spectrum

Exclusives

Special Reports

  • NAB 2012: Everything you need to know about broadcasting's biggest tech event of the year.
  • Gearing Up For NAB 2012: The top tech trends and issues.
  • FCC Watch: 18 Topics In 244 Words Or Less: Get briefed on what's happening at broadcasting's favorite regulatory agency by top Washington communications attorneys David Oxenford and Brendan Holland.
  • 2011—Year In Review: Revisit the year’s top developments in business, programming, journalism, technology, regulation and more.
  • Audience Measurement: The state of ratings is examined in three parts: an interview with the head of the Media Ratings Council; the growing presence of Rentrak; and the search for a better local ratings currency.
  • Traffic Reporting: This four-part TVNewsCheck Special Report focuses on what it takes to stay on top of the growing commuter gridlock across the country.
  • Remembering 9/11: TVNewsCheck looks back 10 years after the attacks with a series of five articles.
  • TOP 30 TV STATION GROUPS: Fox Television Stations is No. 1 in the revenue-based rankings, followed by the groups of the other major broadcast networks: CBS, NBC and ABC, with Tribune rounding out the top five.

Industry Calendar

May 2012
Mo
28
Memorial Day
Holiday
June 2012
Mo
11
NAB Education Foundation
Celebration of Service to America Awards
Washington, DC
Tu
Th
12-14
PromaxBDA
The Conference 2012
Los Angeles, CA
Th
Su
14-17
Investigative Reporters & Editors
IRE 2012
Boston, MA
Sa
23
NATAS
Daytime Emmy Awards
Los Angeles, CA

