is published in the Federal Register and it's effective 30 days later. … And we, again, continue to believe that this administration, the Trump administration and Brendan Carr at the FCC are focused on deregulating business, allowing businesses to breathe, allowing businesses to compete and that we’ve been spending a lot of time in Washington to reinforce at the regulatory agencies and on the hill that we are indeed here to help meet the regulatory moment."

While Gray Media has already announced a number of potential acquisitions and station swaps, including an agreement to acquire stations from Allen Media Group, Howell also expressed a note of caution during the analyst call. Reacting to a report of a possible merger or deal with Sinclair, he said, “there is nothing that we are in deep negotiation with at the moment.”

“We are in a period of time in our industry where things change faster than I have ever, ever seen it,” Howell added. “For the first time in the history of our business, we are really operating in the Wild, Wild West. No one knows what the rules actually are. Anybody that tells you that…they just do not. They cannot.

“I don’t want to…do any deal that would put the basic company in any kind of risk,“ he continued. “Now, there’s a lot of big opportunities to grow. Unlike perhaps some of our competitors, I don’t believe, and my management team unanimously does not believe, that Gray actually has to do anything. I mean, we’re just fine where we are, and we can carry on our previously announced efforts to just reduce our debt and pay it down and then return more to our shareholders.”

ATLANTA—Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market.

A 30-year broadcast veteran, Hascenez had been director of sales and interim general manager of Gray Media’s Cleveland stations, WOIO, WUAB and WTCL. Gray has elevated Chris Conroy to general manager of its Cleveland group.

Hasenecz began his broadcasting career at Telerep before joining WAVY-TV Norfolk, Va., as research director. His analytical expertise and understanding of audience data then led to a transition into sales, Gray said, and he served as both national and local sales manager of WAVY and WVBT.

He joined WCAX-TV Burlington, Vt., as director of sales in 2013. Over his 11 years at the station, he built one of the region’s strongest sales team, Gray said, leading WCAX to all-time highs in market share, local direct business and overall revenue.

He is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outlet WTCL.

A 40-year media leadership veteran, Conroy had been general manager of Gray-owned KFVS in Cape Girardeau, Mo., since 2018.

While at KFVS, a CBS and The CW affiliate, Conroy was instrumental in ratings growth and in significant year-over-year increases in digital impressions and audience engagement, Gray said. The station won the Edward R. Murrow Regional Award for Overall Excellence in 2020.

Prior to KFVS, Conroy was general manager of Gray-owned KAIT in Jonesboro, Ark., where he successfully launchehed the market’s NBC affiliate and significantly expanded audience reach and market presence, Gray said. He also held significant leadership posts such as director of marketing/regional director of marketing at WMC-TV in Memphis, Tenn., and at stations in Atlanta, New Orleans and Birmingham, Ala.

Gray described Conroy as an accomplished leader recognized for his insight, innovation and results in a fast-changing media landscape. He won Southeast Region Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2001 and has served on multiple industry and community boards, including the Missouri and Arkansas broadcasters associations.

NEW ORLEANS, La.—In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access to New Orleans Pelicans games during the 2025-26 season.

As a result of the carriage agreement, non-national Pelicans games broadcast on Gray’s Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network (GCSEN) will be available to DirecTV’s streaming, satellite, and U-verse customers across the team’s entire three-state home territory.

"Since this incredible partnership began, we have been working to make the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network available to as many New Orleans Pelicans fans as possible and this is another major step in that process," said Mikel Schaefer, general manager of WVUE-TV and GCSEN. "As the official broadcast partner of the New Orleans Pelicans, we believe this will dramatically increase viewership across the entire network."

Starting with Wednesday night’s road opener against the Memphis Grizzlies. DirecTV customers in all three states can find the upcoming Pelicans games on the following channels:

• DirecTV streaming: Channel 676
• DirecTV satellite: Channel 676-6
• U-Verse: Channels 1759 (High-Def) and 759 (Standard Def)

In addition to their New Orleans home, the deal means that Pelicans games will now be available to local fans in key cities including Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe, and Shreveport in Louisiana; Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Jackson, and Meridian, MS; and Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile, AL, among several other communities.

"DirecTV remains firmly committed to local sports at a time when many providers are either getting out, not getting in, or potentially making them more expensive to keep," said Linda Burakoff, senior vice president of content and programming at DirecTV. "We welcome the opportunity to work with fan-friendly broadcasters like Gray to ensure all the most loyal fans can access their favorite hometown teams."

The Pelicans' regular season begins on Wednesday, October 22, when the Pelicans face the Grizzlies in Memphis. That game will be simulcast on WVUE-FOX 8, with pre-game coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. and tip-off at 7 p.m.

“As we begin a new season, we’re proud to expand the reach of Pelicans basketball through our relationship with DirecTV, making GCSEN more accessible than ever,” said Greg Bensel, Pelicans senior vice president of communications, broadcasting, community and government relations. “This is a meaningful step forward in our ongoing commitment to connect with fans throughout the Gulf South, whether they’re in major cities or small towns across the region.”

Beyond Pelicans basketball, the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network also offers an exclusive lineup of sports and entertainment programming. This includes popular shows such as the "Saints Kick-Off Show" and the "Black & Gold Postgame Show", serving 14 markets across three states in the vibrant Gulf Coast region.

In the wake of Gray Media’s plans to acquire TV stations from Block Communications and Allen Media, the Federal Communications Commission has set deadlines for public comments on the acquisitions and transfer of station licenses from Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, Block and Allen Media to Gray.

In the filing, the FCC said, “Interested persons must file petitions to deny no later than Oct. 22, 2025. Oppositions to petitions to deny must be filed no later than November 6, 2025. Replies must be filed no later than November 17, 2025.”

In August, Gray announced an agreement to acquire the Block Communications-owned television stations for $80 million and separately announced plans to acquire Allen Media Group-owned stations in 10 markets for $171 million.

Both deals require changes or waivers in existing FCC ownership rules, which the regulator acknowledged in a filing setting the dates for public comment.

“The Commission’s Local Television Ownership Rule 47 CFR § 73.3555(b) generally prohibits common ownership of two full power stations with overlapping contours in the same Nielsen Designated Market Area (DMA), where both are ranked among the top four stations in the DMA, subject to certain exceptions (the Top-Four Prohibition),” the FCC noted. “On July 23, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a decision vacating and remanding the Top-Four Prohibition. Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri, Inc. v. FCC, et al., No. 24-1380 (8th Cir. July 23, 2025). The court also vacated an amendment to Note 11 of that rule that included multicast and low-power television streams in the Top-Four prohibition. It is anticipated that the mandate for the vacatur of the Top-Four Prohibition will take effect on October 21, 2025.”

The FCC also noted that Gray proposes to own two or more full-power stations in the following markets:

• Sagamore Hill-Gray in Lubbock, Texas, DMA: KCBD(TV) and KJTV-TV, Lubbock, Texas, and KLCW-TV, Wolfforth, Texas.
• Sagamore Hill-Gray in Columbus, Ga., DMA: WTVM(TV) and WLTZ(TV), Columbus, Georgia.
• Block-Gray in the Louisville, Ky., DMA: WAVE(TV) and WDRB(TV), Louisville, and WBKI(TV), Salem.
• Allen Media in the Huntsville-Decatur (Florence), Ala., DMA: WAFF(TV) and WAAY(TV), Huntsville.
• Allen Media in Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg DMA: KFVS(TV), Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and WSIL-TV, Harrisburg, Illinois. Gray also requests a continuing satellite exception for KPOB-TV, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
• Allen Media in Evansville DMA: WFIE(TV) and WEVV-TV, Evansville, Indiana.
• Allen Media in Fort Wayne DMA: WPTA(TV), WISE-TV, and WFFT-TV, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• Allen Media in Montgomery DMA: WSFA(TV) and WCOV-TV, Montgomery, Alabama, and WIYC(TV), Troy, Alabama.
• Allen Media in Lafayette, Louisiana DMA: KATC(TV) and KADN-TV, Lafayette, Louisiana. Allen Media-Gray Applications, Comprehensive Exhibit at 6-7. In the Lafayette, Louisiana DMA where Gray proposes ultimately to operate KATC and KADN-TV, Gray’s planned acquisition of KATC is pending before the Commission in a separate transaction.
• Allen Media in Rockford DMA: WSLN(TV), Freeport, Illinois, and WREX(TV), Rockford, Illinois.

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport’s fall season.

Fans of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints got a taste of what HDR can do on Aug. 23, when Gray Media-owned Tupelo Media Group produced a preseason game against the Denver Broncos in native HDR. WVUE, the Gray-owned Fox affiliate in New Orleans, broadcast the contest in high dynamic range to local viewers, according to Pearl TV, the business coalition of major broadcast groups.

The game telecast is believed to be the first-ever native HDR over-the-air broadcast of any kind in the U.S.—from the cameras, through the mobile production workflow and ultimately to NextGen TV viewers. The broadcast gave fans the chance to experience exactly how HDR enhances the viewing experience by offering improved contrast between the brightest and darkest areas of the screen, as well as wider color gamut.

Sinclair is also enhancing the viewing experience of NextGen TV viewers with upconverted HDR transmitted from its NextGen TV stations. The station group is also offering T2 (Tennis Channel 2) and Pickleball TV Channel in 45 markets through broadcast-enabled streaming virtual channels available to connected NextGen TV viewers, Pearl TV said.

