Broadcast television station M&A neared $9 billion in 2018, according to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, an 8 percent increase over the prior year.

Topping the list of deals is Nexstar’s pending purchase of Tribune Media, a transaction that will create a 216-station powerhouse. The deal, which also includes Tribune’s WGN America cable network, stakes in Food Network and the Chicago Cubs and more than $2 billion in debt, has been valued at about $6.4 billion. Kagan estimated the broadcast portion of the deal to be worth about $3.5 billion.

Next was Gray TV’s purchase of Raycom Media, completed on Jan. 2. Kagan valued the broadcast portion of that $3.6 billion deal at about $3.4 billion.

Other station deals include Cordillera Communications’ sale of 15 full-power and 8 low-power stations to E.W. Scripps Co. for $521.0 million; Quincy Media’s purchase of Cordillera’s NBC affiliate in Tucson, Ariz. (KVOA) for $70 million and its ABC affiliate in Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo.-Harrisburg-Mt. Vernon, Ill. (WSIL-TV) for $24.5 million; and E.W. Scripps' purchase of independent TV station WHDT in West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Fla., from Marksteiner AG Inc. for $25 million. 

WASHINGTON—As expected, Gray Television has now received both FCC and Department of Justice approvals for its $3.6 billion acquisition of Raycom Media.

The FCC helped pave the way this week by dismissing a license challenge to Raycom stations in Honolulu, announcing its approval of the deal late Thursday.

The Media Bureau did not find MVPD objections to some of the station combos and the impact of the deal on retransmission consent negotiations persuasive, and said that the establishment of statewide news bureaus and Raycom stations' access to Gray's Washington, D.C., bureau as reasons the merger would be in the public interest.

The American Cable Association had wanted the FCC to condition the deal on Gray not being able to use after-acquired clauses to raise retrans fees at the stations it is spinning off before it divests them to a third party. The FCC said that since Gray told the commission it would not, that was good enough since Gray is "bound by the Commission's rules and character policy to deal truthfully with the Commission."

The FCC will allow Gray to retain two of the top four stations in Honolulu and Amarillo. In the case of Amarillo, the FCC said it is because one of the stations is usually not in the top four, but was in the last Nielsen book due to an anomalous circumstance. In the case of Honolulu, Raycom argued that Raycom has ramped-up news there, which using the Gray Washington bureau would bolster. The FCC agreed that breaking up the Raycom duopoly would cause more harm than good.

Under a recent reg change, while owning two of the top four stations in a market is still preemptively against FCC local ownership rules, it is a rebuttable presumption, which Gray has successfully rebutted in the case of Honolulu and Amarillo. NCTA-the Internet & Television Association had argued against allowing those combos.

But while there were calls for conditions and concerns expressed by cable and satellite operators, there were not petitions to deny the deal .

Gray says the plan is to close the deal by Jan. 1.

DOJ's approval of the deal last week pointed to its requirement that Gray spin off a bunch of stations, giving the suggestion it was a condition it had extracted, though giving Gray props for cooperating.

But Gray points out in its announcement of the dual DOJ/FCC approvals and closing date, that those stations were the same ones it identified back in June as necessary to comply with FCC duopoly rules and were already part of the deal as structured. "The regulatory consents include no unexpected or unusual terms and conditions," it pointed out.

The company will reach a combined 24% of the country, and Raycom will spin off over 100 local newspapers and the digital ad platform PureCars. But Gray will also be getting Raycom Sports; RTM Productions, an automotive media compan; and Broadview Media, a post-production and signage house.

Gray is divesting Raycom stations WTNZ Knoxville (Fox), WTOL Toledo (CBS), KXXV Waco (ABC), WTXL Tallahassee (ABC), WFXG Augusta(Fox), KWES Odessa (NBC), WGPX Panama City (Fox), WDFX Dothan (Fox), and Gray's WSWG Albany (CBS).