AP Breaking News

Verizon Spectrum Sale Stirs Debate
Adweek, Apr 20, 2012, 6:07 AM EDT
Verizon's decision to sell some of its spectrum has nothing to do with regulators currently reviewing its pending deals for spectrum and marketing with major cable companies, the company said Thursday. Link | Comments (1)
Jessell at Large
Broadcasters, Wireless Missed Joint Victory
TVNewsCheck, Feb 17, 2012, 3:25 PM EST
With the passage of legislation authorizing incentive auctions of TV spectrum for wireless broadband use, broadcasters scored a victory in getting numerous safeguards included. Good job. But if the FCC, broadcasters and broadband proponents could have found a way to work together, they could all have been winners. They could have found a plan that produces the extra spectrum that's needed for broadband and improves rather than degrades broadcasting service. Full Story | Comments (6)
TVNewsCheck Focus on Washington
Levin: TV Spectrum Auctions Likely Doomed
TVNewsCheck, Jan 5, 2012, 7:08 AM EST
The chief architect of the FCC's National Broadband Plan says the incentive auction of TV spectrum is unlikely to produce much spectrum for wireless broadband or money for the federal treasury. Why? NAB-backed provisions designed to protect broadcasters in the authorizing legislation will expose the auction to crippling litigation. "Congratulations to [NAB President] Gordon Smith," he says. "He did a great job. He did the job he was hired to do.... But let’s not kid ourselves: That’s not putting the United States first." Full Story | Comments (21)
Executive Session with Mark Aitken
A Win-Win Alternative To Spectrum Auctions
TVNewsCheck, Nov 21, 2011, 8:12 AM EST
Sinclair’s Mark Aitken believes there’s a better option to the government’s spectrum auction proposal that would benefit both broadcasters and the U.S. Treasury. If broadcasters were granted permission to lease their excess spectrum to wireless carriers — to become the big bulk carriers of video and other bandwidth-intensive content — they could generate over $1 trillion in revenues over the next 15 years. In addition, under current law, they would be required to pay 5% of that revenue to the government, which Aiken says could be $62 billion for  Treasury’s coffers. Full Story | Comments (19)
What's Behind Dish's Wireless Network Plan?
Politico, Sep 1, 2011, 7:27 AM EDT
Dish Network has amassed an impressive swath of satellite spectrum it would like to leverage for land-based transmissions. But the expense and risks associated with building a broadband network has some industry insiders skeptical that’s the company’s actual goal. The company’s core competency, after all, is pay TV. When asked about the possibility of a spectrum flip, Dish declined to comment. Link | Add comment
TVNewsCheck Focus on Washington
Just How Voluntary Is Senate Spectrum Bill?
TVNewsCheck, Jun 29, 2011, 7:44 AM EDT
The Senate bill authorizing FCC TV spectrum auctions is raising red flags after an amendment was added that makes it unclear that such auctions be entirely voluntary for broadcasters. Another is that the FCC is not required to protect sufficiently those broadcasters that choose to hang on to their spectrum from increased interference and loss of service area. Full Story | Comments (18)
Spectrum Hearing Won't Move
B&C, Mar 25, 2011, 8:25 AM EDT
A House Communications & Internet Subcommittee spokesperson said an April 12 hearing on spectrum issues will not be rescheduled again. It has a lot of competition for broadcaster and media attention since it is scheduled for the same day that thousands of broadcasters -- and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker -- will be in Las Vegas for NAB's annual convention. Link | Add comment
AT&T Deal May Delay Spectrum Bills
The Hill, Mar 24, 2011, 10:35 AM EDT
NAB Pushes (Harder) With Spectrum Stance
NAB Policy Blog, Mar 23, 2011, 12:14 PM EDT
Genachowski Pushes For Spectrum Move
B&C, Mar 23, 2011, 8:45 AM EDT
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski brought his call for moving swiftly to free up more wireless spectrum to the International CTIA show in Orlando, the wireless companies who have been pushing the FCC hard to make that happen. Link | Comments (2)
NAB Sends Letter To Congress About Spectrum
The Hill, Mar 22, 2011, 4:23 PM EDT
Station Groups: FCC Proposals Are Illegal
B&C, Mar 21, 2011, 2:10 PM EDT
More than two-dozen station groups and owners representing more than 200 TV stations across the country have banded together to tell the FCC that its approach to freeing up spectrum is illegal, and in comments to the FCC said, essentially, they can't comment fully on it because of the FCC's piecemeal approach to the issue. Link | Add comment
Broadcasters Give FCC Spectrum Plan
Broadcasting & Cable, Mar 21, 2011, 8:51 AM EDT
Broadcasters have told the FCC to do some more looking before it makes its wireless spectrum leap. In comments on the FCC's spectrum proceeding, the National Association of Broadcasters outlined a five-point plan it said was the right way for the FCC to proceed. Link | Add comment
Updated
Genachowski Defends Incentive Auctions
TVNewsCheck, Mar 16, 2011, 1:33 PM EDT
The FCC chairman addresses what he calls "misimpressions," saying there is no spectrum hoarding by cable and wireless companies; that there is already a spectrum inventory; that spectrum subleasing by broadcasters won't solve the broadband spectrum shortage; and emphasizd that any  spectrum repacking would be limited and stations would be fully reimbursed for any moves and "we would propose that stations not be forced to move from the UHF band to the VHF band; rather, any such moves would be purely voluntary." Full Story | Comments (12)
cash for spectrum
Warner, Wicker Introduce Spectrum Bill
B&C, Mar 10, 2011, 5:59 AM EST
Sens. Mark R. Warner and Roger Wicker Wednesday introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to provide more information on spectrum relocation projects at the outset, and would create a technical review panel to help develop relocation plans and provide for spectrum sharing during a transition. Link | Add comment
spectrum reallocation
Small Broadcasters Fight Spectrum Grab
TVBR, Mar 9, 2011, 6:25 AM EST
A coalition of television station operators, including operators of religious and low-power stations, is preparing to stand firm to protect spectrum in the face of the FCC’s desire to repurpose parts of the television band for wireless broadband delivery. Link | Comments (1)
spectrum reallocation
Levin: MPEG-4 Deserves Station Support
B&C, Mar 9, 2011, 5:51 AM EST
FCC National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin is advising broadcasters to come up with a plan of their own for advancing their spectrum future — he suggests a move to the more spectrally efficient MPEG-4 transmission standard — rather than digging in their heels on the FCC's spectrum reclamtion-repacking proposal. Link | Comments (6)
cash for spectrum
House Said To Put Off Spectrum Hearing
B&C, Mar 4, 2011, 2:55 PM EST
The House Communications & Technology Subcommittee is not expected to hold a planned hearing on the FCC-administration's spectrum reclamation plans next week, according to sources inside and outside the House Energy & Commerce Committee. Link | Add comment
cash for spectrum
Smith on Spectrum: We Won't Be Rolled
B&C, Mar 4, 2011, 5:53 AM EST
The NAB president says broadcasters are willing to volunteer spectrum, but won't be put in a degraded position on the TV band. Link | Add comment
TVNewsCheck Focus on Washington
Stations Face 'Formidable' Spectrum Lobby
TVNewsCheck, Mar 2, 2011, 8:34 AM EST
It's an uphill fight for broadcasters trying to stall or mitigate the FCC's plan to reclaim a large hunk of broadcast spectrum and repurpose it for wireless broadband. The plan enjoys the backing of some of the biggest names in wireless, consumer electronics and the high-tech world, not to mention the White House and fiscal conservatives on the Hill. Full Story | Comments (12)
NAB's Smith: Dish, TWC 'Hoarding' Spectrum
TVNewsCheck, Mar 1, 2011, 8:50 AM EST
The charge against the cable and satellite operators comes in a letter to key members of Congress. The NAB president also calls for a government investigation into “spectrum hoarding and/or spectrum speculation.” Full Story | Comments (5)
NAB's Smith Leads Stations In Spectrum Fray
Washington Post, Feb 13, 2011, 10:37 AM EST
Veteran politician,businessman and now the top evangelist for broadcasters, Gordon Smith, the president of the National Association of Broadcasters, is telling his former Capitol Hill colleagues that the federal government's plan to bolster wireless networks could end up darkening signals for hundreds of stations around the country. Link | Comments (5)
cash for spectrum
NAB Wary Of TV 'Degradation' From FCC Plan
TVNewsCheck, Nov 30, 2010, 4:20 PM EST
NAB President Gordon Smith says that while it doesn't object to "truly voluntary" incentive auctions for TV spectrum, he vows to fight any "government-mandated signal strength degradations or limitations, and new spectrum taxes that threaten the future of free and local broadcasting." Full Story | Comments (4)
Qualcomm, AT&T In Talks For Flo TV Spectrum
Bloomberg, Nov 19, 2010, 6:28 AM EST

