Judge Denies Disney Request To Stop License Reviews

A D.C. Circuit Court judge has denied The Walt Disney Co.’s American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. request for a hearing no later than Tuesday on its motion for a temporary restraining order that would block the FCC from advancing its early license renewal review of all eight ABC Owned Stations.

Judge Loren L. AliKhan rejected the request from Wilkinson Stekloff attorneys representing ABC, which was included in a status report filed Thursday (August 20). Hours later, she issued an order directing the FCC to file its opposition to the TRO motion—and any motion to dismiss—by September 3. 

ABC/Disney then has until September 17 to reply in support of its motion and oppose any dismissal request. A September 24 deadline accounts for further filings from ABC/Disney supporting its motion.

Judge AliKhan

Disney and ABC argued in the status report that the FCC’s claim of “no exigency” is contradicted by its refusal to pause further actions while the matter is briefed and heard. They said they have already documented “the irreparable harm they are suffering” and that the agency’s proposed approach “would further exacerbate those harms.” 

The companies contended the FCC effectively seeks “permission to impose draconian sanctions with only 48 hours’ notice, while continuing to hang the threat of those sanctions over plaintiffs’ heads and remaining free to engage in other forms of retaliation.”

While the FCC welcomed the ruling, Washington insiders note it may give Disney/ABC attorneys the upper hand and put FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on notice that the Commission should avoid any precipitous moves.

PSKY Reps To Meet Monday With CA AG's Office

Paramount Skydance representatives are expected to meet Monday with the California Attorney General’s office to discuss a potential settlement of the multistate antitrust case blocking its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, according to Variety citing two sources familiar with the situation.

The company has been pressing hard for an agreement that would allow the deal to close. 

The transaction remains on hold pending a March trial in federal court in Oakland. Attorney General Rob Bonta has said he is open to negotiations but has indicated that Paramount has so far declined to offer the structural remedies needed to address the states’ concerns. 

Bonta led a 12-state coalition that sued in July, arguing the merger would illegally shrink the markets for theatrical distribution and basic cable by combining two of Hollywood’s five legacy studios and two of the top three cable programmers. Under federal rules, the parties must at least attempt settlement before a magistrate judge. 

At a hearing this week, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin directed them to name two potential magistrates who could oversee mediation by next Wednesday. A growing list of stakeholders has recently urged a settlement, including the Directors Guild of America, IATSE, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Cinema United, the theater-owners trade group. 

“Earlier this week, you heard the attorney general himself say he’d prefer this settle in the boardroom, not the courtroom,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

The Pentagon: 'You Can't Quit, You're Fired!'

Pentagon moves to fire Stars and Stripes publisher, editor-in-chief and Middle East reporter for insubordinationThe Pentagon on Friday moved to fire the publisher and editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military news outlet partly funded by American taxpayers, along with a reporter who covers the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The cause cited was insubordination tied to interviews they gave CBS News for a July “CBS Sunday Morning” segment.

Separation notices delivered Friday gave Publisher Max Lederer and Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin five days to appeal their dismissals. Reporter Lara Korte said she also received a firing notice.

Slavin said the alleged insubordination stemmed from his comments in the CBS interview. 

In a statement to CBS News, he said: “According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line. The Pentagon’s public affairs office has charged me with insubordination. I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies.” He added that he will respond through the required process.

In the “Sunday Morning” piece, Slavin was asked about red lines he would not cross. He replied: “‘Don’t run a perfectly accurate story, run this instead. Here it is, written by the Pentagon.’ That would be a red line.”

Korte called the firings “a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press.”

Chicago Radio: Mulligan, Harris OUT At The Score

Audacy has parted ways with longtime WSCR-AM/FM Chicago (670/104.3 “The Score”) host Mike Mulligan and full-time host Marshall Harris, ending Mulligan’s more than 20-year run at the station and Harris’s two-year tenure.

The moves were announced Friday in a memo from Mitch Rosen, Audacy Chicago’s vice president of sports programming. Mulligan had co-hosted the morning “Mully and Haugh Show” with David Haugh. Harris most recently hosted middays with Leila Rahimi.

“After more than 20 years with The Score, we have parted ways with Mike Mulligan of the ‘Mully and Haugh Show,’” Rosen said. “Mully has been a vital part of The Score family and a major part of our history and success. We are incredibly grateful for his many contributions over the past two decades.”

Mulligan and Harris

Mulligan joined WSCR in 2003 and moved to morning drive in 2008, first partnering with Brian Hanley before Haugh joined in 2018. The station will announce a new morning co-host on Monday.

