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Sinclair Broadcast Group said today it will pay$3.9 billion to buy Tribune Media Company and its 42local TV stations, beating out 21st Century Fox to land the deal.

Sinclair already has 173 local news stations. The combined operations of the two companies will create the largest-single group of local TV stations.

The deal calls for Sinclair to acquire 100 percent of Tribune Media for $43.50 a share. Sinclair also will assume about $2.7 billion in Tribune Media debt, according to the companies.

Tribune Media owns local TV stations across the country, including WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York, KTLA in Los Angeles and WDCW in Washington. It also has minority stakes in Food Network and CareerBuilder.

Based in Hunt Valley, Md., north of Baltimore, Sinclair mostly owns stations in smaller markets, such as WUTV in Buffalo and WVTV in Milwaukee. One of its largest stations is WJLA in Washington.

This is a transformational acquisition for Sinclair that will open up a myriad of opportunities for the company, Chris Ripley, chief executiveof Sinclair, said in a news release.

Tribune Media said in a statement that it expects Federal Communications Commissions rules on ownership and antitrust regulations may result in Sinclair selling some stations.

Current FCC rules limit the national TV audience thatany single owner can reach at39 percent. Regulations also prohibit any owner from running more than two stations in most markets.

But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai who was elevated to his post by President Trump earlier this year has indicated in speeches that he wantsto loosen the TV ownership rules. Last month, Pais FCC reinstated a rule that helps station owners get around the national audience cap. The so-called UHF discount allows stations to count just 50percent of its audience from UHF stations toward the audience cap. Last fall, the FCC, under President Obama, revoked the UHF cap. Now, with its return last month, stations have more room to stay under the cap.

A week ago, Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox reportedly planned to join the bidding for Tribune.

With Sinclair beating out its much bigger rival, the company gains access to Tribunes larger metro markets.

This shows that Sinclair needs to be taken seriously as a media powerhouse, saidMatt Rizzetta, head of public relations firm North 6th Agency in New York.

Excerpt from:
Sinclair Broadcast to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, giving it control over 215 local TV stations - Washington Post

Google and Facebook together accounted for 20% of the global advertising expenditure across all media in 2016, up from 11% in 2012, according to the new edition of Zeniths Top Thirty Global Media Owners, published on Monday. The two companies captured 64% of all the growth in global adspend between 2012 and 2016.

The Top Thirty Global Media Owners report is Zeniths unique ranking of the worlds largest media companies, and has been published since 2007. For this edition, the agency decided to update their methodology and focus purely on media owners revenues from advertising, excluding revenues from all other activities, to give a true measure of their status in the global advertising market.

Google (under its holding company Alphabet) is, by some distance, the largest media owner in the world, attracting USD 79.4 bn in ad revenue in 2016, three times more than the second-largest Facebook which attracted USD 26.9 bn. The largest traditional media owner is Comcast, which takes third place in the ranking, with USD 12.9 bn in ad revenue.

Zenith had stated in their quarterly Advertising Expenditure Forecasts that internet advertising has overtaken television to become the worlds largest advertising medium this year. Accordingly, digital platforms that are funded by internet advertising dominate their top 30 ranking. As well as Alphabet and Facebook, there are five more pure-internet media owners in the top 30: Baidu, Microsoft, Yahoo, Verizon and Twitter. Between them, the seven digital platforms generated USD 132.8 bn in internet ad revenue in 2016 that is 73% of all internet adspend, and 24% of global adspend across all media.

Verizon became a media owner in 2015 when it bought AOL, and if all goes to plan, will become a much larger one when it acquires Yahoo later this year. Verizon takes 21st place in the current ranking; adding Yahoo to AOL would boost it to sixth.

The fastest-growing media owner on the list is Twitter, which increased its ad revenues by 734% between 2012 and 2016. Tencent is second, having grown by 697% over this period, and Facebook is third, with 528% growth. Two other media owners have more than doubled in size between 2012 and 2016: Baidu, which grew 190%, and Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which grew 171%.