The HDR push from both station groups is a precursor to the 2026 World Cup, which will be broadcast in HDR, as well as the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, it said.

“With NextGen TV reaching more than three-quarters of viewing households, it’s exciting to see broadcasters enable High Dynamic Range on almost every channel to greatly enhance picture quality,” Pearl TV managing director Anne Schelle said. “Additionally, more than half of U.S. households also have access to broadcast Dolby Atmos audio, which adds a new dimension to entertainment and sports.”

Pearl TV plans once again to promote the benefits of NextGen TV during the lead-up to the holiday shopping season, it said.

Besides HDR, the effort has much to tout, including NextGen TV-based interactive music TV, available via ROXi in partnership with FastStream Interactive and Sinclair and GameLoop, a streaming TV channel for smart TV gamers, carried by Gray Media and Sinclair in 49 NextGen TV markets.

DALLAS & ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television markets across Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

This new package ensures that hockey fans outside of Texas major metropolitan areas have additional opportunities to watch the Stars during the 2025-26 season.

The broadcasts will serve the following Gray television markets:

• Texas:Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Sherman-Ada, Tyler-Longview, Waco-Bryan-College Station, Odessa, Laredo
• Arkansas:Jonesboro
• Louisiana:Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, Shreveport

These 17 games will include a mix of regular-season and pre-season matchups. The game schedule will be announced at a later date.

“Our commitment to reducing barriers and reaching more fans in communities is at the core of our work and this deal with Gray Media allows us to further that commitment,” said Neil Gruninger, president & CEO of APMC, parent company of Victory+. “These additional games give fans more ways to follow the Stars and be part of the excitement this season.”

“We are excited to partner with Victory+ to bring these games free, over-the-air to fans across Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana,” said Collin Gaston, senior managing vice president for Gray Media. “These stations have been bringing fans live NBA, WNBA, and MLB action, and we know viewers will love also having the NHL’s Stars.”

This new agreement will ensure fans can watch games on Victory+ and beyond while reinforcing its mission to make Dallas Stars games accessible to as many fans as possible, offering convenient viewing options across Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the streaming service reported.

ATLANTA—As the growing popularity of artificial intelligence continues to roil the news industry, Gray Media’s award-winning national investigative team, InvestigateTV, and Gray stations have launched a new multiplatform investigative project to educate viewers about the unseen ways artificial intelligence is impacting various parts of their everyday lives.

The project, “Manipulated: A Disinformation Nation,” brings together InvestigateTV’s national unit and Gray’s local newsrooms to explore how AI is already shaping what people see online and how audiences can protect themselves. Stories will air across InvestigateTV’s free streaming apps, on investigatetv.com, and on Gray news platforms nationwide.

The first report in the series, debuting on August 26, exposes the rise of deceptive AI content, including scam campaigns that impersonate trusted sources to stir anger and “civic chaos”. The story also reveals how some popular online creators are using AI to help people spot a dangerous scheme before they are a victim.

“InvestigateTV and our newsrooms are trusted sources in giving viewers insight into how new technology affects their daily lives. By combining our national investigative team with local reporting across our markets, we will empower audiences to educate themselves and avoid being misled,” said Sandy Breland, Gray’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In the weeks ahead, Gray reported that the national team will publish additional investigations on topics including AI-driven celebrity spoofs, designer knockoffs that undercut small businesses, and personal videos repackaged into fabricated fundraisers or ads. Each story will emphasize simple steps viewers can take to verify content and avoid scams. Gray stations will report locally on AI’s growing role in government, schools, healthcare, and more. The project will cover all sides of the AI phenomenon, including its innovative and potentially positive aspects.

“This in-depth series will arm our audience with critical information about the rising impact of AI and how to tell the difference between its helpful and harmful applications,” said Lee Zurik, Gray’s senior vice president of news strategy and innovation.

To support the coverage, InvestigateTV created an interactive page at investigatetv.com/manipulated featuring video explainers and a game that challenges users to distinguish real photos from AI-generated images. The page also provides consumer protection resources and will be updated with new content from across the Gray footprint.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has laid out plans for launching a new cutting-edge, hyper-personalized streaming platform that will start going live in Gray's markets in January of 2026.

The service will use an end-to-end solution from Google Cloud and Quickplay, that combines the power of Google Cloud's AI infrastructure with Quickplay’s flexible, cloud-native platform to deliver deeply personalized viewing experiences, the companies said.

By harnessing real-time data and advanced machine learning, Gray said the offering will transform how content is delivered and consumed.

“This newly created video partnership marks a pivotal moment for Gray. With this game- changing infrastructure, we are leading the charge into the future of local streaming, one personalized viewing experience at a time,” Gray’s president and co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said.

“We are proud to collaborate with Gray Media and Quickplay to bring the power of Google Cloud AI to the local broadcast industry,” said Albert Lai, global director, strategic industries, Media & Entertainment, Google Cloud. “Our AI capabilities enable Gray Media to understand viewer preferences and deliver personalized content that drives engagement and revenue. This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to helping media companies transform their businesses with AI.”

In making the announcement Gray described the capabilities of the platform as follows:

• Understand Viewer Preferences in Real Time: Leveraging advanced machine learning to analyze viewer behavior, content consumption patterns, and engagement metrics in real-time.
• Dynamically Adapt the Viewing Experience: Adjusting content sequences, ad loads, and overall presentation based on individual viewer preferences and engagement levels.
• Optimize Content Delivery for Maximum Engagement: Delivering personalized content recommendations, tailored search results, and seamless access across all devices.
• Future-Proof the Infrastructure: Embracing a cloud-native architecture that can scale, adapt, and evolve with the ever-changing media landscape.

“We are excited to be the first to deliver this innovative technology to viewers, including tailored recommendations and a personalized content experience that is seamless across devices,” Gray’s executive vice president and COO Sandy Breland said.

ATLANTA—Gray Media, Inc. has reached an agreement with the Fox Television Network that extends and renews the network affiliations for all of Gray’s Fox affiliated television stations across 27 markets, including Portland, Ore., Cincinnati, Ohio; Las Vegas and Birmingham, Ala.

The news comes as Gray has been looking to expand its footprint with acquisitions. It recently announced plans to acquire TV stations from Block Communications for $80 million.

That deal, which would require the Federal Communications Commission to change its ownership rules includes WDRB and WBKI, the Fox and The CW affiliates for the Louisville, Kentucky, market (DMA 49), where Gray owns and operates NBC affiliate WAVE-TV.

Currently Gray owns local television stations and digital assets serving 113 television markets that collectively reach approximately 37 percent of US television households.

ATLANTA—Gray Media has struck a deal to acquire Allen Media Group television stations in 10 markets for $171 million. Byron Allen’s AMG had announced plans to sell its 21 network affiliate stations in June.

The transaction would bring Gray into three new markets: Columbus-Tupelo, Miss.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and West Lafayette, Ind.

Gray expects the transaction to strengthen its presence and public service committments in the seven other markets by creating new duopolies that would allow it to expand local news, weather and sports programming, the company said.

The deal indicates growing confidence among broadcasters that the Federal Communications Commission will lift current broadcast-station ownership caps.

The deal includes the following stations:

• DMA 75: WAAY, Huntsville, Ala. (ABC)
• DMA 90: WSIL, Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg, Mo. (ABC)
• DMA 109: WEVV, Evansville, Ind. (CBS/Fox)
• DMA 110: WWFT, Fort Wayne, Ind. WFFT (Fox)
• DMA 121: WCOV, Montgomery, Ala. (Fox)
• DMA 124: KADN, Lafayette, La. (Fox/NBC)
• DMA 134: WTVVA, Columbus-Tupelo, Miss. (ABC/NBC)
• DMA 137: WREX, Rockford, Ill. (NBC)
• DMA 159: WTHI, Terre Haute, Ind. (CBS/FOX)
• DMA 189 WLFI, West Lafayette, Ind. (CBS)

ATLANTA—Gray Media has announced an agreement to acquire the Block Communications-owned television stations for $80 million.

The deal will strengthen Gray’s presence in the Midwest by creating a new Big Four duopoly in one market and by adding top-ranked local news stations in two more Midwestern markets that can support and benefit from our strong local stations in adjacent markets, Gray said.

The deal comes at a time when station merger and acquisition activity has been heating up as the industry continues to aggressively lobby the Federal Communications Commission to relax or eliminate ownership rules on broadcast TV stations.

Gray anticipates closing these transactions in the fourth quarter of this year following receipt of regulatory approval, including certain waivers of the FCC’s current ownership rules, and other customary closing conditions.

The transaction includes WDRB and WBKI, the Fox and The CW affiliates for the Louisville, Kentucky, market (DMA 49), where Gray owns and operates NBC affiliate WAVE-TV. The transaction also includes WAND, the NBC affiliate for the Springfield-Champaign-Decatur, Illinois, market (DMA 92), and WLIO, the NBC affiliate for the Lima, Ohio, market (DMA 190), as well as WLIO’s associated low-power television stations.

WAND and WLIO each had the highest all-day ratings among television households in their markets during 2024, according to Comscore.

Gray and Scripps recently announced plans for a station swap that would also require the FCC to change its ownership rules or grant a waiver.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers have announced that for the first time three Panthers preseason games will air live in Spanish to Gray’s Telemundo audiences across the Carolinas.