"The American Cable Association applauds the Federal Communications Commission for requiring Gray and Raycom to divest nine television stations in 'duopoly markets' as a condition of their merger," the cable trade said. "ACA is also pleased that, in approving the transaction, the FCC helped avoid the triggering of Gray’s 'after-acquired station' clauses with respect to Raycom stations to be divested."

WASHINGTON—Raycom Media has licensed The Washington Post’s Arc Publishing platform to enhance digital publishing at 42 of its TV and radio stations.

The Arc platform offers new video tools that seamlessly integrate live broadcast streams with the broadcasters’ digital publishing stack. In this way, it automates workflows to make live broadcast video available for online publishing.

“Working with the Arc team, we were able to bring industry-leading digital publishing solutions to each of our local broadcast markets in record time,” said Joe Fiveash, executive vice president, Digital Media and Strategy at Raycom Media.

“Our viewers are increasingly engaging with our content both on the web and mobile apps, and the new video tools Arc offers allow us to better optimize the workflows between our broadcast systems and our digital properties to better serve those audiences.”

Arc’s video management system gives Raycom Media stations the ability to clip, crop and publish live video streams–even while they are still in progress—and distribute them via the web, mobile and social media, said The Washington Post. This is particularly useful in breaking news situations, allowing Raycom to publish live streams to its digital platforms during a broadcast.

The Arc platform is built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and leverages AWS Elemental Media Services to make prep, processing and delivery of broadcast and over-the-top video from AWS Cloud fast and easy, it said. The Washington Post is owned by Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos. 

More information is available on the Arc Publishing website.

NEW YORK— Nearly 320 TV local TV stations within the past 30 days have signed on with PremiumMedia360 to adopt its Guidance Intelligent Assistant (GIA) Cloud platform to advance the goal of accelerating automated advertising transactions, the company announced this week.

The announcement is seen as a milestone in an ongoing industrywide effort to address fragmentation of transactional data across local TV markets based on the TV Interface Practices (TIP) initiative. Backed by Hearst Television, Nexstar Media Group, Raycom Media, Sinclair Broadcast Group, TEGNA, and Tribune Media, the TIP Initiative is focused on automating ad transactions for local broadcasters and media agencies.

By deploying the PremiumMedia360’s GIA Cloud platform, the stations now are employing the TIP standard to streamline ad transactions and respond to the rapid evolution of linear TV ads.

“The TV industry and their agency counterparts will all benefit from achieving seamless, real-time, two-way and error-free data connectivity,” said John Bowser, CEO, PremiumMedia360. “We believe this is just the first step towards realizing the still untapped potential in broadcast television, a critical ad channel, and we’re hearing from players across the TIP Initiative, that this is exactly the kind of momentum they wanted to see.”

The PremiumMedia360 GIA Cloud platform as an intelligent, open-source transactional data management platform designed specifically for linear TV advertising. Powered by AI, the Software as a Service (SaaS) solution acts as universal translator that integrates with existing software platforms. The platform reformats, automates and synchronizes the data flow between TV stations and ad agencies.

More information is available on the PremiumMedia360 website.

WASHINGTON—The American Cable Association last week told the FCC that the agency cannot ignore the harm to consumers that will result from allowing the acquisition of Raycom Media by Gray Television.

In reply comments filed Sept. 21 with the FCC, ACA reiterated its contention that the acquisition will give Gray a presence in new markets, further consolidate local media ownership and set the stage for higher retransmission fees, which ultimately will lead to higher prices for consumers.

ACA told the commission that Gray had not offered “a serious rebuttal” to the assertion that allowing the deal to move forward would result in higher retrans fees.

In its original comments filed with the agency, ACA argued that the commission must “consider this harm [higher consumer prices] in deciding whether allowing the transaction is in the public interest.”

ACA took issue with how Gray addressed higher retrans fees in its reply, where the station group contended the acquisition complies with the agency’s national audience cap limit.