Most of the media owners on the Zenith ranking 20 out of 30 are based in the US. The US dominates for several reasons, they explain: the US has the biggest ad market, US companies have invested the most in extending their reach abroad, and Silicon Valley innovation has powered the growth of internet advertising. China and Germany each have three media owners in the ranking (Baidu, Tencent and CCTV for China, and Bertelsmann, ProSiebenSat.1 and Axel Springer for Germany). Then there are four countries with one media owner each: France (JCDecaux), Brazil (Grupo Globo), Italy (Mediaset) and the UK (ITV).

The scale of the biggest platforms highlights the importance of building strong partnerships between agencies and media owners, said Vittorio Bonori, Zeniths Global Brand President. Brands need to deal with these platforms to communicate with consumers effectively and efficiently, and agencies need to ensure they do so on the best terms available.

Zeniths new ranking demonstrates just how much the internet advertising platforms are setting the pace for global adspend growth, said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting at Zenith. Google and Facebook alone have accounted for almost two thirds of global adspend growth since 2012, he added.

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Google and Facebook now control 20% of global adspend - Exchange4Media

Volkswagen's Media Control app puts children in control of the car's infotainment system with the hopes that turning back-seat drivers into back-seat DJs will help parents cope with restless children on longer drives.

For many parents undertaking a family road trip, having to put up with their children's choice of music can be as frustrating as the constant complaints about how long they've been in the car and inquiries on the progress made concerning arrival time -- "are we there yet?".

A new Volkswagen app aims to consign shouts of the latter to the past, however, unless parents lay down some serious ground rules before each journey, it could end up seriously ratcheting up tension caused by differing tastes when it comes to the music of Taylor Swift, Drake or Ed Sheeran.

The Media Control app essentially turns a smartphone into an in-car entertainment system remote control. It lets users retune the radio, stream songs straight from their handset to the car stereo, adjust the volume, fade and balance and view current navigation information, such as the car's position in relation to the final destination, straight on the screen.

The new app is a free download for either Apple or Android handsets and it will work automatically with any current generation VW with the Discover Navigation or Discover Navigation Pro infotainment systems, and wireless hot spot fitted.

As such, Volkswagen is taking a very different approach to that of BMW when it comes to keeping back-seat passengers engaged and entertained. When BMW launched the 2-Series Gran Tourer, its first ever MPV, it did so alongside a new infotainment system that allowed children to stream content to tablets and phones via the car's internal internet connection. However, all content that arrives on those back-seat screens has been pre-screened by the front passengers with settings to block or restrict content or amount of time that kids have access.

This doesn't mean that VW's idea isn't a novel or welcome approach to keeping the kids quiet. But for many road-weary parents, the Media Control app's best feature could be that they can disable it by shutting off the car's WLAN system.

More here:
Volkswagen's Media Control App Turns Back-seat Drivers Into Djs - News18

Flipper, zapper, doo-dad or just plain remote whatever you choose to call your remote control, passengers in many new Volkswagen cars can now use their smartphone to switch between music tracks being played in the car, turn the volume up and do a host of other things.

Cars factory ordered from today (3 May) that have the latest Discover Navigation or Discover Navigation Pro infotainment systems included as standard, or as an option, will be compatible with Volkswagens innovative Media Control app.

The app gives passengers the power to choose the music that accompanies their journey, including playing tracks stored on their own smartphone through the cars infotainment system. Whether they are sitting in the front or the back of the car they can adjust the system volume, as well as the speaker balance and fade, via a WLAN connection.

An end to are we there yet?Media Control gives passengers access to many of the infotainment systems features. From viewing the current position of the car to seeing how long the remaining journey will be, plus entering a destination into the navigation program, it is all covered.

Flicking between radio stations via the smartphone screen is now possible, and dialling a contact from the passengers smartphone will result, if selected, in the call being made via the speakers and microphone built-in to the car.

Putting control in the palm of front- or rear-seat passengers hands is another example of how Volkswagen is developing a suite of user-friendly systems via its Car-Net infotainment offering.

Ease of use of all elements of Car-Net is a cornerstone of Volkswagens connected car programme and Media Control opens up the power of the Discover Navigation and Discover Navigation Pro infotainment systems to everyone in the car.