Starting this August, Spanish-speaking fans will be able to catch every Panthers preseason game on six Gray Telemundo affiliate stations in South Carolina and Eastern North Carolina.

The three games are: Friday, August 8, Panthers vs. Cleveland Browns; Saturday, August 16,, Panthers at Houston Texans; and Thursday, August 21 Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Spanish-language broadcasts of the Panthers preseason games are an extension of the partnership between Gray's WHNS Greenville, S.C., known on-air as Fox Carolina, Gray-owned Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network and the Panthers announced in April.

“This partnership with the Carolina Panthers marks an exciting milestone for our Telemundo affiliates and the communities we proudly serve across the Carolinas,” said Susan Sim Oh, senior vice president of strategy and operations, Gray Telemundo Affiliate Station Group. “This is about more than football — it’s about building inclusive experiences that resonate with our Spanish-speaking viewers. We’re especially proud that Fox Carolina (WHNS) helped lead the way in forging this first-of-its-kind partnership, bringing Panthers football to even more households in a way that honors culture, language, and community.”

WHNS-WDKT general manager Bryce Caldwell added, “The Carolina Panthers are a tremendous partner, and we couldn’t be more excited about this expansion of offerings to our Spanish-speaking audiences!”

Telemundo stations airing Panthers preseason games include:

• WDKT—Greenville, S.C-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. -Anderson, S.C.
• WTES—Columbia, S.C.
• WZCH—Charleston, S.C.
• WXIV—Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• WTWL—Wilmington, N.C.
• WTGC—Greenville-New Bern, N.C.

As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broadcast station groups have announced efforts to raise money for those impacted by the disaster.

Gray Media, Graham Media Group, E.W. Scripps and Sinclar are among the broadcast station group owners who have announced efforts to raise and donate money as their stations and other broadcasters continue to provide critical information about the disaster.

A few highlights of those efforts include:

• Sinclair has launched Sinclair Cares: Texas Tragedy Relief, a national fundraising campaign in partnership with the Salvation Army, to support those affected by the devastating flooding across Texas. It said 100% of funds raised will provide critical emergency assistance including mobile feeding units, meals, hydration, shelter, clean up kits, hygiene kits and emotional care to survivors and first responders. Sinclair noted that its stations in San Antonio (KABB and WOAI) and Austin (KEYE) have been reporting on the story since the flooding began on July 4, delivering continuous coverage on Friday and Saturday, expanding newscasts into Sunday, with KABB and WOAI airing 52 hours of live coverage and KEYE also adding extended live coverage. To further support the ongoing effort, Sinclair has deployed 10 journalists and additional resources from other markets to assist with comprehensive coverage across all platforms. More information is available at SinclairCares.com.
• In response to the devastating floods that swept through Central Texas and the Hill Country, Graham Media Group and Gray Media have joined forces to launch an urgent donation drive supporting local relief and recovery efforts. The campaign raised more than $120,000 in donations in its first 24 hours, including a $25,000 donation from Gray. Graham is making an additional $15,000 donation to the campaign. Through this collaborative campaign, Graham ’s KSAT in San Antonio and KPRC in Houston and Gray stations across 113 U.S. markets aim to generate donations that deliver vital resources—including food, housing and financial aid—to impacted communities. The station groups said 100% of funds raised will support on-the-ground efforts in flood-affected regions Donate at www.togetherfortx.com
• The Scripps News Group and the Scripps Howard Fund have raised more than $75,000 to provide relief for those impacted by the devastating floods in Central Texas. Scripps reported that since its campaign launched on July 7, support has poured in from across the nation, with more than $50,000 donated by hundreds of people from more than 25 states. E.W. Scripps has also contributed $25,000 to bolster the relief efforts. Scripps reported that the floods are now the deadliest instance of inland flooding in the U.S. since 1976, when Colorado’s Big Thompson Canyon flooded, killing 144 people, according to a new report. To give: Text FLOODING to 50155 or visit scrippsnews.com/relief.
• The Broadcasters Foundation of America is also making one-time, emergency grants to broadcasters who need financial help recovering from a natural disaster or acute emergency is extending that help to broadcasters impacted by the Texas flood. It said there are two ways to apply for an emergency grant: Personal Application - Broadcaster applying for themselves following an emergency or an Employer Application - General Manager, Market Manager, or HR representative applying on behalf of your employees following an emergency. Applications can be submitted here.

TV Tech will add more examples as we collect them.

ATLANTA and CINCINNATI—Gray Media and The E.W. Scripps Co. have agreed to swap television stations across five midsized and small markets, resulting in the creation of new duopolies for each group.

As part of the agreements, Gray will acquire Scripps’ WSYM (Fox) in Lansing, Mich., (DMA 113), and KATC (ABC) in Lafayette, La. (DMA 125). The acquisition of WSYM will create a duopoly in Lansing, where Gray owns WILX (NBC), and the acquisition of KATC will complement Gray’s strong presence in the Southeast, including all other markets in Louisiana.

Gray and Scripps said that the swap involves the even exchange of comparable assets. As a result, “neither company will pay cash consideration to the other,” the station groups said.

The companies said these transactions would give the two station groups the market scale and depth to strengthen their financial durability, allowing them to add more local news and sports programming.

The swaps come at a time when the FCC has been more lenient in approving deals that allow a station group to own more than one top-four network station in a DMA.

Gray and Scripps anticipate closing both sides of the swap simultaneously in the fourth quarter of this year, after regulatory and other customary approvals. The regulatory approvals will require certain waivers of local ownership restrictions, the companies said.

“We are very pleased to be executing a successful set of station swaps with Scripps that brings great value to both companies,” Gray President and Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “At Gray, due to the strategic nature of these two acquisitions and the benefits to our operations, we anticipate expanding the news staff and hours of live local newscasts on both stations soon after closing the acquisitions.”

Scripps will acquire Gray’s KKTV (CBS) in Colorado Springs, Colo. (DMA 86), where Scripps owns KOAA (NBC); KKCO (NBC) and low power station KJCT-LP (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colo. (DMA 187); and KMVT (CBS) and low power station KSVT-LD (Fox) in Twin Falls, Idaho (DMA 189), where Scripps owns low power station KSAW-LD (ABC). These acquisitions bolster Scripps’ already strong regional presence in the West, where it owns and operates television stations across Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.

“These new stations will allow Scripps to expand upon our local sports and news strategies in key growth geographies for us,” Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson said. “The resulting efficiencies will allow us to further invest in our connection to our communities, offering even richer coverage of these neighborhoods and regions.”

The parties intend to work closely with regulators, employees and other stakeholders to obtain the requisite approvals and to facilitate the smooth transition of these stations to new ownership.

The four broadcast groups behind ATSC 3.0-based datacasting company EdgeBeam Wireless this week named Conrad Clemson to serve as its CEO.

Clemson takes the reins of the new joint venture company having led EditShare as CEO. Prior to EditShare, he founded and was CEO of BNI Video, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2011. At Cisco, he held senior leadership positions.

E.W. Scripps, Gray Media, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, which formed the joint venture, are optimistic about EdgeBeam’s prospects. The new company will leverage a portion of the broadcasters’ spectrum to deliver data via an ATSC 3.0, one-to-many, over-the-air broadcast network.

Ultimately, datacasting via 3.0 could generate an entirely new revenue stream for the partners that boosts earnings and the value of their TV spectrum.

In this interview, the new EdgeBeam CEO discusses his priorities, when the company expects to begin generating revenue, its sales strategy, the competitive landscape and more. (An edited transcript follows.)

TV Tech: What are your top priorities as you take the reins at EdgeBeam Wireless?

Conrad Clemson: The first thing anybody does walking in is assess what the situation is. I'm a technologist by background, so I think of things oftentimes in a techie way.

As I was going through the process of getting to know the EdgeBeam team, I laid out the concepts of running the company in two-week sprints and then I laid out a six-month path.

The key place to start is really assessing where we are. As we come out with that assessment, the No. 2 thing is going out and building the team.

What I found with companies is that you really have three important elements that must come together: the team, the technology and the market.

We’ve got a great market out there. Everybody needs data. Technology, we understand what it is. We’re going to have to do some work to make sure we’re ready to commercialize it.

Then the real key is going out, understanding the team we have in place and what we’re going to do to supplement that to create the kind of team that’s going to build a multi-$100 million or billion-dollar company.

TVT: When do you think you will have your executive and sales teams in place?

CC: My hope is within three months, we'll have an executive team and the sales team in place.

We really need to understand where in the commercialization phase we are to understand how much we are looking at order-driving, execution-oriented sales teams vs. kind of the Marines storming the beach—business-development resources—that help us establish that initial beachhead.

My feeling is that early on, we're going to be doing more business development than sales as we’re out there establishing the market, establishing who EdgeBeam is and then driving forward.

But make no mistake about it. The most important thing we want to do is to commercialize the technology, and that will drive on the sales team.

This is going to be a very technically oriented sale to begin with. That means you have both a sales organization, but also the sales engineers that go with that. That’s a critical piece as well.

The other thing that will be very important for us to do is to really validate and build two key elements: our core culture and our senior leadership team. Then we can develop our strategy.

With those three pieces in place, it will be time to turn the crank and get the job done.

