Nexstar (NXST) expects to complete its purchase of Media General by the end of the year, emailed Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker Wednesday to investors. “We continue to think the FCC wants at least one more stage of the auction under its belt before it starts approving deals -- at this point, we would not expect anything until early December but don’t know that this matters as NXST has completed all 'normal' regulatory requirements.” Nexstar has asked the FCC to waive its rules barring transactions from being completed during the incentive auction to allow Nexstar/Media General to be consummated (see 1609220035). Unlike political advertising revenue for Gray Television and some other station groups (see 1611080035), Nexstar's was more robust than expected. Ryvicker chalked that up to Nexstar's geographic footprint, which she said allowed it to benefit from close races for longer than competitors.

Gray Television Q3 revenue results show much less in political advertising revenue than expected, the company reported Tuesday. Political ad revenue was at $22.3 million, while Wells Fargo had forecast $37 million, analyst Marci Ryvicker emailed investors. Overall Q3 revenue was also less than expected, $204.5 million as opposed to a forecast of $223.8 million, Ryvicker said. Gray also is forecasting lower-than-expected revenue for Q4. “Earlier this year, a large number of races were expected to be highly competitive and political fundraising appeared to be highly encouraging through the summer," said CEO Hilton Howell. “However, actual spending by candidates, political parties and third-parties fell far short of expectations, especially in Gray’s markets.” Howell said the revenue results “make it more likely that Gray will place the highest priority on debt repayment over the next four to five quarters.” Gray stock fell Sept. 21 on concerns about less-than-expected political ad spending as GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump didn't spend as much as past nominees (see 1609210075). Tuesday, Gray shares closed down 10 percent to $7.35.

DTS Q3 revenue jumped 59 percent to $48.7 million, said the company in a Monday news release. CEO Jon Kirchner attributed growth to the home, mobile and automotive segments, calling out expansion in the Play-Fi line with Onkyo and Pioneer and additional models incorporating DTS Headphone:X in Huawei’s mobile device line. New 2017 model year vehicles from Hyundai, Audi and Lincoln have added HD Radio, he said. Net income was $600,000 vs. a loss of $2.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Tessera announced in September (see 1609200027) it was buying DTS for $850 million. The deal is expected to close in December.

Eighteen TV ownership groups earn over 80 percent of industry revenue in the U.S., BIA/Kelsey reported Monday. That's "incredible," said the research firm's CEO Tom Buono. Local TV revenue will “approach $31 billion in total gross revenue” in 2016 and a combined value of $84 billion, said the firm. Of that revenue total, $6.1 billion in terrestrial advertising revenue will be generated by the big four network groups, and $9.3 billion in TV station gross revenue, it said. The six publicly traded TV groups will generate 6.4 billion in ad revenue and $9.9 billion in gross TV station revenue, and the eight private TV groups will generate $4.2 billion in TV ad revenue and $6.6 billion in gross TV revenue, the firm said.

NAB will file a court challenge of the FCC 2014 media ownership quadrennial review in time to participate in an expected lottery for venue, an association spokesman told us Monday. That window means the petition for review will be filed either this week or Monday. Prometheus Radio Project last week filed a petition for review in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 1611040054), and NAB is expected to file in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after which a lottery to decide the case’s venue will be conducted. Regardless of that lottery’s outcome, many stakeholders have told us they expect the case to end up in the 3rd Circuit, where previous iterations have all been heard.

Calrec Audio, Ericsson, Rohde & Schwarz and Xilinx joined the Alliance of IP Media Solutions, the group said in a news release Tuesday. Other members of the trade group -- which promotes IP broadcast standards -- include 21st Century Fox, CBS, NBCUniversal, Panasonic and Sony, according to its website.

Beasley Broadcast's purchase of Greater Media was completed Tuesday, Beasley said in a release Wednesday, as expected (see 1610270059). The $240 million deal adds 18 radio stations to Beasley's holdings, and involves the divestiture of a station in Charlotte, North Carolina, Beasley said. Beasley also said interim CEO Caroline Beasley will take over as permanent CEO at the start of the new year, among other management changes (see 1611020026).

The FCC denied an application for review against a low-power FM construction permit granted to Community Radio, KCOD-LP Decorah, Iowa, but because filings show the LPFM applicant misrepresented his membership on an FM station board, the commission also directed the Media Bureau to initiate an investigation against the LPFM licensee, said an order issued Wednesday. “When seeking an LPFM construction permit, Community Radio certified in November 2013 that no party to its application held an attributable interest in any non-LPFM broadcast station. That was not accurate,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a concurring statement attached to the order. “James Glesne, the individual who certified Community Radio’s application, was serving on the board of a non-LPFM broadcast station, KPVL(FM) in Postville, Iowa, at the time he made the November 2013 certification.” Filings showed Glesne was on the board until April 2014, when he then submitted a resignation backdated to December 2013, the order said. “I’m inclined to believe that Community Radio’s misrepresentations to the Commission have been intentional, not inadvertent,” Pai said. He said he “would have been willing to support designating this matter for a hearing to determine whether Community Radio possesses the character and qualifications to hold an LPFM license” but said he was pleased the Media Bureau would investigate the matter. The order said the application for review wasn't granted because there's a remedy for the situation in Glesne severing ties with KPVL.

The filing windows allowing AM stations to buy and relocate FM translators were “a resounding success,” said FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake in a blog post Wednesday. The second of those windows closed Monday (see 1610250061). The first window, open only to smaller AM stations, led to 671 relocation applications filed, and so far, over 90 percent have been granted, Lake said. The second window, for all AM stations, led to 420 applications, with 265 OK'd, Lake said. “A substantial majority of the licensees participating in the windows chose to acquire the relocating translators, thereby ensuring a permanent place for their programming on the FM dial,” he wrote.

With its quadrennial review media ownership order, the FCC is providing “an impressive imitation of an ostrich with its head in the sand,” said NAB Senior Deputy General Counsel Jerianne Timmerman in a blog post Tuesday. The quadrennial review order was published in the Federal Register Tuesday (see 1611010027). “The FCC again asserted that 'non-broadcast video programming distributors' are not meaningful competitors in local TV markets, virtually ignoring a host of 20th and 21st century technologies (including cable, satellite, mobile devices and the internet) to retain its local TV ownership restriction,” Timmerman said. By maintaining the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO) ban, “the FCC essentially concluded that little or nothing of import has changed in the news industry and the marketplace position of print newspapers and broadcast stations for the past 41 years -- a nonsensical position on its face,” Timmerman said. She criticized the NBCO rule as out of date and arbitrary, since it only applies to papers “published” four or more days a week. “It borders on the absurd to contend that the viewpoint diversity concerns supposedly sufficient to ban the common ownership of a station and a newspaper publishing a print edition four days a week magically disappear when the newspaper publishes online every day but publishes in print only three days a week,” said Timmerman. Though the FCC touted the order as slightly relaxing the NBCO ban by providing a waiver process, that addition provides minimal change, Timmerman said. “The exception for failed/failing outlets, and the new waiver standard for newspaper/broadcast combinations not 'unduly harm[ing] viewpoint diversity,' fail to go beyond pre-existing waiver opportunities for broadcasters and newspaper owners,” she said. “The FCC has done nothing substantive here.” The agency didn't comment.