“This is a red herring,” ACA said. Regardless of staying within the national cap, the transaction will lead to higher fees and consumer prices, ACA asserted.

ACA also rejected Gray’s contention that dealing with retransmission consent is more appropriate to a generalized docket or rulemaking, not station-specific assignment proceedings.

[Read:Gray,Raycom To Combine Creating Third Biggest Station Group]

Increasing consumer prices stemming from higher retrans fees “is not a ‘generalized’ question that the commission can address in its rule-making dockets: it is an adjudicative question about how the law applies to the specific facts of this transaction,” ACA said.

ACA also reiterated that an economic analysis by DISH of retrans fees as relates to the size of a station group is germane to the Gray acquisition of Raycom Media.

“DISH’s economic analysis is strong evidence that in the real world, ‘The larger the broadcast station group . . . the higher is the retransmission consent price paid by DISH,’” ACA said.

The full text of the ACA reply comments is available online.

MONTGOMERY, ALA.—Whether it’s for a news photographer or MMJ, the GYHM660 is a one-size-fits-all option for Raycom Media. We’ve been buying JVC cameras for local ENG since 2013—and since that time, Raycom has purchased more than 400 GY-HM650 ProHD mobile news cameras. In 2016, we acquired the new JVC GYHM660 model, and already have more than 260 in use throughout our stations.

Headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., Raycom is one of the largest privately owned media companies in the United States. We own and/or provide services for 65 television stations in 44 markets across 20 states. About 40 of those stations produce local news.

MULTIPLE OPTIONS FOR LIVE

For us, the GY-HM660 is more than streaming live ENG reports. The vast majority of our stations use the camera to send raw clips back to the station via FTP. As a result, in-house personnel don’t have to wait for an MMJ to get back to the station. In the on-demand SVOD world, this allows us to access the content immediately and edit breaking news for broadcast or online use.

Between our JVC cameras, satellite trucks, microwave trucks, and more, Raycom wants to make sure our stations have multiple ways to go live. The GY-HM660’s built-in streaming with Zixi error correction is another tool in the box for us. Not all our stations have decoders, so not all of them use their JVC cameras for live ENG reports from the field. However, the FTP function works for everyone.

For the stations that do use the GYHM660 for live news-over-IP, the results have been very positive. In fact, our folks in the field love it because it doesn’t slow them down. A lot of our stations are very aggressive when using their JVC cameras for live ENG reports.

No matter how footage comes into a station, we use the Bitcentral Oasis asset management system as our landing platform. That way, everyone has access to the raw content. It makes us much more efficient.

Beyond the live ENG and FTP capabilities, our JVC cameras have been dependable in the field. As someone who had to use proprietary recording formats in the past, I think recording to dual SD cards is great. It’s easy to swap cards in the field or even pick up a new card at a local Best Buy. That kind of workflow has really proven its worth.

Our MMJs love the lighter weight cameras, while our more experienced photographers appreciate the improved low-light performance and integrated 23x Fujinon zoom lens. We get a lot of good, positive feedback from everybody.

Clint Moore joined Raycom Media in 2015 as the corporate news operations manager. He previously spent almost nine years as the news operations manager for WMC-TV in Memphis, Tenn. He can be reached atclintmoore@raycommedia.com.

For more information on JVC, visitwww.jvc.comor call 310-639-9000.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—While the spectrum repack drives a large percentage of transmitter purchases in the USA, sometimes a TV station simply needs an upgrade. This was the case here at WBTV, where we quite literally owned Serial Number One from an IOT transmitter line that long ago ceased production.

Even without a channel change, it was clear that we needed a new transmitter but while the manufacturer remains in business, they no longer support that product line. We discovered that a tube could be built, with a six-to-eight-month lead time at costs approaching $100,000. Then there is the consideration of transmitter maintenance and efficiency—neither particular strong suits of this technology.