TVT: It’s a frequent refrain in the TV industry that some younger folks don’t recognize television is transmitted over the air. Others might have a vague understanding, but think of it as something grandma watches. I wonder if that extends into the boardrooms of your potential clients. If so, how do you change those perceptions and demonstrate 3.0 datacasting is a viable alternative to other wireless services?

CC: One of the things that really attracted me to EdgeBeam is there are a lot of wireless service providers out there and the sales program always goes the same way: “Hey, I’m faster; I’m cheaper and I have more coverage than the other guy.”

This is the first time in a long time that I think a company has a chance to come out and say, “We have something different to offer.”

We're not here to surf the web. We’re here because we have a differentiated wireless offering. If that offering aligns with the kinds of services you're trying to put out into the marketplace, we can just do it better.

We have unique strengths. The first thing is this is a network that is naturally a broadcast network, a point-to-multipoint network. What are the applications for one-to-many? There are a lot of those.

There are easy ones like [streaming offload for] high-value live events, be they sports, news or otherwise.

There’s downloading software to stuff and by the way, in the case of interesting things like automobiles, there’s a ton of downloads. Those are great point-to-multipoint applications. But then you look and ask what about stock tickers? What about betting tickers?

Then there’s the core strength of having a very powerful transmitter. If you’re in the middle of a city with buildings and parking garages, we are unique in our ability to put our signal through to your endpoint.

If you’re offering a 5G signal, it’s really good and it’s really fast, but it ain’t going to go through concrete.

Then there’s timing, which goes to positioning opportunities. We look at those three things that make us different from the other guys.

We can come and do something that, quite frankly, is better—not just a little bit of a minor difference [compared to wireless companies’ offerings].

TVT: I think the thing most people in this industry want to know is when EdgeBeam will earn its first 3.0-based datacasting dollar.

CC: Let me be like a classic entrepreneur. When are you going to sell one? When are you going to sell 100 and when are you going to sell a million?

I think the company remains hopeful that between now and the end of the year, we’ll sell one.

We don’t light up $10 million, or $100 million, or pick a number of revenue. That’s not the plan. I think we want our objective to be as quick as possible.

And don't hold me to December. It might be January. The point is in the near term, we should see first customer revenue.

How that grows is both driven by internal constraints—our ability to invest and go get that revenue—and the external constraints of EdgeBeam as a company, looking back to our spectrum granters and showing them we can do something meaningful with this spectrum. We want to earn the right to have more spectrum.

TVT: A few months ago, the National Association of Broadcasters petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to move forward on a plan to sunset ATSC 1.0. Will EdgeBeam remain viable if there's no movement on that sunset? If the sunset is established, what will that do for EdgeBeam’s business?

CC: We're going to make sure we’re ready to go, and we’ve got a great service. We know we can see some early wins, but we're going to be really thoughtful about not stepping on the gas ahead of where the real revenue—revenue with a capital R—is coming from.

TVT: Does that mean that if the industry remains stuck in the dual-standard DTV world, that you’ll be able to make a go of it with the 7 to 8 Megabits per second that are available today for 3.0 datacasting in transition markets?

CC: Absolutely. But we need to challenge ourselves with how we get creative. If the demand for our services is outstripping the capacity to provide them, that’s an opportunity for us to be smart technologists and go figure it out.

We’ll take the highest-value pieces and put them on the limited bandwidth that we have, and we will figure out how to go create some more bandwidth and be good engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs to do that.

TVT: When EdgeBeam was announced, the joint partner companies said there would be an opportunity for other broadcasters to profit from allocating some spectrum for EdgeBeam datacasting. Do you have any other details about how that will work or what it will look like?

CC: So, day one was Monday. It’s a little early to be having conversations with potential other partners.

Having said that, we intend to be an open environment. Our assumption is as we start to show success other broadcasters will look around and want to be a part of that.

I'll be excited to see that, but I would step back and say the first thing we have to prove is that the dog will eat the dog food. That will create the energy and the excitement in other broadcasters to want to be a part of this, too.

TVT: At the risk of mixing metaphors, what low-hanging fruit are you targeting to demonstrate the dog food is tasty?

CC: We’re seeing a lot of traction in e-GPS [enhanced GPS], and I think the IoT [Internet of Things] market is ripe. I think those are all markets we can start exploiting quickly with fast turnarounds.

But some of the markets we are going to attack are multiyear engagements. It’s time to get those started, as well, with a clear understanding that we need to balance the risk-reward [ratio] and make sure that as a small company we’re focusing our limited resources in the right place.

TVT: Do you have any idea about how your rates will stack up against your wireless competitors?

CC: Good question. And to be honest with you, I don’t know the answer to that at the moment.

Having said that, I think one of the things that we can really strive for is to provide very deterministic costs for customers out there trying to bring those things [their data] onto our network.

As a young company coming into this environment, I think we have the opportunity to look at what our end customers are trying to accomplish and create pricing models that line up with that and have a great advantage.

The question for our end clients is, what kind of an economic value proposition can we bring to them? One in which they look at us and say, “this is a great opportunity,” because they know exactly what it is going to cost, independent of how many people watch it [or how many end points receive the datacast].

TVT: Among the four joint venture partners, two different broadcast core network solutions were in use as three of the four deployed their previous iterations of 3.0-based datacasting. I was told in previous interviews that the one chosen for EdgeBeam would be up to the new CEO. What have you chosen?

CC: The easy answer would be great. That would be there’s a single one that everybody has that’s fully deployed, and we only have to operate with one element out there.

The last time I checked, there were at least two of these things that were deployed out in the network. If you look into an IP network and ask whose routers are being used, well, they use multiple people’s routers.

When you’re building a mobile network, whose packet core gets used? There are four or five of them out there. So, I wouldn't want to preclude [any of them] and say: “The answer has to be A, or B or A and B.”

We’re going to have to look and see what's in there and what has the capabilities needed. My guess is, in all likelihood, we’ll have to go through a process of both rationalizing that and understanding what makes sense and what we should do out there. Then, we’ll make that decision over time.

TVT: Is there anything else you’d like to share about EdgeBeam?

CC: A couple of things. First, what a great time it is to be standing up a company. I’ve been working with the teams here for a couple of months, and I will tell you this is a world-class set of companies and investors to be working with.

The other thing is this is ground zero. This is the fourth company I’ve been a part of in a very early stage of growth and development.

I think this is a really interesting time in the industry to start taking advantage of AI tools that are coming online. Not stuff that we’re building into the product, but rather AI technologies and new capabilities that will help us as we think about the internal workings of the company in a native-AI fashion.

More information about EdgeBeam Wireless is available on the company’s website.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and its WVUE New Orleans have extended their longstanding broadcast agreement with the New Orleans Saints. The five-year renewal will run through the conclusion of the 2029 NFL season.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The new deal includes rights to air all three 2025 preseason games starting Aug. 10, when the Saints travel to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers as well as partnerships in creating Saints-related content.

The 2025 Saints pre-season games include: Aug. 10 at Los Angeles Chargers at 3:05 p.m. CT; Aug. 17 vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, noon CT; and Aug. 23 versus Denver, 12:00 PM CT

As the “Official Television Broadcast Partner of the New Orleans Saints,“ the preseason games will all air on Gray’s 15-station Saints Pre-Season Network, including locally on WVUE Fox 8. In addition, Gray Media’s Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network (GCSEN) will rebroadcast each preseason game the following day.

“We’re thrilled to extend our important partnership with the New Orleans Saints and continue providing Saints fans with unmatched, exclusive coverage,” said Sandy Breland, chief operating officer of Gray and a New Orleans resident. “Gray and WVUE Fox 8 are also excited to work with the Saints in bringing more Saints programming to both Fox 8 and the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, and we know viewers will be too.”

“As the media landscape continues to evolve, our priority remains delivering first-class coverage and unique access to our fans,” said Dennis Lauscha, president of the New Orleans Saints. “Gray Media and FOX 8 have been exceptional partners, setting the standard for regional sports broadcasting. We’re thrilled to expand this relationship and elevate the way Saints fans experience our team.”

Stations airing the preseason games include:

• WVUE—New Orleans, La.
• WBRC—Birmingham, Ala.
• WAFB—Baton Rouge, La.
• KNOE—Monroe-El Dorado, La.
• WLBT—Jackson, Miss.
• KPLC—Lake Charles, La
• WMC—Memphis, Tenn.
• WDAM—Hattiesburg – Laurel
• WALA—Mobile-Pensacola
• KALB—Alexandria, La
• KSLA—Shreveport, La.
• WTOK—Meridian, Miss.
• KATC—Lafayette, La.
• WJHG—Panama City, Fla.
• WLOX—Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.

WVUE and the Saints will co-produce the following Saints-related programming to air on GCSEN:

• “The Draft Show LIVE”
• “Daily Training Camp Show, hosted live from Saints Training Camp”
• “Extended Pregame Show, live throughout the season”
• “Postgame Locker Room Show,” live following each game
• “Saints All Access” and “Saints Insider” Podcasts

WVUE will produce five weekly Saints-related programs to air on Fox 8 and/or GCSEN:

• “Live Tailgate”—Before each Saints game
• “Final Play”—Sundays at 10:35 p.m. CT
• “Black & Gold Review”—Mondays at 10:35 p.m. CT
• “Game Plan”—Wednesdays at 10:35 p.m. CT
• “Overtime Podcast”—Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Gray Media will also premiere an exclusive NFL Films documentary, “Waiting on Moore,” a behind-the-scenes look at the Saints and new Head Coach Kellen Moore on GCSEN Sunday and Monday June 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. CT.

