The 2022 hurricane season comes to an official close today, with late-season Hurricanes Ian and Nicole unleashing devastating and deadly storms that wreaked havoc across the Southeast.   

The loss of life and destruction of personal property was widespread. But so were the countless inspiring human-interest stories amid the tragedy. As always, when hardship hit the U.S., the best in our fellow citizens shined through.     

Traditional first responders — police, fire, National Guard, EMTs, doctors and nurses — rose to the occasion for the victims of Ian and Nicole and their work continues today. These heroes put the safety and well-being of the community ahead of everything else, including their own families. These brave and selfless men and women not only deserve our recognition, but they also command our respect.

Another critically important group that unites our communities during crises, including natural disasters such as Ian and Nicole, are local television and radio broadcasters. In the cases of Ian and Nicole, it was the local radio and television broadcasters in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina who were there for their communities as the storms unleashed their fury. 

When the residents of these states needed credible information on Ian and Nicole, local broadcasters provided it in a way no one-person blog, social media site or non-local media entity or search engine could ever accomplish. The advanced weather technology and early-warning systems provided by local broadcasters enabled millions of residents to find safe havens, saving lives in the process. Only local broadcasters and local meteorologists were able to talk to the specific neighborhoods and towns in the path of both storms, allowing people to move to safer ground and find lodging, food and other provisions.  

Local broadcasters were at the forefront to educate, inform, comfort, console and, most importantly, protect the public before, during and after Ian and Nicole hit. Their broadcast signals were the epicenter of crucial news and information for millions of people. When their communities needed them most, local broadcasters responded with multilingual, commercial-free, and around-the-clock coverage on their linear, digital, streaming and social media platforms.

Local broadcasts surpassed anything the national media could provide because these storms were, in essence, local stories. Trusted television and radio brands and personalities were what people needed, and the local broadcasters of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina were there for them at every turn. Perhaps most importantly, local broadcasters live in the markets they serve and are still there serving their communities long after the cable news networks leave town. As always, local broadcasters are there for their communities for the short and long haul.

It’s inevitable that we will face future natural (and unnatural) disasters. Wherever and whenever they might happen, local television and radio broadcasters will be there, ready with their people, journalism and array of platforms to provide the most trusted and comprehensive service to the local community and the nation. ■

The number of TV stations sold rose in 2017, but the value of those deals fell, according to a new report from BIA/Kelsey.

A total of 107 TV stations were sold in 2017, compared with 97 the prior year. Nine of those station deals came in December.

The value of the TV station deals was $4.68 billion, down from $5.28 billion in 2016, BIA/Kelsey said.

Related: Tegna to Buy Two Midwest Television Inc. Stations for $325M

For 2018, BIA/Kelsey noted that the Federal Communications Commission relaxed regulations regarding local ownership of local TV stations and looser rules on television-radio-newspaper cross-ownership.

“While there is some question as to whether some or all of these new regulations will be challenged in the courts, there is some optimism that this relaxation will lead to an increase in station trading activity,” BIA/Kelsey said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Fox and Nexstar Media have struck a deal to distribute the station group's 17 Fox-affiliated stations over-the-top, the company announced Wednesday.

Related > FCC Approves Nexstar-Media General Merger

Under the agreement, which extends Nexstar’s affiliations with the network, the stations will go live on OTT platforms already distributing Fox programming.

Related > Grid-Blocked: Virtual MVPD Lineups Leave Local Stations on the Sidelines

That is particularly notable as Fox and its industrywide affiliates board have yet to come to terms on OTT distribution, as the other Big Four networks have. Fox has already gone live on Hulu without its affiliates on board.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Broadcasters continued to eke out double-digit percentage increases in retransmission-consent revenue in the first quarter, despite mounting evidence that the pay TV universe is shrinking.

A look at some of the top broadcast station groups show that retrans revenue, while still rising at a healthy double-digit percentage clip, leveled off a bit from the triple-digit increases of a year ago. But overall growth at the top five publicly traded broadcasters rose a collective 25% in the period, slightly behind the 35% increases in the first quarter of 2015.