Volkswagens Media Control app is compatible with smartphones and tablets that have Apple or Android operating systems and the WLAN connection to the car can be switched on or off at any time.

Latest generation infotainment rolled outThe 2018 Model Year enhancements to Volkswagens infotainment systems continue with an increase in screen size for the Golf SV, Touran and Passat Saloon and Estate models, factory ordered from today, too. In these models, the Composition Media and Discover Navigation systems are upgraded to the latest generation units with an eight-inch display screen, up from 6.5 inches previously. And the latest range-topping Discover Navigation Pro unit now boasts a 9.2-inch display, increased from eight inches. All of these screens are colour and feature touchscreen technology, bringing them in line with the systems first seen recently in the updated Golf range.

Continuing the theme, the entry-level Volkswagen Beetle trim will now include the Composition Media system as standard, rather than Composition Colour. Composition Media, previously available from the Beetle Design trim upwards, adds the ability to pair two smartphones, via Bluetooth, to the Beetle. It includes an AUX-in socket for an external media source such as an iPod or an MP3 player, and two extra speakers to bring the total of sound sources in the car to eight.

A new range of vibrant colours is debuting on a selection of Volkswagens models from today. The Tiguan, Volkswagens third-best seller in the UK, has a new Crimson Red option. The Golf SV benefits from the colours that were first seen on the updated Golf: Peacock Green, White Silver, Black Rubin and Turmeric Yellow. The sporty Scirocco now has the choice of Atlantic Blue and White Silver, too.

The Golf range has just been comprehensively updated with new bodywork and enhanced technology coming to Volkswagens best-seller. The enhancements keep on coming though: the iconic Golf GTI is now available with 18-inch Seville alloy wheels that feature an eye-catching red pinstripe finish. The Golf and Golf Estate in SE and SE Navigation trims can now be ordered with the smart 17-inch Madrid alloy wheel, previously only available on the GT trim.

Further technological updates have also arrived. The entry-level Golf S now has Front Assist fitted as standard for no extra cost to the customer.

Meanwhile the latest petrol-electric hybrid Golf GTE has extra driving modes in the form of Battery Hold and Battery Charge. Battery Hold maintains the level of charge in the battery, for example so that the driver can use all-electric drive through a town to their final destination. Battery Charge increases the level of regenerative braking to more quickly replenish the cars batteries on the move.

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In-car entertainment is in everyone's hands with volkswagen's media control app - Automotive World (press release)

Trump Praises Fox News Ratings, Trashes Out of Control Media

President Trump took to Twitter early Thursday morning to bash the out of control news media while praising the Trump-friendly Fox News morning show Fox & Friends.

The Fake News media is officially out of control. They will do or say anything in order to get attention never been a time like this!

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2017

Congratulations to @foxandfriends on its unbelievable ratings hike.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2017

Also Read: Fox News Dominates April Ratings Despite Network Shakeup

Its unclear what particular news organization Trump was referring to this time around, but usual targets include CNN and the New York Times.The president also re-tweeted a Fox & Friends clip confirming that he will sign an executive order on religious liberty on Thursday, which many feel is designed to legalize anti-LGBT discrimination.

The executive order will likely cause an uproar, but regardless of how you feel about his politics, he was accurate when it comes tothe ratings success of his favorite morning show.

Fox & Friendsis on pace for its most-watched year in network history and just wrapped up April with an average viewership of 1.6 million total viewers and 383,000 among the key demo of adults age 25-54. The program grew 54 percent in total viewers and a whopping 76 percent among the demo compared to April 2016.

Meanwhile, Trump has not publically congratulated friends-turned criticsJoe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on their engagement. The Fox & Friends rival, MSNBCs Morning Joe, wascriticized for being too friendly to Trump last year, but the duo has turned on him since Election Day, recently comparing Trump to someone with dementia.

Read original story Trump Praises Fox News Ratings, Trashes Out of Control Media At TheWrap

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Trump Praises Fox News Ratings, Trashes 'Out of Control' Media - SFGate