ATLANTA—CBS said WUPA Atlanta will become its new network outlet in that city. The station, which broadcasts on Channel 69, will begin broadcasting CBS programming on Aug. 16.

CBS News & Stations has owned WUPA, currently branded on-air as Atlanta 69, since 1994. Currently an independent, WUPA was an affiliate of The CW from 2006 to 2024.

Effective Aug. 16, WUPA will rebrand as CBS Atlanta and plans to launch a streaming CBS News Atlanta channel, covering the latest regional weather, traffic, local and breaking news.

Gray Media’s WANF had been the CBS affiliate since 1994. Gray said WANF will become an independent station focued on its local news operation.

CBS owns and operates 27 stations in 17 of the country’s biggest markets. It operates a streaming service, CBS News 24/7, which includes streaming news feeds from many of its owned stations.

“Launching our first owned CBS station in Atlanta is a milestone moment for us,” said Jennifer Mitchell, president of CBS Stations and CBS News and Stations Digital. “This expansion allows us to bring the full strength of CBS’ award-winning news, sports and entertainment programming directly to one of the most vibrant and influential markets in the country. With WUPA and the launch of the CBS News Atlanta streaming channel, we’re not just delivering content—we’re investing in the community, local journalism and ensuring Atlanta viewers receive the same trusted, high-quality journalism that defines CBS in every market we serve.”

WUPA’s live linear feed will also be available on Paramount+.

In a separate announcement, Gray Media said WANF would leverage its local news operation and the resources of its Atlanta-based parent company to better serve the local community with on-air and online content.

“As residents of Atlanta along with our families, this company’s leadership and our corporate colleagues have been keenly focused on improving what we watch every day on WANF and its sister station, WPCH Peachtree TV,” said Gray’s executive chairman Hilton Howell. “We are excited to now take WANF in a new direction that puts full control of the station’s offerings in local hands and that allows us to expand our investment in local news, weather and sports by, for and about the people who, like us, live in Greater Atlanta.”

Gray said that it plans to make additional financial and other resource investments in WANF to enable it to transition successfully to a strong independent local television station.

Gray said it expects that WANF will join the ranks of other successful local independent news stations. Former network affiliates like Gray-owned KTVK Phoenix, WJXT Jacksonville, and WHDH Boston are all high-rated independent stations that have flourished with a strong local news presence, the company said.

“Since acquiring WANF and WPCH in December 2021, Gray has invested tens of millions of dollars to reinvigorate the stations and expand their capabilities,“ Gray Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “Three years ago, WANF adopted its current call sign to emphasize its new commitment to delivering Atlanta News First. This is not just a slogan, it’s the philosophy for the entire organization. The next chapter as an independent station allows WANF to deliver on that commitment more fully, and our experience and our research make us optimistic that viewers and advertisers will increasingly turn to WANF as a result.”

LONDON—The management at music video streaming service ROXi has completed a management buyout of the business in partnership with a investor syndicate including major U.S. broadcasters Sinclair and Gray Media.

FastStream Interactive Limited (FSI), the new company set up post-buyout, has successfully acquired the business and technology of ROXi and has sealed distribution deals with major U.S. broadcasters that will bring FSI’s interactive TV channels to U.S. broadcasters.

“The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionize broadcast TV,” FastStream CEO Rob Lewis said. “For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the program, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV.”

The first FastStream-powered TV channel to launch will be ROXi, believed to be America’s first interactive TV music channel, will be available for free via NextGen TV. It will allow frictionless access to all the music Americans like whenever they want for free on their TV without the need for an app and with no registration or subscription required, the company said.

“FastStream Interactive will empower Sinclair to deliver a range of cutting-edge, fully interactive TV channels,” Sinclair Vice President and General Manager, Technology and Business Development Skip Flenniken said. “Our viewers across the U.S. will be able to search, skip and engage with content in a seamless, personalized experience.”

The new company has the support of more than 100 major investors, including U.S. broadcasters as well as prestigious names in music and corporate finance, FastStream said.

Shareholders include Sinclair and Gray Media Group, U2 bassist Adam Clayton, Terra Firma Capital Partners founder Guy Hands, British billionaire businessman Jim Mellon and Global Lead of TMT at Rothschilds Warner Mandel, it said.

“Working together with FastStream Interactive, Gray will be introducing fully interactive TV channels to viewers,” Robert Folliard, senior vice president of government relations and distribution at Gray, said. “We see this as a compelling new chapter for TV entertainment and another reason for consumers to be excited about the upcoming NextGen TV transition.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

While top executives at broadcast TV station groups reported first-quarter revenue declines amid economic uncertainty and the impact of tariffs on the economy, they offered bullish sentiments regarding the prospects for significant deregulation in broadcast ownership rules and M&A activity.

“In my 45-plus years in the industry, I continue to believe that the prospect of meaningful broadcast ownership reform has never been better than it is today,” Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Nexstar Media Group and chair of the NAB’s Joint Board of Directors, said in kicking off Nexstar’s first-quarter earnings call. “We are fortunate to have a strong FCC chair in Brendan Carr, who keenly understands the need for local broadcast deregulation and the relief that we and the industry need on both the national ownership cap and in-market local ownership rules.”

Carr recently fueled hopes for deregulation in a May 7 interview by calling ownership rules "archaic" and "artificial." That was his strongest public statement to date indicating that he would change those rules.

Once the fifth FCC commissioner is confirmed this summer, giving Carr and the Republicans a majority, Sook said: “We anticipate chairman Carr will begin to take action on his agenda. In addition to our deregulatory agenda to level the playing field and to enable consolidation, we are also seeking to obtain a firm transition date for ATSC 1.0 standards to ATSC 3.0 standards, which will support and advance our rollout of high-speed data transmission and other services to allow us to fully monetize ancillary uses of our spectrum.”

Sook stressed that Nexstar’s “strong financial position and balance sheet” makes it well-prepared to capitalize on deregulation through M&A. “Historically, this strategy has created tremendous shareholder value,” he said.

On Tegna's earnings call, President and CEO Mike Steib said: “73 members of Congress have signed a letter to FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, advocating for deregulation and broadcasting and the Chairman is expected to have a majority soon. We're staying close to all of this and our healthy balance sheet, consistent free cash flow generation and track record of disciplined capital allocation position us well to pursue the best opportunities for value creation.

“Chairman Carr has been clear with his agenda and support for local broadcasters and the important role that local broadcasters play for our communities and the role that local news plays for our democracy,” he added later in response to a question about deregulation. “He is expected to have his majority soon. And as I noted in my prepared remarks, he seems to have bipartisan Congressional support for supporting local and supporting local broadcasters.”

He added that this “will unlock M&A opportunities in the space that can be really accretive for buyers and sellers,” but he cautioned that “until we know the full landscape and until we know the prices, I can't sort of comment more precisely as it pertains to how we think about...about capital, capital allocation.”

“I'm as excited about the M&A opportunity in this space as you all are, and I'm sure it's frustrating not to hear us be able to be more specific in our responses,” he added. “You probably imagine it is for us as well. What I can tell you is we believe that the deregulatory moment is coming and it's coming at just the right time.”

During its Q1 earnings call E.W. Scripps executives also highlighted the M&A opportunities that deregulation might bring.

"Most importantly, what we have accomplished over the last year has set us up well to move successfully through the company's next season," said Adam Symson, president, and CEO at E.W. Scripps. "Not far ahead, we see the prospect of local broadcast industry consolidation that will drive growth by finally allowing us to deepen our presence in our local markets, building upon the strong relationships we already have with viewers and advertisers to create even greater shareholder value with significant efficiency."

"I think it's fair to say that the commission recognizes that local news, local sports, local programming entirely depends on the durability of local television," he added later. "Standing in the way of that durability, we think are the rules that prevent consolidation, both in market and national consolidation that's necessary for us to compete on that level playing field with the national media companies, the networks and that are right now already using their leverage to essentially impair our abilities to serve local communities. So for us, we believe greater scale nationally and greater depth in market are necessary for our assets to perform their best for shareholders and continue in service to the communities where we operate. So I expect we'll do everything in our power to take advantage of this moment. I expect off the bat, given our balance sheet, our greatest opportunities would be both in swaps and in select asset sales."

Symson also highlighted signals from the FCC that they would like to strengthen local broadcasters in terms of their relations with broadcast networks in terms of affiliate fees and retransmission negotiations with vMVPDs.

"We think the commission recognizes that things have gotten to the point where the networks are using their economic leverage to control the airwaves, which is essentially a de facto violation of communications regulations," he said. "So the networks ought to be taking this moment as a call to action to address the issue proactively instead of waiting for it to be regulated."

He also expressed optimism that the FCC would actually move to lift ownership caps and that investors wouldn't once again be disappointed by caps remaining in place.

"I believe that the commission will act in a way that, as I said in my prepared remarks, rebalance the marketplace," he said.  

During its Q1 earnings call Gray Media chairman and CEO Hilton Howell Jr. said: “We are energized by the possibility that the government may, at last, allow local broadcasters to compete on a more level playing field with all of our competitors.”