SCRIPPS LEADS THE CHARGE

Leading the charge was E.W. Scripps, which boosted its quarterly retrans haul 92% to $53.6 million, behind the 123.8% increase in the same period last year. Sinclair Broadcast Group — the largest station owner with 172 broadcast properties in 81 markets — maintained a high-single digit percentage increase in the period, although it told analysts those raises will taper off in the next three years as its deals mature.

Sinclair said its next big retrans negotiation will be at the end of the year, with Comcast, and it expects 2017 retrans increases to be in the mid-single digits, dipping to the low-single digits by 2018.

The company, which has been aggressively accumulating stations over the past five years — it had only 58 stations in January 2011 — will have some added leverage in retrans negotiations going forward. It agreed to purchase sports network Tennis Channel in January (the deal closed on March 1), adding to its growing stable of cable networks that include American Sports Network, Ring of Honor and Comet TV. While Tennis Channel had little impact on the first quarter — it had only been officially under the Sinclair umbrella for a month in the period — the network is expected to have influence in future negotiations.

The second-largest station owner — Nexstar Broadcast Group, with 104 properties in 54 markets — saw retrans revenue rise 46.2% to $97.3 million in the quarter, less than the 89.5% increase in the same period in 2015.

Of the top six station owners, all except Tegna, the former Gannett broadcasting group, reported a smaller percentage increase in Q1 2016 than in the prior year. That could be in part because of a declining pay TV subscriber base, as total pay TV customers fell by 1.2% in the quarter. But it is more likely tied to the timing of retrans renewals and overall market maturity. Tegna said it expected retrans to grow more than 30% for the rest of the year.

MVPDs reached several retrans deals with station owners in the first quarter, including Cox (with Nexstar), Time Warner Cable (with Scripps) and Dish (with Cordillera Communications), which likely had an impact on revenue growth. Most of those deals — except for TWC and Scripps — also included brief blackout periods, which one pay TV industry group believes has a huge impact on rates.

The American Television Alliance, a group that includes the traditional pay TV distributors such as Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, DirecTV and Dish Network, said there were 193 blackouts in 2015 — a new record and more than twice the 94 blackouts in 2014. So far in 2016, 26 blackouts have occurred, and more are expected as deals come up for renewal, usually around major sporting and entertainment events.

The ATVA sees a direct correlation between blackouts and higher retrans fees, adding that oftentimes consumers are forced to pay higher rates after a dark period has ended.

“Each broadcaster’s quarterly earnings report is further confirmation that the retrans cash grab is driving the TV blackout crisis,” said ATVA spokesman Michael Hacker in a statement.

Back in July 2015, SNL Kagan raised its estimates for overall retrans revenue growth to $10.3 billion by 2021, a 63% increase from the $6.3 billion in 2015. CBS alone has said it will generate about $1 billion in retrans revenue in 2016, growing to $2.5 billion by 2020.

RETRANS TAKES UP THE SLACK

Retrans fees have been a savior for some broadcasters, taking up the slack in recent years as the advertising market has tanked. But even as ad sales have begun to rebound — Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne said in a recent note that the first quarter was the strongest for national TV ads since Q3 2013, with broadcast advertising revenue up between 8% and 10% — retrans fees continue to rise.

While overall percentage growth appears to have slowed in the first quarter, Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media and communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said it probably won’t last long, adding that it could simply be a result of the “law of large numbers.”

“As they keep getting bigger, the growth is going to slow,” Wlodarczak said. “I see broadcasters trying to push through higher fees on distributors to offset lost revenue from cord cutters/shavers, which will of course only exacerbate the problem.”

As the NFL playoffs reach the semifinals, the big winner so far is local broadcast television.

Viewers prefer to watch the games on broadcast TV over cable, according to an analysis of ratings from Nielsen data conducted by the local broadcast nonprofit trade association TVB.

For instance, for playoff games that air on both ABC and ESPN, ABC’s national household rating of 14.8 is 4 times higher than ESPN’s 3.7 rating.

“Game after game and season after season, ratings data confirms that local broadcast television remains the preferred outlet for NFL viewership,” said Steve Lanzano, TVB president and CEO.

The national male 25-54 rating for ABC was 12.1, compared with ESPN’s 3.1 average.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.