These factors led us to select a GatesAir Maxiva ULXTE solid-state liquid-cooled transmitter. The ULXTE is already paying dividends thanks to its remarkable efficiency across the “three Rs”: Receivability, Reliability and Real Cost Savings.

GAINS IN RECEIVABILITY

Raycom Media, our parent company, is a longtime GatesAir customer, and our experience with a backup Maxiva air-cooled transmitter factored strongly in our decision. Noting the efficiencies that this low-power transmitter delivers, we felt confident that a high-power, liquid-cooled version would outperform our four-IOT system in several capacities.

The benefits were immediate. While our transmitter facility is atypically large, footprint is always a concern. The fourcabinet ULXTE-120 fit cleanly into a space that once housed a massive RCA analog transmitter. We removed some leftover ventilation from a forced air-cooled system and slid the much more compact ULXTE into position with room to spare.

We also had bigger challenges to address. From a receivability standpoint, the ULXTE integrates GatesAir’s latest-generation exciter, the Maxiva XTE. Its performance has been nothing short of remarkable, and we were achieving shoulders and modulation error ratios above 40 right out of the gate.

These are incredible gains in receivability compared to our previous numbers, which were barely within the FCC requirements. We have routinely received phone calls from viewers that previously could not receive our programming. From a futureproof perspective, the XTE also prepares us for ATSC 3.0 with a simple software adjustment.

MODULARITY AND REDUNDANCY

The ULXTE’s reliability comes chiefly from its design. Its modularity and redundancy allows for continued operation near full capacity if a module is replaced. For example, losing a tube in our old transmitter resulted in a 25 percent power drop; losing an amplifier in the ULXTE results in a less than 1 percent reduction. Since all modules are palletized, it’s like working on any rack-mounted component: Slide it out, and slide in the replacement while remaining on the air. The challenges of keeping the systems phased and balanced are also in the past, as the solid-state design eliminates all tuning requirements.

Real cost savings is perhaps the most stunning development, as we have seen a 35 percent drop in our power bills. The math is clear: We have approximately doubled our transmitter efficiency, rising from 22-23 percent to 45.5. Where we once saw power bills in the $20,000 range per month, our first two ULXTE-influenced bills have landed at about $12,000.

We attribute much of this cost reduction to the highly efficient solid-state amplifiers, as we no longer need the costly high-voltage power supplies that typically accompany a tube, combined with a superior redesign of the heat exchanger. These are now horizontally-mounted units with frequency drive motors that are also quiet as a mouse. We can hold a conversation nearby, and they are easy to clean—two achievements that eluded us with the older heat exchangers.

As we look forward to ATSC 3.0, we are also enthused that the transmitter—currently powered at 67kw TPO—has plenty of headroom for additional services and design efficiencies. For the latter, we are considering a transition to a vertical pole in our antenna, which will further improve our broadcast parameters and receivability.

Mike Gurthie is regional director of Technology for Raycom Media and can be reached atmgurthie@wbtv.com.

For more information on GatesAir, please visitwww.gatesair.comor contact Keith Adams at 513-459-3447.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Raycom Sports has chosen Avid’s Media Central platform to streamline the production and management of digital assets associated with its NCAA Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports footage archive. Raycom Sports is a sports marketing, event management, and production firm owned by Montgomery, Ala.-based station group Raycom Media. 

Raycom Sports is making the move to Media Central from Avid to accelerate and simplify the provision of digital assets from its vast ACC media library to ESPN’s new ACC Network, starting in 2019.

While Raycom Sports has been producing and distributing NCAA ACC sports, primarily football and basketball events since the early 1980’s, and managing a library of digital ACC assets, this media library also includes 60-70 years of historical ACC footage that needs to be digitized, as quickly and efficiently as possible, to make it easier to search, access, archive and monetize.