“Market consolidation,” he added later, is “inherently universally positive in terms of saving money, but it also gives us, because we are so focused on the delivery of local news, local content, local sports, you’ve got to give the audiences something to view it all. The consolidation allows us to compete with the really huge tech giants that are actually taking about 80% of the local ad market. And so consolidation is an all in all positive for the entirety of the broadcast business. And we're very excited about it."

ARLINGTON, Texas—Two months after naming Tegna station KFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth its exclusive local broadcast partner for WNBA games, the Dallas Wings are expanding their broadcast reach through additional agreements with Tegna, Gray Media, and Corridor Television.

The agreements will triple the team's local TV footprint, bringing free, over-the-air Wings games to 6.3 million households across 12 markets during the 2025 season.

“As we prepare for one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history, we are excited about the opportunity to deliver Dallas Wings basketball into more homes than ever before,” said Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb. “Our partners at Tegna, Gray, and Corridor recognize the incredible demand there is to watch our games and have done a fantastic job in helping us secure additional markets to reach even more of our passionate fanbase.”

The team noted that Tegna worked with the WNBA to add coverage of these games on Tegna’s KTBU in Houston, KCEN/KAGS-LD in Waco-Killeen, KYTX in Tyler-Longview, KWES in Midland-Odessa, KXVA in Abilene and KIDY in San Angelo.

The same games will be carried on Gray Media’s KMYL in Lubbock, KFDA in Amarillo, and KXII in Sherman, along with Corridor Television’s KCWX in San Antonio and KCWX in Austin.

“We’re proud to bring the energy of one of the WNBA’s most exciting teams to fans across the region,” said Brad Ramsey, senior vice president, media operations at Tegna. “The passion for the Wings extends well beyond Dallas-Fort Worth, and delivering games free, over- the-air, is a win for both fans and stations.”

“Gray appreciates the opportunity to work with the Wings and Tegna to bring these exciting games to free over-the-air television in several of our Texas markets,” added Sandy Breland, Gray’s chief operating officer. “This season should be very exciting for the Wings and our viewers.”

The Wings announced their 2025 broadcast and streaming schedule at the end of March, which included 28 regular-season games featured on local broadcasts. Additionally, the May 10 preseason game against Japan’s Toyota Antelopes will also be carried in local Dallas Wings markets.

The 29 total games available to viewers are (times are listed in CT):

• Sat., May 10 vs. Toyota Antelopes, 7 p.m. (preseason)
• Mon., May 19 vs. Seattle Storm, 7 p.m.
• Wed., May 21 at Minnesota Lynx, 7 p.m.
• Sat., May 24 at Atlanta Dream, 2 p.m.
• Tues., May 27 at Connecticut Sun, 6 p.m.
• Thurs., May 29 at Chicago Sky, 7 p.m.
• Sat., May 31 vs. Chicago Sky, 7 p.m.
• Sun., June 8 vs. Minnesota Lynx, 3 p.m.
• Wed., June 11 at Phoenix Mercury, 9 p.m.
• Tues., June 17 vs. Golden State Valkyries, 7 p.m.
• Sun., June 22 at Washington Mystics, 2 p.m.
• Tues., June 24 vs. Atlanta Dream, 7 p.m.
• Sat., June 28 vs. Washington Mystics, 7 p.m.
• Thurs., July 3 vs. Phoenix Mercury, 7 p.m.
• Mon., July 7 at Phoenix Mercury, 9 p.m.
• Wed., July 9 at Chicago Sky, 7 p.m.
• Wed., July 16 vs. Las Vegas Aces, 7 p.m.
• Tues., July 22 at Seattle Storm, 9 p.m.
• Sun., July 27 vs. Las Vegas Aces, 3 p.m.
• Wed., July 30 vs. Atlanta Dream, 7 p.m.
• Tues., Aug. 5 at New York Liberty, 6 p.m.
• Sun., Aug. 10 vs. Washington Mystics, 3 p.m.
• Wed., Aug. 20 at Los Angeles Sparks, 9 p.m.
• Sun., Aug. 24 vs. Golden State Valkyries, 3 p.m.
• Wed., Aug. 27 vs. Connecticut Sun, 7 p.m.
• Mon., Sept. 1 at Minnesota Lynx, 7 p.m.
• Thurs., Sept. 4 at Golden State Valkyries, 9 p.m.
• Sun., Sept. 7 at Los Angeles Sparks, 5 p.m.
• Thurs., Sept. 11 vs. Phoenix Mercury, 7 p.m.

Stations airing the games (subject to change) include:

• Dallas-Fort Worth: KFAA 29.1 (Tegna)
• Abilene: KXVA 15.2 (Tegna)
• Amarillo: KFDA 10.2 (Gray)
• Austin: KCWX 2.1, KCWX 2.2 (Corridor)
• Houston: KTBU 55.1
• Lubbock: KMYL 14.1 (Gray)
• Midland-Odessa: KWES 9.2 (Tegna)
• San Angelo: KIDY 6.2 (Tegna)
• San Antonio: KCWX 2.1, KCWX 2.2 (Corridor)
• Sherman: KXII 12.2 (Gray)
• Tyler-Longview: KYTX 19.3 (Tegna)
• Waco-Killeen: KCEN 6.2, KAGS 23.2 (Tegna)

ATLANTA—Gray Media has promoted Dana Neves to senior managing vice president, overseeing a number of Gray’s television markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas.

For the past seven years, Neves was general manager of Gray’s WFSB (CBS) in Hartford, Connecticut. She also led its Connecticut-focused broadcast sports network The Wax since its launch last year. Gray will soon begin a search for her successor.

Neves began at WFSB as an intern. Over the years, she rose through the ranks, serving as news director, regional news director, general manager, and senior vice president for its previous owner, Meredith Corp. She also had national responsibility for labor relations for Meredith’s print and broadcast facilities in New York, St. Louis, Kansas City and Saginaw, Michigan.

Following Gray’s 2021 acquisition of Meredith’s Local Media Group, she was made a regional vice president responsible for Gray’s stations in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts while retaining her position as GM of WFSB. Recently, Gray named her chair of its Innovation Lab.

A graduate of Elon University, Neves remains closely connected to her alma mater through her service on the Alumni Board. She actively serves on many nonprofit and civic boards, including The Denise D’Ascenzo Foundation, the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, and the Connecticut Broadcasters Association. Previously, she contributed her time and leadership to the Connecticut Police Chiefs Foundation, Mark Twain House Museum, Channel 3 Kids Camp, and the State of Connecticut Judicial-Media Committee.

WASHINGTON—The FCC’s call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated has prompted a slew of fillings from broadcasters urging the agency to abolish its ownership caps and a host of other regulations.

The FCC’s deregulatory push and the creation of a docket for public comments called “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete”, had made Docket 25-133 one of the most popular items on the agency’s website, with over 910 filings as of April 17. Those comments include lengthy filings and letters from the National Association of Broadcasters, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, State Broadcasting Associations, America’s Public Television Stations, PBS, Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray Media, Mission Broadcasting and many individual TV stations.

Our wrap-up of the filings from broadcasters begins with the NAB.

“If there was ever a proceeding tailor-made for broadcasters, this is it,” the NAB wrote in its filing. “Due to history – broadcast stations were the first regulated entities placed under the FCC’s purview – and a general lack of will, to date, the Commission has consistently failed to modernize, let alone delete, delete, delete, the myriad antiquated and ineffective rules that apply only to the nation’s free, over-the-air broadcasters…This is a major policy failure that NAB has long urged the FCC to correct."

“But now, with Delete, Delete, Delete, the Commission has an historic opportunity to correct course, bring rationality to its regulatory regime, and make television and radio broadcasting stronger and more competitive,” the NAB argued. “To be successful in this critical endeavor, however, the FCC’s first step must be eliminating the national TV ownership rule and local TV rules.”

The NAB also urged the FCC to reduce rules that impede the transition to NextGen TV, to sunset ATSC 1.0 broadcasts, update EAS rules and reduce paperwork and rules relating to children’s programming, EEO and other areas.

NEXSTAR

In its filing Nexstar, the nation's largest broadcast station group, submitted a host of letters from stations that Nexstar owns or has relationships with urging the Commission to eliminate television ownership regulations.

In one of those letters, Jerry Brehm, vice president and general manager of WTEN-TV & WXXA-TV in the Albany New York market urged “the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) to eliminate the current rules that: (l) place a cap on the percentage of the country's television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market. As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against `Big Tech’ in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community.”

In the letter, Brehm noted that October of 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of WTEN-TV and in August 2022 was the 40th anniversary of WXXA-TV. These stations “provide over 65 hours of local programming to our community, free over the air, every week,” he wrote, adding that the station is heavily involved in the local market in its work with local charities and not for profits.

“Now imagine if the type of commitment softened or worse, went away,” because these local stations were unable to compete in the media landscape, he noted. “Who would cover our community. And we are simply just one market among many threatened by these outdated rules. We have made a commitment to our market, to local news and information and that simply can't go away.”

GRAY MEDIA

In its filing, Gray Media also cited the elimination of ownership caps and regulations as their top priority. In addition, Gray argued that the FCC commission should repeal or reform unconstitutional and ineffective programming mandates relating to Children’s programing, Foreign Sponsorship ID and requirements that local stations file lists of important local issues.