Harris, a former fill-in who became full-time in 2024 after serving as sports director at CBS2 WBBM-TV, initially co-hosted “Bernstein & Harris” before shifting to middays with Rahimi. “We also parted ways with Marshall Harris. We thank Marshall for his time with The Score,” Rosen said. 

“He has been a great teammate and an important part of our team, and we wish him the very best in the future.”Beginning Monday, the “Rahimi & Grote Show” featuring Rahimi and Mark Grote will air in the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. slot.

NFL Believes Nielsen Is Making a Measurement Misstep

The NFL is criticizing Nielsen’s upcoming changes to its television audience measurement methodology as “rushed,” warning that the adjustments will have a negative impact on sports ratings.

Nielsen plans to implement the changes beginning Aug. 31, including alterations to how it measures whether multiple people are watching an event at the same time. Paul Ballew, the league’s head of data and analytics, said Thursday that the NFL is still assessing the full effects but that early indications point to a net negative for sports, even as some co-viewing updates appear positive.

“We don’t have enough impact data to fully assess. We’re still trying to make sense of it,” Ballew said on a conference call. “We’re still trying to make sense of some of the logic behind some of the methodological changes. From our initial impact, it looks like a negative for sports. On the other side, co-viewing or partial co-viewing implementation is a positive. So we’re going to have to continue to spend some time pulling this apart and making sense of it.”

Ballew emphasized that the league’s priority is obtaining the most accurate audience figures along with deeper demographic insights. 

“Media measurement matters a lot to us,” he said. “It’s adding into the amount of homework we have to take on going into the season to make sense. We do think it’s a misstep on Nielsen’s part to go do this the way they’re doing it. It continues to accelerate our pressure point to continue to pursue ongoing measurement improvement because it’s so critically important to us and everybody else in this space.”

The Associated Press reports the league is coming off one of its strongest television seasons. After Nielsen began using its Big Data + Panel methodology for all events last September, the NFL averaged 18.7 million viewers per game in the 2025 regular season—a 10% increase from 2024 and the highest since 1989. 

The Super Bowl drew 124.9 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, according to the same system, just short of the previous year’s record.

With the NFL’s growing frustration with the Nielsen ratings system after the dip in this past year's Super Bowl, Don Roger Goodell must make them an offer they can’t refuse. pic.twitter.com/955sTFkrMI

— Jason Whitlock (@jasonwhitlock) August 20, 2026

Nielsen said it had been collaborating with partners on the updates for some time and nearly rolled them out last October before deciding to wait until this season. In a statement, the company defended the revisions: “Nielsen is delivering the most accurate TV measurement ever, especially when it comes to live sports. We have worked closely with clients, sports leagues and industry regulators to constantly enhance our methodologies. That includes the introduction of Big Data + Panel, the expansion of our Out of Home measurement and a pilot test of co-viewing updates, which are all successful examples of collaboration that lead into the enhancements.”

NFL Ripped For Suggesting Super Bowl Could Be Played Outside US

NY Post Graphic

Megyn Kelly and Dave Portnoy blasted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday over the league’s international expansion plans, specifically condemning any future Super Bowl outside the United States.

Kelly, host of SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” told The NY Post: “Playing the Super Bowl outside of America would be like celebrating July 4th in England. What could Goodell be thinking? Football is a quintessentially American sport — created in America by an American, in and with the support of American cities. Why would we ever celebrate its biggest, most exciting, most-watched moment (and give all of the revenues that come annually to an American host city) outside of our own country?”

Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, echoed the criticism during an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” “It’s a good idea for the owners, I suppose. It’s a bad idea for fans,” he told anchor Stuart Varney. “No NFL fans want to be traveling to London or places to watch play with weird times. I don’t think the players do it.”

🏈🌎WILL THE NFL GO
Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will eventually add NFL teams based outside of the United States. But Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) says that's a bad deal for American fans!
TELL US: Would international teams be good for the league? pic.twitter.com/lhxh3hGVAo

— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) August 21, 2026

While Portnoy acknowledged the business case—“like any business in the world, once you think you have saturated a market, you got to continue to look to ways to grow”—he made clear he wants no part of the league’s global push.

TikTok To Pay $400M Settlement Over Online Privacy Laws

TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance agreed Friday to a $400 million settlement resolving U.S. Justice Department claims that the short-video app violated children’s online privacy laws.

Under the deal, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million once a court vacates a prior 2019 Federal Trade Commission consent decree against its predecessor, Musical.ly. 

Reuters reports the Justice Department sued the companies in 2024, accusing them of failing to protect children’s privacy and illegally collecting personal information from users under 13 without parental consent, in violation of a law requiring such consent for online services directed at children.

NYTimes Loses Defamation Case

A federal jury in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has ordered The New York Times to pay $9.25 million in damages after finding the newspaper liable for defamation against former University of Alabama men’s basketball player Kai Spears.