[Read: Gray, Raycom To Combine, Creating Third Biggest Station Group]

Raycom Sports also indicated that its existing, aging media infrastructure made it challenging to support integrated workflows and remote teams, thereby slowing production and increasing costs. To overcome these challenges, Raycom Sports has opted to standardize on a fully integrated sports production workflow enabled by Avid MediaCentral that will support the ingest and archive of historical assets, making content accessible across departments and geographies, and handling their future UHD/4K needs.

“Avid’s reliable technology allows us to focus on telling compelling stories,” said Alex Farmartino, Coordinating Producer at Raycom Sports. “Whether it's the story of a game or a feature about a player off the field, the main reason we’ve stuck with Avid is it works…and allows you to do your job better.”

Avid channel partner Marshall Graphics Systems will help Raycom Sports implement the MediaCentral collaborative workflow, including Avid NEXIS software-defined storage, MediaCentral | Asset Management and Avid FastServe media servers.

“In the competitive world of sports broadcasting, media companies can offset increasing operation costs and create new revenue streams by being able to quickly search for and repurpose existing content,” said Ray Thompson, Director, Broadcast and Media Solutions Marketing at Avid.

Thompson added, “Raycom Sports can [now] facilitate remote production and collaboration by enabling staff across departments and locations to search for and access the same media, while streamlining media lifecycle management and ensuring historical content is preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

ATLANTA and MONTGOMERY, ALA.—Gray Television and Raycom Media have agreed to combine their companies, creating the third largest TV station group with 142 full-power TV stations in 92 markets that reaches 24 percent of U.S. television households, the companies announced this morning.

The merged company will have 165 ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates under its umbrella as well as more than 100 CW, MyNetwork and MeTV affiliates. In all, the transaction will account for nearly 400 program streams.

Gray will combine with Raycom for $3.647 billion in proceeds --$3.547 billion enterprise value and $100 million of Raycom cash, according to an online presentation laying out the deal given this morning. The net revenue of the combined company on a blended 2016/2017 basis totals about $2 billion, it said.

Gray shareholders will retain 89 percent economic ownership. Gray’s chairman, president and CEO Hilton Howell will become executive chairman and co-CEO of the combined company.

Raycom president and CEO Pat LaPlatney will join Gray as director, president and co-CEO. Raycom’s former president and CEO Paul McTear will join Gray’s board of directors.

Raycom and Gray will divest or swap TV stations in nine markets with overlapping station ownership, according to the presentation. FCC approval is required and is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2018, it said.

[Read: Gray Buying KDLT-TV Sioux Falls]

The transaction has already been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and has received approval from Raycom shareholders. No Gray shareholder vote was required, it said.

Other Raycom assets are part of the deal, including Raycom Sports, a marketing, production and events management and distribution company; Tupelo Raycom, a sports and entertainment production company; RTM Productions, an automotive programming production and marketing solutions company; and Broadview Media, a post-production and digital signage company. The deal excludes CNHI newspapers and PureCars, which Raycom will sell or spin-off.

According to the presentation, the combined company is expected to realize annual synergies of $80 million in its first year, including $15 million in net retransmission revenue; $40 million in corporate and station-level expenses; about $15 million from elimination of third-party vendors; and about $10 million in cost savings on technology and digital operations as well as ending redundant contracts.

Gray also announced other personnel moves that will become effective July 1. They include Bob Smith, who will become COO; Nick Waller, Chief Administrative Officer.

The combined entity will be the third largest station group behind Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group. With 24 percent coverage of U.S. TV households, the combined company has room to grow before reaching the FCC’s 39 percent national household cap, the presentation said.

CINCINNATI—Raycom Media is preparing for the TV spectrum repack by signing an agreement with GatesAir to provide Maxiva transmitters and installation services to the broadcaster’s 65 TV stations across 44 markets that is affected by the repack.