In the area of the Emergency Alert System, it asked the FCC to simplify and reduce regulations relating to false alerts.

Gray also argued that the Commission should repeal unauthorized and outdated reporting requirements relating to Equal Employment Opportunity Rules (47 C.F.R. § 73.2080), Biennial Ownership Reporting (47 C.F.R. § 73.3615) and Public File Requirements (47 C.F.R. § 73.3526)

“Gray welcomes this long overdue initiative to repeal excessive and counter-productive rules,” the filing said. “The Commission’s systemic over-regulation of local broadcast stations has its roots in the 1930s, when broadcast media was the technological disruptor. While these regulations have always been a millstone around the industry’s neck, they didn’t stop broadcasting from becoming the pre-eminent provider of news and information in local markets across the county. The harm these regulations caused to broadcasters’ competitiveness and efficiency was long hidden by the power of mass media and the absence of competitors that could micro-target programming and advertising to erode mass audiences. But that changed decades ago with the emergence of first cable television, then satellite television, and, finally and decisively, the Internet.”

“What didn’t change was the Commission’s appetite for more and more regulation of broadcasting,” Gray argued. “Most of these regulations target broadcasters only, while broadcasters’ chief direct competitors remain free to exploit an unlevel playing field, further eroding broadcast audiences and threatening vital local programming. About a year ago, Chairman Carr recognized this situation as creating a “break glass” moment for broadcast regulation. Gray agrees and hopes that this proceeding will be at least a first step to establishing a sensible regulatory regime for broadcasting that recognizes broadcasters are, on the one hand, only one of many voices in the local media landscape, but are also, on the other hand, the most reliable and most trusted provider of local news and information programming in the United States. If the Commission is to preserve this vital force in the American media landscape, it is going to have to – as Commissioner Carr put it – break some glass.”

SINCLAIR

In a wide-ranging filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Sinclair applauded the agency’s push towards deregulation while arguing that it must address a ““toxic combination of a rapidly changing competitive environment” and the “ossified regulatory burdens” that are harming broadcasters and consumers. “While there are a number of deregulatory steps the Commission can take to level the playing field and allow broadcasters to compete, by far the most important actions the Commission can take are the elimination of the local and national ownership caps and an expeditious proceeding setting a sunset date for ATSC 1.0,” the April 14 filing argued.

It also argued that the Commission should eliminate the simulcast and “substantially similar” requirements as well as other rules to “greatly reduce regulatory burdens and facilitate a timely transition” to ATSC 3.0.

In the filing Sinclair also called on the FCC to eliminate children’s programming reporting requirements; reduce public file and political file obligations; relax EEO program requirements and reduce other regulatory burdens. The complete filing can be found here.

MISSION BROADCASTING

In its filing, Mission Broadcasting submitted letters from executives at some of its stations urging the FCC to eliminate broadcast ownership rules.

One of those letters came from Chris McDonnell, vice president and general manager of WPIX in New York City, which has faced some serious regulatory scrutiny from the FCC over whether its relationship with Nexstar in retransmission negotiations violates current ownership rules. Last year, the FCC fined Nexstar and Mission over the violations, which Nexstar has disputed.

“On behalf of WPIX-TV NYC, I write as part of the In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the current rules that (1) place a cap on the percentage of the country’s television households that a broadcast company may reach; and (2) limit the number of stations a broadcast company may own in any single local market,” McDonnell wrote.

“As the media landscape continues to evolve, these outdated regulations are hindering the ability of local broadcasters to compete against “Big Tech” in what has become an increasingly digital and highly competitive marketplace dominated by a few giant platforms that have no meaningful connection to our local community,” he wrote. After recently celebrating our 75th anniversary, PIX11’s storied brand is known throughout the Tri-State area as “New York’s Very Own.” Our team is deeply involved in our local communities where we currently air almost 70 hours of locally-produced content every single week. We are steadfastly focused on providing critical information to keep our loyal viewers informed, and safe, in New York and New Jersey. We also regularly partner with vital community groups such as St. Jude’s Research Hospital, The Hispanic Women’s Council, East Harlem’s Union Settlement, and the NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to name just a few.”

“Television viewers in communities across the United States depend on their local TV stations to provide them with important information that directly impacts their lives, including news, weather, sports, and often lifesaving emergency information. Local TV stations are often the first place people turn to for news and information and, increasingly, the only remaining source of local journalism,” he noted. “As local newspapers and radio stations go out of business or are forced to severely limit their operations or adopt a national format, the role local broadcasters play in disseminating accurate information is more important than ever. Still, local stations like this one are suffering because of archaic FCC rules and regulations that have no connection to current marketplace realities. In short, without regulatory relief, local television stations will be unable to continue making the kinds of investments necessary to produce the high-quality news and information programing upon which our viewers rely daily.”

“The reality of today’s media environment demands a reconsideration of legacy rules that no longer reflect the urgent situation hastened by the industry’s competitive dynamics,” he concluded. “We urge the FCC to take swift, decisive action in eliminating the restrictions on media ownership to ensure a level playing field that benefits both local broadcasters and the communities we serve.”

JOINT COMMENTS FROM STATE BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATIONS

A lengthy brief for associations representing broadcasters argued that a “more practical approach to broadcast enforcement is critically needed.”

It also backed the NAB's proposals for speeding the transition to ATSC 3.0 and modernizing ownership rules but said the Commission needed to go beyond those rules to address the "regulatory miasma" that "overwhelms individual broadcast licensees and any hopes they might have for growth, while slowly strangling an entire industry—a bureaucratic boa constrictor."

“The State Associations appreciate this opportunity to support the Commission’s efforts to relieve FCC regulatees of not just unnecessary regulatory burdens, but of those whose public benefits fall short of the costs they impose on broadcasters, thereby harming service to the public,” the brief stressed. “The media environment continues to evolve rapidly on a near-daily basis, and has already changed in tectonic ways unimaginable when most of these rules were adopted. In the face of these rapid changes, rather than wither away, many of the Commission’s broadcast rules have instead ossified, remaining stubbornly in place despite their utility having long ago ended. Because changes to these relics of a different time have become so overdue, dramatic deregulation rather than mere incremental adjustments are needed to meet the Communications Act’s overarching goal of preserving and promoting broadcast service to the public.”

“As they compete against an ever-growing array of unregulated audio and video services," the brief complained that broadcasters’ are required to "stand up complex and expensive compliance programs, especially where requirements are vague, liability is strict, and enforcement penalties are high, is becoming untenable. This dynamic is driving smaller operators from broadcasting while erecting a significant cost and knowledge barrier which blocks those interested in becoming a broadcaster, or pondering whether to invest in, or lend to, a broadcaster.”

To free up the industry, the Associations the brief said “the recent release of the Public Notice seeking comments on the National Association of Broadcasters’ request to cement a timeline for transitioning to ATSC 3.0 is a good start, and completing the pending Quadrennial Review aimed at harmonizing the Commission’s broadcast ownership rules with the media world in which broadcasters must exist is an equally important step. However, to stop there and go no farther would be to repeat the tragic error of the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule—a rule that was mooted by the demise of countless newspapers long before it was removed from the books. The Commission must act here before broadcasting finds itself also teetering on the brink.”

More specifically, the Associations called for the FCC to “eliminate the many unnecessary paperwork obligations related to (a) the Public Inspection File, (b) the recruiting, hiring and promotion of broadcast employees, (c) the reporting of station contracts, (d) the reporting of each children’s television program episode preemption, and (f) biennial ownership reports; and providing greater flexibility to broadcasters in meeting their growing Political File obligations.”

The full brief, along with the list of the 48 associations backing it, can be found here.

AMERICA'S PUBLIC TELEVISION STATIONS & PBS

A filing by America’s Public Television Stations and PBS said, “public television welcomes this opportunity to suggest deletion or modification of several unnecessarily burdensome rules applicable to noncommercial educational (“NCE”) television stations. These recommended updates would help public television stations focus scarce resources on the operations, infrastructure, and innovation necessary to serve their essential public service mission."

The filing focused on several areas that would “reduce the regulatory burden of various outdated non content rules.” Those included “73.1226 – Station Logs and Records” and several other related rules (73.1800 – General Requirements Related to the Station Log; 73.1820 – Station Log; 73.1835 – Special Temporary Records; and 73.1840 – Retention of Logs).

Those rules “mandate station logging and recordkeeping that are no longer necessary," the brief said. Similar rules also apply to TV translators (74.781) and FM translators (74.1265) and should be eliminated.

The filing also urged the FCC to get rid of 73.1870 relating to “Chief Operators.” “in light of the fact that the FCC has not required stations to have licensed “operators” for decades, and in light of changes in technology – namely, the automation of stations and advancements in the reliability of computer-controlled transmission systems – the formal position of `chief operator’ and the associated duties have become an unnecessary and outdated regulatory burden,” the brief said.

Ownership reports was another area ripe for deregulation the filing said. It noted that “73.3615 – Ownership Reports…requires broadcast stations to file ownership reports every two years on December 1 of odd-numbered years. However, other than in connection with a license transfer or transfer of station control, there is no reason why these reports should be required every two years. Inasmuch as the Commission’s multiple ownership rules do not apply to noncommercial broadcasters, tracking attributable holdings of the officers or board members of noncommercial licensees serves little regulatory value.”