The Washington Post reports the nine-day trial ended with the jury siding with Spears, who sued the Times in 2023 for libel and false light invasion of privacy. He alleged the newspaper’s erroneous reporting caused him “severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.”

Spears’ lawsuit stemmed from a March 15, 2023, article by college sports reporter Billy Witz about a deadly shooting involving members of the Alabama basketball team, including star player Brandon Miller. Citing anonymous sources, the story incorrectly stated that Spears was in a car with Miller at the scene. Spears denied being present. He filed suit on May 30, 2023. 

DC Radio: Hubbard Media Names New Pres/MM

Declan Moore has been named president and market manager of Hubbard | Media That Connects’ Washington, D.C., operations, overseeing WTOP, Federal News Network and the local office of 2060 Digital.

Moore succeeds longtime Hubbard Washington executive Joel Oxley. 

He most recently served as head of international for Wondery, an Amazon company, where he led strategy and expansion across content, advertising, subscriptions and platform distribution. Before Wondery, Moore spent 23 years with National Geographic in Washington. His roles included chief media officer and president of publishing and digital media for the National Geographic Society, as well as CEO of National Geographic Partners. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to build on the extraordinary legacy Joel Oxley has created here in Washington,” Moore said. 

Declan Moore

“WTOP, Federal News Network and 2060 Digital are exceptional brands with deep connections to the communities they serve throughout the National Capital Region.” Moore said he looks forward to working with Hubbard teams to build on the brands’ strengths while helping the businesses evolve and grow. He cited Hubbard’s commitment to impartial journalism, strong local brands and long-term thinking as key attractions. 

Hubbard CEO Ginny Hubbard said Moore brings a strong record of preserving established media brands while positioning them for the future. “While he has very big shoes to fill following in the footsteps of Joel Oxley, Declan has a strong track record of retaining the essence and legacy of media brands while leading them into the future,” 

Hubbard said. She added that Moore has expressed strong appreciation for WTOP and Federal News Network and their service to the Washington community.

Prince Harry, Others Ordered to Pay Newspaper $13M

Prince Harry and six other high-profile figures must pay an initial £9.54 million (about $13 million) to the publisher of The Daily Mail after losing a privacy lawsuit, a High Court judge in London ordered on Friday.

The group, which includes singer Elton John and actress Liz Hurley, must make the “on account” payment by Aug. 28 to cover legal costs incurred by Associated Newspapers. Judge Sir Matthew Nicklin set the sum at £9,544,355 and declined to cap the total, meaning the claimants could ultimately face costs of up to £34.5 million—the amount the publisher said it had spent by July.

In a written statement summarizing the ruling, Nicklin said the reasonable interim sum was £9,544,355. In his full judgment he noted that Associated’s claimed costs “appear exceptionally high” and “largely unexplained,” so a detailed court assessment will determine the final amount. He rejected the claimants’ request to limit total costs to £18–20 million, saying such a cap would be arbitrary and unfair to the publisher.

Radio History: Aug 22

➦In 1906…The Victor Talking Machine Company began to manufacture a record player called the Victrola. The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sold for $200. Records had to be purchased separately, usually in the appliance stores that sold the machines, at a price of $1 to $7. Music conductor John Philip Sousa predicted "a marked deterioration in American music" and said that generations of amateur musicians would give way to "canned music."

Nipper

The advent of radio as a home entertainment medium in the early 1920s presented Victor and the entire record industry with new challenges. Not only was music becoming available over the air free of charge, but a live broadcast made using a high-quality microphone and heard over a high-quality receiver provided clearer, more "natural" sound than a contemporary record.

In 1925, Victor switched from the acoustical or mechanical method of recording to the new microphone-based electrical system developed by Western Electric. Victor called its version of the improved fidelity recording process "Orthophonic", and sold a new line of record players, called "Orthophonic Victrolas", scientifically designed to play these improved records. Victor's first electrical recordings were made and issued in the spring of 1925

➦In 1947...“Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy“, expanded to length of their ABC Radio Networks shows to 30-minutes and aired three-times weekly.  The program had been a 15-minute program for 14-years.

➦In 1964...The Beatles were in concert at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, playing to 20,261 fans.

R.I.P.: Sandy Beach, Iconic Buffalo Radio Personality

Sandy Beach (1940-2026)

Sandy Beach, one of Buffalo’s most iconic radio personalities, has died. His family announced the death today following a period of failing health. 

Beach, whose real name was Donald Pesola, retired from WBEN as a talk-show host in 2020 after 23 years of entertaining and informing Western New Yorkers. He retired in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and revealed on the air that his departure was because he couldn’t come to a new contract agreement with the station’s owner, Audacy.