As part of the deal, GatesAir will supply the Raycom stations with broadband transmitters, RF systems and installation services. Depending on individual sites’ specific requirements, GatesAir will supply Maxiva UHF liquid-cooled and/or Maxiva UHF and VHF air-cooled transmitters. The transmitters will integrate with GatesAir’s ATSC 3.0-ready Maxiva XTE exciter and the latest GatesAir RTAC software for real-time adaptive correction for signal integrity and compliance.

The repack transition process is currently underway.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo. 

RAYMOND, MAINE—Dielectric is packing up and shipping 29 of its UHD and VHF antennas to Raycom Media in Montgomery, Ala., as the TV station prepares for the spectrum repack. Also in the order were Dielectric RF filters and transmission line.

The antenna order includes Dielectric TFU-WB UHF arrays, a sidemount UHF broadband pylon antenna that delivers higher voltage handling, 75 percent less windload and lower overall weight. The order also includes TFU-G, TFU-E, TFU-J UHF arrays, as well as THV VHF arrays. Most of the arrays incorporate elliptical polarization that works with ATSC 1.0 and will help prepare for ATSC 3.0.

The RF filters included in the order are waveguide designed for power rating and air-cooled for operational efficiency. Multiple runs of transmission line will also be part of the order.

Dielectric will ship the antennas to Raycom Media tower sites between September 2017 and February 2020. Raycom Media station assigned to the first or second phases of the repack will receive their antennas in Q3 and Q4 for this year. Stations set for the later phases will have the antennas three to six months prior to the respective deadlines.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo. 

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Raycom Media is making the transition to high-def news fields and has announced that it will go with Telairity’s BE8600 contribution H.264/AVC video encoder and BE5503 IRD for support. Raycom’s fleet of more than 1000 microwave and satellite ENG vehicles will now be equipped with the BE8600.

Telairity’s BE8600 Real Time Contribution encoder offers H.264/AVC video compression in a half-width 1RU form factor. It is capable of most encoding tasks, per Telairity’s press release, including low-latency applications, high-performance ENG, DSNG, mobile and studio encoding tasks. The unit offers high bit rate 4:2:2 contribution-mode encoding for HD and low bit rate 4:2:0 HD/SD modes for high-quality contribution links over crowded airways and direct-to-viewer distribution over MPEG-4 networks.

According to Eric Bergman, executive director of engineering at Raycom, the BE8600 also offers dual redundant power supplies, vibration-resistant construction and wide temperature tolerance.

Telairity is a provider of video compression technology and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF.—Bitcentral is heading across the plains, announcing a four station rollout of its CORE:News production suite for four Raycom Media stations. Located in both Texas and Oklahoma, KFDA, KXXV, KWES and KSWO all now feature the CORE:News platform.

KSWO was one of four Raycom stations to add CORE:News

The modular news production platform combines content discovery, capture, editing, playout, publishing, collaboration, asset management and archiving into a single workflow with systems like Bitcentral Create, Bitcentral Oasis, Bitcentral Remote Contribution and Bitcentral Precis Attach. The CORE suite features ENPS integration with all four of the stations, according to Raycom Media’s David Evans.

Bitcentral is a provider of new production, distribution and aggregation technology.

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Raycom Media has announced it has acquired PureCars, a digital advertising platform for the automotive industry, for $125 million. This deal will allow Raycom to secure advertising revenue beyond its TV stations.

PureCars is used by dealers, dealer groups, local marketing associations and agencies. Digital advertising spending from dealers and manufacturers is expected to increase in 2016 from the $3.44 billion in Q2 of 2015.

PureCars will operate as a separate unit within Raycom Media, maintaining its offices in Charleston, S.C. and Milwaukee and its development campus in Atlanta. This partnership aims to unify traditional and digital advertising across TV, desktop, tablet and mobile.

“Today’s consumer jumps from screen to screen, and marketers struggle to provide relevant advertising throughout the customer journey,” said Jeremy Anspach, PureCars founder and CEO. “With Raycom’s broadcasting reach and our digital expertise, the consumer will benefit from a seamless advertising experience of content catered to their desires and interests.”