The filing also requested that the FCC “modernize or delete the requirements of the outdated station identification rule” and it complained about problems with the FCC filing systems.

“The Commission should take whatever steps are necessary to increase the resiliency and reliability of its online filing systems and other public-facing technology,” the brief noted. “Public Television’s experience has demonstrated that station licensees (and Commission staff) often face a significant burden attempting to interact with the Commission’s systems due to unscheduled downtime or other issues. For example, stations regularly encounter difficulty attempting to upload materials to the Commission’s Online Public Information File system (which is an obligation that stations face at least quarterly). This regularly forces station staff to make multiple attempts to comply with their regulatory obligations, often at night or on weekends outside of work hours, at additional cost to stations and often to the exclusion of other important local work.”

The full filing can be found here.

THE SOCIETY OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS

In its filing, the SBE, a professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields, with more than 4,500 members in 116 chapters worldwide, stressed that “through this proceeding, the Commission has the opportunity to provide meaningful relief to FM radio broadcasters by simply eliminating and modifying certain interference rules that have not kept pace with the state of modern radio receiver technology.”

The full filing can be found here.

ATLANTA—Gray Media and the Military Basketball Association have announced media rights deal for select MBA playoff games and other content to air on Gray’s local television stations and broadcast sports networks.

The first MBA over-the-air game airs on the Gray Media platforms on Sunday, April 13 at 6 p.m. ET. The initial airing features the MBA’s Eastern Conference Finals from the campus of Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Game production will be provided by the university.

Gray’s over-the-air broadcast sports networks, including Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network, Peachtree Sports Network, Matrix Midwest, Arizona’s Family Sports, and Rock

Entertainment Sports Network plan to air the game. Gray said that certain additional Gray Media local stations may also air this game. Gray’s broadcast sports networks are concentrated in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest and cover many military bases, including bases with teams participating in the playoffs.

The non-profit Military Basketball Association aims to prevent suicide, fight the stigma of mental health, build resiliency and provide an outlet for the trauma associated with military service. A year- round tournament league, the MBA supports nearly 1,000 players, both veteran and active-duty military, on 50 teams across the United States, Europe and Asia.

“This opportunity brings together Gray’s goals of bringing sports to consumers and fostering

community in the markets we serve,” said Sandy Breland, chief operating officer of Gray. “Our over- the-air stations and broadcast sports networks include many military communities that benefit from the MBA’s work and play, and we are therefore honored to make the MBA playoff games available to our communities.”

“The Military Basketball Association is proud to have Gray air the 2025 MBA Eastern Conference Finals Championship Game on their platforms,” added Mike Meyers, commissioner of the MBA. “The critical message of resiliency through sports being transmitted on the Gray Media platforms will no doubt save lives and offer hope to so many who may be in need of services to support their mental health fitness. As the MBA continues to promote “Life Through Basketball” and “Resiliency in Action”, it’s important to recognize that we are not alone in this effort and that Gray Media supports the US Military and Veterans across our great nation."

Television broadcasters are poised to see ad revenue growth this year when compared to other off-election years but face the dual challenges of encouraging viewers to climb aboard the NextGen TV train and rethinking traditional ingest, traffic, master control and playout workflows to cash in on streaming and FAST channel opportunities.

Those were some of the major takeaways from the “Turning New Media –for Streaming & FAST to NextGen TV—into New Audiences” session March 13 during the 2025 TVTech Leadership Summit. Panelists Rick Ducey, managing director of BIA Advisory Services; Robert Folliard, senior vice president of government relations and distribution at Gray Media; and Mike Kralec, senior vice president/chief technology officer at Sinclair, offered their perspectives on a variety of issues related to building audiences on these platform. (Full disclosure, I moderated the panel.)

While digital media has experienced significant growth in local ad revenue since 2019, broadcasters are well-position to capture their share as the reach of IP-based NextGen TV to connected TV (CTV) viewers grows.

“As high growth as it (digital) is, we like to emphasize that local broadcast TV stations still are an amazing asset. Audiences love them. Advertisers love them, and a lot of dollars change hands in a good way for the business,” said Ducey.

Earlier in the month, BIA Advisory released its local ad forecast for the United States without political advertising. It forecasts all local ad revenue in 2025 will reach $171 billion, up 6.1% year over year from 2024 when political advertising is removed. Digital media, which includes streaming, Free Ad-Supported Television channels and many non-video-related media, will account for 52.5% of local advertising revenue this year while traditional media, including over-the-air TV, cable TV and other non-video related media, will claim 47.6% of the revenue, Ducey said.

“The takeaway here is that in 2019 when it was just over a third for the digital side of things, now we see it being 56% in 2028,” he said, adding that local broadcasters can compete effectively for digital ad revenue with FAST and NextGen TV channels.

Promoting NextGen TV
Gray Media had launched ATSC 3.0 at 44 stations as of the panel, covering 33 markets. It is on-air with NextGen TV in all of the station group’s top 50 markets with the exception of Cleveland and Memphis, which Gray is targeting for 3.0 launches, said Folliard.

“…[W]e are aggressively getting up as many stations in as many markets as we can just to gather more consumer demand, get more consumer interest in the technology and launch it everywhere the regulators will let us,” he said.

Gray Media has focused much of its promotional efforts on touting the improved picture quality high dynamic range (HDR) offers NextGen TV viewers, he said.

“One of the big promises broadcasters have been making for six [or] seven years on NextGen is that it’s going to be a better picture. So, we felt it was time to deliver. Put up or shut up, and the first opportunity for us was the [2024] Kentucky Derby,” said Folliard.

WAVE-TV, the Gray Media NBC affiliate in Louisville, Ky., broadcast Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio via 3.0 in the week leading up to the horserace during local news and special productions from Churchill Downs.

“This was the perfect opportunity to showcase what HDR can do because it’s an outdoor event. You’ve got the lights…, the bright colors of the horses and the jockeys…. [I]t pops in HDR, and this was the perfect showcase event.”

The station “promoted the heck out” of its NextGen TV HDR coverage leading up to the race on-air and online. It also partnered with a local retailer on a NextGen TV giveaway to viewers. The effort “definitely created a buzz,” he said.

“Afterwards, we looked at some of the data in terms of new TVs that signed on throughout the entire country and then just in Louisville, Ky.,” he said. “And just in the couple of weeks before and after the Derby, 10% of all new NextGen TVs that signed on were in Louisville, Ky.”

Next up was rolling out HDR on its NextGen TV NBC affiliates in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which Gray Media followed up on by rolling out HDR on some of its Fox and CBS affiliates in time for the 2024-25 NFL season.

Emphasizing that Gray Media is “technology-agnostic” when it comes to HDR, it has launched a couple of NextGen TV stations with SL-HDR. “Starting in December after we tested it with Samsung, we were able to do dual versions of HDR where you were able to do HDR10+ or the Dolby Vision HDR. And your TV would decide,” said Folliard.

For the Super Bowl, Gray Media launched its WVUE-TV Fox affiliate in New Orleans NextGen TV transmission with Dolby Vision and HDR10+, he said, adding that the group planned to [now is] offer March Madness in HDR.

“All of the features that we know are available with NextGen, we need to start telling consumers about it…. [W]e need to do it often you know, again and again and again, and this is just another example of that,” he said.

Ecosystem Choices
Whether its FAST channels streaming via the internet or NextGen TV, broadcasters will find they must reevaluate their workflows if they are to meet the goals they set for meeting viewers where they watch content and enabling audiences to benefit from enhanced viewing experiences, said Kralec.

“…I think the key here for us is how do we close… our own little digital divide between the legacy media operations that we’ve had for the last 20-plus years and where we need to be with the audience today,” he said.

Transformation is necessary in TV broadcasters’ content centers and automation and playout systems. “I think there are a lot of pieces here that really haven’t traditionally been enabled for this digital ecosystem,” he said.

Noting that Sinclair is proceeding with transformation of content centers, automation, playout, transmission and how it uses its spectrum, Kralec said the station group is pursuing a path that leads to a digital and software-defined ecosystem that ultimately will pay off in reaching the goals its business side and content creators are pursuing.

“A lot of that comes back to whether or not your operational workflows are either software-defined or if they are flexible. Flexibility might come from improved processes or improved software. It might come from improved operational models. But really the key here for us is to make sure that we shrink that divide through our transformation programs so we look a lot more like a FAST channel from an automation and playout [perspective],” said Kralec.

“We look a lot more like a content creator in our content centers, and then we look at our spectrum as more of a blank slate… than just an audio-video distribution path for us.”

However, there is no magic wand that will make these transformations painless. “This is an iterative process,” he said. “If we want to do dynamic ad insertion [for example], there’s a lot of orchestration behind the scenes that goes into that.”

Some of the orchestration will involve well-established operational centers, such as traffic departments and the systems they have used for years as well as programming schedules and media management. “…[N]ow we need to decorate those streams like the digital guys do already,” said Kralec.

However, undertaking this sort of transformation only makes sense once the calculus is done in comparing the benefits versus the pain involved in making the necessary changes, he said.

“Can we articulate to our business, what the value is and how much it’s going to take internally to transition to an improved workflow that supports that digital ecosystem, to my point earlier, that makes us look a little more like the digital side of things with the right cue points for dynamic ad insertion or… coming in and out of different types of digital products in general?”

This session and others at the TV Tech Summit can be viewed on demand here.