Classifieds

The Market

Symbol Last Change (%)
Nasdaq 2839.38 -10.74 (-0.38%)
NYSE 7552.36 +11.46 (+0.15%)
S&P 500 1320.68 +1.82 (+0.14%)
Updated 05/24 6:45p ET Quotes delayed at least 20 mins.
Source: Financial Content

Ratings

Overnights, adults 18-49 for May 23, 2012
  • 1.
    6.1/18
  • 2.
    2.6/7
  • 3.
    2.0/6
  • 4.
    1.5/4
  • 5.
    1.4/4
  • 6.
    0.4/1
Source: Nielsen
Reviews
Opinions
Features
  • David Wiegand

    Fans of Sex and the City have finally gotten their wish: Their beloved sex-focused sitcom is back on the air ... sort of. The four women have become four men, of course, and the writing isn't as good. Oh, and the laugh track so annoying, it's offensive. And did I mention that the costumes would be considered fashionable if you were holding a yard sale? Men at Work on TBS is almost quaint, it's so old fashioned. If it had any meat on its bones, you'd be tempted to say it's the sadly ignoble epitome of TV's long-festering emasculated-men syndrome. But it's so much of a big, forgettable, innocuous shrug, it's not even worth any actual vitriol.

  • Mike Hale

    The USA Network's motto is "Characters Welcome." Apparently they're especially welcome if they resemble Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. Already stocked with Odd Couple knockoffs in Psych and White Collar, USA adds to its inventory Common Law, another comic crime-fighting show about mismatched partners. But this latest entry exhibits very little of that kind of spark as it tries to wring laughs from the juxtaposition of counseling and police work. It looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we’ve come to expect from USA.

  • Joanne Ostrow

    Johnny Carson: Fantastic entertainer, miserable human being. That's the lasting message of Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, the new PBS American Masters film, a rich history of a rare product of television who dominated the small screen for decades. Unprecedented access to personal archives plus all existing episodes of The Tonight Show (1962-92), distinguishes this film by Peter Jones. Telling interviews with family and colleagues, including second wife Joanne Carson, former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and a number of biographers sharpen the picture. The clips are carefully selected to illustrate specific personality traits, the performance highlights are given context and meaning beyond funny lines and memorable moments.

  • Hank Stuever

    AMC's The Pitch is a sharply-made if slightly off-putting reality series that follows different advertising agencies each week as they compete for new accounts. The inspiration for the show — made clear by its own ad campaign — is to harness some of the verve generated by the network's acclaimed Mad Men. The Pitch has a way of making the ad world seem like a real downer — a repugnant exercise in egotism laced with depressing bouts of creative compromise.

  • Tim Goodman

    HBO's Veep stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former Sen. Selina Meyer, who accepts the vice presidential duty and regrets it almost immediately: She has no real power and gets muscled by the Senate, Congress and the (so-far-unseen) president, who delegates all the truly crappy jobs to her. Louis-Dreyfus has found perhaps her best post-Seinfeld role and takes to it with such fervor — the constant swearing, the barely veiled desire to become president, the unhappy give-and-take with other politicians and a delightful disdain for average citizens — that you can't help but applaud what is clearly an Emmy-worthy effort. Her work alone makes Veep a gem, but there's even more to like.

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